Danger! Falling Grunts

After doing your stuff in the security substation (which you can go to as soon as you're dropped off if you like), you emerge to find that things have changed on the beach below. There's a newly crashed Pelican which just sent a mayday, there are Jackals at both ends of the plateau-like hill, and there are Grunts on top (5 on Legendary, 4 on Heroic, 3 on Normal or Easy). You can have a lot of fun with these endearingly clumsy hilltop Grunts. If you want to get into it right away, it's easy to jump down without damage. Alternatively, go back the way you came and circle around along the beach. You'll probably want to kill the Jackals to get them out of the way (8 on Legendary, 6 on Heroic, 4 on Normal or Easy).

Go around to the base of the hill on the sea-facing side and over towards the right as you look at it. When you fire a shot up to get their attention, the Grunts come rushing over towards the edge to fire at you with their plasma pistols, and potentially lob grenades. But the ground is so steep there that they often misjudge it and overshoot clean off the edge, falling down to the beach. One challenge you can try here is to shoot or even whack a Grunt as he's falling. Healthy fallers usually survive and make an amusing "Ahhhhh…" cry or suchlike when they hit the ground (it's odd that the cry is delayed like that). Cute! Then they'll head for the path back up to the top, though they tend to stop halfway up the path at a place where they've got you in their sights again.

When you back off from the hill, the Grunts up top will retreat back from the edge and then you can set the whole thing going again, moving in to get them rushing over and maybe falling off. It's all such a comical situation; don't miss it if you're a Grunt fan.

Grenade crazy

On Legendary, but not the other difficulty levels I think, here's something else to look out for: Grunts going grenade crazy. Hang around long enough and some Grunt will probably go into grenade-throwing overdrive, lobbing them one after another in a barrage that would perhaps be never ending if it weren't for the fact that they often end up falling off in mid-throw. I timed things and clocked a rate of about twenty grenades a minute, i.e. one every three seconds! How many of these darned things does a Grunt have stuffed up his shirt anyhow? See how long a barrage you can get. Come on grunty, show me what you got!

Other fun

Of course, there's nothing to stop you shooting back a bit, either for their amusing reactions or to reduce their pressure of fire a little (which can be a bit hot on Legendary; an overshield helps). Don't forget that there's now a rocket launcher available; I'm betting you could do a bit of mischief with that eh? You can also try tagging them with plasma grenades, or just lobbing grenades up to make them dive for cover - possibly off the edge! I like to lob a grenade way up high so it'll drop down out of the blue, several seconds later.

Convenient checkpoint

To have fun with the Grunts again and again, I suggest that after killing the Jackals, you board the Warthog and get a checkpoint at the end of the beach furthest from the hill. Each time the last of the Grunts dies, you'll be able to revert to get quickly back into the grunty fun with minimal delay; you won't have to spend time clearing the Jackals again. On the other hand, clearing Jackals is plenty of fun in itself, especially if you've got a plasma pistol and a needler (take down his shield then send in a vicious stream of needles; nice!). So maybe you'll be content to have the Jackals still alive each time you revert.

Suzie's been there too

Seems like ace reporter Suzie bumped into this gaggle of Grunts too. Check out her broadcast Danger! Falling Grunts.

You want more?

Later on I found another bunch of free-fall enthusiasts, this time in level 8. Check out the excellent fun in Danger! More falling Grunts.