Halo Wars: The Official Guide / Ready for War / Blog 06/06
Part 06: Appendices and Extras
!WARNING! Some extremely light Spoiler information!
Anders and Forge enter the Forerunner structure, full of trepidation. A similar feeling may occur when you first view the back of our guide….
Covenant Jackals. Hated by all (including many of the Covenant's own troops), they are a long-range nuisance. Art taken from the guide's Gallery.
Two Grizzlies on maneuvers. One of the many impressive pieces of concept art crammed into the Art Gallery at the back of this book.
Finishing off the guide with a bang, not a whimper, are the two chapters at the back of this weighty tome, the first of which has a number of useful Appendices. First of all, every single Xbox Live Achievement is listed. This isn’t just some table though; there’s a description of what each Achievement is, the points it is worth, and more importantly, which part of the game (the Campaign, Multiplayer, etc) it relates to. Need to know how to complete 100 percent of the game? Check this Appendix out. There’s also a list of Achievements that are specifically related to each of the 15 Campaign Missions. Fortunately, information on how these are completed is contained in the Walkthrough too, so you’ll never finish a Mission without the choice of completing one of those related Achievements, too.
The next two Appendices are simply entitled “Skull Locations”, and “Black Box Locations”. Could I tell you more? Certainly, but lose certain portions of my anatomy in the process. Let’s just say there are some amusing and useful secrets, and the Appendices (not to mention, the Walkthrough) hold the keys to unlocking them. The final Appendix is a complete Timeline, charting official Halo canon from 16 Janurary 2498 (the opening of the Arcadia Colony) to sometime in 2552 (an Edict of the Office of the High Prophet of Truth). Many of these Timeline notes are locked, and fortunately, this Appendix also tells you how to open them.
With the Appendices out of the way, the final pages feature a host of exclusive pre-production art pieces direct from Ensemble Studios, with captions from the team themselves. Here, you’ll find some truly impressive dioramas, character studies, and action set-pieces. There’s studies of different Covenant infantry units, including a particularly cool painting of a Brute Chopper and a group of Jackals. Then comes some Spartan art, Covenant buildings, and more UNSC paintings and renderings. The alien worlds you visit are also revealed in all their majestic glory, including the Shield World, and the infested Flood badlands. Ingenious wildlife is revealed, as well as The Creep (including their cool, white, black, and red insignia-daubed Warthog variant). There’s some disgusting Flood mutations to grimace at, and some rather splendid action shots to round off the guide.
A personal thanks to everyone at Ensemble Studios that helped me create this guide. This would have been impossible without your support.
Blog complete. You are officially Ready for War!
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