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The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happened?
Posted By: Major Silva <majorsilva@aol.com>	Date: 2/19/07 8:09 a.m.
I am in no way trying to create another "Halo 2 sux" thread, I'm just wondering about a particular aspect of the old E304(?) campaign trailer. In the trailer, we see Master Chief's pelican gliding gracefully through towering skyscrapers while Covenant AA fire bursts in colorful balloons nearby. We see what I like to describe as the "ant hill" in the backround -- an amazing, towering structure of what appears as many dark buildings, with fires raging in parts of the city below. Once we get into the gameplay, we see these amazing, open city landscapes. You really got a sense of being a small part in this huge fight that's raging on in the city between the attacking Covenant and defending Marines. Bleeding Marines are lying against small walls as you move out into the city off of the landing space. A "wow moment" springs up (what I like to call moments in videogames that actually make you feel or think about what's happening) with the medics attending to the Lieutenant, and one says "I'm calling it, it's almost 1700", meaning the el Tee had expired. Once following Corporal Perez up the ramp leading to the upper floor, you see two Marines firing through a blasted out hole in the wall, one being the spotter and one on a turret as the gunner. Following Perez a little farther, you come to another "wow" moment. Perez asks another Marine if it's clear, an explosion occurs, blasting out a large piece of building wall. The Marine answers, "You tell me", and the MC and Perez move out to the first battle of presumably the game. Many more "wow moments" occur in this old demo, like the "flash and clear" of a group of Covenant, to a Warthog skidding across a group of Jackals in formation, not to mention the Brute jumping onto your Warthog and tossing everyone off. Like I said before, the level design of this demo was just.. superb, in my opinion. Wide open, and in the city? Not to mention the glorious backround of towering skyscrapers that appeared both strange yet familiar. With the demo, Bungie definitely created a look that made it believable that what you were seeing was a future Earth, but the designs were also slightly alien when you look at things like the "ant hill" and other aspects. So my question here is, what happened to all of these "wow moments" and the generally beautiful design of New Mombasa? I know Bungie had to scrap everything and start over, trying to finish in 10 months, but couldn't they have kept some aspects that appeared in the demo? At least a few building designs or some of the "wow moments" would've made the Mombasa elements of the game so much more enjoyable than they turned out to be. Heck, I'd suffice for just the cool moments. But what turned out was a blandly designed set of levels with crampped corridors, apartment sized "skyscrapers", and pretty much only two of my "wow moments" -- the Scarab blowing up the tank and climbing over you, and of course the design of the bridge when seen from afar. Why did they take away so much of what made their first presentation great from the final game? Time constraints, or was it a simple design choice? That being said, with all the extra time Bungie's had with Halo 3, I'm sure there will be at least some of the amazing moments and awesomely designed city levels in the final build of H3. So here's to it and Bungie to make Halo 3 everything Halo 2 should have been! Heh.

UNSCDF

Message Index

The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happened?	Major Silva	2/19/07 8:09 a.m.
NO WAI!	Jordan117	2/19/07 9:23 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	The More Deluded	2/19/07 9:42 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Leviathan	2/19/07 10:12 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Peptuck	2/19/07 10:17 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Leviathan	2/19/07 10:33 a.m.
Isn't most of Halo 2 scripted anyway?	tucsonbatman	2/19/07 10:53 a.m.
Re: Isn't most of Halo 2 scripted anyway?	Peptuck	2/20/07 12:58 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	mnemesis	2/19/07 10:22 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Leviathan	2/19/07 10:36 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Sep7imus [subnova]	2/19/07 1:50 p.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Leviathan	2/19/07 2:13 p.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Sep7imus [subnova]	2/19/07 2:38 p.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Cthulhu117	2/19/07 3:34 p.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Narcogen	2/19/07 11:32 p.m.
Re: NO WAI!	mnemesis	2/20/07 12:02 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Leviathan	2/20/07 1:01 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	mnemesis	2/20/07 10:28 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Jordan117	2/19/07 10:45 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Leviathan	2/19/07 10:49 a.m.
Re: NO WAI!	The More Deluded	2/19/07 1:34 p.m.
Re: NO WAI!	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	2/19/07 10:03 p.m.
Yes...	Jordan117	2/25/07 1:49 p.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Peptuck	2/19/07 10:09 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Leviathan	2/19/07 10:14 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Peptuck	2/19/07 10:20 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	The More Deluded	2/19/07 1:37 p.m.
yeah next time i'll read the whole thread :) *NM*	The More Deluded	2/19/07 1:38 p.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Peptuck	2/20/07 12:55 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Endbringer	2/19/07 10:27 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Leviathan	2/19/07 10:40 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Endbringer	2/19/07 10:51 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Leviathan	2/19/07 12:20 p.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Major Silva	2/19/07 5:20 p.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Endbringer	2/19/07 5:58 p.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Dojorkan	2/19/07 10:24 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Baratos	2/20/07 1:49 a.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	scarab	2/20/07 7:33 a.m.
Linear much?	darthbob	2/25/07 12:26 p.m.
Re: Linear much?	Major Silva	2/25/07 2:00 p.m.
Re: Linear much?	Neo-genesis	2/25/07 4:22 p.m.
Re: The Art/Level Design in Halo 2 -- What Happene	Smurfa	2/25/07 12:23 p.m.
Wow moments... (long post)	tucsonbatman	2/26/07 8:29 a.m.
My wow moment list	delta3	2/26/07 6:16 p.m.
Re: My wow moment list	The Meep	2/26/07 9:56 p.m.
Re: My wow moment list	delta3	2/26/07 11:03 p.m.