To: halo@bungie.org
Subject: new preview
Reply-To: CarthagTuek@USA.Com
From: Mikkel Eriksen <Carthagtuek@softhome.net>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 16:49:08 +0100

sup

from the March 2000 issue of MacNews (danish magazine)

first thing when flipping through, i though, "hey! why not translate that article" ;)

i translated it pretty quickly, but here it is (fulla errors)

-Carth [Mikkel Eriksen]

:)

---

Halo - Bungie sets new borders again...

Bungie has always understood to be inventive - what they almost have to be now. After massive hits as the Marathon-saga - which turned entertainment on the Macintosh upside down - and later the equally popular Myth-series, the expectations for Bungie's next game are towering.

by David Sebastian Buus

The expectations for Bungie can really not be high enough, since the hardworking programmers are working on something the world has never seen before. The Next Generation
It suits Halo well to be released in the year 2000, because it is so revolutionizing, that you almost becomes perplexed just by thinking of it. A late winternight a place on the Holm [place in Denmark -translator], the gamewriting journalists [sic] (me included) brought in a VW minibus, with accompanying champagne and serving. The service was high quality - and before the drive out there, we had all eaten a good dinner with the Americans from Bungie. There was talked loudly about Apple, computergames and Microsoft. A very "comfy" [as in a night with friends -translator] night, though it was planned with a specific purpose: Showing us the next generation of gaming. When we reached the Holm, we were lead into a big room with a moviescreen and a projector. What we were about to see was something none of us will forget. It was Halo. Lack of Words...
Halo is difficult to describe. Roughly said, it's an enormously expanded version of Marathon in 3rd person perspective. But its much, much more than that. We were shown a demo, that made us drop our jaws. A man in a futuristic armor was in a controlroom with a several computers and screens. The camera orbited around him, all the while the details were pouring over us.

His body was reflected in the floor, his suit was reflective in varied degrees, and he really looked like something real. Not just a simple CG animation. It looked like something real. As he turned around to run outside, the camera followed suit, a metre or two behind his back. And as he left the building, the room was thrilled. The nature was gushing, the grassy hills were so natural that you could scream, and as he reached the beach by the water, we were knocked out.

The water looked real in such a way, you wanted to get out your trunks. Rolling and rippling. It was inunderstandably beautiful and REALLY LOOKED LIKE WATER!! [*ahem* -translator] I couldnt believe it. The environment, the skies and the ground, the hero's suit and the sea. It was as taken from the best dreams. But of course, the natural graphics werent enough. The gameplay is what will draw players.

Unique Possibilities
In short, the story is about some aliens and some humans who fight. The usual... Nothing new here. But the possibilities in the game are so new and original, that you cant imagine why it hasnt been invented before.

It was demonstrated how it was possible to do whatever you wanted in this world. For instance its possible to steal the ugly aliens' spaceships. You get the possibility to make airraids, or finding a jeep and speeding around in it while your friends can jump on and control the machinegun on the back seat.

Its a unique multiplayer function, and add to that the fun of driving around. Because it feels like youre in a completely different kind of game when youre behind the wheels of a roaring speedbeast. The realism is unbelievably high. When you brake, pebbles fly from the tires and the driver gets thrown forward in the seat. When you do sharp turns, the driver leans to the side because of the centrifugal power. All these things makes it an ultrarealistic experience to drive the car. And how do you think it is to fly?!!

Milestone
Halo will definitely become a milestone, when it arrives. The wild thing about the game is the graphics, which are so phenomenal, can in fact be run on the graphics cards of today. This was shown on the demo as it was run on a Rage Pro card, and it was unfathomably beautiful. They wrote the real lines that use the card to its fullest.

But we'll all have to wait till sometime after summer to play it.