Bungie talks up the Brute video

Now that the latest Halo 3 "ViDoc" has been released and allowed to simmer for a few hours, Bungie has responded to some of the most common questions and concerns associated with it. Chief among these questions is of course the graphics. Already announced as being placeholder graphics, many still found the video to be lacking -- in some cases barely above Halo 2's visual quality. In response, Bungie says that essentially nothing in the video represents the actual look of Halo 3, save for a few very brief snippets. Furthermore, all footage in the video is several months old, as that is when they started creating the documentary.

Also noticed by some serious Halo fans was a fourth grenade slot in a shot of the HUD. Some speculated that this was the mysterious shield "grenade" seen in the recent Halo 3 TV commercial. Bungie points out again that these shots are months old, and the HUD might be entirely different now. The current build could have more grenades on the HUD, less, etc.

The biggest concern addressed by Bungie had to do with the Brutes becoming the main enemy in Halo 3. Bungie assures the populace that Brutes aren't the only enemies we will be fighting. The Covenant are more complex than we might imagine, and a simple split "along party lines" is not in the cards, thus we see Grunts with Brutes in the video even though they sided with the Elites in Halo 2. Furthermore, Bungie notes that the Brute behavior witnessed in the video is not indicative of final gameplay, and that the Brute AI will change "dramatically and strategically" during actual play.

Finally, Bungie.net should have a low resolution version of the documentary available for download tomorrow (of course, you could just check it out on Joystiq right now).