Halo E3 2000 trailer

The Halo E3 2000 Trailer was an in-engine cinematic trailer for Halo: Combat Evolved, shown at E3 in May 2000. The trailer was one of two created by Bungie for the event, with a shorter teaser also created to tease the full-length gameplay demo using much of the same footage. Overall, the nine-minute trailer was the second major public showcase of Halo after its announcement the year prior and showcases recognisable, albeit early, versions of the characters, weapons, and vehicles that would ultimately make their way into the final game.

After its initial debut at E3 2000, the trailer was released in the form of a CD included in a magazine. It was later included on a variety of other discs including Halo: The Movies, The Ultimate Halo Companion DVD Set, and the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack.

Overview[edit]

The E3 2000 demo was the first public showcase of Halo as a game recognisable to the end product released in 2001. While the 1999 announcement did feature earlier versions of the final game's weapons, characters, and equipment, for the vast majority the E3 2000 demo designs are mostly similar to their final-game counterparts when compared to the drastic evolution from the previous year. The trailer notably features the very first appearance of Master Chief as a character rather than the mass-deployed "Cyborg" infantry showcased in the 1999 announcement. However, at this time, Master Chief was still unnamed, with the trailer's scripts referring to him simply as "The Sniper", voiced by Tom Ciappa.^[1] The trailer also features close-to-final designs for the Elites, Pelican dropship, Marines, sniper rifle, energy sword, and the first reveals of the Ghost, Banshee, and Wraith. Also featured are the Shadow (a vehicle cut and later turned into Halo 2's Spectre) and a Rocket-equipped Warthog (which was cut and later used as the design for Halo 2's Gauss Warthog).

At the time of the E3 trailer's creation, Halo was still a third-person game being developed for PC and Mac. Earlier in the year, the studio had created a short promo promoting an NVIDIA graphics card featuring many of the same assets and environments. Work on putting the trailer together continued until the eleventh hour, with Martin O'Donnell working on the trailer's soundscape until hours before he departed for the E3 conference. Due to the trailer's pre-scripted nature, he scored the trailer like any other film, while the voiceover work was recorded a month prior and recorded via in-engine gameplay done by Joseph Staten. The final audio mix was finalised and burned onto a disc around two hours before O'Donnell's plane departed, meaning that on the morning of its first showcase, no one else at the studio had seen it.^[2]

In the weeks following the trailer's unveiling, Bungie experimented with moving the game from third- to first-person, though this was undecided by late May.^[3] In June, Bungie finalised their talks with Microsoft and were acquired, with the announcement that Halo would now be developed for Xbox, dropping the promised PC and Mac support.

Transcript[edit]

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: (Elite) Beginning patrol.
Elite Minor 1: (Elite) Good hunting.

The first Elite Minor walks over to the second.

Elite Minor 1: (Elite) They will surely find them.
Elite Minor 2: (Elite) 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 (COM): Say again? Over!
Master Chief: The drop zone is clear. I repeat, the drop zone is clear.
Sergeant: 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: 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: Gough, you get that 'Hog rolling as soon as we dust off. I need your team in position A.S.A.P.
Gough: 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: Go, go, go!

McLees, Segur and Gough climb into the Warthog.

Gough: Let's roll.
Sergeant: Get the hell out of here, Lieutenant.
Lieutenant (COM): Good luck.

The Pelican takes off and flies over the Warthog.

Gough (COM): See you at the rendevous point.
Sergeant: Affirmative.

The Sergeant, Wang and a third Marine 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. Gough dismounts and approaches the facility on foot.

Gough (COM): Objective in sight: six hostiles, six vehicles.

The Sergeant's group run past a herd of Thorn Beasts, one of which roars.

Sergeant: Draw off what you can.

Gough waves for Segur and McLees to come toward him. They leave the Warthog and run toward him.

Gough: 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. Gough and Segur crest a rise and open fire on the Elite guarding the facility's entrance.

Gough: Initiating contact.

The Elite return fire and a Wraith slowly makes its way toward the marines.

Gough: That did it. Fall back!

As they turn to retreat, Segur is shot in the back repeatedly and killed. Gough continues to distract the Wraith as it crests the rise and is destroyed by McLees using the Warthog's cannon turret. The Sergeant's group arrives and wipes out the rest of the Elite.

Sergeant: Report!
Gough: We lost Segur.
Sergeant: Gough, 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.

Wang: Clear! No movement, no heat, no Covenant anywhere. Somethin' ain't right.
Sergeant: Hold up. And Wang? Put a sock in it, will ya?
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: We got nothin' down the rabbit hole. See anything topside?

Gough stands at the facility's entrance.

Gough: Not a damn thing.
Wang: All clear. Looks like nobody's ho--

A 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. The Sergeant and the unnamed Marine open fire, but their shots are Elite's arm shield. Numerous Elite push forward and pursue the humans.

Sergeant: Outnumbered! Attempting to disengage!
Gough: Position is secure, we're coming in!

The unnamed Marine is killed and falls off the ramp. The Sergeant shoots and kills one of the Elite.

Sergeant: Negative! Hold your position!
Gough (COM): No way, Sarge. Fifty meters and closing.
Sergeant: Gough, get the hell out of here! That's an or--

The Sergeant is killed by heavy fire.

Gough: Come on, let's move.
McLees: Go. I'll cover you.

Gough 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 Elite, and triggering a series of explosions which destroy two Ghosts and a Wuchek-pattern Spectre. Two Banshees chase down Gough, destroying his Ghost and leaving him wounded. The EliteMajor dismounts from his Ghost and advances on the injured marine. Gough 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.
Gough: Go to Hell!

The Elite levels its Plasma Rifle at Gough's head, but is distracted by the sound of gunfire. Two Elite Minors 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 Gough and the Master Chief.

Master Chief: Can you walk?
Gough: Cortana told us one of you was onboard, but I didn't believe her.
Master Chief: Enemy airborne battalion inbound. Let's get you on board.
Gough: You're staying?
Master Chief: Yes. My battle has just begun.

Cut to Halo logo HALO.BUNGIE.COM

Production notes[edit]

The Marines depicted in the trailer were named and modeled after Bungie employees: Charlie Gough, Matt Segur, Robert McLees, and Shi Kai Wang. The Sergeant who resembled Marcus Lehto was not named in the trailer, but he was depicted as an early version of Sergeant Marcus Stacker. The sixth Marine was unnamed in the trailer and all supplementary material.

Noticeable Differences from the final version of Halo: Combat Evolved[edit]

Gameplay[edit]

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.
Halo is depicted as having an assortment of native wildlife.
The Sangheili don't seem to have any energy shielding, whereas they do in the final game. The Sangheili Major was equipped with the Sangheili point defense gauntlet, which did not appear in the final game.
Sangheili Major and Sangheili Minor never uses the Energy Sword in the final game. In addition to those changes, the final game doesn't appear to have the code for an Sangheili to lunge: the Sangheili always appear to swipe, or melee their opponents.
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.
When McLees detonates the grenade, it actually detonates the parked vehicles. In the final game, unoccupied vehicles would flip around undamaged.

Visual and Audio Design[edit]

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 game.
Several parts of the Assault Rifle used by the Marines appears to have a wooden finish.
The SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle possessed a different design, and was equipped with a suppressor.
The Plasma Rifles seem to have more of a purple color.
The Needler's projectiles don't glow. They act more like an explosive version of the Brute Spiker.
The Master Chief appears slightly different to his final representation: he has a robotic voice, and a radio antenna on the shoulder piece of his MJOLNIR Mark V armor. When he is hit by enemy fire, his shields flicker blue instead of yellow.
The armor and color of the UNSC Marine Corps Battle Dress Uniform differs slightly, and their rangefinder eyepieces are red, instead of green.
The Sangheili' biology is slightly different in some scenes, with their mouths seeming to have a lower jaw instead of four mandibles.
The Sangheili sound very different, with deep and rasping voices, and bear a noticeable resemblance to the noises made by the Flood in the final game.
The Sangheili' 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 Banshees depicted have tail flaps that appear to act as rudders for aerial steering. The legs of the Banshee pilots are more exposed. The Banshees' engines sound like the Halo 2 Phantoms.
The trailer prominently features a few cut vehicles from early stages of Combat Evolved. These include the;
- Covenant "Shadow" - the early name for a vehicle cut from final release and later introduced into Halo 2 as the Wuzum-pattern Spectre - albeit with a heavy redesign. The version featured in the E3 2000 trailer would later be restored as part of the Digsite initiative and canonised as the Wuchek-pattern Spectre.
- Rocket Warthog - A rocket turret-equipped variant of the Warthog ultimately cut from the final release. The concept was later re-introduced in the game's PC port as the M12A Rocket Warthog (albeit with a redesigned M39 rocket turret) while the specific vehicle design itself was later reused in Halo 2 as the M12G1 Gauss Warthog - with the rocket turret design recontexualised as the M68 Gauss cannon.

Gallery[edit]

The early version of a Sangheili Major.
The early version of the Ghost and Spectre vehicles.
Sangheili Major holding an Type-1 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.