Halo: Reach "The Battle Begins" trailer utterly dissected

Here it comes. Bungie has told us over and over that Reach will be their final installment in the Halo franchise, so it stands to reason that the developer is going to go all out. We’ve torn the trailer apart frame by frame and piece by piece to see just what’s in it and what it means for that little game we’ll all be playing in September.

First, let’s take a look at the video itself:

Those goose bumps should go away in a few minutes, but if they’re not gone in four hours, consult a physician. OK, here we go.

Above: Well Halo is space sci-fi, so it makes sense for the opening shot to be of the final frontier

Above: And there’s where we’ll be spending most of our time. Apparently still in the Pangaea phase, Reach would be a perfect world to colonize

Above: Ooh. Who’s this? Hopping of the Warthog, not even tipping his driver? Surely not the protagonist, SPARTAN-B312? At least everything seems calm as the Falcon in the background slowly patrols the perimeter

Above: Two Falcons fly through tranquil, misty skies. Passengers: If you look to the bottom right, you’ll see a pair of windmills based on experimental real-world models designed to take up much less space (and pose less of a hazard to birds) than the current fan-blade standard

Above: Uh-oh. Oh boy. Covenant Cruiser off the port side! You’ll notice that the Planetary Defense Cannons on the bottom right are eerily silent. Looks like something’s is about to go or has already gone down

Above: Carter-A259 gets a closer look at the Covenant War Vessel

Above: Catherine-B320 decides to have a little chat with everyone. You can tell by the way she sticks her knife in the ground that it’s probably not about who’s bringing the nachos to next week’s potluck

Above: Finally, we get to see Spartans with their helmets off. It’s … strangely anti-climactic

Above: Noble team has a look at what the Covenant is up to. Judging from the multi-colored fluorescents, it’s either a rave or something much worse

Above: While we’re waiting on Peter Jackson, we’ll have our own Lord of the Rings-style Halo battle. Wide open spaces and no cover means that this is going to turn nasty real fast

Above: But of course it will be the Spartans leading the charge. By the way, would someone tell the jackass on the turret that he’s facing the wrong way?