The Story / Campaign

The Story / Campaign

Once the game starts and you have control of your character hit the Back Button -- Whoa!  Everything looks all 2001!  Did we break the game?  Did we travel back in time?  Well, sort of...  You see this game was created using the two different styles and hitting the Back Button switches between the Original Mode and the vastly improved New Mode -- the differences between the two modes are striking, no?  Even the universe looks massively different!  Imagine how that will play out in the game world -- oh wait, we do not have to imagine it, we can experience it for ourselves!  Awesome!

Our adventure begins with a series of Cut Scenes (CS's) during which we see the ship -- whose name is the same as this level, Pillar of Autumn -- as it approaches a Ringworld!  We overhear a conversation between the Captain and the ship's AI -- and learn that things are grim indeed.

The Pillar of Autumn made a blind jump in the hopes of escaping a Covenant Attack, but it seems that the Covenant was able to track the Pillar of Autumn, and they are about to attack again!  The Captain orders everyone to combat stations -- including you!  The Master Chief!  An uber warrior who is so valuable you are kept in suspended animation between deployments so as not to waste your best years!  A UNSC Marine Squad is forming up as we watch, their Gunny giving them a rousing speech, and then we are suddenly in the Cryo-Storage Chamber!

A pair of technicians are in the process of thawing you out -- and at the moment we have no idea what is going on because hey, this is title Numero Uno!  The first game in the series!  This is where it all began!  And OMG!  We are SEEING it all begin!

Well perhaps again needs to be appended to that if you actually played the original version of this game, but statistically speaking the odds of that are pretty low, while the odds that you have played some of the more recent titles are pretty good -- so you know who the Master Chief is and why he is frozen between gigs -- and if you do not, pay attention to the different conversations that will take place -- mostly between you and Cortana -- and you will learn more!

This is pretty much the Introducing You to the Controls bit, so follow the on-screen prompts in order to learn how the controls work and  what the different bits of tech are that you have as part of your suit... 

Eventually as you work your way through the mini-tutorial you will hear a fellow soldier screaming -- it is OK, he just got the hotel bill for this year's E3 trip... Just kidding!  He screams and there is an explosion and the bloody Covenant are coming!

We have officially run out of time -- and Captain Keyes, who is the Captain of the Pillar of Autumn -- wants us on the bridge -- so follow the tech out of the Cryo-Chamber and you will find yourself begining the first part of this awesome adventure!