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.

Summary
300px|right Halo Wars is set in the year 2531, right as human UNSC forces retake a planet called Harvest from the crusading alien faction, the Covenant. The story of Halo Wars is told through the eyes and ears of the crew aboard the UNSC 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.

Transcript

 * 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 Elites whom are separated by a wall of debris, a few of the marines yell out as they arrive. A Marine quickly joins in and starts to fire upon the Elites, only to be shot by a plasma bolt to the chest. Then a Warthog 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 pile out of one of the landed Pelicans. The camera then shifts to a Marine hitting an Elite from behind. The Elite falls down and is shot dead by another Marine. Then, it shifts to a panorama, showing nine Marines cheering and a Warthog overlooking the battlefield; a destroyed city with a burning Unknown Covenant Glassing Ship in the distant sky, presumably shot down by UNSC forces.)
 * Cutter:"At first it was going well..."

[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 shifts 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 as of yet Unknown Covenant Glassing Ships 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 it's 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

 * It was put on the official Halo Wars community site after the E3 Business & Media Summit.
 * This trailer is reminiscent of the beginning cinematic of another Ensemble game called Age of Mythology.
 * The Marine who gets shot down by the Banshee utters the famed "Wilhelm Scream" as he is gunned down.
 * The trailer was made available for free on the Xbox Live Marketplace on July 19th, 2008.
 * The Pelicans have the Legendary symbol (Elite skull crossed by two blades) on the nose of their hulls.
 * 7/14/2008 can be put as 7, 14, and 28, all of which are divisible by 7.
 * The Assault Rifles in the trailer, strangely enough make MA5C sound effects, rather than MA5B sound effects, calling into question when the MA5C entered service.

Internal

 * Halo Wars

External

 * Halo Wars: Five Long Years Trailer