Kotaku
Microsoft is very good at spending money. Some people rent rooms, others rent suites. Microsoft rents out a hotel. And in this hotel I watched about 15 minutes of Halo 3 real time single player action and another 15 of something else...ohhh, mysterious!
Most "next-gen" promotion focuses on graphics. It's the easiest way to tell a generation leap. But single player Halo 3 is about everything but their new visuals.
The game's sound was a definite indicator of the new platform. While the gameplay we watched hadn't been scored, many wouldn't even notice. In the large forest battle that started the demo off, your teammates and the enemies talk...a lot. They yell to one another and at you, many times layered 5 or 6 times over in full dolby surround. And I noticed a repeat.
The AI reacts better than ever. Squads of aliens attack like in old versions, but now when they scatter, they'll often reassemble into a another group that will flank or distract you. I could see the enemy tactics unfolding with more clarity than Halo 2 for sure.
And then there are the new recording and camera features (that other 15 minutes we teased you about). Not only can you record a multiplayer match and share that match with others, but you can fly through that match with an independent, 100% controllable camera. You can pause the action and and rotate the scene with remarkable fluidity, bringing Warthog crashes into Burnout land. For instance: One player launches three missiles from a ridge, time slows, you fly through them, reaching their target: a player in a Warthog. Time speeds up, he tries to jump out, too late.
We saw all of this on a new map called Sandtrap. It's the largest map yet in Halo, and an endless backdrop of sand dunes make it tough to find the edges.
And all that cool flyby stuff can be recorded, too. People will director their own Halo sagas...and they might even be worth watching.
