Jarrard and Lehto and the video they showed at X10 make a big deal of Bungie's overhaul of its engine with regard to visual detail and animation, including motion capture for the first time. It's to bring the drama to life, they say, although it will also have significant gameplay implications, with the new animation rig giving AI characters much more flexibility and fluidity of action.

Nevertheless, we can't recall the last time a sequel was sold to us so emphatically on the promise of improved visuals and scale above all else. The (admittedly wonderful) new weapon and character models are pored over pornographically, and the words "generational leap forward", "upgrade", "complete overhaul", and above all "more" keep cropping up. Four times as many polygons in characters as Halo 3. Particles in the thousands rather than hundreds.

It almost sounds defensive. "Well... we realised that we needed to compete against quite a number of other titles," admits Lehto, the subtext being that Halo hasn't been a visual powerhouse for some years now. "It really did require us to rebuild nearly everything across the board."
'Halo: Reach' Screenshot 3

Jackal of all trades - the Skirmisher.

Although some of the footage shown is rough, the improvements are clear, massive, and naturally very welcome. It has a strikingly different mood and colour palette to previous Haloes' neon tones - grittier and more muted. "The story we're telling is definitely darker," says Lehto. "So we'll use colour. We'll use it to really impact the player's experience and help drive their emotional response. And we definitely are taking more tonal control of that kind of thing... That said, it's not a drab or dreary look and feel. That's not Halo."

More exciting still is the increased number of AIs this engine can handle - four Spartans, the player and eight marines against thirty or so Covenant is given as an example. As long as the improvements come without any cost to the openness or scale of battle, Halo devotees can rest easy, and indeed Bungie claims to be pushing this further in most instances.

In perhaps the single most significant nod to Combat Evolved, the Covenant Elite is once more the principal enemy - always a more worthy and threatening adversary than the hateful Brute, with more cunning, elegance and power (if only in our heads). Cuddly allies by the time Halo 3 concluded, it's great to see them restored to fearsome status. They're joined by old, new and redesigned enemies, including a comically heavily-armoured Grunt and a feathery, much more aggressive cousin to the Jackal.

I'm sorry Op. That was just so silly I HAD to boulet it.

I still can't see it happening - and Master Chief turning up in a Halo game is hardly a major surprise.

I'm right there with you OPs! I would love to see some scenes from the books take place. There was some great gaming potential there. I am not, however, behind the Idea of a cover system in Halo. Would change all the dynamics of the gameplay. I also wouldn't mind playing the scene where the Chief was collecting that data in Zero G. Awesome scene( especially loved the part were he got the 'nade behind the Jackal's shield, and it's blood coated the walls, he, he...

Haven't the elites and other enemies always taken cover?

Have you been able to play as Elites in MP before?, as it looks like you can in Reach.

There's no way they won't tone it down for splitscreen. Look at Halo 3 in splitscreen. They can't keep the same fidelity and image quality and drive four cameras.

Yea it's not even HD. Splitscreen in Halo 3 is 480p, and it looks significantly worse than solo play. That's why I think it's funny that people think splitscreen holds back single player so much, because they make sacrifices to get splitscreen to work, not the other way around. I'm not saying there's zero impact on the solo experience, but it's probably a lot more marginal than people seem to think it is.