✅ Subscribe: ua-cam.com/users/BenPlaysGames 🖱 Support the channel: www.patreon.com/ben_plays_games A rework of a previous video I can't watch due to how awful the voiceover is, with some new details added. Cracking mission!
I personally think you should give the Metro game series a try, personally I enjoyed the second game most, a ton of detail and I think you might provide a good critique of both the good and the bad features of the games as well as (I hope) enjoy the games.
@@Spartanshock19 You're not the first person to recommend them mate and I've had them on my list for ages - definitely going to try at some point as already own all three but never played them (other than the first third or so of 2033)!
The dead Marines on the beach are explained by radio transmissions when you get to the Map building after unlocking the security where the squad leader radios in and says covenant drop ships are incoming and closing fast, they won't be able to make it into the cover of the buildings in time so they are going to have to stand their ground and take as many Covenant as they can with them.
It also explains how the building managed to get repopulated with covenant on the way back up. It’s not just ‘well backtracking is boring, better spawn some enemies to make it interesting’. The covenant must have been pissed about losing control of the facility (and all of the aliens you killed more or less single handedly).
@@EuropeanMultiGamer You are correct. My friend and I were curious if they could be saved. Always trying to save marines! We did try getting them all in the side cave next to the entrance, but they still died. Like you say, anywhere within the facility itself, they are safe!
@@EuropeanMultiGamer If you forced a Warthog down to the security door and leave Marines in it, there's a fair chance that they will engage and sometimes kill the Gold Elite when you come back up.
Fun fact: The dropship with jackals where you previously fought the hunters actually spawns in after your unlock the door to the map room. You would ideally encounter them traveling back the way you came, but most players choose to fall off the ledge outside the security room instead to get to the crashed pelican.
It took me years to stumbled on that spirit. Even on my very first playthrough I did fall on the cliff to reach the pelican. Was so cool to see that spirit!
Another fun fact: If you work your way down to the beach (why would anybody "fall off the ledge" when it's not difficult to climb most of the way down and not incur health damage!?) after unlocking the Map Room door, and approach that hunters-place structure again from the narrow passage up from the beach, (1) the dropship doesn't fly off unless you start to go past it; and (2) it's possible to get up on TOP of the island from at least on place in that narrow passage up from the beach. Once up, you can get over the place where you're looking down on the dropship---and with a little skill, can jump onto its top. If you try to walk the entire length of the dropship, it will take off and dump you when you walk past its trigger point to leave. But if you just want to stand on top of a dropship, here's an easy chance. You will probably need to kill off all the Jackals first--they tend to object to you messing around their dropship. Oh, and with a little help from a warthog at ground level, you can jump up into one of the berths near the back (nearest the V-8 looking engine). I'm kind'a surprised at how few players have bothered to get up on top of the island---lot'sa chances to play around in this level.
@@tarinaten2053 I’ve been dreaming to get on top of the island for years. Managed many years back getting on top of a rock and doing a little nade jump. It was a dream come true lol. I also managed to get in top of every cliffs in the second mission "Halo” from the first and second area. When I was a kid I was like "shit all I want is to walk on top of these cliffs" and finally managed to make my way on them! CE really has that special aura that will Never bore me… it’s just a timeless classic
Johnson: So, you beat the Halo demo. Not bad soldier, not bad at all! BUT ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH THE FULL VERSION OF HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED!?
The game definitely narrows, especially in the second half. I absolutely love the large scale battles which follow in Assault on the Control room, although more people seem to dislike that mission than I would have guessed.
To be fair, I think the battle at the end of Two Betrayals felt pretty big. A Covenant encampment facing off against a Flood swarm and it was epic to watch from the sidelines, although the Covenant invariably always win that encounter, even on Legendary, due to superior numbers and firepower.
That point about pathfinding in the Forerunner structure probably explains why "Assault on the Control Room"/"Two Betrayals" has those big helpful arrows all over the interiors.
My favourite level in Halo is definitely Assault on the Control Room. However, The Silent Cartographer was chosen as the demo level for Halo, to show off the game to prospective customers. I can see why they chose it, and they made the right decision.
Fun fact: the silent cartographer was originally a level just to test stuff and when they proposed to be a real thing they didn't know how to make a level out of a donut
Fun (and related) fact:- during the warthog run in Halo 3, you go round a huge rock. If look at this rock from above, it's a almost a exact replica of where the Silent Cartographer would be. It's a nice touch.
I loved the beach scene having all the allies around, and the transition towards loneliness later in the game as ally encounters get fewer and fewer because most of the marines have already died.
When I was a boy, this was my favorite mission in Halo CE. I didn't know why, I just felt that way. I was unable to really explain it back then. I just kinda knew something, even if I didn't understand it. As an adult now, this gives a voice to that part of me, expressing it flawlessly. It was a real joy listening to this. I don't wanna sound overdramatic, but you speak to a person's soul with some of these videos you make.
@@trip2439 Just kidding lol, it's because you started the comment with "when I was a boy", just thought It would be funny. I'm glad you enjoyed the game as I did tho!
I have so many good memories of this level! So scared when I had to fight the hunters on the top. Ramming the warthoq in the room (you can get surprisingly far), really fun in co-op with someone on the turret. And so many fun encounters.
Pretty sure this is the only level on CE where the marines never wander around or follow you unless they're in a vehicle. No matter where you take them on the island, as soon as they step out of the vehicle they just wait where they stand. Enjoyed the updated take on the Cartographer
12:00 - Earlier in the level, there's a radio transmission by Foehammer and the Marine Sergeant (voiced by Pete Stacker). They let Chief and Cortana know some dropships are approaching their position. Cortana advises them to fallback to the map room but the Sgt responds with "Negative! They're closin' in too fast. Negative! Chief, you gotta find the Cartographer. We'll keep them busy for as long as we can." This takes place when you're in the main facility if memory serves but after this discussion, the marines on the beach have all been slaughtered.
That would be so cool to see CE devs react and commentate to videos like this, giving us more insight into how the game was made. The best video like this is the IGN Devs react to Halo CE speed run. They gave us so much more knowledge into how the game was made and what their intentions were.
@@ianhall6614 I love those devs react to speedrun videos! Love speedrunning in general honestly, don't have the dexterity to do it myself but find it all so fascinating.
This is a fantastic mission, as they all were, especially playing them for the first few times. In the anniversary edition for the Xbox 360 they put the skull that every player wanted on this map and made it one of the hardest grenade jumps to unlock it, as you couldn’t have infinite ammo otherwise. But that all changed on the MCC! I had a go at doing the warthog launch on legendary and got to the cartographer panel in 3 minutes, but it still was a long and hard fight getting topside, and I forgot the the two Hunter’s I skipped, would still be in that room protecting the sloping stairway down, plus the Jackals, and the Grunts and Elites that spawn in anyway on your way back up to that same area, before reaching that area I thought I was going to par time it easily, then was gutted by the enemy presence, given that by that point I had hardly any ammunition left for the magnum and only plasma pistols. I ended up finishing the level in 14:48 with only 12 seconds to spare! But it was a great feeling!
Dude, for real, that skull took me so many tries to get. It was the last skull I got, I even tried bringing in a warthog down there to make the jump easier, however that didn't even help with the jump. I eventually got it by throwing a plasma grenade at the wall and then a frag at my feet and made the leap of faith.
@@ianhall6614 Lol 😂 it took me a lot of practice, when you look up to where you think you should jump, I realised that you actually have to jump more to the right, because if you don’t you will keep landing short of the top, because of the sloping edges at the top!
@@ianhall6614 Exactly, I think this was 343’s idea of frustrating players, as this skull was sort after, as you can have a lot of fun with infinite ammo and make the harder difficulties easy! That said Bungie did a lot of things in the campaign’s to make players frustrated or suffer, especially Halo 2’s campaign!
@@MjII7 If I'm remembering correctly the Bandana skull on the Silent Cartographer was a preorder bonus at gamestop. So if you preordered it you didn't have to go through the headache of getting it, or they made it hard on purpose so people would preorder the game. But yes, I agree, Halo 2 had a lot of go into this room, get locked in it and unable to progress until you kill 15 waves of enemies. Not a lot of fun and what kind of dragged the middle of the game down for me.
Honestly, I would always get lost walking in squares looking for the one doorway that would take me back up after finding the cartographer. One of the least memorable compared to Assault on the Control Room, 343 GS, and Two Betrayals.
You're videos are such a delight. It's become part of my morning routine, also as a suggestion you should give Floodgate from Halo 3 a shot. It's really detailed on how the flood is quite a huge threat to the universe and how quickly it can spread and so much small details all around. One of my favorites in the series.
Cheers my man! I've actually talked about Floodgate in a relative amount of detail in the video 'How Halo Introduces The Flood'. You'll have to forgive the lower production quality, however, as I was still learning!
Ah, Ben. Your videos, especially Halo related are always awesomeness. Also, glad to hear you feel the same way in regards to the Anniversary style graphics.
7:59 - It's actually possible to prevent that Pelican crash event from happening altogether by speedrunning the level. Although I doubt that possibility was intentional - more likely that speedrunning glitches the mission's loading sequence.
I never thought about all these things so critically and put it all together. Really is a fantastically designed level. Thanks for the great video analysis
Even as a kid this was my favorite level, I couldn't realize why or put it to words, but I think it was because the freedom you were allowed in how you approached the level, relative to the other levels which were a tad more linear than this one. Of course I was a dumb 4yo so who knows why I liked it so much
There is actually another extra bit of dialogue if you go to the map room first and then instead of moving on directly to the path that leads to the security room, you go back the entire way round the island and drive through the area where you can see the security room structure from below.
This was my favorite Halo CE mission, but now it plays second fiddle to Halo. I still love this mission though, I could drive around the beach, sightseeing, all day long.
Cheers Kaptain! Honestly, it's because I don't know it as well as the other having only play it through once. But that is about to change! I'm working my way through it at the moment, with the aim of covering it very soon.
I only wish the beach fight had been longer and more varied. Now that I think about it, making the beach fight harder would've also been good. Not only more interesting, but driving the point home that the Covenant really want the map room for themselves. As it is, I just pick off covies from a distance and lob grenades and poof, it's done.
I'd love a beach battle playlist in the MCC which took you through all the different games' versions one after the other. The Silent Cartographer then The Covenant then Long Night of Solace etc etc.
My favourite bit of this mission is how you can almost feel the searing heat of the beach, and then the cool air of the subterranean chambers. Bungie really nailed the tactility here.
Actually, you don’t need a way point every time you play a mission. It’s nice to get to explore at your own pace, and discover things on your own. It’s something that I appreciate in Combat evolved.😊
I’d like to see your take on Halo Reach’s final mission Lone Wolf. Every time I go back to play through that mission, I always tear up. The best last stand for a protagonist.
That's awesome, thanks Frog! I always really struggled with the voiceovers in the past (struggle to watch videos form more than 6-9 months ago 😂), so always nice to get some good feedback on that in particular
I think the squad of marines you started with being dead on the beach comes from Cortana talking to Sgt Stacker over coms and he says, "Negative! They're closin' in too fast, negative! (pause) Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep 'em busy as long as we can!"
First time playing i remember that sword elite killed me atleast 3 times Edit: i also remember when i tried using the rocket launcher i just killed myself aswell cause it was such a small area lol
Just checked my footage back and I died not once, not twice, but four times before I recorded something useable. Kept trying to do exactly the same thing 😂
The first set of hunters can also trigger a set of jackels to appear if you stray too far from the hunters. The jackels jump you and tipicaly force the player to turn around and deal with the hunters first or try and slip past the jackels and get owned by a few elites and grunts. The design means it's hard to skip the hunter encounter and not learn how to handle the second hunters inside.
My favorite mission was 343 Guilty Spark. I just LOVE the mix of environmental und standard story telling while at the same time keeping you on edge the entire time. Too bad I had already known of the flood before playing it since way back then I had seen my brother playing that mission after The Arbiter und fighting flood.
Fun fact: The idea for the mission Regret actually came from the original concept for this mission. In early development, the objective of this mission would be to assassinate a prophet, but Bungie decided to wait, and they said it was one of the best decisions they ever made, because (and I quote Joe Staten) how tragic would it have been if they just made the prophets Elites in funny hats 🤣
Surely I'm not the only one who's used to seeing the cutscene with the sword elite being immediately gunned down by a marine in the warthog turret. If Bungie didn't intend for me to drive the warthog indoors they wouldn't have made that hallway warthog sized.
I could be wrong but I'd always assumed the marines in the beginning were the same marines Cortana was talking on the radio with. The ones that got ambushed by Covenant drop ships. "You'll be able to hold them off better from inside the facility, can you get inside?" "Negative! They're closing in too fast! Negative!" "Give 'em hell, Marines."
Funny fact: IF you drive a warthog into the map facility where MC kicks the rock off the edge, it will instead show hum just standing there, and the rock suddenly propels itself off the edge.
Kinda wish 343i experimented with Silent Cartographer's level concept and developed it further. Not like Halo Infinite's take however. Bungie played around on this concept with The Ark, and Sword Base but New Mombasa Streets, and New Alexandria were the next step forward. A large open level, with mission objectives that can be completed in/out of sequence as you progress. It's not necessarily open-world but the level is VERY large, that it can be mistaken for an open world.
I hated this level as a kid, I used to get lost and had no idea what to do haha. I'm fairly certain my first time I went for the security room first by mistake. I love it now and it's one of my favourite halo maps.
When I played this level as young I was surprised by its majesty paralyzed dumb struck also this was used as a demo for pc and by 2012 and 2013 every pcs in our country by that time.
After you enter the previously-locked door and go through a short passage, you have a choice to turn left or right. If I remember correctly, if you go left (which is the way you eventually have to go anyway), without turning right, you don't trigger the cutscene.
I remember being 12 and having finished the game on Legendary. The clusterfuck that was the last mission on Legendary made me not wanting to replay the game, except for this level. So basically for the next years "playing Halo" meant "playing The Silent Cartographer" over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
I have a really tough time appreciating this level as much as every body else does. Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely impossible not to smile during the opening cutscene and subsequent beach assault, but I’ve felt that’s really all the level offers. Playing the level for the first time made me pretty angry about having to navigate the whole island, especially considering the paths between map and security rooms are so strangely natural and not remotely planned, something you’d think the forerunners would include. The descent into the map room is always maddening, and the climb up is worse cause I can’t remember for the life of me how to get back up. The final encounters as you leave are a nice cap off, but I feel like there is nothing of substance in between two encounters that are separated by walking around an island with no rhyme or reason. Maybe it’s just me, but the Silent Cartographer has just never been my level
What if the marines had gotten there between the time that chief unlocks the door and finally arrives? There they were caught and then killed and had their bodies just tossed to the side out of the way? That's always what I thought at least.
The Marines that are dead on the beach die when the covenant send reinforcements. That's what Cortana ment by saying "Give them hell Marines" When I was younger I tried to save these Marines. When the map room controll panel is hit, the Marines drop dead.
If you hit the locked door with the warthog JUUUUUUUUST right you can ram it halfway through before it closes get out and skip half the level Edit: i used to do this on the original pc release of combat evoled consistantly ive never accomplished it in mcc it may have been patched
you can bypass the door, its still tricky, you are better off getting out just before the door so the momentum sends you past the door right before it closes
Never tried that, but I'm going to. In the morning though, it's past my bedtime here, got distracted trying to compile all my favourite videogame music into one playlist on Spotify. Problem is, I can't remember half of them 🙈
The dead marines is due to a trigger that kills off every friendly marine. During the last encounter with the covenant all the marines in the warthogs are supposed to be dead since you left them alone. But due to Bungie not setting a area where they should or shouldn't be killed, Bungie just made a ''kill all allies'' trigger.
12:01 I'm not entirely sure if regular CE/anniversary didn't use it at some point but there's unused audio that SPV 3.3 uses that alerts the player and Cortana that covenent reinforcements are inbound and that the senior ranking marine states they'll hold as long as possible to give the Chief more time
It has an invisible border, you can keep driving but after a point you are not going anywhere, similar to two betrayals with there being no border to the sky in a banshee.
CE’s OST is the greatest in any game I unironically listen to it since it’s just fucking amazing, covenant dance, under the cover of might, a pale horse and the best, a walk in the woods That shit has been amazing for decades and always will be
@@BenPlaysGames I played it nearly the whole time I was playing infinite and running around, the soundtrack just fits any moment Marty is a brilliant musical artist and I’m so glad they took inspiration for infinite’s sound track
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A rework of a previous video I can't watch due to how awful the voiceover is, with some new details added. Cracking mission!
I personally think you should give the Metro game series a try, personally I enjoyed the second game most, a ton of detail and I think you might provide a good critique of both the good and the bad features of the games as well as (I hope) enjoy the games.
@@Spartanshock19 You're not the first person to recommend them mate and I've had them on my list for ages - definitely going to try at some point as already own all three but never played them (other than the first third or so of 2033)!
7:08 "But now Bungie offers up a much tougher challenge"
*Proceeds to kill hunter with a single magnum shot*
I should have said within the context of a hunter encounter really hahaha, just had a chuckle watching that back!
My thoughts exactly haha.
Well, he said they offered a challenge. He didn't say it would be one.
The dead Marines on the beach are explained by radio transmissions when you get to the Map building after unlocking the security where the squad leader radios in and says covenant drop ships are incoming and closing fast, they won't be able to make it into the cover of the buildings in time so they are going to have to stand their ground and take as many Covenant as they can with them.
Yeh this is a great shout dude, goodness knows how I didn't put that together - head in the clouds I guess!
It also explains how the building managed to get repopulated with covenant on the way back up. It’s not just ‘well backtracking is boring, better spawn some enemies to make it interesting’. The covenant must have been pissed about losing control of the facility (and all of the aliens you killed more or less single handedly).
I remember if you forced marines far enough into the map room facility they weren't dead when you returned for the ending fight for some reason.
@@EuropeanMultiGamer You are correct. My friend and I were curious if they could be saved. Always trying to save marines!
We did try getting them all in the side cave next to the entrance, but they still died. Like you say, anywhere within the facility itself, they are safe!
@@EuropeanMultiGamer If you forced a Warthog down to the security door and leave Marines in it, there's a fair chance that they will engage and sometimes kill the Gold Elite when you come back up.
Fun fact: The dropship with jackals where you previously fought the hunters actually spawns in after your unlock the door to the map room. You would ideally encounter them traveling back the way you came, but most players choose to fall off the ledge outside the security room instead to get to the crashed pelican.
Ahhh that makes a lot of sense, always assumed they spawned at the end. Cheers for clarifying dude!
It took me years to stumbled on that spirit. Even on my very first playthrough I did fall on the cliff to reach the pelican. Was so cool to see that spirit!
Another fun fact: If you work your way down to the beach (why would anybody "fall off the ledge" when it's not difficult to climb most of the way down and not incur health damage!?) after unlocking the Map Room door, and approach that hunters-place structure again from the narrow passage up from the beach, (1) the dropship doesn't fly off unless you start to go past it; and (2) it's possible to get up on TOP of the island from at least on place in that narrow passage up from the beach. Once up, you can get over the place where you're looking down on the dropship---and with a little skill, can jump onto its top. If you try to walk the entire length of the dropship, it will take off and dump you when you walk past its trigger point to leave. But if you just want to stand on top of a dropship, here's an easy chance. You will probably need to kill off all the Jackals first--they tend to object to you messing around their dropship. Oh, and with a little help from a warthog at ground level, you can jump up into one of the berths near the back (nearest the V-8 looking engine). I'm kind'a surprised at how few players have bothered to get up on top of the island---lot'sa chances to play around in this level.
@@tarinaten2053 I’ve been dreaming to get on top of the island for years. Managed many years back getting on top of a rock and doing a little nade jump. It was a dream come true lol.
I also managed to get in top of every cliffs in the second mission "Halo” from the first and second area. When I was a kid I was like "shit all I want is to walk on top of these cliffs" and finally managed to make my way on them!
CE really has that special aura that will
Never bore me… it’s just a timeless classic
I always thought you were supposed to jump into the trees then down to mitigate the fall damage also the over shields were incase you missed the jump
Johnson: So, you beat the Halo demo. Not bad soldier, not bad at all!
BUT ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH THE FULL VERSION OF HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED!?
This level is one of my favourites from CE and feels like an actual large scale battle, something i never really felt in the other levels
The game definitely narrows, especially in the second half. I absolutely love the large scale battles which follow in Assault on the Control room, although more people seem to dislike that mission than I would have guessed.
To be fair, I think the battle at the end of Two Betrayals felt pretty big. A Covenant encampment facing off against a Flood swarm and it was epic to watch from the sidelines, although the Covenant invariably always win that encounter, even on Legendary, due to superior numbers and firepower.
@@Omega4Productions it's a lot of fun to drive through that in your warthog
How? You’re literally alone on a beach
@@NiightDJ "literally alone on a beach"
I guess you conveniently forgot about the squad of marines you dropped in with. XD
That point about pathfinding in the Forerunner structure probably explains why "Assault on the Control Room"/"Two Betrayals" has those big helpful arrows all over the interiors.
That definitely makes a lot of sense Chris!
No matter how many times I play this level, I still get lost.
My favourite level in Halo is definitely Assault on the Control Room.
However, The Silent Cartographer was chosen as the demo level for Halo, to show off the game to prospective customers. I can see why they chose it, and they made the right decision.
I love Assault on the Control Room too, that first big outdoor battle after you've made your way down to the snow blew my 13 year old Ben's mind.
When this level was the entire demo, I played it wayyyyy too many times
One of the best
Used to spend hours with mates just driving around it etc. It's actually a fairly short mission, but everything seemed so big back then.
So... you beat the Halo demo.
@@sirSTFU Best. Demo. Ever. Actually, apart from maybe the demo for the original Bioshock on 360. That demo sent my hype levels through the roof.
Buy one! Heck buy two!
Fun fact: the silent cartographer was originally a level just to test stuff and when they proposed to be a real thing they didn't know how to make a level out of a donut
Fun (and related) fact:- during the warthog run in Halo 3, you go round a huge rock. If look at this rock from above, it's a almost a exact replica of where the Silent Cartographer would be. It's a nice touch.
Too bad it got demolished again after Installation 04b's premature activation a premature activation that severely damaged the Lesser Ark
@@griffingower1883 yeah.
@@griffingower1883 well with installation 04c (installation 09) being successfully completed it’s back once more
@@jonathanhill7295 Anders ejected several segments of that ring meaning it's not all there anymore
Installation 04 just can’t catch a break
I loved the beach scene having all the allies around, and the transition towards loneliness later in the game as ally encounters get fewer and fewer because most of the marines have already died.
Lol I’m glad I’m not the only one who enjoyed flying off the ramp right into the middle of the action
Best ramp in gaming I reckon haha.
Truly blows my mind that Bungie never captured how good the warthog or assault rifle felt ever again after CE.
Yeh they still feel the best in Combat Evolved for me as well mate.
When I was a boy, this was my favorite mission in Halo CE. I didn't know why, I just felt that way. I was unable to really explain it back then. I just kinda knew something, even if I didn't understand it. As an adult now, this gives a voice to that part of me, expressing it flawlessly. It was a real joy listening to this.
I don't wanna sound overdramatic, but you speak to a person's soul with some of these videos you make.
Not overdramatic at all, one of the coolest bits of feedback I've received mate!
So you are a girl now?
@@Feu2032
What are you talking about?
@@trip2439 Just kidding lol, it's because you started the comment with "when I was a boy", just thought It would be funny.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game as I did tho!
I have so many good memories of this level! So scared when I had to fight the hunters on the top. Ramming the warthoq in the room (you can get surprisingly far), really fun in co-op with someone on the turret. And so many fun encounters.
Me too Torb, used to be the level I'd always show mates who didn't have an Xbox when they came over after school 😂
One of favourite UA-camrs analysing one of my (the?) favourite Halo missions. Really appreciate it!
No worries Torb, always appreciate you watching mate! And for calling me one of your favourites, that's real kind.
Pretty sure this is the only level on CE where the marines never wander around or follow you unless they're in a vehicle. No matter where you take them on the island, as soon as they step out of the vehicle they just wait where they stand.
Enjoyed the updated take on the Cartographer
12:00 - Earlier in the level, there's a radio transmission by Foehammer and the Marine Sergeant (voiced by Pete Stacker). They let Chief and Cortana know some dropships are approaching their position. Cortana advises them to fallback to the map room but the Sgt responds with "Negative! They're closin' in too fast. Negative! Chief, you gotta find the Cartographer. We'll keep them busy for as long as we can." This takes place when you're in the main facility if memory serves but after this discussion, the marines on the beach have all been slaughtered.
I wonder if former Bungie employees watch these videos and think "SEE HE GETS IT"
Ha I'd love that!
That would be so cool to see CE devs react and commentate to videos like this, giving us more insight into how the game was made. The best video like this is the IGN Devs react to Halo CE speed run. They gave us so much more knowledge into how the game was made and what their intentions were.
@@ianhall6614 I love those devs react to speedrun videos! Love speedrunning in general honestly, don't have the dexterity to do it myself but find it all so fascinating.
This is a fantastic mission, as they all were, especially playing them for the first few times.
In the anniversary edition for the Xbox 360 they put the skull that every player wanted on this map and made it one of the hardest grenade jumps to unlock it, as you couldn’t have infinite ammo otherwise.
But that all changed on the MCC!
I had a go at doing the warthog launch on legendary and got to the cartographer panel in 3 minutes, but it still was a long and hard fight getting topside, and I forgot the the two Hunter’s I skipped, would still be in that room protecting the sloping stairway down, plus the Jackals, and the Grunts and Elites that spawn in anyway on your way back up to that same area, before reaching that area I thought I was going to par time it easily, then was gutted by the enemy presence, given that by that point I had hardly any ammunition left for the magnum and only plasma pistols.
I ended up finishing the level in 14:48 with only 12 seconds to spare!
But it was a great feeling!
Dude, for real, that skull took me so many tries to get. It was the last skull I got, I even tried bringing in a warthog down there to make the jump easier, however that didn't even help with the jump. I eventually got it by throwing a plasma grenade at the wall and then a frag at my feet and made the leap of faith.
@@ianhall6614 Lol 😂 it took me a lot of practice, when you look up to where you think you should jump,
I realised that you actually have to jump more to the right, because if you don’t you will keep landing short of the top, because of the sloping edges at the top!
@@MjII7 Yeah it's a super awkward jump, you aim for a spot that looks like you totally won't make it, but alas, you do.
@@ianhall6614 Exactly, I think this was 343’s idea of frustrating players, as this skull was sort after, as you can have a lot of fun with infinite ammo and make the harder difficulties easy!
That said Bungie did a lot of things in the campaign’s to make players frustrated or suffer, especially Halo 2’s campaign!
@@MjII7 If I'm remembering correctly the Bandana skull on the Silent Cartographer was a preorder bonus at gamestop. So if you preordered it you didn't have to go through the headache of getting it, or they made it hard on purpose so people would preorder the game. But yes, I agree, Halo 2 had a lot of go into this room, get locked in it and unable to progress until you kill 15 waves of enemies. Not a lot of fun and what kind of dragged the middle of the game down for me.
Honestly, I would always get lost walking in squares looking for the one doorway that would take me back up after finding the cartographer. One of the least memorable compared to Assault on the Control Room, 343 GS, and Two Betrayals.
I have a bit of a melty often during that part too 🙈
You're videos are such a delight. It's become part of my morning routine, also as a suggestion you should give Floodgate from Halo 3 a shot. It's really detailed on how the flood is quite a huge threat to the universe and how quickly it can spread and so much small details all around. One of my favorites in the series.
Cheers my man! I've actually talked about Floodgate in a relative amount of detail in the video 'How Halo Introduces The Flood'. You'll have to forgive the lower production quality, however, as I was still learning!
Ah, Ben. Your videos, especially Halo related are always awesomeness.
Also, glad to hear you feel the same way in regards to the Anniversary style graphics.
Cheers Burge, that's super kind of you mate - and yeh,, original graphics always!
Cool hearing different voice lines side by side. Great content as always.
Cheers pchurch mate! Cool little detail for sure.
You forgot to mention how Chief can take the warthog with him throughout the whole mission.
You are amazing for making so many of these within a few weeks… we all love and appreciate it
Ah cheers Darius, it's my pleasure mate!
7:59 - It's actually possible to prevent that Pelican crash event from happening altogether by speedrunning the level. Although I doubt that possibility was intentional - more likely that speedrunning glitches the mission's loading sequence.
That's pretty cool - going to check out some a speedrun this evening as haven't watch a Combat Evolved one in donkeys.
I never thought about all these things so critically and put it all together. Really is a fantastically designed level. Thanks for the great video analysis
Even as a kid this was my favorite level, I couldn't realize why or put it to words, but I think it was because the freedom you were allowed in how you approached the level, relative to the other levels which were a tad more linear than this one.
Of course I was a dumb 4yo so who knows why I liked it so much
You do get radio transmission about more covenant arriving from the marines about more covenant arriving, explaining the dead marines on the beach
Ahhh that makes a lot of sense, thanks for clarifying mate!
There is actually another extra bit of dialogue if you go to the map room first and then instead of moving on directly to the path that leads to the security room, you go back the entire way round the island and drive through the area where you can see the security room structure from below.
No way! Gonna check that out next time I play it. Cheers for letting me know!
The levels with the control room are probably the best ones
Love a bit of Assault on the Control room too, nothing like massive vehicular battles in the snow!
This was my favorite Halo CE mission, but now it plays second fiddle to Halo. I still love this mission though, I could drive around the beach, sightseeing, all day long.
I quite enjoy your halo videos! I was just wondering why you never cover Halo 4's campaign?
Cheers Kaptain! Honestly, it's because I don't know it as well as the other having only play it through once. But that is about to change! I'm working my way through it at the moment, with the aim of covering it very soon.
I fucking love this channel and the videos that it brings, aka you...BEN. Cheers
That's super kind panda, cheers for the awesome feedback dude!
Been waiting for this!!! Great Vid!!
Are used to play this level over and over at my buddies house. Because I didn’t have an Xbox. Such a perfect level
Easy to say but loving the vids!! keep up the kickass work ^-^
Cheers Michael mate, and will do!
I only wish the beach fight had been longer and more varied.
Now that I think about it, making the beach fight harder would've also been good. Not only more interesting, but driving the point home that the Covenant really want the map room for themselves. As it is, I just pick off covies from a distance and lob grenades and poof, it's done.
I'd love a beach battle playlist in the MCC which took you through all the different games' versions one after the other. The Silent Cartographer then The Covenant then Long Night of Solace etc etc.
My favourite bit of this mission is how you can almost feel the searing heat of the beach, and then the cool air of the subterranean chambers. Bungie really nailed the tactility here.
Actually, you don’t need a way point every time you play a mission. It’s nice to get to explore at your own pace, and discover things on your own. It’s something that I appreciate in Combat evolved.😊
Ever considered talking about Halo 3 ODST? I feel like the semi open Mombasa Streets level would be a good topic to talk about
ODST has so much atmosphere and a great story. I would love to see it covered on this channel.
It's in the post Ik 😉
I use to load all the hogs up, and place them into the map room entry way after forcing them into paths they shouldn't have been able to go.
Let’s hope 343 can make a level just as good in Infinite (for their sake)
Man I've so many memories of playing CE on my original xbox after school, eating meatpie, dog next to me
You ate Meatpie, the dog next to you? Poor bugger! Sorry, crap joke - I was the same mate sans dog unfortunately.
@@BenPlaysGames Haha yeah, but he was always involved in quality control when making sandwiches etc
My favorite part of this level is taking 20-30 minutes to get the warthog to the final button area underground.
I’d like to see your take on Halo Reach’s final mission Lone Wolf. Every time I go back to play through that mission, I always tear up. The best last stand for a protagonist.
When I next cover Reach,, that will most likely, be the mission I choose so keep an eye out over the next few weeks 😉
Really great videos mate keep it up!
Your voice is perfect for your content I love it.
That's awesome, thanks Frog! I always really struggled with the voiceovers in the past (struggle to watch videos form more than 6-9 months ago 😂), so always nice to get some good feedback on that in particular
I think the squad of marines you started with being dead on the beach comes from Cortana talking to Sgt Stacker over coms and he says, "Negative! They're closin' in too fast, negative! (pause) Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep 'em busy as long as we can!"
Of all the levels in this entire game, bungie knew this was their A material, which is why they used this level as the demo
Yeah i got lost in the indoor section too
Why does it all have to look the same, with no signposting 🙈
*Greatest FPS mission of all time*
Can't argue with that!
First time playing i remember that sword elite killed me atleast 3 times
Edit: i also remember when i tried using the rocket launcher i just killed myself aswell cause it was such a small area lol
Just checked my footage back and I died not once, not twice, but four times before I recorded something useable. Kept trying to do exactly the same thing 😂
The first set of hunters can also trigger a set of jackels to appear if you stray too far from the hunters. The jackels jump you and tipicaly force the player to turn around and deal with the hunters first or try and slip past the jackels and get owned by a few elites and grunts. The design means it's hard to skip the hunter encounter and not learn how to handle the second hunters inside.
My favorite mission was 343 Guilty Spark. I just LOVE the mix of environmental und standard story telling while at the same time keeping you on edge the entire time. Too bad I had already known of the flood before playing it since way back then I had seen my brother playing that mission after The Arbiter und fighting flood.
Might have a video on that mission too, if you're interested 😉 By the by, I absolutely love it too.
@@BenPlaysGames indeed i am
@@tri-sapien6487 Nice, it's called 'Examining Halo's Scariest Mission' should be easy enough to find on the channel.
@@BenPlaysGames okay thx man
Fun fact: The idea for the mission Regret actually came from the original concept for this mission. In early development, the objective of this mission would be to assassinate a prophet, but Bungie decided to wait, and they said it was one of the best decisions they ever made, because (and I quote Joe Staten) how tragic would it have been if they just made the prophets Elites in funny hats 🤣
I remember if you forced marines far enough into the map room they weren't dead when you returned for the ending fight for some reason.
Surely I'm not the only one who's used to seeing the cutscene with the sword elite being immediately gunned down by a marine in the warthog turret. If Bungie didn't intend for me to drive the warthog indoors they wouldn't have made that hallway warthog sized.
I could be wrong but I'd always assumed the marines in the beginning were the same marines Cortana was talking on the radio with. The ones that got ambushed by Covenant drop ships.
"You'll be able to hold them off better from inside the facility, can you get inside?"
"Negative! They're closing in too fast! Negative!"
"Give 'em hell, Marines."
They knew what they were doing when they made this level the demo.
Funny fact: IF you drive a warthog into the map facility where MC kicks the rock off the edge, it will instead show hum just standing there, and the rock suddenly propels itself off the edge.
Kinda wish 343i experimented with Silent Cartographer's level concept and developed it further. Not like Halo Infinite's take however.
Bungie played around on this concept with The Ark, and Sword Base but New Mombasa Streets, and New Alexandria were the next step forward.
A large open level, with mission objectives that can be completed in/out of sequence as you progress.
It's not necessarily open-world but the level is VERY large, that it can be mistaken for an open world.
small request, could you take a look at the halo CE mod spv3? would love to see your breakdown of it.
Got it downloaded, now just need to find the time to play it. Will definitely happen at some point though.
My favorite mission was Fight for the Control room.
I've been lost here so many times that I cant count 10:52
I didn’t realize that ce beach level was that open
I think halos samey hallways make it feel more real. Why would every room and corridor be different? They’re supposed to be functional structures
I hated this level as a kid, I used to get lost and had no idea what to do haha. I'm fairly certain my first time I went for the security room first by mistake. I love it now and it's one of my favourite halo maps.
3:55 whhhhhhaaaat never knew that
Great little touch right?
@@BenPlaysGames yes! 🙌
When I played this level as young I was surprised by its majesty paralyzed dumb struck also this was used as a demo for pc and by 2012 and 2013 every pcs in our country by that time.
Watch a speed run of this level. Some insane tricks used throughout this level.
When I was a kid I almost played nothing but halo CE and this was always my go to mission.
Just realized this was realized this came out an hour ago
Yeh dude, it's fresh as daisies!
There is a terminal at the arena you fight The Hunters.
8:58 I've been playing halo ce since I was 4 and yet I've never seen or heard of this cutscene
After you enter the previously-locked door and go through a short passage, you have a choice to turn left or right. If I remember correctly, if you go left (which is the way you eventually have to go anyway), without turning right, you don't trigger the cutscene.
Amazing, as always :)
Cheers Sepehr mate, always appreciate the support!
I remember being 12 and having finished the game on Legendary. The clusterfuck that was the last mission on Legendary made me not wanting to replay the game, except for this level. So basically for the next years "playing Halo" meant "playing The Silent Cartographer" over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
The first half of Combat Evolved is gaming paradise for me, love it to death. Everything after 343 Guilty Spark... not so much.
I have a really tough time appreciating this level as much as every body else does. Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely impossible not to smile during the opening cutscene and subsequent beach assault, but I’ve felt that’s really all the level offers. Playing the level for the first time made me pretty angry about having to navigate the whole island, especially considering the paths between map and security rooms are so strangely natural and not remotely planned, something you’d think the forerunners would include. The descent into the map room is always maddening, and the climb up is worse cause I can’t remember for the life of me how to get back up. The final encounters as you leave are a nice cap off, but I feel like there is nothing of substance in between two encounters that are separated by walking around an island with no rhyme or reason. Maybe it’s just me, but the Silent Cartographer has just never been my level
Why wasn’t I notified … regardless, woohoo I love these breakdowns
The dead marines in the indoor sections are there clearly for gameplay reasons, so you don't have ammo problems!
That picture! I need it!
Course mate, grab it here: www.halopedia.org/Battle_of_the_Silent_Cartographer#/media/File:HCEA-Concept-SilentCartographer.jpg
@@BenPlaysGames thx 🙏
What if the marines had gotten there between the time that chief unlocks the door and finally arrives? There they were caught and then killed and had their bodies just tossed to the side out of the way? That's always what I thought at least.
Now if only this is how we get Halo Infinite's Campaign (for context I haven't seen the campaign overview for fear of campaign spoilers).
Imagine not shooting the sword elite through the door with the pistol, or glitching the warthog through the trees. 😂😂😂
The Marines that are dead on the beach die when the covenant send reinforcements. That's what Cortana ment by saying "Give them hell Marines"
When I was younger I tried to save these Marines. When the map room controll panel is hit, the Marines drop dead.
Lol, I never noticed in 20 yrs. That the beach marines died and the drop ship jackals in the hunter arena.
Huh, the more you know.
Such a neat detail that you can visit the security room first! I agree, this level has a bit of everything. Nice vid, as always
Nice one Kolbjørn mate!
If you hit the locked door with the warthog JUUUUUUUUST right you can ram it halfway through before it closes get out and skip half the level
Edit: i used to do this on the original pc release of combat evoled consistantly ive never accomplished it in mcc it may have been patched
you can bypass the door, its still tricky, you are better off getting out just before the door so the momentum sends you past the door right before it closes
Never tried that, but I'm going to. In the morning though, it's past my bedtime here, got distracted trying to compile all my favourite videogame music into one playlist on Spotify. Problem is, I can't remember half of them 🙈
The dead marines is due to a trigger that kills off every friendly marine. During the last encounter with the covenant all the marines in the warthogs are supposed to be dead since you left them alone. But due to Bungie not setting a area where they should or shouldn't be killed, Bungie just made a ''kill all allies'' trigger.
I always park a warthog in front of the door with the sword elite. The machine gunner will fuck him up so I don’t have to
12:01 I'm not entirely sure if regular CE/anniversary didn't use it at some point but there's unused audio that SPV 3.3 uses that alerts the player and Cortana that covenent reinforcements are inbound and that the senior ranking marine states they'll hold as long as possible to give the Chief more time
8:35 who else just jumps off this cliff here to get to the Pelican
Not me. It's not too difficult to work your way down without health damage.
Me 😂
I think the Marines in the Silent Cartographer were captured and being tortured for information.
And now they're dead as dodos, poor blighters!
Which mission would you use the anniversary edition. Which one is the best to use for the anniversary edition?
At one point you mentioned a banshee, what banshee?
I love that level so much especially coz the ocean doesnt have borders
It has an invisible border, you can keep driving but after a point you are not going anywhere, similar to two betrayals with there being no border to the sky in a banshee.
Seem to remember there being fish or similar in the original version, but may be completely misremembering.
@@BenPlaysGames maybe in anniversary but no fish in my memory
CE’s OST is the greatest in any game
I unironically listen to it since it’s just fucking amazing, covenant dance, under the cover of might, a pale horse and the best, a walk in the woods
That shit has been amazing for decades and always will be
Wholeheartedly agree Deez, I've listened to it goodness knows how many times since 2001. Under Cover Of Night is my favourite, absolutely adore it.
@@BenPlaysGames I played it nearly the whole time I was playing infinite and running around, the soundtrack just fits any moment
Marty is a brilliant musical artist and I’m so glad they took inspiration for infinite’s sound track
My childhood
Mine too dude, was nothing quite like a 16-player Halo LAN party with mates.