A new checkpoint - plus plasma weapons!

(6:51) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. Yet more up-flow battling in the tunnel megabattle. The movie starts by showing how you can modify an over-the-hump set-up to get a checkpoint back past the covies (in this case at the upper boulder), then there are four hectic battles using plasma weapons. The set-up I'm modifying is the one used in the last movie, featuring a mob that has three red Elites.

Released September 13th 2023, gameplay recorded September 9th-11th 2023.

00:02 (Modifying) In the brief modification process, I fly off, switch to plasma weapons for really sticking it to this unusually tough mob, trigger and delay a tunnel checkpoint, and eventually get it behind the upper boulder, a place you can fairly reliably get it. The delay before I got it was a bit longer than I'd like though, and I assume that was mainly due to a volley of fuel rod shots fired by the Hunters. The game had to wait until that active ordnance was gone.

Note: the weapons I switched to were in a pile I assembled earlier, with set-up modifications in mind. Actually the pile also included an AR, but alas, the game has removed it. There is an AR I can get though; I found one back in the first snowfield, dropped by a Marine, and there are also ammo packs to top it up.

01:05 (Play 1 - Middle rocks) The primary battle plan I had in mind was to advance to the middle rocks for some intense close-quarters work. And 'intense' is definitely the word! The way this set-up plays, the seven Elites tend to arrive somewhat in a bunch, which is much harder to deal with than if for example a couple are already relatively close and then the rest come along later. Plus there's the fact that three of the Elites are red. With this battle plan I had to really fight like the devil to stay alive. On this particular play I'm down to a single health bar after about 35 seconds. But once I get the final Elite, the mopping up is little trouble.

02:20 (Play 2 - Perched on the boulder) Up onto the boulder now. I was up there recently in BCM454 with plasma rifle and rocket launcher, you may recall. This time I don't have a launcher, but my plasma weapons and grenades do a pretty good job. Eventually I hop down to finish things off at closer quarters - which includes blowing up the Ghost that got manned.

04:08 (Play 3 - Upper rocks) Defending at the upper rocks is a good deal easier than at the middle rocks, with this set-up at least. There's an amusing bit around 4:55 when a red Elite takes a Jackal's plasma ball from behind, then mine from in front, and is then finished with a whack. Things aren't looking good for the remaining covies after that, and I have some fun running around death-dealing.

05:33 (Play 4 - Middle rocks) It's back to the middle rocks again for a hectic final round, and this time I manage to keep three health bars, woo-hoo! I make a mistake around 6:21 when briefly chasing a Grunt up the hill. That opened me up to taking a plasma ball in the back, which lost me a health bar. However, I knew my health was decent, which is why I was somewhat casual about the enemy threat.

Closing remarks Just to point out, instead of getting the checkpoint back past the covies, I could've got it where I checkpointed originally, giving me a new over-the-hump set-up.

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