As This Is Our Land starts, the strings pick up what sounds like an entirely new melody, one that rolls back and forth like waves on a heavy sea. It's hard to tell whether the music creates this effect all by itself or whether it's bolstered by the visuals-- in this area of the game, the large open space where the first Scarab appears, one of the most prominent objects is a huge grounded ship-- presumably it was on a large lake that has since drained during the uncovering of the Forerunner artifact beneath the sand.

Those who enjoyed the piece that accompanied the Halo 3 Announcement Trailer-- Finish The Fight, offered as a separate download prior to the game's release-- will recognize This Is The Hour as essentially the same piece, with a shorter introduction. After all, we're no longer watching the Chief emerge slowly from the desert.

While this re-imagining of some of Halo's major themes is just as huge and as stirring as it was in that trailer, I can't help thinking if this is another time where Bungie painted itself into a cutscene corner, space-pickle style, that it had a hard time getting out of. Originally the object on Earth was supposed to be the Ark. It's uncovering was sure to be a key event in the game, as its interior would be opened up for you to explore. In the game, though, it's a cross between a McGuffin and a red herring-- it's just a door that leads somewhere else.