Hey Johnson, check out this new fun - you'll love it!

(6:48) Level 2 ('Halo') on Heroic. Further on the business of Warthog catapulting with a dropship, here's a set-up demo (it's dead easy) plus a dozen more catapults, featuring Sergeant Johnson. I've used Heroic here but you can also use Normal or Easy. There are other options for what checkpoint to use but you can read about that in my article.

Released November 15th 2019, gameplay recorded November 12th-13th 2019.

00:02 (Spawning the ship) We pick up the action as I finish off the hillside survivor area - the first one I've visited. Once I'm done, a dropship spawns outside and you can already hear it humming.

00:44 (Banshee destruction) I head out and get rid of the Banshees, mostly letting Johnson do the work with his chain-gun. As in my previous segment, I'm being a bit gung-ho, mainly for the sake of brevity and movie entertainment. You can take more care to keep your Marines healthy if you want. After the second Banshee is down, I briefly check to make sure I didn't accidentally trigger the dropship to leave.

01:29 (Entrance checkpoint) My seated passenger takes a bit of damage from the Jackal guard as we enter the cliffside survivor area, but I'm not too fussed about that. I save the entry checkpoint for safety, in case anything goes wrong.

01:42 (Rescuing) Here are just a few brief clips from my rescuing deeds. No need to show the whole thing. When I head down to the survivors, they're already coming up because I've killed so many covies up top.

02:23 (Up the hill and parking) With the Pelican now on the scene, I drive up the hill and take a nice run-up position (being careful not to trigger the ship to leave yet, of course). You could park a bit further from the ship if you want more run-up, but I think my position is ok for being able to get up to full speed. I wouldn't want to be any closer though.

Note: just as I get up the hill, you can see a dropship flying off over the rockslide. That ship spawns when you've cleared the cliffside area (you can also see it in BCM376 around 3:49). Why is it flying off already? I assume I happened to face in its direction. If it hadn't already been departing, I would've looked at it to make it leave, to lighten the Xbox's load.

02:50 (Final checkpoint) I'm using the Pelican touchdown checkpoint but I delay it until the Pelican has gone. That's mostly to minimise the Xbox's load. I end my delaying just as the noise from a beam firing is dying out, which sets up some nice timing (namely, the next beam will tend to fire when my hog is flying through the air).

03:20 (Twelve catapults) The second half of the movie comprises twelve catapults, including some amusing landings. Here's a nice big launch to start with.

03:40 This time, more of a glancing blow.

03:58 A solid bounce sends us into the side of the tower (the camera briefly goes through and shows the firing beam), and I fall to my death.

04:12 A double bounce sends us upwards with very little forward speed, and the hog lands at the nearby tunnel entrance. Bit cramped!

04:30 Three hits! The death animation was only short though, so this clips ends a bit abruptly.

04:49 A bit of pinballing sends us into the tower's channel, and the hog nearly gets zapped. That would've been nice. I'll have to do some more play to try and get the hog zapped.

05:07 A very spinny flight, which leave our three bodies spinning downwards.

05:22 Some more spinning, and we spill out after hitting the hillside. The previously seated guy says "I'm goin' after 'em", which seems a bit ambitious!

05:38 Hog flying upside-down. Not good! I survive but go off the edge.

05:58 I like this catapult for the unusually slow rotation.

06:13 The hog bounces off the left prong and goes into a reverse tumble, over the cliff.

06:26 An unusual trajectory to finish. I hadn't landed in that deep area before.

Closing remarks That was a lot of good fun with Johnson. I got a load of nice catapults, and it was a job to pick out just twelve. I suspect I'll be using this save some more.

Although I could've used Easy (for easier combat work), I preferred to use Heroic, partly because I don't like how slowly your shield recharges on Easy.

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