Very much a place for the carnage connoisseur. And here's a movie to prove it!

(6:56) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Normal. In the tower zone megabattle, the plateau channel is a fantastic place to fight, and in this devoted movie I highlight some options and ideas with the rear mob. Seven battles squeezed into less than seven minutes, with spectacular carnage along the way!

Released May 4th 2024, gameplay recorded April 27th - May 2nd 2024.

00:02 (Standard positioning) Just for openers, here's a battle where I adopt what I think of as standard positioning, giving you a bit of distance from the covies, along with some very convenient rocky cover (though of course, you can also use the Banshee for cover). In this play the covie Ghost actually gets blasted from behind by a Hunter, tumbling the pilot out of his seat. When a red Elite comes up to take over the driving seat, I add a plasma to the mix, which cuts his ride rather short!

01:01 (Forward option) It's also good fun to try defending from a forward position, as seen here. A tree provides some handy cover if you want it. I do quite nicely at first, attacking from either side of the tree. The pressure forces me back, but only as far as my Banshee which got shunted back earlier by a Hunter blast. I ultimately prevail, but it was a dangerously close thing and I only have one health bar left. Maybe should've backed off a bit sooner!

01:50 (Going distant) If you want to be in less peril you can go distant, such as seen here where I set up to use the Banshee for cover. As it turns out though, the covie Ghost unexpectedly sails in from the left and launches up off the Banshee. Naturally I can't resist rocketing it while it's up high. Very nice that was too, but the surprise of the incident briefly unsettles my aim, as my first rocket clumsily hits the ground. My Banshee cover got messed up too and takes another blast soon after, leaving me somewhat exposed.

Once that Ghost incident occurred, I was very keen not to get killed, as I wanted it for the movie in a successful play. The peril level is serious for a while, and I could so easily have been splattered by the Banshee if a Hunter shot had hit it around 2:22, which it almost did. But happily I made it through. It was a big relief to get rid of a dangerous pair of Elites at the front though, with a decisive rocket around 2:32.

02:56 (Being sneaky at the rock) Aside from the Hunters or raging Elites, the covies generally don't advance past a certain point (as long as you don't trigger a move by backing off too far), and this enables you to quite easily do sneaky stuff from the cover of the rock, or from behind Banshee cover. In this case I get the ground littered with plasmas, then set off a nice chain reaction. Moreover, it's set off with a tagged Elite for extra amusement!

04:07 (Blasting junk at them) Another amusement you can enjoy is to blast objects towards the covies. Some covies may get splattered, but even if not, the junk can hinder them or make them jump, and once an object is among the covies, you can rocket it to cause damage to anyone close. Of course, it's also fun just seeing stuff flying around.

One thing to note in this play. In regard to the covie Ghost, I deliberately wait until it comes to the fore before I destroy it. That way, I've got another bit of junk to blast towards the covies.

05:06 (Zero cover challenge) As a challenge, you might like to try fighting without using cover. Better do a lot of dodging around though, and try to take out the Elites as soon as you can! In this play I manage to prevail without the luxury of the rocket launcher.

Actually, perhaps the most difficult aspect of this challenge was stopping myself from using cover. I had to continually counter my normal instinct to make use of it. There were at least a few times when I momentarily dodged behind the rock or my Banshee, rendering the play useless for my purposes.

06:02 (One last romp) With the action thus far amounting to about six minutes, I decided I could add one last fight if it wasn't too long. Ultimately I settled on a hybrid plan of initially taking up a forward position (with the Banshee even further forward), then falling back for some rocketing. This turned out to be great for producing hot action, and I ended up doing a load of plays for it.

Spoilt for choice with multiple cataclysmic victories recorded, I eventually selected the play you see here. It has some solid work near the tree, an amusing close encounter with two blue Elites (and a Grunt who got in the way), then some satisfying rocketing, especially when I destroy the Ghost with a ground blast. There's also some good needle dodging, with a couple of nasty streams coming my way. You really have to watch out for those!

Closing remarks There's huge potential for glorious battling at the plateau channel, and I'm glad to've finally done a movie dedicated to it. In fact, don't be surprised if I have another movie-making outing here sometime, the action is so good. Incidentally, I previously showed one battle here with the rear mob in BCM476, plus you'll find one in BCM482 where I used a Ghost.

© 2004-2024 by Rockslider