Halo Gamestock 2001 Demo

The Halo Gamestock 2001 Demo was a real-time demonstration of Halo: Combat Evolved on the Xbox, shown at Microsoft Gamestock 2001. The demo showcases gameplay on what would later become the campaign level The Silent Cartographer.

Overview

The demo showcases basic infantry combat against two types of Covenant enemies, the Sangheili and the Unggoy, in both exterior and interior settings. The Master Chief pilots a Banshee and drives a Warthog, the latter of which has a UNSC Marine on the rear turret. At certain points, the camera leaves the first-person perspective to showcase the environment. The track Truth and Reconciliation Suite plays throughout the demo.

The demo begins with the Master Chief flying a Banshee to the Cartographer island on Halo. After flying over the shore, he lands at the beach near the path that leads to the security substation, and climbs into a Warthog with a Marine on the gunner. The Master Chief drives the Warthog to the Cartographer facility, where the gunner fires the M41 Vulcan turret at Sangheili and Unggoy. The Master Chief exits the Warthog and joins the battle with his MA5B assault rifle.

After clearing the entrance, the Chief descends into the underground facility, quietly taking out an Unggoy at the shaft before fighting more Covenant inside. He eventually reaches the deepest level and activates the Cartographer, which displays a three-dimensional hologram of the Cartographer facility.

Transcript

• Jason Jones: "Hey, everybody. So I'm Jason Jones, one of the co-founders at Bungie and the Lead on Halo. I've got Joe Staten with me here. He's our Director of Cinematics. Joe has done some pretty cool Halo movies of the PC version of the game over the last two years for you guys. We are gonna put him on the spot this time; do something a little bit different: we'll get him to actually play Halo on the Xbox. We'll pretty much let it speak for itself."

• Joseph Staten: "Great! Thanks, Jason. It's really nice not to be showing you movies today, although it really makes me really nervous to actually play this for you. I am going to be playing Halo in the flesh on the Xbox. On behalf of the whole Halo team, thanks a lot for coming, and welcome to Halo on the Xbox."

• Staten: "Hundreds of years from now, mankind is locked in a life-or-death struggle with a group of aliens known as the Covenant. The Covenant have destroyed our colony worlds; their forces are unstoppable. To lead the Covenant away from the Earth, a ship of human soldiers makes a blind jump to a forgotten corner of the galaxy, where they crashed on Halo, an ancient ring artifact ten thousands kilometers in diameter, locked in orbit between an obscure planet and its moon. And this, this is Halo, and this — this is you, an elite military unit, you are the last of your kind. Trained to fight with any weapon, attack in any vehicle, you are mankind's most sophisticated piece of military hardware. Linking together with other survivors from the crash, you begin a guerilla war against the Covenant army that followed you to Halo. Whichever side, human or alien, first uncovers the secrets of Halo will find something that will alter the course of the war. Humanity's fate is in your big, green, armored hands."

Changes from the final release of Halo: Combat Evolved

• The heads-up display features a different design:
  • The ammo counter features a large yellow number instead of the design using smaller white numbers inside a blue box.
  • The energy shielding indicator is taller and uses an electric symbol instead of the shield icon.
  • The health bar features smaller and straight segments, and the color is yellow regardless of the health value. In the final game, the health bar is broken into diagonal segments, and changes color according to the health value (blue at full health, yellow at moderate level of health, and red at low health).
  • The weapon counter remains on screen when operating a vehicle.
  • There is no motion tracker or flashlight battery indicator.
• The Master Chief's MJOLNIR Mark V armor employs a deeper shade of green.
• The assault rifle has some minor gameplay differences:
  • The Master Chief can carry up to 957 rounds (instead of 600 in the final game) in reserve for the assault rifle.
  • The assault rifle magazine carries 42 rounds instead of 60 rounds.
  • The built-in ammunition counter does not change when the weapon is being fired.
  • An alternative melee animation is used: the Master Chief uses the weapon stock like a club.
  • There is a short animation for turning on the flashlight on the assault rifle.
• The plasma pistol behaves like the plasma rifle: the bolts are longer, colored blue instead of green, while the weapon uses the same sound as the plasma rifle from the final game.
• The Banshee can reach a much higher top speed. The cockpit canopy automatically opens when the Banshee slows down.
• Instead of displaying the ring, the Cartographer displayed the spinning hologram that became the one displayed at the security override station in the final game.
• There is no combat dialogue from NPCs. The Marine, voiced by Joseph Staten, screamed "Yee-haw!" when the Warthog drove over a small hill.