With Lasky running out of time and the Hunter charging up another shot, something has to be done!

With some great dexterity Chief mounts the Hunter from behind. Note this last screenshot is almost exact to the freshly announced McFarlane HYPER limited edition Resin Statue. I posted about this earlier today. Go here to order site to check THAT out! Here’s a good pic of the McFarlane resin statue:

Chief thrusts the grenade in between the Hunter’s back worms and SPLOOSH, down goes the hunter. Take a good listen to the music in the background here. It’s the all too familiar Monk chanting from the classic Halo trilogy. A great homage to Bungie Musical Director, Marty O’Donell. Now that’s CLASS folks!

There’s one worm still alive, writhing on the forest floor. Master Chief quickly dispatches it with a stomp of his armored boot. Then proceeds to pick up the charred remains of Chyler’s dog tags.

This while scene by far is the most action pack scene in the whole series. This shows the strength, agility and bravery of Master Chief and even the bravery of an average joe in Lasky. This is one of those moments we were waiting for and makes you PROUD to be a Halo fan. Well it did for me anyway!

Next review of Episode 5: Part 10, Pelican Extraction

The Hunter in it’s full glory. Now I don’t know about you, but I found this shot to be damn aweinspiring. The CG work here is fantastic. The hunter looks enormous as it should and very menacing. If this along doesn’t make you want to scream out that you want a Halo movie, well I don’t know what would then. I suspect some people may use this shot for a background. I’m sure the folks at 343 would be honored if you did. Heck, I’m very tempted to change mine to this as well.

As Lasky is running for dear life, the Hunter charges up his Fuel Rod Cannon. Again, these visual effects are FAR superior to any other webisode series I’ve ever seen. Better than TV for sure. Damn near if not movie quality. Let’s be reminded that this whole production only had a budget of $10 million. Put that in perspective of a typical Hollywood movie. This would have cost $100 million easy. Yet we got a QUALITY production with great effects like this. I’m happy with it. I hope you are too.

The Hunter misses Lasky, but is now stalking him. Again another great visual representation. Can you imagine what it would feel like to see this coming at you? Look at those legs. Like tree trunks themselves!

The Hunter charges up another shot. It’s time for Chief to take action. With the only weapon he has other than himself, he readies a grenade.

He rushes the hunter only to be swatted back like a pesky fly. OUCH! I was really impressed with this short sequence. The blend of live action with CG is phenomenal.

Needless to say if Chief can be swatted like this,what hope do Sully and Orenski have?

At this point in the episode, it’s about as tense as it can get. Certain death literally looms over them. While green is a nice color, I don’t think I’d want to quite see it like this…

Next review of Episode 5: Part 9, Assassination OR Anyone up for warm worm soup?

Always two there are…The second Hunter shoots at the Chief and the cadets.

They find themselves at a small jump point. The hunter is closing in. So what to do? JUMP!

It’s worth noting that there is a sort of parallel here. Chief had that epic jump from a balcony last episode. In this episode, the cadets are force to make the same maneuver, but not with the same outcome. They don’t quite land on their feet.

With no ammo, and only ONE grenade, Master Chief is about to take on the Hunter, when Lasky stops him and says he’ll be the diversion. This draws panicked cries from Orenski who tells him NO. He won’t listen to her though.

With a shout of AXIOS!, Tom is off and running.

This is a HUGE act of courage. Even if he were to die at this point, he should be commended for making the decision. He is using the Pincer movement they learned earlier in the production. By drawing the Hunter in one direction, he hopes that Chief can get the Hunter from the rear…

Next review of Episode 5: Part 8, Green glow of Death

With the Chief off to battle the Hunter, the cadets run for safety. Sully’s hurt but somewhat mobile. Chyler is critically hurt. Their almost out of ammo. Yeah, nothing to worry about…

They make it to presumably the same bunker in the woods that they were at in an earlier episode. Lasky tells Orenski to use the stun rounds in the bunker to help sooth Chyler’s wound.

It’s too little too late as we see Chyler rip her dog tags from her own neck. It’s a sure sign she knows she’s going to die.

Lasky is distraught. Orenski and Sully look to be in a mild shock. This can be a real heart wrenching moment for you depending on how much you vested yourself into these characters. I already had guess Chyler was going to die, but still it was sad to see. Thom Green’s performance at this point in the production is to me the most believable. Those look like real tears. Again, I’m stunned with the level of acting in this series. I LOVE it.

In a bit of a surprise, Master Chief comes up just then and overs his condolences. We see the human side of Chief here. Something we’re not used to seeing. It would ahve been all too easy for Director Stewart Hendler to have Chief come up and tell them to move out. That would have made him look very much like the military man Chief is, but also a bit heartless. So I’m really glad that the decision was made to go the route of humanity. Nice touch!

The end of this scene has Lasky looking back at Chyler, then at the mirrored reflection of himself on the wall of the bunker. You can see the pain in his eyes, but also a sense of a determined demeanor. He will get justice for Chyler.

Next review of Episode 5: Part 7, Hunter ROUND 2!

What is making that green light? Oh it’s such a frightful sight…

It’s a HUNTER. We saw this quick clip last week in the previews for the episode, but here it is now again. Yeah, that’s Chief standing in front of it. Chief is already tall, so DAMN, this Hunter is HUGE!

And as if by queue we see Chief looking UP at this massive thing with it looking back in his visor…

I love the visual representation here. There isn’t much Chief has to look up to as adversaries go. Certainly not within the human worlds. I wonder if Chief was having an “Oh Shi…” moment?

Now I know this review part was short, however I really felt it needed it’s own review. The point is, most people didn’t expect to see a Hunter in this series. I’m talking even before the preview last week. Adding this in really helps to show what the UNSC is up against. This isn’t just an Innie war anymore…

Next review of Episode 5: Part 6, Chyler

We left off with chief and the cadets rolling on after narrowly missing a sticky grenade.

What the…..look out!

A bug in the windshield this is not. Lasky hits a Jackal with the Hog. Okay, now I’m SO glad we got to see the Jackals closer up. The Jackals in the series look like the Halo 4 style, not the classic trilogy. I’m fine with that. I suspect 343 wants we viewers to get a little used to the new look before the game, so they dropped them in here. I actually don’t mind the look too much. They do look more fierce and almost dinosaur like. I know some  have compared them to mini Godzillas from one of the recent movies. Hell, I did. But I meant it more as a cool thing, not a detraction as others have.

Anyway…

In the next sequence we see Master Chief act quickly and tend to Sully with some medical foam. Sadly, Chyler’s been hit and needs medical attention. Unfortunately, Chief used up all the foam on Sully.

Okay, so I called it did I not? Last week I said Chyler had to die and yep, looks like she’s on the way to doing just that. I mean, she’s got this huge needle sticking out of her abdomen, there’s no life saving foam, they’re in the middle of a war zone.

If you read the article where I speculated on this, I mentioned along the lines that this was a necessary plot line. Chyler dying forces Lasky to become a military man for life. He has noone left that he loves. His relationship with his mother is not that of mother and son, but more Officer to Enlisted. Not much love there.

Orenski notices that the enemy forces seem to be withdrawing. Chief states that their now being “hunted.” Now if you watched the previews for this episode last week, you know what this means. If not you were/are for one hell of a surprise…

Next review of Episode 5: Part 5, The Hunted.

The action starts to heat up as Master Chief and the cadets come under fire from roadside Jackal raining needles upon them.

You can see how this could be perilous. Driving fast on a narrow road, in the dark, with enemies shooting at you from both sides. Yeah, DANGEROUS.

Yes folks, even in the 26th century you must FASTEN SAFETY BELT…

Above is a good showcasing of Chief and Orenski fighting back. Guns blazing! Again, good to see a female character that holds her own in battle.

Not to be outdone, Chyler takes down two Jackals in quick order. It’s at this time Chief says to burst your shots, don’t spray and pray. A funny line in an somewhat awkward place. However, for we FPS gamers, we can all relate to the phrase.

Again, it’s good to see strong female characters and that both Orenski and Silva are indeed good shots as said in the pervious episode.

Next review of Episode 5: Part 4, Roadkill

This scene opens up with Lasky driving down a very dark road in a Warthog with his fellow surviving cadets and Master Chief at the machine gun turret.

Lasky is looking a bit unsure of himself here. Granted we haven’t seen his skills at driving a Warthog before. Wheelman he is not, LOL.

Just before the point of the pic above, Master Chief tells Lasky to go faster as they only have a few minutes to make it to the Pelican drop. Loving the graphics on the Hog’s dashboard. Simple and very understandable. This could have been cut out of the project, but it’s a nice touch of detail. This is something that resounds through the whole series, is the sense of attention to detail.

A sticky grenade is through from the forest edge onto the dirt road narrowly missing the warthog.

It was close to be sure, but Lasky swerved just in time. The explosions aren’t too bad here. Definitely not over the top like Michael Bay (for which I’m VERY happy about). Pyrotechnics on a small scale can be hard to do. It can be extremely difficult to scale fire down or up. (Same goes for water too) In  the pic above, I think just the right amount of explosion was used. (Now if only Halo Reach played this way….grr, I hated being stuck on a hog only to die and the hog come through nearly unscathed…)

Next review of Episode 5: Part 3, Fear the Pink Mist.

Once again a new episode. And unfortunately for we fans, the final full new episode of Forward Unto Dawn. As always it stars out with Cortana aboard the drifting Forward Unto Dawn.

She’s on red alert form being scanned.

She’s still talking to herself, now mocking herself for having to wake up Master Chief when needed. It’s interesting that the Rampancy has flowed over into being resentful of Master Chief. We got this vividly in the last episode. Now it’s there just more subtle.

She starts to dematerialize herself from her orb form. This is something new that we haven’t seen before. It’s quite well done.

She condenses her form to a very small ball then bam like the big bang she explodes, but what comes of it is the familiar form of Cortana that we all know and love. Well 343’s version, which I think is very stunning.

This final shot of the opening scene is fantastic. If we are treated to graphics nearly as good as this in the game, then we’re in for something very special. To note, the face of this version of Cortana was taken directly from Mackenzie Mason ” @mackenziemason .” I asked her about this. She said that 343 captured her face. So what you see there is Mackenzie. The the body is not hers though she says stating the proportions are different.

Of all the opening scenes of the series, I’d say this is my favorite. While part 4 was good, and had a nice Halo ring reference, seeing Cortana in her human form just can’t be topped, in my book.

Next review of Episode 5: Part 2, FASTER!

Yep, that’s right, 14 parts! PLus one extra at the end as a tribute to the production folks.

Working on finishing up Part 5-Review 1 now. Hope to have within the hour.

-Sal

(Oh and keep watching the site for more Mountain Dew/Doritos XP codes!

I literally just finished a Podcast with DustandEchoes. Otherwise, I’d have already rolled out a review for this episode.

Be assured I’ll have them posting shortly. The contest will start immediately after I post the last review, so stay tuned for the reviews and the contest post.

-Sal