Now that the latest Halo 3 "ViDoc" has been released and allowed to simmer for a few hours, Bungie has responded to some of the most common questions and concerns associated with it. Chief among these questions is of course the graphics. Already announced as being placeholder graphics, many still found the video to be lacking -- in some cases barely above Halo 2's visual quality. In response, Bungie says that essentially nothing in the video represents the actual look of Halo 3, save for a few very brief snippets. Furthermore, all footage in the video is several months old, as that is when they started creating the documentary.Also noticed by some serious Halo fans was a fourth grenade slot in a shot of the HUD. Some speculated that this was the mysterious shield "grenade" seen in the recent Halo 3 TV commercial. Bungie points out again that these shots are months old, and the HUD might be entirely different now. The current build could have more grenades on the HUD, less, etc.
The biggest concern addressed by Bungie had to do with the Brutes becoming the main enemy in Halo 3. Bungie assures the populace that Brutes aren't the only enemies we will be fighting. The Covenant are more complex than we might imagine, and a simple split "along party lines" is not in the cards, thus we see Grunts with Brutes in the video even though they sided with the Elites in Halo 2. Furthermore, Bungie notes that the Brute behavior witnessed in the video is not indicative of final gameplay, and that the Brute AI will change "dramatically and strategically" during actual play.
Finally, Bungie.net should have a low resolution version of the documentary available for download tomorrow (of course, you could just check it out on Joystiq right now).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-20-2006 @ 6:04PM
hppymnky said...
I've read all this complaining about how it looks like halo 2, so what? Seriously Halo 2 looked great and it gave me exactly what I wanted, awesome gameplay with good graphics without having to worry about upgrading my pc. That's why I love my 360. But really, if all they do is upgrade the graphics just a little bit I'll be happy. Let's not forget some of the upgrades we've seen already - 2nd weapons on the outside where we can see them, the mongoose, spike grenades, man-cannons, spartan laser badassness, feet that contour to a surface, new weapons, etc. This will be an awesome game, just so long as the writers don't screw us with the storyline, which already has the makings of an interesting ending. Oh yeah, and lets not forget that the announcement vid was done in real time by the Halo 3 engine and it looked amazing. So yes, halo 3 will be alright.
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12-20-2006 @ 6:24PM
Z3r0 D3adly said...
I knew that the graphics weren't going to be that great since it was only the pre-alpha but thats still awsome for a game in such an early stage! I can't wait for this Game!
btw #1
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12-21-2006 @ 1:30AM
Johnny said...
I actually thought it looked better when everything was unskinned.
Halo generally has a color scheme thats way to bright with next to no earth tones. it tends to make it look cheap and toonish.
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12-21-2006 @ 5:43AM
Taylor Alexander said...
@ Johnny.... No earth tones...? Riiiiiight....
-Taylor
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12-21-2006 @ 8:22AM
Marmar said...
halo has always been so freakin dark. Every stage was basically pitch black, i hope they fix that.
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12-21-2006 @ 3:28PM
slickrick said...
Why do they keep releasing videos like these and have to keep explaining that the real game looks nothing like this? Are they so full of themselves that they just HAVE to make all these documentaries? I remember that lame video they showed off at E3, then there was the "making of" video to it. Give me a break.
I'm expecting Halo 3 to be everything Halo 2 was supposed to be, graphically. I played Halo 2 again recently, and was appalled by how horrible it is. Bump mapping magically appears 5 seconds after a real-time cutscene starts. The worlds are big, but everything looks bland- especially in the city. The original Halo had it's sh*t together in that regard.
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12-21-2006 @ 3:38PM
ScreamingSkull said...
I just wish they weren't harping on and on about what genius's they are about half-way redesigning one of their creatures.. I mean isn't this due out mid 07? Shouldn't they at least try and get a somewhat new renderer in place to give us a screencap that doesn't look like it came from 10 year old hardware?
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12-21-2006 @ 9:56PM
smacksmackums said...
The cut-scenes in Halo 2 were clearly unfinished, and whatever technique they used for the mapping made everyone look EXTREMELY UGLY.
I think that they should just make sure that this one is clean and finished.
The other thing that clearly pointed to the unfinished state of Halo 2 was the no online co-op, although the co-op had things set up in the menus like it could go online. That was just lame, like a teaser almost. Ugh, still makes me mad.
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12-22-2006 @ 1:35AM
Johnny said...
Look All I'm saying is if you compare the visual style of Halo to a few other fps games.
halo looks the cheapest of the two 99% of the time.
bright neon pink is not an earth tone.
they even admit that the Chiefs armor is only just now getting battle damage textures.
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