Bungie filled in a few of the blanks on this standalone Halo campaign disc at the Tokyo Game Show.
It probably says something about the state of Japanese game design that the biggest story out of this year's Tokyo Game Show has the Halo name on it. We had as many questions as you after Microsoft took the wraps off Halo 3 Recon yesterday. Luckily, Bungie community honchos Brian Jarrard and Luke Smith were kind enough to answer a few of them today (and scoff at the rest). Without further ado...
A Spartan he ain't.How am I going to get this thing? Recon is a standalone retail disc; no downloads, no ownership of Halo 3 required. There aren't any official pricing details yet, but you can bet it will run a cool $60 like all top-tier 360 games when it's out in fall '09.
What's it about? The game takes place during the latter half of Halo 2, while Master Chief is kicking it on Delta Halo. You play as a lone ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) stranded in the embattled New Mombasa just after the Prophet of Regret rudely performs a slipspace jump and sunders the city in the process. It's your job to perform mop-up and get the bad guys out of there. Lucky you!
Does it play like Halo? Yes and no. It's a first-person game set in the Halo universe; in Jarrard's words, it "will feel like a Halo game." At the same time, your ODST is no badass cybernetic supersoldier. He's just "one lone guy in a Covenant-occupied city," which will dictate a more reserved, tactical play style. (I bet Bungie works up some lesser enemies for you to square off with too, though.)
How much Halo 3 will be in there? It's the same engine and tech as Halo 3. But on the content side, Bungie is working furiously on building the Recon campaign from the ground up, so don't look for recycled levels or anything like that. This also won't look like the New Mombasa of Halo 2. Expect a unique experience.
What's up with the multiplayer? Recon will have new multiplayer maps and potentially other stuff, but no more details available than that. However, it will also contain the new Mythic map pack that's hitting Marketplace in the spring.
The new New Mombasa?Points? Yeah, a full thousand points' worth of achievements for the campaign.
Does it have [insert my favorite Halo 3 feature]? Yep, Recon has "full feature parity" with Halo 3. So things like online four-player co-op and Forge level editing are still supported.
Am I going to get the Recon armor? "You might, you might not," says Jarrard. Cagey. But he also pointed out that 1) the Recon armor wouldn't be so special if everyone got it, and 2) maybe that armor won't be such a big deal by this time next year, anyway. Hmm.
Who's making this thing? Bungie formed a small splinter group to build Recon while the rest of the company focuses on other projects. (Projects? Plural?!) This team includes some Bungie vets who have been working on Halo since the beginning of the series, and they view it as a "fun creative challenge" to build up an entirely new Halo offshoot with established engine tech. This is a one-off game, though; don't expect a whole new ODST franchise. Call it Halo Gaiden.
Anything else? Not related to Recon per se, but an upgrade is going into Bungie.net soon that will let you render your Halo 3 saved films directly to Flash videos on the web site. Not too shabby.
Lastly, here's the Recon announcement trailer in our super-duper high-res AwesomePlayer (trademark pending.)
Hmm, a bit confusing . . . Bungie needs to bring their PR people together and get on the same page. We them saying you're not playing a super soldier Master Chief, so you have to pick your fights a be more tactical. Then they say the game plays like Halo 3, it's not a tactical shooter or a stealth game. Then they say you have to be more stealth because you're just a lone fighter. They then go off and say it's not an expansion, but Luke Smith was reported saying it's not really an expansion, it stands on its own.
I mean what is this game?
I'm a bit disappointed. I was expecting something different to prove in my eye Bungie has the ability to think outside of the box when it comes down to the Halo universe. But they can prove me wrong, we're not expecting it until Fall of 2009!!!!
Definitely interested, Master Chief was fun, but I like the idea of stealthier more tactical engagements. Still, it's a year away so we'll have to wait and see.
I want to know about the multiplayer. If it's going to play differently from H3, does that mean it won't be SPRAY SPRAY SPRAY WHACK anymore? If the mythic map packs are going to be included, does that mean it's still going to be Halo 3's multiplayer but have a single player campaign that feels differently? So many questions.
As I understand this is a complete game. Its own full campaign, 1k points and its built up from scratch. So 60 bucks is a given. 360 games are about 7 gigs each, so I wouldn't want this as a DLC. Not that I would mind, but it would hurt sales. Halo sells like crazy among the casual gamers. So it could alienate them.
It looks sorta kinda good... have no idea how it looks a plays yet though. But I like the idea of a more stealth based game in the Halo universe. But who knows, could be a total disaster as well. As far as I know, Bungie is a fps company. Even though they really know their fps stuff, this could still go really bad. Its exciting at least.
If you listen to the Joystiq mp3 recording of one of the chats, you'll understand the only reason they mention the term 'expansion' is to help people gain a small grasp on what it is. As they say "It's a disservice to call it just an expansion".
$60 is alot though... *has to think more about this & know how it'll actually play*
Its just a misnomer is all. They're calling it an expansion but they're charging full price and it doesn't require Halo 3. So its not. Its an episode, or a "gaiden" like they said. The only reason to get pissed is if it turns out to only have an expansion's worth of content.
Well Rowr this is a game built from the ground up, a whole new campaign,a whole new game experince,a $60 price tag makes perfect sense, i don't think you would want to download a 6 GB game on your HD now would you?
I still think it would be smarter for microsoft to make this DLC
I read that this wouldnt have the content of a full game, so $60 seems ridiculous, especially since in Australia that will probably equate to something more like $200.
It probably says something about the state of Japanese game design that the biggest story out of this year's Tokyo Game Show has the Halo name on it. We had as many questions as you after Microsoft took the wraps off Halo 3 Recon yesterday. Luckily, Bungie community honchos Brian Jarrard and Luke Smith were kind enough to answer a few of them today (and scoff at the rest). Without further ado...
A Spartan he ain't.How am I going to get this thing? Recon is a standalone retail disc; no downloads, no ownership of Halo 3 required. There aren't any official pricing details yet, but you can bet it will run a cool $60 like all top-tier 360 games when it's out in fall '09.
What's it about? The game takes place during the latter half of Halo 2, while Master Chief is kicking it on Delta Halo. You play as a lone ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) stranded in the embattled New Mombasa just after the Prophet of Regret rudely performs a slipspace jump and sunders the city in the process. It's your job to perform mop-up and get the bad guys out of there. Lucky you!
Does it play like Halo? Yes and no. It's a first-person game set in the Halo universe; in Jarrard's words, it "will feel like a Halo game." At the same time, your ODST is no badass cybernetic supersoldier. He's just "one lone guy in a Covenant-occupied city," which will dictate a more reserved, tactical play style. (I bet Bungie works up some lesser enemies for you to square off with too, though.)
How much Halo 3 will be in there? It's the same engine and tech as Halo 3. But on the content side, Bungie is working furiously on building the Recon campaign from the ground up, so don't look for recycled levels or anything like that. This also won't look like the New Mombasa of Halo 2. Expect a unique experience.
What's up with the multiplayer? Recon will have new multiplayer maps and potentially other stuff, but no more details available than that. However, it will also contain the new Mythic map pack that's hitting Marketplace in the spring.
The new New Mombasa?Points? Yeah, a full thousand points' worth of achievements for the campaign.
Does it have [insert my favorite Halo 3 feature]? Yep, Recon has "full feature parity" with Halo 3. So things like online four-player co-op and Forge level editing are still supported.
Am I going to get the Recon armor? "You might, you might not," says Jarrard. Cagey. But he also pointed out that 1) the Recon armor wouldn't be so special if everyone got it, and 2) maybe that armor won't be such a big deal by this time next year, anyway. Hmm.
Who's making this thing? Bungie formed a small splinter group to build Recon while the rest of the company focuses on other projects. (Projects? Plural?!) This team includes some Bungie vets who have been working on Halo since the beginning of the series, and they view it as a "fun creative challenge" to build up an entirely new Halo offshoot with established engine tech. This is a one-off game, though; don't expect a whole new ODST franchise. Call it Halo Gaiden.
Anything else? Not related to Recon per se, but an upgrade is going into Bungie.net soon that will let you render your Halo 3 saved films directly to Flash videos on the web site. Not too shabby.
Lastly, here's the Recon announcement trailer in our super-duper high-res AwesomePlayer (trademark pending.)
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