The Halo Experience Showcase

The Halo Experience Showcase
Game:	Forza Horizon 4
Player:	John-117
Date:	2018
Location:	Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, United Kingdom
	Halopedia has a walkthrough guide for this level; see The Halo Experience Showcase/Walkthrough.

The Halo Experience Showcase is a Showcase Event in the 2018 racing game Forza Horizon 4 developed by Playground Games.

It is represented by the icon of a D79-TC Pelican. Unlike other Showcase Events in Forza Horizon 4, this event can be played during any of the four seasons. It is located on the Bamburgh Castle Beach, but access to the event is more recommended with an offroad-suitable vehicle due to the depth of the sand.

Transcript

{Cutscene}

An M12S Warthog CST appears, with the player's character near the driver's side of it. The camera rotates around the Warthog and focuses on its front right wheel.

Only the Warthog is now seen alongside a few UNSC crates used during the Fall of Reach with health packs and a disabled power cell next to them.

A SPARTAN-II clad in GEN2 MJOLNIR Mark VI MOD armor is seen walking towards the Warthog, with the camera changing to show him from the front. The Spartan is revealed to be none other than John-117. He stops walking and briefly observes his vehicle.

John then turns around to see a D79-TC Pelican touch down in front of him and walks back to his Warthog while still facing the Pelican. Unintelligible radio chatter is then heard. The camera cuts back to the front of the Warthog for several seconds, and the environment is changed to show the Bamburgh Castle Beach, with a Halo ring in the background. John is seen relaxing by the driver's side of his Warthog.

{Gameplay}

John drives the Warthog through the beach towards the first checkpoint, which is close to the Bamburgh Castle.

• Kilo: "This is Kilo Actual. Cortana, do you read me? I heard you need a pickup."

As John gets closer to the first checkpoint, which is marked by a pair of blue signal flares, the player assumes control. Indestructible Covenant props and shield generators litter the surroundings while a pair of Banshees fly through the sky and pursue the Pelican, which is flying towards the landing zone on the beach and trying to evade the Banshees, neither of which attack.

• Cortana: "Cortana to Kilo Actual. Perfect timing! We are all done here and ready for dust-off."

The Master Chief makes a right and clears the first checkpoint. He turns left and notices race barriers made out of hard light. He sees the second checkpoint, which is marked on a ramp made out of sand.

• Kilo: "Whoa! Aborting pickup. Sorry, Cortana, I gotta shake these bogeys."

• Cortana: "Affirmative, Kilo Actual. I'll scan for a new LZ. Chief, gun it. Get us outta here!"

If the Chief makes a hard crash anytime during the event.

• Cortana: "Hey! Keep your head down! There's two of us in there now!"

The Chief clears the gap and jumps onto the grassy terrain part of the Bamburgh Castle. The path is now surrounded by hard light barriers again, this time on both sides. Chief cuts through a narrow castle entrance and sees that the castle has been decorated with UNSC and Covenant props.

• Kilo: "Cortana, what is this place?"

• Cortana: "I don't know. Looks like a fortification of some kind, but it hasn't been used in centuries."

John exits the castle through another passageway and sees a Marine named Banks escaping to the landing zone in another Warthog. He turns right to reach the third checkpoint.

• Banks: "Is that a Spartan? We're gonna make it home after all!"

John follows Banks's Warthog to the next checkpoint.

• Cortana: "OK, new LZ found. We don't have long. This ring is gonna go nuclear in three minutes, and we do not want to be here when it does. Marines, I've added coordinates to your nav. Be there for evac in three minutes."

• Banks: "Roger that, Cortana. Hoo-rah!"

John clears the fourth checkpoint, drives through the farmlands, and reaches a checkpoint close to several residential homes.

• Cortana: "Look at these ancient dwellings. It almost looks like something lives here."

After clearing the fifth checkpoint, John then continues to follow the Pelican and gets on a public road for the next checkpoint. He sees that it is on farmland terrain and that the roads are blocked off by UNSC scenery props on the left and Covenant props on the right.

• Kilo: "Just go straight up here. We've got a better chance of avoiding those Banshees offroad."

John exits the splitting road and drives his Warthog through another set of farmland, making a hard right turn to pass the seventh checkpoint, which is barricaded by a single wooden fence that he breaks through with no trouble.

John then jumps another public road, which is blocked off with construction signs and military props, and lands on farmland again. Another Marine named Stacker enters the scene from the trees to the left, also in a Warthog, just as John turns right for the eighth checkpoint.

• Stacker: "Hoo-rah!"

Noticing hard light race barriers once again, John drives to the eighth checkpoint and jumps off a ramp.

• Cortana: "Whoa! Banshees. Look out!"

{Cutscene}

As John drives his Warthog off the ramp, the two Banshees appear and perform a loop-the-loop evasive maneuver. After some time, John eventually lands on the ground and clears the checkpoint.

{Gameplay}

• Kilo: "Banshees in-bound. Try and lose 'em through those trees!"

John continues following the event's route, this time turning left and eventually merging onto another public road, where the ninth checkpoint is located. He clears it, while still following the Marines, and takes a left detour off the road and onto railroad tracks to evade the pursuing Banshees.

• Cortana: "Alert! Banshees! Fast and low!"

• Stacker: "Banshees! Save us, Chief!"

The Chief continues on the railroads and reaches the tenth checkpoint, which eventually leads to a diagonal right turn that leads into grassland dominated by tall bushes. Covenant props are seen splattered everywhere.

• Cortana: "This is Cortana to all air support units. I'm sending you coordinates for an LZ. Requesting immediate evac. All air support units to the LZ."

The eleventh checkpoint is ahead, situated on more farmland along with a few farmland houses. Chief reaches this checkpoint and turns his vehicle to the right to continue the event. He once again continues following the Marines up hilly farmland to reach the twelfth checkpoint.

• Kilo: "Cortana, I'm getting a green from three, four... make that five Pelicans. En route to the LZ. You and the Marines had better be there soon."

After passing the checkpoint, John turns left to merge onto a public road and eventually reaches a two-way highway. He takes the road on the right, which leads into a tunnel.

• Kilo: "Cortana, I can't follow you through here. I'll see you on the other side."

• Cortana: "That's not the most reassuring choice of words..."

As John drives his Warthog through the tunnel, he encounters another Marine named Navarro. He eventually enters the tunnel, which is marked by wrong way signs at the ceiling of the entrance. He then drives his Warthog through the tunnel, turning left and right to avoid Covenant military objects.

• Cortana: "This cave is not a natural formation..."

• Marine: "Wooo, ECHO!"

John approaches another ramp, jumps it, and smashes through construction signs while following Navarro. All contact has already been lost with Kilo.

• Cortana: "I don't like this. Comms have gone quiet. Kilo Actual, do you read? Kilo Actual? Whoa!"

A Banshee flies through the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is a ramp two lanes wide. The Chief then drives through the ramp at full speed, flies off of it, and makes a close call with the Pelican, which has now regained contact with the Spartan and his AI.

• Kilo: "Loud and clear, Cortana!"

John drives offroad once again for the next checkpoint, which is immediately followed by a hard left turn. Another Warthog spawns in, with Chips Dubbo being the driver.

• Cortana: "Good to see you again, Pilot! I do not want to reach that LZ without you!"

John continues following the Pelican and Marines and then turns right to reach the next checkpoint.

• Marine: "Hoo-rah!"

John realizes that time is running out and brings his Warthog to full speed for the last several checkpoints up ahead, with the next one directly ahead of him on a dirt road.

• Cortana: "Cortana to all units, the LZ is right ahead. We have thirty seconds before the ring's superstructure begins to collapse."

John, clearing this checkpoint, jumps the final ramp and above the Pelican. Another pair of Banshees fly past the Spartan and his Warthog while he gets a few seconds of air time and lands, getting an "Ultimate Air" Skill. He follows the route, which then makes a sharp left turn that leads back onto the Bamburgh Castle Beach.

• Cortana: "Fifteen seconds, Chief! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six..."

The penultimate checkpoint is seen, this time on the beach. John drives onto the beach, with rocks surrounding him on both sides, and clears the checkpoint.

• Cortana: "Five, four, three, two, one... We're not gonna make it!"

The final Marines, named Perez and Reynolds, spawn in Warthogs and reach the landing zone. The finish line, marked by three pairs of blue signal flares, is seen at the landing zone up ahead. John uses full throttle to push through.

• Cortana: "Pilot, this would be very good time to leave."

John crosses the finish line. A blank white environment with a reflective floor appears, with military crates and traffic cones present, along with John's Warthog and the Pelican. He is seen driving out of the scene as the event's results are brought up.

• Cortana: "Horizon Festival training module complete. Initiating upload of results to the UNSC Fleetcom."

The event ends.

Trivia

Mistakes

• In the same manner as the Halo 4 mission Midnight, FLEETCOM is written as "Fleetcom" in subtitles when spoken, but as "FleetCom" when being spoken to.

References

• This event is highly reminiscent of the Halo: Combat Evolved mission The Silent Cartographer, as both missions involve John-117 assisting Marines on a beach situated on a Halo ring while driving a Warthog.
• This event is also reminiscent of the final missions of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3: The Maw and Halo, respectively. All three events involve escaping a Halo ring in a Warthog (in Halo: Combat Evolved's case, Installation 04; In Halo 3's case, Installation 08; and in Forza Horizon 4's case, a currently unidentified Halo ring).
• Some of Cortana's lines are derived from previous Halo games:
  • Her line "Hey! Keep your head down! There's two of us in here now!" is derived from the Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 3 missions The Pillar of Autumn and Cortana, respectively.
  • When Chief enters the highway tunnel, Cortana jokingly and confusedly comments, "This cave is not a natural formation..." This is an infamous line that was first heard in the Halo: Combat Evolved mission Halo.
• The Covenant and UNSC scenery props are derived from Halo: Reach, Halo 2: Anniversary, and Halo 5: Guardians.
• The tunnel run sequence is reminiscent of the ending of the Halo 2 mission Outskirts, which also involves John using an M12 Warthog to drive through the underground tunnels of New Mombasa.
  • The major differences between the two tunnel runs are that The Halo Experience Showcase features no combat and only nonstop driving, and that the Forza version has a much shorter tunnel run.

Miscellaneous

• This event features a unique skybox, with the Halo ring in the background along with a CRS-class light cruiser from Halo 4 lurking among the clouds.
• This is the first Showcase Event in any of the Forza Horizon games where the player does not have to race against another mode of transport. In this case, the player simply has to complete the event as quickly as possible.
  • It is also the first Showcase Event to feature AI-controlled Drivatars. However, the player actually never races against them.
• John-117's armor is identical to the one he wears in Halo 5: Guardians, albeit with some minor changes:
  • His techsuit is now colored a much darker shade of green, and any red paint on the techsuit is now colored white.
  • His visor is now fixed, much like before his violent altercation with Jameson Locke in Halo 5: Guardians, and has a slightly brighter shade of orange.
• Excluding Anniversary titles of the Halo series, Forza Horizon 4 is also the first appearance of Chips Dubbo (at least by name) in a video game since Halo: Reach.
• This Showcase Event features a unique skybox, with a Halo ring in the background along with a CRS-class light cruiser from Halo 4 partially hidden amongst the clouds.
• Unlike any of the Halo games, where John speaks either in cutscenes, gameplay, or both, in Forza Horizon 4, he never speaks at all. This is the same for other driver characters in the game.
• Forza Horizon 4 marks John-117's first full appearance in a Forza game, in contrast to Forza Motorsport 7, which featured an unlockable set of Driver Gear modeled after him.
  • It also marks Cortana's second appearance in the series, after her Forza Motorsport 4 Autovista narrations for the M12 Warthog FAV.