Examining Halo's Revolutionary Silent Cartographer

Halo Combat Evolved mission The Silent Cartographer is an unforgettable experience and Bungie's Halo series at its very best.

The Silent Cartographer's heated beach battle, large open map and adherence to so many of Bungie’s incredible design philosophies used throughout the Halo series makes it an absolute joy to play time and time again.

In this video, I analyse everything from The Silent Cartographer's level design and gameplay to its story, setting and atmosphere, to try and explain why it's such a unique experience, while also drawing comparisons to Halo 3's The Covenant, Halo Reach's Long Night Of Solace and other missions in the Halo trilogy.

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#Halo #HaloReach #HaloXbox

Contents:
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Previously On Halo Combat Evolved
01:10 - Battle On The Beach
04:48 - Exploring The Island
08:54 - Down To The Map Room
11:34 - Hidden Details And Anniversary

[BenPlaysGames]

A rework of a previous video I can't watch due to how awful the voiceover is, with some new details added. Cracking mission!

[nukajack]

7:08 "But now Bungie offers up a much tougher challenge"
*Proceeds to kill hunter with a single magnum shot*

[dewittbourchier]

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.

[ArcHammer]

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!?

[SonicRaymond]

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.

[Lime_Trooper]

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

[Grymbaldknight]

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.

[christopherwall]

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.

[quantumfrost]

When this level was the entire demo, I played it too many times
One of the best

[ireneparkin]

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.

[ruisen]

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.

[mrratchet]

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.

[marckarroliga]

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

[stevesmith-nplu]

Lol I’m glad I’m not the only one who enjoyed flying off the ramp right into the middle of the action

[kylesweat]

Truly blows my mind that Bungie never captured how good the warthog or assault rifle felt ever again after CE.

[trip]

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.

[PineappleStickers]

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

[torb-no]

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.

[torb-no]

One of favourite YouTubers analysing one of my (the?) favourite Halo missions. Really appreciate it!

[MjII]

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!