This was the announcement trailer, now over a year old.
I remember the shock at seeing Master Chief back, and how I watched that trailer a hundred times looking for little details. The Sticky Detonator was a big surprise– everyone thought it was a Magnum with a Silencer at first… and the Thruster Pack– it took the community a while to realize that Chief has had the Thruster Pack for a while, and that it wasn’t an actual full-on Jetpack.
Seeing Requiem for the first time dropped my jaw. That was the highlight of the trailer, hearing the score of the trailer take a turn as we get to see for a split second the massive looming structure, opening its mouth to swallow Cortana and John. We had no idea what it was– was it a creature? A dyson sphere? Then the classic Halo monk chanting comes on, giving everyone watching it chills. It was a spectacular way to announce the game.
Then we knew nothing for a long time. We had tiny, TINY trickles of information, such as that “Covenant Purple would NOT be a theme”. Fake leaks were all over the place, telling us that Requiem was something called Sigma 7, and that there was an in-game customization of weapons. We were told that there would be Aim Down Sight, but I’m sure many of us didn’t go so far as to believe THAT.
Then the Halo 4 Concept Art Trailer is released.
This was, in my opinion, far more epic than the announcement trailer. Every piece of art shown was fascinating, especially such pieces as at 0:35 and 0:40. They were complimented PERFECTLY by the score. It gave me chills every time I watched it, which was quite often. And then it takes a turn, just as the announcement trailer did, and gets pretty creepy. The sounds really added to the experience.
And, besides knowing such minute details as how long Cortana and John had been in space, we were left dry for months.
It got painful in January. All I could do was look for tiny details in the trailers. We were told that March 5th we would finally be given some information, and the month of February was SO difficult for lots of us. My stomach would ache with anticipation at seeing where our most beloved franchise was going. There were whispers of an ARG, and Anchilla049 kept us entertained, even though it was unofficial. We were throwing around ideas, very abstractly, using the books as our evidence, discussing such issues as Precursors and the Timeless One, 343 Guilty Spark, The Librarian and the Didact, et cetera. It was fascinating, and I learned from the community so much about Halo lore.
Then March 5th hit, and we were shown those 2 screenshots, both of Master Chief, one with a purple background and one with a desert background. They were so gorgeous I wanted to cry. The BR looked magnificent. Very quickly, 343 poured us some information, revealing the Spartan IVs, the BR, and the maps we now call Haven and Adrift (but at the time were called Wraparound and Warhouse; I’m very glad they changed the names). It was just the perfect amount of information to keep us thirsty, but save us from the painful dehydration we were suffering from for months and months. Then, we saw in Game Informer the Covenant, the Storm Rifle, and the in-game incarnation of what we saw in the release trailer.
Now we were wondering who the new enemy was going to be. We were told it wouldn’t just be Covenant. We guessed it would be Flood, Forerunners, a Precursor, some people even said other humans.
Then we get to E3 and are shown the Prometheans, as well as their weaponry. It was very exciting. But we were not shown the Ancient Evil, but people were starting to agree that it was either the Timeless One or the Didact.
The rest is a blur, as maps, weapons, Forge, and the Mantis drizzled out every week or two. We were shown Pre-Order bonuses. We were told we would have 3 Forge maps.
And now we’re here. At the end of the final stretch. Its ironic, because now I try my best to keep myself from too much information, hoping to save it for November 6th. Half a year ago I would have killed for a tiny portion of the information I try not to see nowadays. In less than two weeks we will have made the migration from Reach to 4, and there will be little time for reflection on how far we’ve come as fans this past year. So I suggest you all do it now, to keep you occupied and help you not expose yourself to too much information.
TL;DR
How different is Halo 4 now from what you thought it would be?
Overall, are you satisfied with what you’ve been seeing?
Is the feeling of mystery felt a year ago completely gone, or will we feel it again in the game?
