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Evolution of Halo Video Finally Released Online
An anonymous reader writes "Halo.bungie.org has made available a video showing the evolution of Halo, from its initial conception as a PC-based RTS game to its final release on the Xbox. The video is 14 minutes long, and is a 'look at some very early builds of Halo, with voiceover and commentary by 4 Bungie employees'. The video was originally shown to a group of Bungie fans at E3 in 2002, and has never been available save 'a [rudimentary] shakycam version' until now - it's being distributed via BitTorrent."
When's the last time you got a 92mb file at 150kbps off a slashdotted server?
I respond to your sigs
This movie reminded me of all the stuff they were planning to have in the game, but had to cut for one reason or other. There was initially supposed to be a shitload of more weapons, like a sword for the Chief (you see them in the movie), as well as native wildlife on the Halo.
Most of the stuff was extremely cool. Too bad they had to cut it. I remember seeing an old movie where the Warthog drove through a small flock of critters that scattered and fled.
Leveling up builds character.
I'll have a go, why not? Halo brings a new level of emergent gameplay. What this means is that things will happen in Halo that the designers didn't plan - memorable things. Not just a funny incident with a chimp in TS2 or some wacky AI incident in GE, but events that in previous games would have been the result of a carefully scripted cutscene. It might be a chain of events set off by a panicking grunt. It could be the spectacular crashlanding of a downed Banshee, skidding to a halt as a flaming wreck three feet away from you. Maybe it's the time the Covenant tagged your Warthog with a plasma grenade, so you leapt out just before the explosion set the 'hog crashing into an Elite. Things that have only happened in YOUR game of Halo
Simply put, you can play through Halo any number of times (admittedly some levels are better than others for this) and chances are you'll get an entirely new experience on each run.
This makes it a great game for co-op; TS2 really let me down on co-op, because the enemies were in the same place every time ad you faced the same problems every time. It could be difficult, it could be enjoyable in places, but it was never surprising, never novel. If you'd seen it once, you'd seen it. This isn't a rag on TS2 - the multiplayer, the bots, the challenges and the extras were marvellous.
As I never get tired of insisting, Halo MUST be played on Legendary. At any other level, it can seem dull, but Legendary will always provide a genuine challenge, whatever your level of expertise. Whenever I get beamed up to the Truth and Reconciliation in the third level, I'm always grinning in anticipation of the firefights that are coming up. I'm never thinking "here's where I'll have to do X and Y", because the game doesn't play out like that. Again, on Legendary.
The vehicles in Halo add a lot to the experience, too, in single and multiplayer. Try a mutliplayer rally game with Warthogs, five lives each and infinite grenades; great fun.
TS2, GE and PD are all great games, no question about that. They all provide different experiences. So does Halo. We can enjoy them all, surely? You don't have to pick a side or worry about which is 'best'. Just enjoy them all, relax, and be thankful such great games exist.