The Halo E3 2000 Trailer was an in-engine cinematic trailer for Halo: Combat Evolved, shown at E3 2000. The events depicted in the trailer do not appear in the final game. Bungie also made a comedic advertisement "demonstrating" the Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS graphics card using the E3 engine to make the commercial.[1]
Transcript
Bungie logo
The camera pans over a mountainous landscape. At the top of a mountain, near an apparent Forerunner complex, two Elite Minors are patrolling back and forth. Two Banshees fly overhead.
Banshee Pilot: (translated) Beginning patrol.
Minor Elite 1: (translated) Good hunting.
The first Minor Elite walks over to the second.
Minor Elite 1: (translated) They will surely find them.
Minor Elite 2: (translated) You speak truly.
The first Elite turns and continues pacing. While its back is turned, the second Elite is shot in the head with a silenced bullet and collapses backward. The first Elite looks around, confused, then is shot in the head and falls forward.
Master Chief: Recon reporting. Hostiles have been neutralized.
Sergeant Stacker (COM): Say again? Over!
Master Chief: The drop zone is clear. I repeat, the drop zone is clear.
Sergeant Stacker: Understood. Lieutenant, let's get this thing moving.
The Pelican dropship accelerates over a body of water toward the mountains.
Lieutenant (COM): Hang tight, this may get a little rough.
The Pelican flies low between the mountains.
Sergeant Stacker: I want a quick, tight dispersal. If they catch us napping, this operation is as good as over!
Marines: Sir, yes sir!
Lieutenant (COM): Coming up on the insertion point.
Sergeant Stacker: Geoff, you get that 'Hog rolling as soon as we dust off. I need your team in position A.S.A.P.
Geoff: I'm all over it!
The Pelican lowers straight down and hovers several feet above the ground. The Warthog is detached from back of the dropship and the marines jump out of the aircraft's bay.
Lieutenant (COM): Warthog detached. Clear drop zone and advise.
Sergeant Stacker: Go, go, go!
McLees, Segur and Geoff climb into the Warthog.
Geoff: Let's roll.
Sergeant Stacker: Get the hell out of here, Lieutenant.
Lieutenant (COM): Good luck.
The Pelican takes off and flies over the Warthog.
Geoff (COM): See you at the rendevous point.
Sergeant Stacker: Affirmative.
Stacker, Wang and Laine run along a mountain path toward their objective. The Warthog drives along the coast to the same location, pausing to avoid a herd/pack of Blind Wolves. The Warthog arrives at the Forerunner facility first. Geoff dismounts and approaches the facility on foot.
Geoff (COM): Objective in sight: six hostiles, six vehicles.
Stacker's group run past a herd of Thorn Beasts, one of which roars.
Sergeant Stacker: Draw off what you can.
Geoff waves for Segur and McLees to come toward him. They leave the Warthog and run toward him.
Geoff: Segur, target infantry. McLees, target armor.
McLees: You set 'em up, I'll knock 'em down!
McLees returns to the Warthog and mans its turret. Geoff and Segur crest a rise and open fire on the Elites guarding the facility's entrance.
Geoff: Initiating contact.
The Elites return fire and a Wraith slowly makes its way toward the marines.
Geoff: That did it. Fall back!
As they turn to retreat, Segur is shot in the back repeatedly and killed. Geoff continues to distract the Wraith as it crests the rise and is destroyed by McLees using the Warthog's cannon turret. Stacker's group arrives and wipes out the rest of the Elites.
Sergeant Stacker: Report!
Geoff: We lost Segur.
Sergeant Stacker: Geoff, you and McLees keep this entrance clear. The rest of us are going down that hole to find whatever those blue bastards were after. Private Wang, you have point.
The doors open and the marines run into the facility. They make their way down a series of ramps to the facility's lower level.
Private Wang: Clear! No movement, no heat, no Covenant anywhere. Somethin' ain't right.
Sergeant Stacker: Hold up. And Wang? Put a sock in it, will ya?
Private Wang: All's I'm saying is, there's a lot of unlocked doors for somethin' that nobody's supposed to have been in in 100,000 years.
Sergeant Stacker: We got nothin' down the rabbit hole. See anything topside?
Geoff: Not a damn thing.
Private Wang: All clear. Looks like nobody's ho--
An Elite Major sneaks up behind Wang and spears him on the end of an Energy Sword, cutting off his sentence and lifting him off his feet.
Stacker and Laine open fire, but their shots are Elite's arm shield. Numerous Elites push forward and pursue the humans.
Sergeant Stacker: Outnumbered! Attempting to disengage!
Geoff: Position is secure, we're coming in!
Laine is killed and falls off the ramp. Stacker shoots and kills one of the Elites.
Sergeant Stacker: Negative! Hold your position!
Geoff: No way, Sarge. Fifty meters and closing.
Sergeant Stacker: Geoff, get the hell out of here! That's an or--
Stacker is killed by heavy fire.
Geoff: Come on, let's move.
McLees: Go. I'll cover you.
Geoff gets in a Ghost and flees the facility. The Elite Major follows on another Ghost, and although McLees shoots at it, he is unable to stop it. He is then shot repeatedly by three Elite Minors.
McLees: Hey, stooges.
He holds out a fragmentation grenade. The Elite Minors turn toward him and growl with alarm. The grenade explodes, killing McLees and the Elites, and triggering a series of explosions which destroy two Ghosts and a Spectre. Two Banshees chase down Geoff, destroying his Ghost and leaving him wounded. The Elite Major dismounts from his Ghost and advances on the injured marine. Geoff raises his Assault Rifle, but it clicks as he pulls the trigger; he is out of ammunition.
Elite Major: (in English) Your destruction is the will of the Gods, and we are their instrument.
Geoff: Go to Hell!
The Elite levels its Plasma Rifle at Geoff's head, but is distracted by the sound of gunfire. Two Minor Elites are shown shooting at something off camera. The Master Chief then crests a ridge wielding an Energy Sword, having apparently killed the two Elite Minors and taken it from one of them. The Elite Major shoots him several times with the Plasma Rifle but the shots are absorbed by his shields. The Spartan charges the Elite and stabs it in the stomach. The Elite clutches its stomach, fires its rifle several more times, then collapses. The Pelican flies toward Geoff and the Master Chief.
Master Chief: Can you walk?
Geoff: Cortana told us one of you was on board, but I didn't believe her.
Master Chief: Enemy airborne battalion inbound. Let's get you on board.
Geoff: You're staying?
Master Chief: Yes. My battle is just begun.
Cut to Halo logo
HALO.BUNGIE.COM
Noticeable Differences from the final version of Halo:CE
- The whole trailer, including the segments that resemble actual gameplay, is shown from third-person perspective. The third-person view, which is only used for vehicles in the final game, was developed before the first-person view, and early development envisioned the game as a wholly third-person shooter.
- Sound effects for the weapons differ significantly, as do the visual effects used during their firing. For example, Plasma Rifles fire green-blue rounds that make long tracer streaks instead of the short, rounded blue plasma bolts that appeared in the final version. They also make a different sound.
- Halo is depicted as having an assortment of native wildlife.
- The Banshees depicted have tail flaps that appear to act as rudders for aerial steering.
- An Elite Major uses the Energy Sword to kill one of the Marines. However, that particular rank of Elite never uses the Sword in the final version. An Elite Minor was also seen wielding the Energy Sword. In addition to those changes, the finished game doesn't appear to have the code for an Elite to lunge: the Elites always appear to swipe, or melee their opponents.
- Several parts of the Assault Rifle used by the Marines appears to have a wooden finish.
- The Marines are depicted to be much more efficient in combat than their counterparts in the final version of the game. Their armor and color of uniform differs slightly, and their rangefinder eyepieces are red, instead of green.
- The Elites' biology is slightly different in some scenes, with their mouths seeming to have a lower jaw instead of four mandibles.
- The Elites' armor differs from the final game. The back of their gauntlets are dark blue instead of yellow, their helmet fins are longer, and there are two larger Forerunner symbols adorning their backs.
- The legs of the Banshee pilots are more exposed.
- There is an early version of what appears to be the Spectre. It seemingly was meant to be in the game also, but didn't make the cut until Halo 2 was released. This appears to be where the Shade turret came from, as there is one planted on top of the Spectre.
- The Banshees' engines sound like the Halo 2 Phantoms.
- The Master Chief appears slightly different to his final representation: He uses an Energy Sword, which he isn't able to do until Halo 2, he has a robotic voice, and a radio antenna on his shoulder. When he is hit by enemy fire, his shields flicker blue instead of yellow.
- The Elites don't seem to have any shields, whereas they do in the final version of the game. As a result the Marines are able to fight them much more effectively.
- The Elites sound very different, with deep and rasping voices, and bear a noticeable resemblance to the noises made by the Flood in the final version.
- The Elite's Plasma Rifles seem to have more of a purple color.
- The Marines' Warthog is armed with some kind of light artillery piece. It may be an early version of the Gauss Cannon, which did not appear in the final cut of Halo. It also glows purple rather than yellow on the windshield and headlights.
- The only Covenant in the trailer are Elites; the Grunts, Jackals, and Hunters are not present.
- The Needler's projectiles don't glow. They act more like an explosive version of the Brute Spiker.
- The explosive power of the frag grenade in the trailer (shown when McLees sacrifices himself) is far greater than it is in the final game. It is possible this is simply due to the difference often present between the needs of a trailer's script and the required balance of the final game.
- The Pelican in the trailer does not use a one-letter-and-numbers combination (i.e.: E419) in its registration, instead it is just the number 79.
- When the dying Marine (McLees) activates the grenade, it actually detonates the parked vehicles. In the final version, unoccupied vehicles would just flip around with no damage done (Though, interestingly, Covenant vehicles would be destructible if an NPC or the player was using them in the final game).
- The Surviving Marine says to the Chief at the end of the video, "You're Staying?" he then replies that his battle has just begun. This is never said in the final game, but it could be the precursor for Halo 3's "Finish the fight" motto, as well as the quote "I think we're just getting started" from the final cutscene in the finished version of Halo: Combat Evolved
Gallery
The early version of a Major Elite.
- Concept Spectre.JPG
The early version of the Ghost and Spectre vehicles.
Major Elite holding an Energy Sword.
Blind wolves on Halo as seen in the trailer, though they were cut from the final game.
Thorn Beasts are seen in the trailer, though they were cut from the final game.
Sources
External Links