Prometheus addresses the concern that so many bad Halo machinimas may end up being made that no one will pay attention anymore. However, he thinks that original writing and high production values will keep the wheat and the chaff sufficiently separated that this won't happen. However, I think another barrier was not addressed: the fact that Halo is used by Halo fans who want to make movies, rather than movie makers looking for tools to tell stories.
Prometheus writes in his blog that he believes that originality will be the quality that separates wortwhile Halo machinima from the rest, and will prevent the market from being flooded with so much low-quality work that no one will pay any attention to Halo machinima at all.
Mike Miller continues his Legendary Walkthrough of Halo 2; up this time is Quarantine Zone. Like the previous level, Sacred Icon, mostly he just runs right through it, and wonders why, with air transport available, the Covenant don't think of that themselves:
I guess there's no point in wondering why the phantom didn't just drop us off here to begin with. The Covenant probably execute their officers for asking questions like that.
Indeed. In addition, there is a really neat hiding place in the final gondola, demonstrated via QuickTime. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.
A few news items before I logon to XBL:
Having finally gotten a halfway decent Internet connection at home, I'm at last able to actually connect to Xbox Live and have my worst fears about my Halo-playing ability confirmed.
Robert Valdes has written a Halo 3 Wish List for the Games section of Stuffo, a part of the HowStuffWorks website. A lot of the wishes are standard: XBL Cooperative play, bots, the flamethrower; and many of them are illustrated with modified versions of Bungie's own screenshots. Thanks Frankie.
Louis Wu, courtesy of Dan Chosich's tipoff, points us to Gamasutra's freely-availably printer-friendly version of Handling Complexity in the Halo 2 AI, the GDC 2005 presentation by Bungie's Damian Isla. Lots of interesting diagrams.
Major Nelson, back from GDC, posted up a big guide to Xbox 2 coverage at Xbox.com. Includes screenshots, movies and info.
Again more news that deserves the personalized touch, but instead is going to get buried in the mass grave that is a news roundup. Pass the lye...
Bungie does care about its fans: the proof is in the Flood pudding that is Sacred Icon, a level that is Halo 2's Library in all but name. Is it an improvement over the original? Find out in the latest installment of Rampancy's Halo 2 Impressions covering Sacred Icon.
(And before anyone else asks, yes, we know we've so far skipped The Arbiter and The Oracle in this series; those are coming --Ed.)
First of all, let's get this straight. This level isn't called The Library, but it might as well be. You don't actually reach the structure on Installation 05 that houses the Index, the one that's called The Library by Tartarus and Commander Keyes, until the very end of the next level, Quarantine Zone. However, that level is a mix of indoor and outdoor environments with a bunch of vehicles thrown in and friendly Covenant troops alongside while you battle both the Flood and the installation's defensive systems.
You first see those systems in Sacred Icon: tiny, glowing gossamer versions of Sentinels that flit from place to place, seemingly to try and repair the horrible mess that part of the installation has become; the usual Sentinels and others with more powerful, blue sentinel beams; and the Enforcers, huge floating juggernauts (vaguely resembling the units that shared that name from the Marathon series) that rapidly fire needler-like rounds from the front, a barrage of missiles from the top, and can crush vehicles between two powerful legs if they get close enough.
The stucture of Sacred Icon is both derivative of The Library and indicative of a conscious attempt to address some of the complaints players had about it: that it was dark, repetetive, didn't feature a wide enough array of enemies, and takes place entirely indoors and without any vehicles. Some of these complaints were addressed in the Quarantine Zone level, which as I've said brings the final approach to the Library outside for a bit, with a chance to use the Spectre and the Wraith while watching the Flood perform their new tricks, barrelling at you in Warthogs and Ghosts. (The animations of the Flood driving vehicles while standing upright on the seats are also quite amusing.)
In Halo's Library, you were teleported to the bottom of a shaft that contained the Index and told by your guide, 343 Guilty Spark, that it was necssary to ascend to the top of the shaft to retrieve the Index. The first question any player would naturally ask himself is why GS couldn't just teleport you to the top of the shaft in the first place.
After you've played through the level, winding your way through dark, repetitive corridors with no allies, fighting only Flood combat, carrier and infection forms, with no Covenant and no Marine allies, only the garrulous Guilty Spark and his silent Sentinel cohorts, you'll be left wondering what Bungie was thinking at all; there's almost no variation in the encounters, save for one point where a door fails to open and you're stuck in a narrow space as Flood pour in all around you.
Sacred Icon addresses nearly all of these concerns. Many areas are appropriately dark: it's understandable that Bungie doesn't really want the Flood associated with sweetness and light. Even Two Betrayals, the open-air snow level that plays as Assault on the Control Room but in reverse and with Flood, is noticeably darker than the previous iteration of the same environment. That trend continues in this level.
Unlike the windowless darkness of the Library, there are many locations in Sacred Icon where the structure you're traveling through-- called the Wall-- is open on one side, allowing you to look out over a wasted snowscape that looks like some kind of twisted evil Christmas postcard from a parallel universe. It also allows the level's collection of Sentinels and Enforcers to take aim at the Flood-- and, incidentally, at you and however many of your Grunt and Jackal buddies that manage to survive to back you up.
Where you traveled upwards in the Library, in the Wall you start at the top and must work your way down. The Wall is designed for the travel of Sentinels, and indeed seems to be a place where they are produced; the entire level is strewn with doors where Sentinels will enter. The production of Sentinels is preceded by an audio cue, and you can destroy the entrances so they no longer function.
Although Sentinels are annoying-- unlike the Library level where they were the Chief's allies against the Flood, here there is no love lost between them and the Arbiter-- you may want to consider leaving them alone for a bit at the beginning of each encounter. They will help soften up the Flood in each area, and destroyed Sentinels will drop Sentinel Beam weapons that are at least as effective against Flood as human weapons are, and more effective than most Covenant plasma weapons-- luckily you'll find few of those here, but there are Carbines and Needlers around. You'll also find a healthy supply of human weapons including SMGs, Battle Rifles, pistols and even a few shotguns, although ammo is sometimes scarce.
HBO's Halo 2 Cutscene Library has reached the start of High Charity. (You know, that level where you say "oh no, I have to go BACK through that, but against Flood?" --Ed.)
Now that everyone is back from vacation, the gaming world is moving and shaking again. Here's a look around at items relating to Bungie, Halo, or the Xbox:
The Halo 2 Impressions section continues, today covering Regret, level that is surely the Planes, Trains and Automobiles of Halo 2. Dear Humanity, we regret forgetting to purchase an all-day ride pass...
Regret is a level that I like almost in spite of myself. It pulls off an impressive sleight of hand, managing to create a fair impression of size and continuity in a mission that contains relatively little playable surface (comparatively) with areas that are linked only by pieces of moving geometry that the player has only rudimentary control over.
After the Metroplis closing cutscene, most fans were getting set to break out the pitchforks and the torches to protest that Halo 2 was denying them what they had expected to get-- a long, drawn-out, large-scale invasion of Earth to battle against. That's a shame, because the next two levels, Delta Halo and Regret, are where Halo 2 really starts to shine, although there still are a number of differences from the first game that may eventually prompt fans to fire up the prequel.