BCM12 - Two bridge descent methods using the near right ledge

(4:15) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. This shows two PAL methods of descending off the first bridge using the near right ledge, starting from the 'V'. I set things up with a handy checkpoint for making repeat attempts quickly. In the first method (see here in my bridge descent guide) you drop to the ledge and try to stay on, then you get down from there - a relatively minor detail. It's something I found for myself but I suspect it's already known about. In the second (see here in my descent guide) you bounce off the ledge then a rock, a method I think was first advertised by Chris Corelli in March 2002. Check out my stunt jumping towards the end!

Released March 22nd 2010, gameplay recorded March 18th-20th 2010.

Commentary

00:02 As in BCM11, I'm going to set things up with a handy checkpoint for retries. This time though, there's no need to kill the enemies that emerge from the far door, so I won't bother with that. For variation, I'm also going about the carnage a little differently, and start by heading past the dozing Grunts and down to the Elite. He's having a nice old time of things sauntering along without a care in the world, but then all of a sudden he's got a plasma grenade stuck to his head. Life can be like that when you're an Elite. I'm straight past and up the opposite ramp before the bang; a nice case of "See ya!". A passing Grunt gets some AR treatment, then I briefly take cover from the Banshee before moving on and gunning down two more Grunts. The second leaves a lovely line of splattered blue blood on the deck as he staggers back from the peppering - see that? Wish I'd paused to admire it.

00:30 I head up towards the Jackals as the Banshee makes an attack run on the Pelican, and I take them down with the AR. The Banshee gets a bit of that too as it attacks me and passes overhead. I know I could be using the pistol here to take it down fast, but today I fancy bringing it down with the AR. So after a bit of zoomed pistol work, I let it come in on another run (I make a rather unnecessary reload here) and finish it off, admiring the sight as it falls to the deck in flames.

01:11 Falling down to the lower deck I finish off the fourth of the original Grunts. His fleeing technique was admirable, but not quite enough to save him. The noise wakes up the other dozy critters, which wasn't planned and I'm caught reloading as a Grunt moves in with a needler, saying "Hate you!". Hah, I'm not too keen on you either grunty - and here's some AR peppering by way of demonstration! I deal with the rest in similar fashion and lob a plasma at a Jackal coming down the left ramp. It's a bit short and I thought he was going to get clear of that, but he doesn't. Moving in on the second, I give him a whack to open him up to a bit of AR treatment.

01:34 I trigger the checkpoint a few metres short of the glass panels on the upper deck, then about-face and start jumping to keep the checkpoint delayed. Only briefly though. I lob a grenade to keep the delay going, letting me fall to the lower deck without risking a premature ending of the delay. I throw one more plasma as I near the far end, then run off down to the 'V' (as I call it), crouching on impact to avoid any shield damage. You could get down a bit more safely by running past the right of the bridge support if you like, but this way is safe enough once you're used to it. I've turned my flashlight on for the sake of the movie, as things are a bit dark here. I move into position at the bottom of the V and wait for the bang - then the checkpoint comes. Now for some descents! Incidentally, you could have instead delayed the checkpoint triggered a short way into the last passage you came through. When you emerge onto the bridge, you could just throw a grenade to keep the delay going, then get down to the V quick. However, on Heroic or Legendary you'd first be faced with an incoming Banshee if you do that, so for those difficulties you'd probably want to destroy it before leaving the bridge. Here I chose to use the later checkpoint for various reasons: I wasn't trying to do things particularly fast, I fancied including a bit of carnage for fun, and I wanted to be doing my descent attempts in peace and quiet (not with voices babbling away repetitively).

02:02 With this first method you try to stop on the ledge. However, you have to hit a rather specific area, namely the tip of a triangle of ground against the cliff. It's not terribly easy and you need to curve around a little to make it. Part of the difficulty is that you need to get sufficient distance, yet if you run off the V too high you'll end up dying on impact. So, you have to get things just right. Crouch on landing. It's quite a shock to the system and will leave you with only one health bar almost every time. Also, immediately try to stop from going off! I stop nicely short of the edge this time, and briefly pause to give you a look at the Marine defence area. Then I turn and walk up the triangle of ground I mentioned, to show you the lay of the land. I pause to let my reticle indicate the area where you need to be landing. By the way, you don't have to be facing outwards when you land. If you find it easier, you could rotate so you're facing inwards, and thus trying to run forwards to subsequently stop from going off. That's what I was doing for a while, but I now prefer the technique shown here. It's less work with the joysticks and I seem to do better with it.

02:22 Time to get down the rest of the way now. This is only a detail really and there are plenty of choices (have fun exploring), but here I use what I consider the safest way. Run off that edge at a shallow angle to end up skimming down the cliffside and getting nicely cushioned by the first of the two huge rocks at the bottom. Some rocks are probably friendlier than others (the rock geometry got randomized at the last loading point), but this one was fine. There's certainly no need to try and go further along the ledge, where you become in danger of falling off by accident. You don't even need to crouch as you reach the rock - but it may be worth it if you think you're coming in badly.

02:38 Sometimes you might not quite manage to stay on the ledge. But you're still in with a chance of surviving, as shown in two examples here. The first is fairly typical but the second is pretty freaky. I was not expecting to survive that fall! In that example I've actually got two health bars left, which suggests that I didn't quite hit the desired landing spot. On the way down you can see the Banshee pilot having a nap on the cliff base. Nice! By the way, getting down non-stop like this doesn't really count as a separate method as far as I'm concerned. It's just something that might happen by accident, and in any case it's practically the same as stopping and then immediately running off.

03:03 On to the second method now. This time you bounce off the ledge then a rock. You need to hit the ledge in quite a precise area though. Remember that triangle shown earlier? There was also one opposite that, meeting it at the tip, and below those are two abutting triangles which make a sort of chevron shape with a bend up the middle. The chevron area is nicely sloping, and that's where you need to hit to survive the impact. In my examples here I'm starting with the nearest half of the chevron. There's a dark streak along it which is easy to pick out and use for targeting. Don't run off the V too vigorously; you don't want much forward speed or you could end up going to the right of the rock. In my first two examples I'm facing along the cliffside because that seems the easiest way of targeting the narrow strip you're aiming for. There's no need to crouch as you hit the chevron, but you'll want to crouch when you hit the rock. I first bounce off on the left side of the rock, then the tip, then the right. For that last one I rotated before hitting the chevron, just for a bit of variation. You could rotate earlier and fall to the chevron with your back to the cliff if you like, but it does take more finesse to hit the chevron.

03:27 Hitting the near side of the chevron is easiest, but you can have some fun hitting the far side, as you'll see here when I start to get a bit fancy. These rotational 'stunt jumps' were something I started getting into while recording footage for the movie. I'm doing my best here to put some style into it, with carefully controlled rotation to make things appealing. In the first, I end up bouncing backwards off the right side of the rock. In the second I spring off the ledge to end up bouncing backwards off the left side of the rock. See how nicely you can come back the other way? For the third I take a few steps back for more of a run-up, but that's really just to try and build the tension and let you know this is going to be a biggie; it's not actually needed. This time I end up bouncing backwards off the rear side of the rock - which was not easy! I put a lot of effort into trying to nail that jump without taking such a bad health-hit, but eventually my thumbs had had enough. I'm not even sure it would be possible with that particular rock. Another one might be friendlier.

04:03 A bit of comedy to finish off. Couldn't resist. Yes, you can bet I did a whole lot of dying while attempting those stunt jumps! The Marines were not best pleased.

Closing remarks The first method here is something I found by accident while attempting the method seen in Scurty's AotCR Bridge Fall Shortcut (2) video. I was trying to hit the right spot and one time I found myself actually stopped on the ledge, still alive. Big surprise! I wondered if it might actually be a new method, but I now suspect it's already known because I found a vague description that seems to match. Maybe I'll get more information about it later (please get in touch if you can help). It's like a counterpart to xbill's method, except on the other side of the bridge. You can see xbill's movie in the Tips and Tricks section at HBO. But also see AotCR Bridge Fall Shortcut by Scurty. He's looking down, which is helpful as you can see where you're supposed to land. I can't actually do xbill's method, as I always slide off the ledge. I don't seem to have enough traction, and I'm wondering if this is a shortcoming of PAL.

As for the rock method, I think that was first advertised by Chris Corelli in March 2002 but I get the impression it was rather neglected, especially once xbill's method came along shortly afterwards. Corelli made the rock method sound forbiddingly hard which may have contributed to its possible neglect (also he had no movie or pictures), but I think it's actually rather nice and can be fun to do. It could depend a lot on your rock though. There are a handful of designs you can get (probably five but I still need to check that out), and some will doubtless be friendlier than others. For the movie I stuck with that one triangular-shaped rock I got in my set-up work, as I was able to land successfully all around it, even including the back. I'm not sure where it lies on the scale of friendliness.

I did try a few other rocks while recording footage for the movie, and it was while using a rather hump-shaped rock with egg-like base that I started getting into stunt jumping. I made some nice jumps for that, but later managed to pull them off for my original rock too (specifically, my last two successful jumps). Despite dying countless times, I had a fair bit of fun doing the stunt jumping and I think there's more potential there, but that'll have to wait for another time.