A very unusual predicament for the bridge Banshee - and some fun for me!

(7:57) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Legendary. One time when I was messing around with the enemy Banshee at the first bridge two years ago, it got very weirdly stuck underneath. I kept my initial footage and also saved a checkpoint from which I could replay to explore the situation. Having now done further play, I've put together a movie on the topic at last. I think you'll find it quite entertaining.

Released June 13th 2018, gameplay recorded March 29th 2016 and June 8th-12th 2018.

00:02 (Banshee mystery) The movie starts about 98 seconds after my arrival on the bridge. I'd been trying for a Banshee grab on its first approach but that didn't work out, and then I was just waiting around in case some interesting later trouble occurred. After a later approach things went strangely quiet. No Banshee in sight! Investigating, I eventually started hearing it, and tracked it down. It wasn't visible, but apparently it was stuck under the bridge somehow!

I've edited that whole sequence for brevity. Actually I almost got killed in a Jackal crossfire just after slaying the Grunts on the lower deck. Dropped to a single health bar (as you can observe in my final brief clip on the lower deck), but fortunately got to cover in time, under a ramp. Good job too, else I would've been reverted to the start checkpoint, losing the odd situation. I subsequently slayed most remaining bridge troops, but at the far end I bypassed the gold Elite and there was also a Jackal who survived.

Did you notice the following? At about 1:09 you can hear the Banshee pilot complaining about a Grunt's plasma grenade, which was fumbled after I zapped him.

01:23 (Onwards to an exit checkpoint) After restoring my health in the room after the bridge, I took the lift down, went through the room (I've included some nice combat for entertainment) and got a checkpoint in the exit passage. I later saved it, enabling me to replay things.

01:41 (Battle play) Heading outside for the first time, I look up at the bridge with a zoomed pistol and see the Banshee. I really need a sniper scope for a better view though. As I head to the supplies, a Grunt lobs a grenade at the Marines then gets amusingly sent flying by a Wraith blast. Eventually I take a brief look at the Banshee with the sniper rifle. But right after that, the Banshee somehow gets free. The footage ends where the Banshee begins to swoop off, because that's pretty much all I kept from that play.

02:28 (Later battle play) That same day I briefly did some more play from the checkpoint I'd saved, but then I put the whole business aside for another time, not wanting to get side-tracked. I haven't used any of that play here though. Instead, the rest of the movie comprises better play which I've done in just the last few days. This first bit is some hectic battle play soon after arriving. I figured I might try to give the Banshee a shunt with a rocket blast, but it was way too close and destroys it. Oops!

03:15 (Banshee rocketed free) This is a play from a checkpoint I got at the far end of the battlefield (it seemed like I had to be very distant from the Banshee to get a checkpoint at all, because of the threat the game considered the Banshee to be). It's an example of how I became able to blast the Banshee free when I wanted - in which case it would come straight for me. Here I have fun with tagging. The Banshee dodges my first plasma but I get it with my second.

03:50 (Pilot rocketing) Another play from that same checkpoint. This time I have fun rocketing the Banshee where it is, then trying to rocket the falling pilot. A nice hit. I sniped him too, but that's relatively easy.

04:17 (Closer look) Here's a closer look with a stolen Banshee, taking us into the aerial phase of the movie. I'm in the platform Banshee, which I'd whizzed off to nab (bypassing most covies in the battlefield). The stuck Banshee scarcely seems to be in contact with the bridge, but is there some issue with the canopy? That looks like being the only possible reason. The gold Elite turns up and promptly jumps off the bridge. In fact he was going for my Banshee. I've had amusement with that behaviour before and may yet make a movie about it. But he does a really terrible job of it here. When I turn back, the Banshee has seemingly freed itself up a bit. It slides along to the end, then gets clear of the bridge at last. I soon destroy it (and at one point I break off to take out a Jackal who shot at me).

05:21 (Rammed free) The Banshee is pretty easily freed up with a suitable ram or nudge, such as seen here. This was the last clip I added to the movie, having almost forgotten to include some ramming.

05:41 (Another escape) This clip picks up the action after I've already done a bit of ramming, which is why the Banshee has altered angle a bit. The gold Elite makes another hopeless jumping attack. Strike two! The Banshee gets free again and I destroy it, but not before blasting the Jackal with an excellent shot.

06:28 (Mystery solved) Finally, the mystery of how the Banshee is stuck is solved. I destroy it, and the canopy - now open - is seen to be through the deck. When the canopy was down there was actually a visible gap between it and the deck, but I assume that it was nevertheless 'through the deck' in terms of some invisible aspect of the Banshee's structure (an aspect relating to how the game handles things).

06:53 One other thing to mention. In this section, jumpy finally scores a victory! Just when I'm starting to look at the canopy sticking through the deck, he launches a sneak attack and destroys my Banshee with a swipe of his sword. Took me by surprise!

Closing remarks There was so much good action to show, I considered making this topic into two movies, the second one having all the aerial play. That way I could've included a bit more in each part. But in the end I opted for keeping things more concise, in one longish movie. I needed to edit pretty hard to stay under eight minutes though.

The initial save I was using was the one used in BCM176, my segmented speed run using a Banshee grab. A save where I was just about to step onto the bridge. Moreover, the bridge play was recorded the same day as the first segment of that speed run.

I'm glad to get this topic covered at last. That enables me to finally delete most of the 4 gigabytes of old footage I'd been storing all this time.

After making the movie, I realized I could easily get my own Banshee embedded in the deck, just like that enemy one. I may give that a showing sometime. Update: see BCM330.

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