Halo 3: Recon

If you’ve been following along, I’ve been tracking the news about an upcoming project or two from Bungie.  Up until now, they’ve kept everything shrouded in a mist of secrecy and rumor, but late last week, they blew the doors off and gave us some real details.

First, and most importantly, is a new game called Halo 3: Recon.  Not an expansion in the normal sense of the word (not a continuation of Master Chief’s journey, nor the release of some new downloadable content), this is a full new campaign, with 1000 new gamerpoints possible, some new multiplayer maps, and a new hero, all hitting stores next fall.

As rumored, the hero is a UNSC Orbital Shock Drop Trooper, landing in New Mombasa shortly after the Covenant blasts out of there in Halo 2.  It seems this new campaign will follow the events in that city while Master Chief is off destroying the second Halo installation before returning to earth to “finish the fight.”

Microsoft’s official statement (not to mention the setting and actions of the Trooper in the trailer…plus the title — Halo 3: Recon) indicates that gamers will need to use more elements of “stealth and cunning than ever before,” which probably means an entirely new and different strategy set to the one Halo players have been used to over the years.

In summary, Halo 3: Recon will be cool.

But…that still leaves the question in the air about all those new achievements in the recent game update that refer to maps that don’t exist?  To answer that, Bungie has also recently unzipped their lips about the Mythic Map Pack, scheduled to release in early 2009.  Currently, it seems it will contain six new maps to correspond with the new achievements, including new hidden skulls to find.  Hopefully, as has been the case in campaigns, the skulls will provide new levels of customizability for the game.

On a personal note, I’m extremely impressed with Bungie’s level of dedication to the Halo franchise as well as the way they strive to continually keep things fresh.  Some people complain about having to pay to download new content and maps, but I feel like the amount of content we’ve seen come through over the last year or so — all tying in to this one game — is pretty impressive, and the increasingly varied options in how to play is a refreshing innovation.  For so long, the standard has been to buy a game, play it, and then be done with it, but Bungie is really allowing gamers to get much more bang for your buck.

So, thanks!

(And thanks to GameSpot for the trailer.)