Well, the Halo 3 Teaser Trailer has been out for just under a week now, and I'm a little late in my analysis of it, but that's work for you. Anyway, every major gaming site out there has posted their thoughts and impressions, and I'm not going to bother linking to them, however I am going to give my opinion, at least from a story perspective since the tech stuff has all been covered and is factual.
The first question most people think of is what's going on in the Teaser, what's the story behind it. We know that it's from roughly a third of the way through Halo 3, and we also know that Earth is now Covenant controlled. At present, we also have no evidence to suggest that Cortana and the Master Chief have been able to link up; she may still be in the ruins of High Charity.
So what is going on? Well, aside from the Master Chief walking (and a mighty fine job he does of it, to), we see many Covenant Capital ships and a bunch of Banshees around a Forerunner artifact that appears to activate.
Anyone who's played Halo 2 can take a good guess as to what I think that artifact is: The Ark. At the end of Halo 2, all the remaining Halo installations were placed into stand by mode, and could only be activated form the Ark. While it wasn't directly revealed where the Ark was, the cutscene immediately cut to the Master Chief (and thus the Prophet of Truth) returning to Earth. Seeing as how the original Covenant expeditionary fleet lead by the Prophet of Regret came to Earth seeking a great artifact, logic dictates that the Teaser is showing the Ark, and if it's activating, the entire galaxy is about to be purged of all life (save the Flood).
But, is that really what's happening? It's obvious that Cortana is trying to tell the Chief something, but what? As our Staff pointed out, she's also speaking very cryptic, not in her usual sarcastic, know-it-all manner. Well, for starters, who does Cortana sound like? Assuming she's still on High Charity, who is she stuck with? That's right, the Gravemind. Her style of dialogue is presently very much like his. Now what does that mean? Does that mean Cortana and the Gravemind are one, or perhaps that the Gravemind is influencing Cortana? Not exactly. I think that while the Gravemind has been trying to get information out of Cortana, she's been getting information out of him as well; especially the history on the Halo installations, so perhaps she's warning the Chief about what she's learned.
Another thing to consider is if the Teaser is really happening, and by that I mean: Is it possible that the entire Teaser is a communcation from Cortana, meant to show the Chief what will happen if he fails? Look at things from this perspective: The Chief is walking very casually through that desert and reckage, so casual, in fact, that he doesn't seem to notice that Banshees or even that huge Crusier until they're on top of him, yet they don't seem to notice him either. Not very characteristic for the Chief or the Covenant, but very dreamlike in a traditional, cinematic sense.
So, in a nutshell, I think the whole Teaser is actually a vision or communication of what _may_ happen.
Regardless, I expect we're in for some excellent story telling and plot twists, as well as some great action. Oh, and it's great to see the Assault Rifle back, even if it's apparently a non-standard issue one.
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