Time to go flying in a Warthog - with the help of some Banshees!

(8:43) Level 2 ('Halo') on Legendary. Elaborating on something seen at the start of BCM65, this shows some Banshee assisted Warthog stunting with a sniper as passenger. It uses my BCM65 save (the one which was used for the initial full play) plus some modifications of it.

Released February 6th 2013, gameplay recorded January 29th - February 5th 2013.

00:02 (Intro) Just a little introduction footage to set the scene. In the clip descriptions that follow, assume unless otherwise stated that I was using my BCM65 save. Also, one of my modifications of that save produced a situation in which I could quite easily get both Banshees firing at once, and I'll call that my 'turbo save'. It came in rather handy for when I wanted extra boost! See my article for a description of how such modifications are produced.

00:25 (Left corkscrew) The first Banshee misses, thanks to the way I drove. My sharp left turn after the rock helped put off his aim. It's a blast from the second Banshee I want, and that's what I get, resulting in a nice left corkscrew.

00:41 This time I curve around the right of the mound and get shunted by a blast from behind, again putting the hog into a left corkscrew.

00:54 (Right corkscrew) Here I use a blast from the first Banshee to do a right corkscrew. You'll notice that my passage exit was different this time. With a bit of nifty driving you can angle to the left of the rock without overturning.

01:09 I curve around the right and end up getting a nice low trajectory on the corkscrew. Off to the right you can hear the other Banshee smacking into something - maybe a tree.

01:24 (Double right corkscrew) Here I'm using my turbo save but only exploiting one Banshee blast. It goes off close on my left side and I get a double right corkscrew out of it.

01:40 (Triple right corkscrew) The hog receives a double blast and I get a triple right corkscrew out of it. Sends me way off course though, and the sniper flies off after raising the alert.

01:57 (Lift) Using my turbo save, the hog takes a neat double blast (perfect synchronization) which gives it some lift as it leaves the mound - resulting in extra distance.

02:13 (Pirouette) This stunt is a little whimsical and there's no jump involved, but the result appealed to me. A first blast causes the hog to spin about, and a second continues the motion.

02:29 (Spin) Here I get the hog spinning as I reach the top of the mound, and a blast helps things along, resulting in a pretty decent left spin as we fly across to the hump. Meanwhile the other Banshee can be seen attacking the Marines I left on the cliffside hilltop. Evidently it spotted them and couldn't resist. This used a modification of my BCM65 save.

02:44 (Cartwheel) Ok, now for three cartwheeling stunts using my turbo save. Here, a first blast sends the back end over and a second adds some boost. The hog ends up rotating in a vertical plane and eventually settles on its wheels.

02:59 (Double cartwheel) With a similar Banshee firing pattern to before, this time I manage to get a double cartwheel. I think the difference here was in the second blast, which appears to strike the front of the hog rather than the ground. That really pushes the nose down, causing faster rotation.

03:13 (Triple cartwheel) Same as before, but this time we get a triple out of it - just about.

03:26 (Forward roll) Here I spin the hog sideways just as I reach the top of the mound. A blast goes off to the hog's right side, and hey presto we're doing a forward roll. I used a modification of my BCM65 save here - the same one used for the 'Spin' clip.

03:43 The first blast here wasn't wanted, but it doesn't stop me doing the stunt. As I near the top of the mound I get the hog swerved so it's facing left, and we start rolling off the top. Then a blast flies in underneath the hog and hits the ground to our left, giving a good kick to the roll. Incidentally, you can also do a 'reverse roll' where the rotation direction is opposite to that seen here, but I didn't have a very good example of that and decided to leave it out.

03:56 (Banshee knock) I'm using my turbo save here. Courtesy of two blasts we get launched upwards and knock into a Banshee - and still land on our wheels! Landing on your wheels isn't really necessary for this stunt - the knock is the main thing - but it's nice of course.

04:14 With much the same dynamic and again using my turbo save, the hog gets firmly smacked down by one of the Banshees, giving me the opportunity to have a bit of captioning fun in the movie.

04:27 (Banshee hurdle) Another spot of whimsy. A double blast sends us airborne and the hog arches over a Banshee, kind of like a high jumper gets over the bar. I wasn't trying for this, it just happened and I thought it was worth including for novelty and comedy value. Turbo save used again.

04:44 (Back flip) The rest of the movie deals with flips, and to start with here's a back flip. I think the blast hit the ground rather than the hog. This is very similar to the flip seen at the start of BCM65, but here we come down on two wheels rather than one.

05:01 Here I'm not sure whether the Banshee shot hits the hog or the ground underneath, but anyway, we get a back flip out of it and come down with a satisfying crash. The other Banshee is off paying attention to the Marines. This used a modification of my BCM65 save - same one as for the 'Spin' clip.

05:16 I avoid the first Banshee's shot (thanks to doing a left swerve after the rock) and end up taking a direct hit from the second, which smacks us into a back flip.

05:29 (Front flip) After avoiding the first shot and flying off the mound, the second shot comes sailing in under the hog and hits the ground beneath the rear, sending us into a front flip.

05:46 This time I'm using my turbo save. A shot from the left Banshee comes down and I'm pretty sure it creeps underneath to hit the ground, as in the previous clip.

05:59 Using a modification of the turbo save, I take a different route to the top of the mound, going left of the exit rock. There's only one Banshee on hand but that's all I need. A shot lands behind and we get a nice front flip out of it. Also, just as the sniper is saying "Can't hide from me" and the hog is practically upside down, you can see him take a shot at the Banshee. Sharp shooting! That was part of the reason I included this particular clip.

06:11 For my final front flip in the sequence, I curve around the right of the mound. A blast goes off behind us and over we go, nice and low.

06:25 (Double back flip) Ok, now let's go for some doubles. In this example using my turbo save, a first blast starts lifting us and then we take a hit from the second. The sniper can't take the punishment, but I'm sure he'd be happy I enjoyed the resulting double back flip.

06:42 Again using the turbo save, a first shot hits near the front left and the second adds to the rotation effect when we're practically vertical. Nice double back flip.

06:56 (Double front flip) Now a series of three double front flips. In this first one, two shots arrive pretty close together and combine to give us some good rotation.

07:12 This time I use the turbo save. The first shot doesn't contribute to the stunt and only gives us a slight leftwards push. The second smacks into the hood, giving us some pretty fast rotation - enough for the double.

07:25 Again the turbo save, but this time both shots contribute and the hog goes sailing across to the hump, while the sniper goes sailing off on a trip of his own.

07:38 (Triple front flip) Ok, now the climax; some triple front flips, all using my turbo save. In this first clip, blasts go off to either side of the hog almost simultaneously. It's too much for the sniper but I make it across to the hump, landing with a bit of a bounce.

07:54 My approach angle is slightly different and the hog is slightly more advanced when the blasts go off, but things go pretty much the same as before. Still too tough for the sniper.

08:05 Pulling off the triple without killing the sniper took quite a few tries but eventually he pulled through, thanks I think to the first blast being a bit further away from him. To finish off I drive over to what I call the 'Jackal mound' outside the cliffside survivor area and park on top, getting a final view of the valley and the helpful Banshees.

Closing remarks Although I covered a lot of stunts here, it wasn't an exhaustive catalogue. I could've elaborated on spins for example (I only showed one and didn't even end up facing the right way), but I didn't want the movie to get any longer. I could also have left the top of the mound heading in directions other than the hump near the stream, but I decided to focus on that route.

I may well do another stunting movie later, in which to show more. Possibly I'll have Stacker and Johnson along for the ride; I'm sure they'd get a kick out of it. Also, maybe I'll manage a quadruple front flip. I tried for this movie but the best I managed was three and a half rotations, landing upside down on the hump. I suspect it's possible though, if you get blasted just right. Actually I was kind of glad I didn't manage it this time, otherwise it would've had to be the climax of the movie, but the footage of the sniper surviving a triple front flip already made a nice ending.

Not all the stunts here were planned (i.e. I wasn't intentionally going for them); some just happened, such as the pirouette and Banshee hurdle. Actually, with both of those stunts, the clips here were the only ones I got for them; I didn't try to get more.

In regard to the length, I did cut a few clips to bring things down, but I didn't want to lose any more. I could've reduced the length by cutting each stunt more tightly, but I decided against that because it would detract too much from the Warthog dynamics - something I wanted H1 Warthog fans to be able to sit back and luxuriate in. I wanted to include the exit from the passage, because that's quite an important aspect of the drive and I think it also makes good footage. I also wanted to let things continue past the far hump, because that second jump is itself rather enjoyable, especially coming after a jump off the mound. Things would've felt too truncated if I'd stopped a clip as soon as the stunt itself was over; I wanted to let that Warthog flow. In the event, I generally let the hog continue until entering the stream. The splashing sound helps mark out a sort of rhythm, if you noticed. Sometimes the sniper yelled something after the hump though, in which case I let things continue a touch longer so he could get the line out.

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