Remember in the first Halo when the Covenant Elite rushed you with energy swords? Oh wait, that was Halo 2.

Originally though, that wasn’t the case. Master Chief was nameless, he looked thinner, and ran around in third person. This original Apple keynote where they revealed the game for the first time offers an interesting perspective on the game, pushing it’s then incredible graphics. The main Halo theme is already in place, meaning maestro Marty O’Donnell was in place from the get go. Many of the ship designs are almost spot-on with their final versions.

For a deeper look, long defunct PC gaming magazine Incite (which also had a console based spin-off of the same name and retailed for only a $1) had a preview on its included CD-ROM. It shows the early physics, and gives and idea of how the third person view would have worked. AI hasn’t been programmed, and Master Chief is still nameless. The foundation is there, but Halo came a long way before it landed on the Xbox.