Five Long Years

"Halo Wars is set in the year 2531 right as UNSC forces retake a planet called Harvest from the alien Covenant. The story of Halo Wars is told through the eyes and ears of the crew aboard Spirit of Fire, a UNSC support vessel. As the ship approaches the planet Harvest to begin a dangerous and urgent mission, Captain Cutter reflects on the long and bloody battle to retake Harvest from the Covenant..."

- Ensemble description of the trailer

Five Long Years is a Halo Wars cinematic preview released on the July 14th of 2008 depicting the five year long struggle to reclaim Harvest from the Covenant. This cinematic takes 1:29 minutes. It is also the intro cinematic of the game.

Transcript
hXHavs_IaCk
 * Cutter: "Captain's report February 4th, 2531. Five years, five long years. That's how long it took us to get Harvest back..."

{Transcript Begin} (Several marines race through a battlefield and are successfully gunning down a group of oncoming Elites. A Marine gets killed when a nearby wall explodes and debris and plasma engulf him. The surviving Marines recover quickly and start to move forward.)


 * Marine: "Go, go, go!"

(They confront a Lance of slowly advancing Elites whom are separated by a wall of debris, a few of the marines yell out as they arrive. One Marine quickly joins in and starts to fire upon the Elites, only to be shot by a plasma bolt to the chest. 


 * Marine: "I've been hit!"

A Warthog then appears and runs the aliens over. The camera then cuts to the rear of the Warthog driving through a battlefield with the gunner firing the turret.)
 * Marine:"Keep firing!"

(Three marines fire their weapons. The camera then cuts to a shot of several Pelican dropships arriving with several Warthogs racing through the drop zone. Marines then charge out of one of the landed Pelicans. There is a cut to a Marine hitting an Elite from behind, so that it falls down and is shot dead by another Marine. Then it cuts to a panorama, showing nine Marines cheering and a Warthog overlooking the battlefield; a destroyed city with a burning Covenant Destroyer in the distant sky, presumably shot down by UNSC forces.)
 * Cutter:"At first it was going well..."

[Fade to Black]


 * Cutter: "Then setback after setback..."

(An Elite pierces a Marine with its Energy Sword. UNSC troops are overwhelmed by plasma fired by Elites and Banshees. The camera then cuts to a scene where three Elites jump over a crumbled wall, the two in the background wielding plasma rifles, the one in the foreground activating two energy swords.)


 * Cutter: "Loss after loss..."

(Two Covenant Destroyers begin to glass Harvest)


 * Cutter: "Made what was going to be a quick and decisive win..."

(A surviving Marine attempts to crawl to safety when an Elite approaches and slaughters him with his Energy Sword.)


 * Cutter: "Into five years of Hell..."

(Camera turns toward the skies and another ship appears and activates its energy weapon. White follows.)

{Transcript Ends}

Trivia

 * This trailer is reminiscent of the beginning cinematic of another Ensemble game: Age of Mythology.
 * The marine who is strafed by the Banshee utters the famed Wilhelm scream as he dies.
 * The trailer was made available for free on the Xbox Live Marketplace on July 19th, 2008.
 * The Pelicans have the Legendary symbol on the nose of their hulls.
 * The scene depicting the Marine being stabbed by the Elite was most likely included for dramatic effect, as the Covenant tends to evacuate before glassing a planet.

Internal

 * Halo Wars

External

 * Halo Wars: Five Long Years Trailer on YouTube