Nocturnal fighting against 45 covies in the dustbowl megabattle. Join me as I become the meat in a pretty nasty cyborg sandwich…

(2:31) Level 3 ('The Truth and Reconciliation') on Normal. This shows a dustbowl megabattle against 45 covies, using the cliff path defence plan, mostly with the AR and plasma weapons. As a bonus, there's a nice beastie howl at the end!

Released March 7th 2010, gameplay recorded March 6th 2010.

00:02 Blimey, it's a bit murky here isn't it? My video capture set-up is rather poor at handling darkness so apologies for the dubious image quality, but hopefully things aren't too murky to be able to see some of the 45 covies littering the dustbowl area. I could have had 48 but I got rid of the three Shade gunners as I generally prefer not to have them around, pestering me with that pink plasma. I've just triggered the inner passage checkpoint then gone into the central part of the dustbowl to help attract enemies down, then backed off towards the passage. As the footage starts, I've just had my delayed battle start checkpoint and I've got about twenty seconds of cloaking left. For the sake of this my first dustbowl megabattle movie, I thought it would be nice to just stand here a few seconds to let you get an idea of what we're up against. As well as the covies down in the dustbowl there are quite a lot of them up around the rim, including a concentration of Jackals over yonder, easily visible from their shields and glowing plasma pistols.

00:17 Can't dally long though. If my cloaking wears off here I'll be toast! Time to head for my defence spot. Just as my invisibility is wearing off, I switch on my flashlight and smack a Grunt on the nose, ha ha. As I get up the slope, four blue-shielded Jackals come into view. I knew I'd be bumping into them - I did many plays of this save for the movie - but what wasn't in the script was taking a plasma ball in the face! Ah well, at least he pays for it as I pepper him with a volley from the AR.

00:32 Heading down the ramp entrance I take cover to recharge, then I move right and open up against the leading Elite, taking him down and panicking the Grunts. More fire follows and a stream of needles arcs my way. I'm trying to use a rock for cover but it's a bit low for stopping those needles (fired from high up) so I opt for dodging left and throwing my first frag. It lands short to be honest, but at least it does a nice job of sending the nearest panicking Grunt flying off into the void - his worries are over now.

00:47 Meanwhile I back off to the next rock and switch to the plasma rifle, then step out to intercept a red Elite coming my way with a needler, klonking him on the head to finish off - I love doing that. Seeing an Elite and Jackal off to the right I throw a frag and it sends them flying off the edge beautifully. A bit more fire before the dust has settled, then I switch to the AR and back off to another rock as a Grunt yells "Down in front!". You know what that means of course. I'm long gone by the time his grenade goes off. You'll have to do better than that, grunty!

01:04 From the rock I open fire on a distant Grunt. He's right on the edge of the cliff and the bullets actually force him off. See him drop out of sight? Hee hee! You can hear his cry of despair: "Noooooo!". But there's no time for a laughing fit; there are two blues closing in with plasma rifles. I give them some AR fire then a frag, but my clip runs out just before they're finished off. Not to worry; they're down a moment later after a reload, once I latch on to where the heck that one on the left went. In the heat of the moment I also use another frag, partly expecting further enemies to've arrived by now, but actually it's pretty much wasted.

01:20 At this point I go on something of an AR rampage with plasma grenades added for good measure. A new batch of enemies has arrived at the other end of the path, and two Grunts get amusingly tagged. But then a blue with a needler turns up and I'm already taking a few too many needles from a grunty assailant behind me. With my clip half finished I swap for a handy plasma pistol and rush the blue, taking down a Grunt on the way. A plasma ball stuns my quarry, then I give him a few whacks. But from the sound of the fire behind I sense fresh danger arriving, so instead of delivering a final blow I finish off the blue with a quick spurt of plasma, while also moving backwards to hopefully avoid some of the incoming fire. Turning, I see a red with a plasma rifle. I move in to stun him but he comes to a sudden stop causing me to miss. Curses! That Grunt put me off a bit too. Realizing that I'm in serious trouble now, I pull a fancy move, briefly letting him take a swipe at me while I tag him and dodge clear. I wish I'd had time to turn and see him go bang, but my health is low and there's a Jackal that needs taking care of fast. I pile in the plasma, initially going for the hand hole to get him opened up. Job done - and I toast some grunty backup for good measure.

01:48 My shield is still bleeping madly but at least the only current threat is a scattered bunch of panicking Grunts - which isn't much threat at all. But I do need to recharge before they get their wits about them, else they could finish me off. They love a bleeping shield and get really spiteful like that. Fortunately I get my shield back as I dodge a few needles and ease into a plasma rampage with rifle and pistol. Yep, it's mopping up time! One Grunt gets a plasma ball in the face - "He's gone!", another is tagged - "Get it off!", and another is sent flying off the edge while trying to throw a pressie my way. Hah, that'll teach him. One of his chums pleads "No, not me!", but it falls on deaf ears. Very much you I'm afraid, my little grunty friend! I pick up a needler near the end and use it on the final Grunt. The second pink bang sets off his plasma grenade which send him flying out into the void for a third bang as a beastie down below lets out an an eerie howl. Perfect ending!

Closing remarks Good fun eh? The cliff path defence is one of my favourite defence plans. In this example I arranged for the enemies to initially attack via the ramp entrance, then I gradually backed off and ended up also fighting enemies who came around the other way. The backing off was quite deliberate. I could've stayed near the ramp entrance and probably most or all enemies would've entered there, but it's more fun to let some come around the other way so you're having to cope with covies on both sides. A lot more hectic too! My proximity to the far end helped draw some around that way. You can do plenty to influence the attack dynamic in such ways, making things as tough as you like. With a two-sided attack like this on Normal, surviving against 40+ angry covies is a serious challenge. As usual with my movies I did a lot of plays to try and get some of the most entertaining action for you. With this one I was especially pleased with how the early frag sent an Elite and Jackal flying into the void, and I also felt a warm sense of satisfaction with how I got rid of the final red. That was my best move, even if necessitated by a mistake. But it was the ending that sealed the deal and made this play my number one choice. The Grunt flying off and going bang, then the beastie howl down below… glorious!

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