FILMMAKER REACTS: HALO CEA (2011) | [ALL CUTSCENES!] | IS IT ANY GOOD!? 

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My favourite Halo trivia is that when the Chief takes his helmet off at the end of this game, there's actually another helmet under it.

At 1:21:00 you noticed that the player appears to be holding the gun quite low compared to other shooters. This was actually done 100% intentional. In fact, the aiming reticle for Halo games is placed exactly 33% up from the bottom of the frame as well. It wouldn't be until the PC port of MCC that the reticle could be placed at 50%. Bungie devs made this decision to cause the player to be forced to look up more and see the scale of the backgrounds and skybox. It gives the entire game a more cinematic feel.

one of my favourite memories about CEA is the fact that it's best feature was exclusive to the Kinect. using voice commands you could activate a scanner to scan NPC's and Weapons to unlock lore entries about them. also, for each Covenant species, their actual names are... Unggoy = Grunts Sangheili = Elites Kig Yar = Jackals Lekgolo make up Hunters but the specific shape for Hunter is called Mgalekgolo San Shyuum = Prophets Jiralhanae = Brutes Yanme'e = Drones Huragok = Engineers.

1:19:44 Funny that you mention that. One of Buck’s voicelines in H3 ODST, when throwing a grenade is: *”Tossin’ a pineapple!“*

To answer your question about why Captain Keyes looked different compared to all the other soldiers that were infected by the flood, keys was part of what was called a proto grave mind. A proto grave mind is one step down from the standard grave mind you saw from Halo 2. It's the next step of the floods evolution as it gains more biomass. The more biomass it accumulates the more minds it accumulates and the more dangerous it's tactics can get. I don't know the numbers for a proto grave mind but it is a lot of biomass, if I'm correct I think it takes an entire planet's worth of biomass to make a single grave mind.

You can kill the hunters in halo 1 with a single shot into their weak spot in the back. Once you figured that out they were thr easiest things to kill.

The map where the Flood Introduced is the best part of the trilogy. Small details, like the flood watching over you from the beginning, human and covenant fought side by side til the end, and Johnson immunity to it. So much content just in one level.

Fun fact: the infection forms are actually quite larger than you think, someone can correct if I’m wrong but I think there are about 2-3 feet tall? Also Jenkins, the marine whose video chief watched right before you fight the flood, was in fact infected, but the infection form that infected him was quite older and didn’t have the strength to fully infect him. While yes it did infect him fully to the flood, but in the book, Halo The Flood, it mentions how time to time he would gain control of himself again for a brief moment in time before the infection form took control again, but he was conscious the entire time, every time he attempted to talk, it would just be the normal grunts and groans of the flood combat form that would come out. Sad sad way to go..

Not that this is something to react to the cinematography of, but if you are ever curious about Halo lore. Especially Flood lore for some of your questions. I'm sure many of us would enjoy your reactions to some lore breakdowns of franchises that interest you. Having seen a few of your reaction to game cinematics it be interesting to see your thoughts on some deeper lore to said games.

Even all these years later, when Cortana tells Guilty Spark to "Sod Off" that will never not be hilarious. The delivery is 10/10.

God I would loooove to just sit and watch a movie or play a game with you while you explain things about the cinematography of it all. Have watched all your videos even tho I dont really care about the game you're examine. Keep it up man. love it

So, I remember watching a lot of interviews and reading articles about Bungie's design process and they've said multiple times that they took a lot of inspiration from classic sci-fi movies and series, but especially Alien. Sgt Johnson was inspired by the sarge from the first Alien movie, and the infection forms were supposed to be analogous to the facehuggers. I think Predator was part of the inspiration for the elites too, like you mentioned, but it could just be that I made the same comparison way back when and my mind is codifying it as intentional lol.

You should look at some of the terminal cutscenes that show the in between parts like what happened with captain keyes before being turned into a proto gravemind and what the flood actually do to him. The way they visually show how his mind is struggling to stay together is very well done imo.

R.e. your point at around 36:00 about getting through that door, you can worm the warthog down there and launch yourself through the opening with a bit of timing. The downside is that you'll end up up close and personal with the sword-wielding elite, who can strike you down in a single hit, so you'll need to be quick and kill him once you make it through. However, it allows you to save yourself a trip around the island to open the door, so... But the whole level is connected, so you could even take a shortcut from where you press the switch to open the door, by jumping down in the right spot, if I recall correctly.

Hi KAI. HALO: CE Anniversary has some cool details that make this game special in its own right that I thought would be fun to know. Some will be about Halo 1 in general, because I am a passionate Halo nerd. Alot of these facts come from the novel: The Flood. The first fact to cover is that the man who wakes Chief from cryo, is actually a fan who passed away. His final wish was to be in a Halo game, or to be involved with Halo to some extent, and 343 Industries made him the first face you see in the entire franchise. This game was also the last game on the Xbox 360 to include a physical manual in the case. On the mission 343 Guilty Spark, you can actually see flood figures in the distance watching you. It’s a lot more ominous in the OG graphics, which had thick fog and barley any light. You can also see quick red dots ping you radar as they run around you. Also the really over powered Magnum in this game was a custom job specially for Spartans, dubbed “The Spartan Special.” The Pillar of Autumn was supposed to be loaded with over twenty Spartan-2s, but the Covenant hit Reach before the mission could commence. Also in Halo 1 the original idea was that Chief was a cyborg, more then Spartans are in the official story. But Eric Nylund’s novel: The Fall Of Reach, made the Spartan origins more grim and tragic. After the events of the game, Chief and Cortana drifted in the long sword for days, avoiding the Covenant fleet that hid behind the planet to avoid the ring’s blast. Discovering a pelican that had survived, the two ships cautiously docked together. Chief pulled Johnson up and put a gun in his face. Having saw him in the footage he witnessed in the swamp, Chief was suspicious of the Sargent, believing no body could have survived the Flood. But the two cleared up the suspicions soon enough. In total there were six or seven total survivor who would hijack a Covenant ship and return to a now glassed Reach. The footage in 343 Guilty Spark belonged to a soldier named Jenkins. Who spend the next few day in a state of agony, as he was taken by the Flood, only partially. Meaning he was conscious for his infection, his new link to a festering hive mind, and had to even witness his own hijacked body kill human survivors. During a pivotal battle, a group of ODSTs were holding against the Flood, Jenkins was all but relieved that his suffering was at an end. However, he was the only live subject they decided to capture for study. This was lucky in the end, as he could fight the Infection Form, and alerted them to a Flood assault on their base. By slamming his foot on the floor, he told them there was a force moving beneath them. And finally, in the finale mission: The Maw, Chief almost became infected by the Flood. During a close courter battle in a hallway, his shields had collapsed. In a vulnerable moment, a Infection Form pounced his chest and stuck his throat. The piercing barb went through the black under suit, his skin and nearly reached his spinal cord. But Cortana overload his recharged shields and popped the bastard. And that was the moment Chief saw Cortana as more than just a back-seating voice, and more as a companion who would try to keep him alive. And he, her. His silence in Halo 1 is canon, as he didn’t really trust Cortana yet. Even finding her presence annoying. But Halo changed that, showing she would do any and everything possible for him. Sorry for the rambling and such. I just really love Halo. Okay, Bye for now.

Man, I caught you briefly mentioning Beast Wars around 1:16:00 and boy was that a throw back! I know a lot of people are not as excited about this as the original but first and foremost, you’re a filmmaker and I appreciate you breaking this down regardless if the original was better

343 Guilty Spark (the level) is a masterclass on making a horror level, especially in an otherwise non-horror, macho shooter game. Aside from the limited Covenant encounters on the surface, before entering the structure, I'm pretty you do not encounter a single other living entity other than the paranoid marine until you encounter the Flood. Combined with the foreboding soundtrack, going from nonstop action to absolutely nothing for such an extended period of time is quite disconcerting. The cutscene at the beginning of Two Betrayals is one of my favorites as well. I love the twist when 343 mistakenly believes that Master Chief should've already known the function of the halo rings and asks why he would hesitate to do what he has already done. 343 doesn't recognize them as humans, but thinks they're Forerunners that have come to fire the rings again. I haven't read the books yet, but apparently Halo: Silentium contains a lot of backstory for 343 Guilty Spark and this previous firing of the rings.

It was a Star Wars flight sim called X Wing that made me an inverted. It made sense on a joystick to push forward to look down and it just stuck for first person shooters too 😂

4:55 when I was a kid I always wondered why my dad plays inverted, he played the entire trilogy that way and I never understood why. he was born in 72 so it was a case of arcade-itis lol

36:28 yes you can get through that door early, its a speedrunning strategy to skip a large portion of the level, but you need to bring the warthog down there to pull it off. You should watch the speedruns of these games, they're insane.

Kai if you wanted to talk to someone who worked on the og halos and had influence over both story and sound design martin o donnel might be willing to have a chat. He loves halo and has alot of interesting things to say about it

343 Guilty spark (flood reveal level) was heavily criticized by the community in the remaster due to all the extra lighting, deletion of blood/bodies, as well as general ambience. (Basically, the original did horror elements far better). So much darkness, blood on the walls, shadows seemed to reach out and consume you when you're exploring the lower levels. I highly reccomend watching just that mission in particular in the classic graphics, truly fantastic level design for its time. In my opinion, the Anniversary edition didn't do the flood justice in quite a few categories, but I'm still happy they made it. Pretty good rumors floating around of them doing yet another remake, so here's hoping to that. The last 3 or so Halo games have had a T rating, which has really hurt their ability to make meaningful visuals, not to mention the Flood not even being possible with a T rating.

Watched the Reach one now watching this one!

Greatly appreciate the Beast Wars callouts! 🎉

Fun fact: i have a video on my camera roll of Steve (VA for Chief) wishing me a happy birthday from last year 😁

04:50 I am also a Y-axis inverted guy (still with a gamepad) thanks to Halo: CE as it was easier for my young teenage mind to think of using my thumb as the imaginary hand pulling and pushing the character's head back and forth (up and down). I blame this partially on the fact that I knew that in aeroplanes the pilots use pulling the stick towards them to pull the nose of the plane up. Therefore it seemed like the logical thing. I also back then had the problem of using the right stick to look left and right and went to use the weird option of having left-right strafing on it, with the inverted Y up and down while having the left-right looking with the back-forward movement on the left stick. This let me fully move forward with only my left thumb (especially made driving the Warthog easier) leaving my right thumb free to use the buttons above it during combat. An extra benefit was being able to freely snack and drink during longer walking/driving phases. 😅 So you should definitely not feel bad about only having come to be part of the inverted Y-axis group.

The story and writing in ace combat 7 skys unknown is great

Aw man you got shafted on the footage. They skipped dialoge, BOTH endings, and yeah that bit with the pelican?? And why was he dying so much lmaoo. Great commentary, cant wait to see whats next! (Hopefully more odst 👀👀👀)

Yeah, it looks weird even in the OG graphics when Cortana is just looking about for no reason before saying 'Yank me'. I guess they were going with 'she's sorting her internals out so that she can seamlessly disengage from the Autumn'? Cause obviously she sees things we can't due to it being tied to her virtual body, she can see the entire infrastructure of the Autumn. While it may have been cool in thought and on paper, it looks goofy in action lol. Also, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed Chief's tiny hands! It's because the Mark V is super bulky along the arms I guess. It slimmed out in the Mark VI. A lot of criticism people had with the Anniversary was the lighting, believe it or not. The Anniversary used a lot of Reach assets, just touching them up and making them look better to fit the current iteration of their engine. From a logical standpoint, it makes no sense for a modern day (for 2552) ship to be so dark, but from the perspective of 'things have hit the fan', the scare/horror factor makes lighting super important. So the inside of the ship being damaged from combat and being shot at, would make sense for several hallways and rooms to be dimly lit or dark altogether. They did! During the 25+ years of conflict, Spartans boarded several ships and saw several engagements on the ground. There was even a few instances where Spartans boarded points of interest (ship repairing yards and weapons depots/factories) for the Covenant supply chains. For many years, most of the Covenant believed that Spartans were the reincarnation of other humans they cut down or glassed from orbit. Sometimes even believing the Spartans they fought were Spartans they thought they defeated already, undying, reborn, unkillable. It's why Grunts tremble at the very mention of them and why Elites are cautious about most engagements. The soundtrack you associated with the Flood is in the original as well, I'm guessing they used that OST for moments of 'dire' impact. Flood reveal, crashing on the ring, etc. Johnson hugging the Elite is the Legendary ending. It was meant to be a joke, but fans loved him so much, they kinda retconned it and just left it as another joke that he managed to make it back but won't tell us how. In the books, we know that aside from another Spartan, only a small group made it out alive with the destruction of Installation-04. There is a rumor that they're doing a complete remake as a test to see how well they can work with UE5 before moving onto the next installation. But that's just rumor at this point.

once you figure out that the magnum 1 shots any enemy on a unshielded weakspot the hunters are easy. if you shoot between the armor they are 1 shot aswell

aw yes lad was wondering when u were gonna upload lets go

35:53 Well you probably already know but you can get it on computer now. All of the old games up to Halo 4 are in the Master Chief Collection on Steam. You don't even have to buy them all at once you can buy them individually. The collection uses the Anniversary version of Halo: CE and Halo 2. (You can still toggle the classic graphics just like the console version of course.) Disappointed we never got a Halo 3 Anniversary tbh. Seems like a missed opportunity if I'm honest.

One thing that truly set Halo:CE apart from other games from this era was the AI of each enemy type having it's own kind of gameplay associated with it. Bungie has always been great with AI and this game is a prime example of it!

Captain Keys had implants in his head that controlled the ship. The Flood was keeping him alive hoping g to learn & control the ship. Master Chief punched the head to remove the implants

One of my favorite facts for Halo has to be the first mission life pod deaths, the whole reason they were all dead is they couldn't find out how to get the AI to path the thin bridge

Master Chief was not called the demon until the destruction of the ring at the end of Halo CE

Nice reaction, i suggest you watch the Halo CE Anniversary Terminals. They have lots of lore, cool scenes, and a unique artwork style.

Edit: well I didnt know you already looked at both lol oops. Still I think some of these added notes still matter A few things to note: -If I remember nearly all the camera moves in this game were slow in, speed up, and slow out (they were kinda getting to grips with it). Best to look at the developer commentary for the first two games to get an idea of what was going in their heads when they were making the game. -The anniversary Version of the cutscenes actually omits a few shots/ changes the framing of some of them. Alot of sound foley and visual effects work also wasnt replicated as well or is missing (I.E. cortana storing the index/ knocking out spark). -Alot of the animation (which is of course dated by todays) was replaced with some iffy motion capture. along with Chiefs different proportions in this game can make him look a lil dopey This isn't to throw shade at the Anniversary (it already gets enough as is). Its just to add a bit of context for some off looking moments.

At 20:30ish you mentioned what it would look like on unreal engine well 343 recently said the might be doing a modern redesign of Combat evolved with sprint and ect as well as some things bungie was unable to add.

Gotta love mo-cap Master Chief being over acted and looking like a silly goose.

I played inverted because of Ocarina of Time, but it continued on into Halo. It wasn’t until almost a decade later that I ended up switching back standard, though I obviously still use inverted flight controls for the most part. Depends on the game for that.

12:49 I never appreciated this line before

My man ! Bringing up BEAST WARS

The Halo CE Anniversary is just a pixel/lighting and audio remaster, all the animation rigs, models camera movements etc. are all identical to the original just with a new layer of pixels over the top essentially.

I would like you to react to this fan who made an animation about Halo called HALO - [Fan Animation] - Remember

Grunts don't breathe oxygen. They sleep when they're out of combat because it takes less of the stuff they do breathe while in a state of rest.

You can't get in the door at the Island map but you can kill him😂

Arbiter would have been dawning his gold armor on the first Halo.

god that music glitch really kills the mood for me in the last level makes me miss the original xbox version

I fell asleep listening to this and had a Halo dream.

I prefer the aniversery for all the nin flood level since they tend to add too much light to places that should be much darker

I hope you'll watch the terminals

You need to watch all thr cutscenes from halo 2 remastered. That one is just nuts.

Hi Kai, Love the commentary on these games trailers and cinematics! I know you've watched some of the league of legends cinematics but I would highly recommend watching the trailers/music videos for Worlds (League of legends world championships). They tell great stories of the pro players who compete and are always accompanied by great soundtracks. Really enjoy watching your reviews - keep it up!!

The sad thing is you talkin about playing inverted like me *High five.* got me thinking: You should look at the cutscenes of the various Ace Combat games 5, Zero, 6, and 7.

Love to see u react to planet side 2 trailer

See it's not the way the guy plays on Gamer's Little Playground that bothers me, it's that he doesn't seem like he's a very good camera man and doesn't know what gameplay moments/dialogue to include. Some clips seemed unnecessarily included since they have nothing to do with the story (like the clip of the tank almost going off the cliff), and other things get weirdly cut off (like the important dialogue from the shell-shocked marine that shoots at you). And other things are just straight up not included in the video at all (like the things you find in the swamp mission that build suspense before you meet the flood). TLDR the guy filming for Gamer's Little Playground should put more effort into determining what to include in the video and what not to (or he could just let fanboys like me help him out)

Should try farcry 5 cutscenes would be good

The anniversary edition is very technically improved over the classic, such as high resolution textures and better lighting rendering. However it lost a lot of the style and artistic design. In the classic graphics: textures pop more (literally have more depth), lighting is more deliberate, light and dark areas set the scene better, and the overall visual atmosphere is a lot better.

Amo este Halo mas a 343 pode concertar os bugs que tem, nas custecenes as vezes a musica fica por cima da outra, tipo, era pra ter uma música tocando, mas na hora fica duas tomando uma por cima da outra e estraga o momento, na última cena isso acontece

Rip Xbox 360, we will always remember the good times

Dude bad ass vid and bad ass shirt

I don't know if you react to fanmade stuff, but "Remember" by Sodaz is an excellent video that is definitely worth watching. It respects and pays homage to Halo in a way that the "official" tv series only wishes it could.

I really want Kaizammit to react to cursed halo by infernoplus

@KaiZammit Halo CE > Halo CEA. Please review the original cutscenes, in my opinion they are sooooooo much better and less awkward than the remastered graphics. Granted I'm a loyalist to the OG representation. I mentioned this in the comments of a previous video of yours in the past. Cheers~!

Hello, everyone ! 🌞😉👍 Very good ! I really L❤VE the HALO universe !

He should give halo Infinite a go

@KAI ZAMMIT Can you review the Overwatch 2 Animated Short | “Kiriko”? I really want to know your opinion of it.

Please react to Halo 5 next :)

Just semi-relatedly to the video, as I've only begun watching it, but I honestly like the original CE Cortana model the best, wasn't a fan of how they used the Halo 3 one for the anniversary. But of course I understand it was easier to just import and tweak an old asset than to completely remake an old one. I liked the original because it wasn't so blatantly designed to induce teenage boners.

Honestly prefer the anniversary graphics especially if it's cutscene only. Most people are angry because it messed with their childhoods

It's too bad the source video was from the time CE anniversary got ported to PC, it was buggy back then with many visual bugs and soundtracks often cutting too early or looping on top of each other.

He should watch the cyberpunk 2077 trailer's

"Your architecture isn't different from the autum's." sorry what?

Sorry mate, you got screwed. Halo CEA is terrible. No where near as good as Halo 2A. Art style was ruined, and since you’re a filmmaker, I think you’d appreciate the little nuances and details in the original that the anniversary just completely ignores. Please compare the anniversary to the original and make a video on it. Basically, the gist of it is, everything is significantly more orange, the chief looks like a dinosaur with tiny arms, the reveal of the flood was ruined with the lack of nuance in the lighting of the entire mission, and the animations that look funny are due to the mix of motion capture with 23 year old animations. The people who made the remaster just took models from other games (3 and Reach, who’s art styles were radically different than CE, so they don’t fit) and placed them into the gameplay, and more consequentially, the cutscenes. Basically, the problem with the cutscenes is that the mo-cap stuff done specifically for this remaster are really over-animated and look bad. And the cutscenes that don’t use new mo-cap and just use the original animations are viewed from angles that Bungie never intended for them to be viewed at. It’s why Cortana often looks janky. If you want to learn more about how the remaster massacred the original, I’d recommend a video by Noodle. (“Halo Anniversary: How not to do a remaster”)

At 20:22 you ask about how it would look in UE5. Funny you say that because there are rumours from a credible news journalist that CE may get a remake using UE5. Granted it’s not confirmed, but it’s also not out of the realm of possibility, and I could see 343 making it. If done right, the community would have a lot more trust in 343

343 guilty spark is so much better in the og graphics

Halo Anniversary cut scenes were no where as good as the as the OG version, yes the graphics are better but they really messed up the animations, timing and gestures of the characters during most of the cutscenes, especially Cortana the way she moves and talks, in the OG game she moves more naturally with her lines and characteristics The graphics and faster gameplay were great but the cut scenes in OG graphics were much better (The end of the game in this video is bugged too, the music glitched out during the whole final cutscene as chief takes off from the Autumn/Halo ring, almost like two lots of music playing over itself, very jarring! I agree with you, the guy playing this needs a slap, terrible driving and didn’t wait for Foehammer…. Absolute slap needed🤣🙄 I’m glad I found your channel, your Halo vids are brilliant, I’ve always adored the Halo franchise (before 343 took over anyways and ruined it😞 I’ve got a degree in animation and film design but I never managed to turn it into a career sadly but I still would love to work in the industry but I think sadly I’m far too long outside of it now and my skill set is gone

Sir, Black Myth trailer please...

Can you react to a halo fan animation by a RU-vidr named sodaz

please do a reaction to ODST`s trailer the life action one

will halo infinite be next

More of a comedy approach to halo would be covering Infernos’s “Cursed Halo”. From what I know, it changes some cutscenes and even the gameplay is funny to watch.

It's a terrible version of the game in my opinion and it deserves a third pass. I know 343 is working on some kind of reboot, but that's not what I want, the last thing I want is Halo in 343's image, they are clowns toying about with the work of people infinitely more talented then them.

CEA really ruined a lot of the look and feel of the original game. The forerunner architecture is wayy too busy and the lighting, especially in 343 Guilty Spark, is too bright. Combat evolved has such a unique and eerie vibe to it thanks to the limitations of the original xbox and the late 90's/early 2000s sci-fi game design. Trying to jazz it up with more detail and reach assets just ruins it in my opinion. When you and I get the green light to redo the Halo series properly we got to keep that original ambiance and liminal aesthetic.

I'm also an inverted player, Kai. My dad was addicted to flight games and as a result would set every single game he ever played to "inverted" - I had to learn to play with his control scheme.

I think, that as a filmmaker, you would get a kick out of the channel 'Noodle' breakdown of where the Anniversary release of Combat Evolved was SUCH a big miss from a visual perspective, well worht a watch if you'd like to understand exactly why Halo fans reject the Anniversary.

dafu? I had to search for you to see why I hadn't gotten notifications from you. Somehow was unsubbed.

the remastered visuals of this game are horrendous. way too bright and obnoxious

CEA notoriously destroys the atmosphere and tone of the OG game. Overly designed, completely altering enemy and building aesthetics, WAY too much brightness. I really hope this isn't the first time you're playing CE, cause if it is, you've basically been robbed of the original intended experience.