Open Doors

This shot is from around the time of the E3 2000 demo. This marine was referred to as "McLees" after Robert McLees. (I believe he also voiced the part.) Note the indoor environments, which are quite different from the final ones, especially the door control.

Jurassic Park?

Halo was originally to feature several different kinds of ambient life. Here, a dinosaur-like creature menaces the Master Chief. Other scenes in the E3 2000 demo film showed marines driving a Warthog through a herd of short, toothy beasts called Blind Wolves.

You Looking At Me?

A nearly full-frontal shot of the early Master Chief model. He wasn't even called that (at least publicly) at that time. This was part of a two-page spread in a gaming magazine; the opposite leaf showed Marines piling out of a Pelican. This was before the revision to the Chief's model that was revealed around E3 2000, bulking him up significantly. The MC model for Halo 2 is a bit closer to this stature, with the look and colors of the E3 2000 version.

We're Master Chiefs... Who Are You

This early model of Halo's protagonist showed how much it has changed over the course of the game's development. This model owes quite a bit to the marine in Marathon. With Halo 2, the Master Chief has slimmed down a bit, and now appears as a combination of this older look and the green, but not-so-lean edition that was featured in the original shipping version of Halo.

Early Elite

Some parts of this Elite model-- such as the equine like forelegs, are recognizable-- as is the plasma rifle. Other parts, such as the chest, arms and neck, appear quite different from the final versions.

Computer Gaming World

The cover of Computer Gaming World was one of Halo's first cover appearances, but certainly not the last. The game that many expected to be released in the first quarter of the following year, 2000, would not actually hit the streets until late 2001, and would not come to the platforms it was originally announced for -- Mac and PC-- for another two years after that.

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