Today, we explore some of the environments of Reach. As I have nearly 40 concepts to show, I’ve decided to split this up into 3 articles. There is a good mix of campaign and multiplayer environments awaiting! As always click on them to make them MUCH bigger.

Let’s get right to it!

Anchor 9 seen in the campaign mission, “Long Night of Solace.” I know I keep using many of the same words when describing these concepts. The point is, it’s true. Detail is KING is the above concept. There is so much visually to take in with this concept that if you’re looking at it for less than 30 seconds, you’re doing an injustice to yourself. The design, texture, shading, scale and perspective brought together to make this a true work of art.

The campaign and invasion map, “Boneyard” is one of the biggest maps we’ve had in Halo to date. The map itself was somewhat under utilized. As the campaign level, I found myself sticking more to the left (open-cliff side) of the map. As the Invasion map, it was mostly the middle and base side of the map being used. However, there is a LOT more to it. The concepts above show us work areas in varying states of use. The one showing the larger area of the map gives us the overall sense of grandeur that the map has within, while the close-up pic gives us a glimpse of the minute detail Bungie put into it. Both are well done with contrasting highlights and shadows.

The two concepts above are a couple of my more favorite ones from Reach.  So rich in color and texture. Of note, we see that the map originally did NOT have a center floor to it (top pic). This is why that area had low gravity to it. The low gravity remained, while a floor was put in. The bottom pic of the two is just chock full of detail. The space changed very little in it’s base design from what we got in the final, other than adding a partially disassembled Sabre in it. I had LOTS of fun on this map and hope this kind of map returns in Halo 5 Guardians. 

Glassing at it’s worst. We see first-hand the devastation by the Covenant via the glassing ports of their starships. This is something I wish we would have seen up close, rather than from afar. It certainly had the potential to have us be more emotionally involved in the story. We did get some of this during the campaign, just not enough, IMO. As for the art, striking color contrast between the red/browns and purple make for a very visually compelling rendering. While it’s horrific in the act, there is a strange sense of beauty to the art itself.

Let this concept sink in for a minute. Do you know where it is? Hint, it’s NOT in the campaign, though it could have been. It’s a part of the Spartan training area on the multiplayer map “Highlands.” What I like about this piece is the mix of natural and man-made elements. The mesh together quite nicely. The overgrowth and damage to the facility adds a whole other level of realism to it. I was happy to have this map in matchmaking. Though, I think I might have preferred this version, versus the cleaner version we got.

Here we have the largest of the Firefight maps for Reach. Unearthed. This industrial mining yard was expansive. I wish Bungie would have map it a multiplayer map as well. The concepts great. The top one being very believable as an actual place. The bottom shows us part of the map that’s out of bounds. Simple in texture, the art still clearly states the size of the map. BTW, it IS possible to get outside of the playable area and see the rest of the map. Has to be done through theater though. If I had a capture device, I’d be able to show you. Hopefully one day, I’ll have that. I’ve wanted to make SO many videos, not just of reach, but Halo 4 as well.

Here we are at the beginning of the mission, “Tip of the Spear.” This concept is gritty in design and very earthy in texture and color. Note that quick shading techniques were used here to convey shape and size. BTW, did you know that in part of the cut scene for this, you can hear the infamous “Wilhelm” scream? It’s when thee warthog following you, with marines in it, doesn’t make the jump. One of them makes that scream. It’s a great homage to theater of old.

So where is THIS dark place? Could it be the base where we stave off several waves of Covies? The one where we along with Jorge go inside and secure the base and wipe out several Elites at the end of the mission? Whether it is or not, I would have LOVED to have played on this map. I like dark maps in the campaign. It adds suspense. The art above clearly shows that as dusk is giving way to night. 

For the last image in part 1, we have the destruction of the UNSC Navy in space orbiting the planet Reach. When we first saw similar images of this prior to the release of the game, via trailers, we were left to wonder about the Spartan’s voice we heard. In the meantime, we saw the effects of planet-wide devastation at the hands of the Covenant.

Remember Reach!

Tomorrow, we’ll continue with more environments of Reach. After the third part, we’ll switch to environments of Halo 4.

I know I ask this, which means I’m sincere about wanting to know, are you enjoying these concept articles? Anything about them you don’t like? Let me know. Your opinion may help me decide how I write these in the future.

Reply below. If you’re not already registered, it’s FREE to do so. Click on the tab in the main menu to learn how to register as a subscriber to HFFL!

-Sal

Okay, yes, I know…LOL. I rarely post this kind of thing, but I thought it was funny.

When the real deal shows up, you can BET I’ll be on it and posting it here!

-Sal

Following up on yesterday’s weapons of Reach, we’ll take a look at some of the weapons of the UNSC and Forerunners in Halo 4. I’d suggest pulling up both windows to compare the weapons/art.

First the UNSC weapons:

The BR is back! Much to the happiness of fans, 343 put the BR back into Halo. The design is sleek. The cool greys of the art make this weapon feel like a cold hard machine of war.

New to Halo are weapons skins. Above shows the Arctic weapon skin for the BR. This was available through pre-ordering from Gamestop. It became available through the Halo 4 Game of the Year edition. There were some really great skins to come out of Halo 4. I hope in the next game skins can be recolored as well.

A concept of the nuke and on the underside of the Broadsword.

A more fleshed out and color version of the nuke. There is some good use of shading and highlights here.

Here are some of the base concepts of the bomb.The magnum’s basic shape hasn’t changed drastically from Reach to Halo 4. It’s still very recognizable as the standard UNSC Magnum.

The Railgun is new to Halo, with Halo 4. I like the look of this and the feel of power. It does remind me of some of Bungie’s UNSC ship designs.

Here we have the SAW. The squad automatic weapon. It looks very much like the old Tommy-guns of the early 20th century.

Concepts of the SAW. I like the version we got in the final.

The auto-turret in Halo 4. This is most prevalent in Dominion. Though not a large shell based turret, it has the look of a Howitzer from the mid-20th century.

From greyscale to color to detailed concepts these show the progression of design and color choice.

Let’s take a look at some Forerunner weapons.

The Incineration Cannon, arguably the most powerful handheld weapon in all of Halo, this concept is similar to the in-game version. The addition of red lights into the final version gave it a much more powerful feel.

This is a beautiful rendering rendering. Not much more I can say about it. I’d love to have this as a print.

The Suppressor is the Forerunner’s Assault Rifle. This design is very futuristic. VERY Forerunner. 

The Light Rifle is another of the sleek elongated weapons. I like the design. The thing that is different with this weapon than most others is the hovering scope.

This is the Forerunner’s rapid fire shotgun. More bulky than other Forerunner weapons, this is a great weapon for up close combat. Now doesn’t this kind of look like the UNSC Infinity with a trigger grip?

And finally for this article, the Forerunner automated turret. This weapon, while not terribly effective, does keep enemies at bay. That allows you to take down those enemies. It’s a different design and a little bit of a departure from what we know. VERY cool design.

Tomorrow we’ll start to take a look a various concept art from places in Reach. Followed by Halo 4 locations.

-Sal

This short ride through takes a look at UNSC hand-held as well as larger weapons of Reach. As always, click on pics to make bigger!

The assault rifle went through several iterations of design before the final was chosen. In the compilation above, we see how much of the same basic shape ws present in most of the designs. As well the top grey/bottom black color palette was used throughout. 

Some of those designs are really pretty cool. One of the more radical designs above would be second column fourth row. Still has the look of an AR, however that lower part is quite a bit different from what we know and is a different color. My favorite of these,not including the in-game model, is in the first column, second row. Very similar to the in-game model, with a few extras.

The name of this piece includes “battle rifle”. However, we can tell that there is at least one sniper rifle and what looks to be an AR as well. The others did not in fact become the Reach style BR, but rather the DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle).

Note the similarities of each DMR design. There is however just enough redesign of each to differentiate them from one another. Very clean concept work as was the AR graphic above this.

Here we have a close-up of one of the DMR concepts. What is decidedly different it the strap. Given that weapons are stowed via magnet, it would have been a little odd to have this strap in the final. Of the art itself, there is a great deal of detail, especially towards the front of the rifle. Once again clean lines, highlight and shadow make for a crisp design.

The Magnum. Simple in color, it still is able to give the sense of power to it.

Now this concept of the Rocket Launcher is impressive. The color application, detail and shading really bring this design to life. While some consider the rocket launcher a “noob” weapon, I still see practically everyone use it, LOL. I know it’s saved more more than a few times on the virtual battlefield.

Here are a couple of concepts of the shotgun. Essentially the same design, with the main difference being the elongated barrel of the top one. The 3/4 rear view is done with exquisite perspective to it.

The heavy machine gun up top we know was Jorge’s weapon of choice. This version shows us more of the mechanics of the weapon that we might not have taken time to see while playing the game.
Below that, the Grenade Launcher, itself a new addition to the lexicon of Halo, as of Halo Reach. At first it looks like a sawed off shotgun. The grip/hammer/trigger sections of the Grenade Launcher look to me like something out of the Old West, but modernized.

As you can see from both, Bungie continued to had exceptional concept art.

A closer shot showing the detail of the Grenade Launcher concepts. What really add to these concepts is the subtle texture designs employed throughout the rendering. Scuffed metal near the “hammer” and trigger section, slight mottling of the dark portion of the barrel, as well as patterns on the top and bottom dark grey parts give this a realistic, more “lived in” feel to the concept.

The Spartan Laser! This weapons saw some redesign. The biggest tell all from early concepts is this color change. While ultimately it went back to it’s normal color, the steel or brushed metal look has a more utilitarian look to it. It’s shape says Spartan Laser, the color does not. I’m glad Bungie stuck with the olive color.

Now let’s move on the large weapons. (Not the hand held kind)

This sketch is a concept of the automated defense platform that is seen in the massive cave where Halsey’s lab is located at. Even with lines unfinished, there is still plenty of shape to the design. I don’t know about you, but on Legendary, these helped. They might not have killed much, but they did attract the enemy enough for me to take them out.

This missile turret is a very well done piece of art. Simplistic in shape, and even color palette, it’s the highlights and shadows that flesh out the design. I like the addition of the Spartan for scale.

Similar to the above in concept and design is the “Vulcan” weapons platform. A large gun mounted on a similar base as the rocket launcher was. As I’ve mentioned before in previous articles, the repeated use of portions of designs shows consistency. It becomes obvious these were made by the same in-game manufacturer. This would be important in a war time setting as likely parts could be swapped out of one platform for another.

Another concept of the Vulcan weapons platform. The one above is built for taking down larger craft while this version can take down smaller and likely faster craft.

In the last two concepts of this article we loo at the MAC cannon.

We now know that MAC cannons come is many sizes, shapes and of course firepower. They all however have a very similar delivery system for their ammunition. MAC stands for Magnetic Accelerated Cannon. The designs seen here look more like a very large Railgun. Itself a form of MAC cannon. (I wrote an article about the Science of Halo, Fact vs Fiction, regarding real world Railguns vs Halo Railguns. You can read that HERE.)

The art above is so very well done. You can see that it’s still in the concept phase as not all of the lines are clean. however there is enough detail and color to give shape and context to the design.

And finally a side view of a concept of the Reach MAC cannon. This designed changed quite a bit into what what would eventually become the in-game version. That one was mounted higher and included a gunner’s station. We first saw this when Emile took the gun and used it to clear a path for Captain Keyes’s pelican. Emile was attacked by a Zealot. While he ultimately perished, due to a fatal stabbing by the Elite with an energy sword through the chest, Emile did manage to kill the Elite. 

As the player, you then were able to mount the platform as make way for the Pillar of Autumn to escape.

Mega Bloks made a building books version of this. Here is my review of that set. You can see for yourself the similarities.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at UNSC weapons from Reach. Tomorrow, we will take a look at both UNSC and Forerunner weapons of Halo 4.

If you like what you’ve been seeing and/or reading, let me know. Reply below!

-Sal

Hello again folks. This is the second of today’s two concept art articles. Earlier we looked at equipment of Halo 4, no we look at just some of the concept art for multiplayer armor in Halo 4.

Shall we begin?

The Scout. Also known as Commander Sarah Palmer’s armor. The helmet redesign reflects that of the one from Halo 3. These and others to follow that show the armor in orthogonal views give dimension to the art. One thing I remain curious about is the lack of armor around the mid-section. I know 343 said that they reduced the profile of the armor to allow for more realistic movement in game. However, that really seems to leave the character exposed. Still, I’d take this armor over anything currently used in today’s militaries of the world.

Scout armor trivia:
• Did you know that Spartan Jun from Noble team of Halo Reach wore a version of Scout armor?
• It is for that reason above the Palmer chooses to wear Scout armor. It’s an homage to Jun, who recruited her into the Spartan IV program.

The Halo 4 version of the armor does not look much like it’s predecessor, other than the helmet. To be honest, that to me is what makes the armor identifiable.

Recon Armor Trivia:
• I can has Recon? This was a popular saying back in the Halo 3 days.
• The armor wasn’t available for the longest time. It was only for Bungie employees.
• On a rare occasion, they would award it to a gamer for doing something above and beyond.
• Eventually, the armor was made available through Vid-Master Challenges.
• IIRC, well after that, it was finally given away free.
• In Halo 4, Spartan Madsen of Fireteam Majestic wears the Recon armor. He’s a Sniper. Good thing for someone who does recon, eh?

The EVA armor. Again, other than the helmet, the rest of the armor is of a new design. While this helmet reflects that of previous EVA iterations, in-game it has a move tapered visor, rather than the much more rounded version form Halo 3 and Reach.

EVA Armor Trivia:
• Spartan Emile from Noble team in Reach wears a version of EVA armor. However, his has been heavily modified. In fact, he etched in a skull-like visage into the visor to evoke fear in the enemies he faces.

For the first time, we didn’t just have secondary colors that looked about the same for each armor set, we now got “skins”. These specialized skins were aesthetic in nature. However they gave us something to work for while playing Halo 4. In the above a color palette much like Chocolate Mint is shown. That is great use complimentary colors. They contrast well so that we the viewer are able to immediately determine what is the base color of the armor and what is the “skinned” portion of the armor.
Some skins in Halo 4 are fairly tough to get. I’m almost done with commendations, at 97%. And yet, those last few elude me.
Of the skins shown above, I think only one of them or a close variant of it,made it in-game.
The one I liked the best of those above has to be the bottom right. That EOD helmet most definitely says “SKULL” to me!

The Scanner Helmet. I really like the design of this helmet. In the graphic we get to see what it would look like without the scanner itself. It would have been very cool to have been able to choose if we wanted the visor up or down. Maybe the next game will have choices like that.

Scanner Helmet trivia:
• The Scanner helmet was an exclusive. Due to fan complaints of this, 343 reversed that and made it more readily available to everyone.
• IIRC, the inspiration for this helmet came from Clone Commander Cody in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith.  (Don’t quote me on that though, as I can’t find the source)

War Master Armor. This by far is my favorite helmet design of Halo 4. I’m a HUGE Iron Man fan. This helmet is the closest one to that helmet. Other than just a couple of days ago, I’ve used that helmet in Halo 4 fro well over a year. Why did I change armor? Well, now I’ve gone to an armor set-up that is as close the the new character from Halo5 Guardians. (See below)

The only other helmet that I think might be better is the Deadeye helmet. And of course that is the ONLY one I do not have… 🙁

This Spartan segues nicely as it uses the same helmet I have from above. It’s the Soldier armor set. Other than the rounded dome, this armor set looks “tough”. The addition of the pouches harkens back a little to Halo CE’s Master Chief.

Soldier Armor Trivia:
• This armor set is used by Spartan Paul DeMarco, Fireteam Majestic’s leader.
• It’s also worn by Spartan Scruggs in the comic book series Halo Escalation. That armor is white primary/yellow secondary

The Orbital armor seen above feels and looks more like EVA armor to me. It’s a decent design. Personally, if I had other choices, I’d never wear a helmet that has a large visor. It just hollers out,”SHOOT ME HERE.”

The Infiltrator armor, the helmet in particular is quite a departure from helmets we’ve seen in the past. While the basic shape is similar, it’s in the faceplate that the difference are the strongest. This is one mean looking Spartan!

Rogue Armor. (Not Rouge as many people spell it…LOL) This is another design that I liked a lot. Not so much the helmet, but the torso harness as well as the shoulder armor. The skins you get for the shoulders help to make this one stand out.  This is a solid, well designed set of Mjolnir armor.

Stalker…wait what? Heh, the name itself has always bothered me. I know what it seems 343 was going for, but that word has a negative connotation to it. Consequently, I never use it. It’s not a bad design, though the flat top of the helmet is really different.

And finally a concept of what likely is Gungnir armor. I love the level of detail in this piece.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our little journey into some of the multiplayer armor of Halo 4. If so, let me know by replying below.

Tomorrow, we look at weapon concepts of Reach, then the following day, weapon concepts of Halo 4.

-Sal

Gamecheat13 made this vid of various Covenant vs other Covenant. Stay through the whole vid to see the fun BONUS rounds!

Normally I’m not much of a proponent for modded stuff. This though is FUN!
I wish we, the average gamer, had the ability to do this.

You can find this and more at Gamecheat13’s YouTube channel HERE.

-Sal