BCM218 - Freakiness and fun, assorted clips

(5:31) Various levels and difficulties. Here's my sixteenth 'freakiness and fun' compilation, showing 16 freaky or amusing incidents, most of which occurred while recording footage for my usual movies - so you may recognize some of the situations.

Released February 5th 2017, gameplay recorded 2014-2017.

Commentary

00:02 (Spooked) Things are a bit crowded here eh? I fire a pip of plasma to shock the mob, then have fun with a plasma grenade. A few Grunts realize the danger and make a dive, but it's too little too late, and the resulting shower of covies is quite spectacular. The eventual view of the bodies is nice too, and a plasma grenade bobbles around, apparently finding it hard to settle. Incidentally, if this clip is reminding you of something, you may be thinking of the end of BCM189, involving a similar crowd. June 2015 footage from when I was recording for BCM145. Level 3, Normal.

00:21 (Emergency bail) After using an imprecise frag throw for the V-clip Shade ride method of descending from the bridge, it's not surprising that my trajectory is poor. In fact, I'm clearly doomed unless I do something. I try an emergency bail and get a freakishly lucky bounce off a Shade leg, deflecting me towards the ledge, but it comes to naught because I just bounce off the ledge. Aw nuts! May 2016 footage from when I was recording for BCM180. Level 5, Heroic.

00:36 (Lost Banshee) After attacking myself and a squad of Marines in the tunnel, this Banshee kept on going deeper, which is common. Unlike usual though, it never returned so I went looking for it - and sorted it out with a plasma grenade. Nice swirl there! August 2015 footage from when I was recording for BCM157. Level 2, Legendary.

00:51 (Needle boost) When I needle a Grunt across the chasm in a cavern megabattle, the first needle bang sets off loose plasmas and launches him on a low trajectory - which quite impresses Sergeant Stacker. November 2016 footage from when I was recording for BCM206. Level 5, Heroic.

01:09 (Giant plasma) Whoa, that is one stonking big plasma grenade! Or is it? Well, no not really. As you may've guessed, what we've got here is simply a close view of a rising plasma grenade - such as seen in BCM91. But I'm deliberately acting like I'm looking at a whopper - including looking down at the Elite and Ghost as if to suggest that they're underneath. Perhaps it'll flummox a few people who've never seen a rising plasma grenade before. This one was rising at only around a quarter the speed of that earlier grenade, though it's enough to be perceptible. January 2017 footage from when doing a kill 'em all run. Level 5, Legendary.

01:23 (Banshee scoop) At the start of this clip I back over a line to trigger the departure of the two Banshees. One of them ends up colliding with the departing dropship, which amusingly scoops it along for a while. November 2016 footage from around the time I was working on BCM204 and BCM209. Level 2, Normal.

01:37 (Bad launch) Here I'm doing a 4-plasma tag launch of a frozen gold Elite, but apparently I'm a bit too close as I cross the release line. Oops! January 2017 footage from when I was recording for BCM213 (see clip at 4:44). Level 4, Easy.

01:45 (Stacker saver) Nice tag here. I'm doing a rockslide megabattle far area defence with a squad of 11 Marines. As I move leftwards I hear Stacker hurting and see a Jackal sending in plasma fire. Seems like I need to act fast to save him, so I throw a plasma and manage to tag the shooter. This tag - my 'Stacker saver' - was mentioned in my closing remarks for BCM197. September 2016 footage from when I was recording for BCM197. Level 2, Heroic.

02:04 (Wall voodoo) You may remember this Jackal from an earlier movie, in which I killed him in lots of ways. Here I tag him and he wanders literally into a wall, momentarily vanishing. But then he bumps out and goes flying as if from the effect of an explosion, except there's no bang, nor did he have the grenade still attached when he bumped out. May 2014 footage from when I was recording for BCM105. Level 4, Legendary.

02:21 (Freaky frame-up) While attempting a zero-hit kill 'em all run, I turned around after slaying covies in the first room and saw something really freaky: a dead Grunt seemingly unable to settle. He'd been blasted by a grenade I think. Momentarily pausing the game, I started recording, and this edited sequence shows my initial inspection then most of what I did to him (excluding only a pistol shot and two whacks, delivered shortly before the needles).

This situation is almost unique in all my years of play. I think the only other place I've seen a covie body in this sort of unsettled state is in the room full of sleeping Grunts. You may remember the 'Air swimmer' in BCM76. However, that guy is prone to the effect (I've seen him do it multiple times), whereas this window frame episode is a one-off.

Incidentally, after my initial spell of shooting I tried to get a checkpoint, to allow repeated playing around. But I couldn't get one. I triggered one in the passage but it seemed to get delayed by the Grunt's unusual state, because it only eventually occurred after I needled the Grunt and the body settled (it's edited out but happened right after the end of the penultimate clip). Surprising. January 2017 footage. Level 5, Legendary.

03:16 (Beachcomber) After leading this gold Elite along the beach in a hog and accelerating clear to make him lose track of me and stop, I subsequently saw that he was rotating non-stop. Having just got a checkpoint, I recorded a few clips such as this, with a 'freakiness and fun' movie in mind. This was the best clip, featuring a nice tag 'n hop move which makes him look quite a chump. Which he is of course. December 2016 footage from a few days before starting work on BCM212. Level 4, Heroic.

03:47 (Rough landing) After going over a hump, the airborne hog takes a fuel rod blast low on the rear, sending it somersaulting. Unfortunately it hits the ground upside-down and I don't make it. Oh, and here's something I've only noticed later. When I'm ejected from the hog, I'm actually momentarily above the upside-down hog, just before dying. That looks survivable, so I'm not sure exactly how I was then killed. September 2015 footage from around the time I was working on BCM157. Level 2, Legendary.

03:59 (ODST Elite) Very freaky event here. I do a Shade ride and the patrolling Elite on the lower deck of the bridge follows me down! He's like an ODST dropping out of the sky. I've never seen that before. It's really strange that he somehow latched on to me. I have no explanation for that. If I recall correctly, I noticed his red dot on my tracker near the end of my ride. That's why I started to look up after dismounting. And then when I saw him I was like "Whoa! Where'd he come from?"

If you're wondering why I was descending at all, I was doing a quick test to check that you can eject the bridge Banshee pilot in the cavern, using mad Banshee behaviour. And yes you can, which means he might be able to take part in a cavern megabattle. April 2016 footage. Level 5, Heroic.

04:25 (Two for one) When I tag one of the two Banshees at the bridge, the blast destroys both, which looks pretty impressive. I'd been trying to get a tag-induced scream from the pilot; and indeed, he does scream. He starts an "Aieee!" just before bang, though it's not easily identified above all the other noise. November 2016 footage from when I was recording for BCM163. Level 10, Easy.

04:41 (Knock-off) In this cavern megabattle 'bridge assault' with rocket launcher and needler, I'm busily throwing grenades in a general barrage when I spot an enemy Ghost approaching fast. Somehow it's got loose from the block it was on. Quickly switching to my launcher, I place a blast away from the Marines (though one is still killed), but the deflected Ghost knocks me off my perch. Oops! Adding to the comedy - did you notice? - the pilot laughs at me while falling to his death. January 2017 footage from when I was recording for BCM215. Level 5, Normal.

04:56 (Backsteppers) When I fire my plasma pistol to shock some external covies, a couple of Grunts fall into the passage (and a few more can be heard falling into the void outside). Unable to see my cloaked form, they amusingly backstep up the passage in wary fashion. Eventually I get around behind the farther one and smite him with a whack, earning a rebuke from the other: "Bad, bad cyborg!" Naturally he gets a whack too. I'm nothing if not fair. July 2015 footage from when I was recording for BCM152. Level 3, Normal.

Closing remarks Defintely a strong dose of freakiness in this compilation I think, with two of the freakiest things ever, namely the Grunt in the window frame and the ODST Elite. If I recall correctly, the Grunt footage was my impetus for forming a new compilation. I knew it would make a good long sequence, and I built things up from there. Didn't need to scrape the bottom of the barrel either; I had plenty of material - and still have plenty left. About half of what I've used comes from just the last three months or so.