Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

The Story of Halo 4 Begins at Dawn...

Gamers all over the world know that Halo 4 comes out tomorrow (or later today, depending on where in the world you reside). What they may not know is the story that comes before Halo 4. Forward Unto Dawn is that story.

It follows a squad of UNSC cadets at a training academy that comes under siege by the alien Covenant. Comprised of 5 approximately 20 minute long episodes, it also represents the largest monetary investment that Microsoft has put into a live-action Halo project.

The money that Microsoft has put into this is very much apparent, as the special effects and props are crazy good, and very faithful to the franchise. It is things like this series that makes me hopeful that they would be able to make a very good Halo movie at some point. And according to ScreenRant, this may become even more of a possibility due to Forward Unto Dawn. In fact, if you were to watch all 5 episodes of the series, you would get a (around) 90 minute film that looks amazing, and stands as a pretty convincing proof-of-concept for an actual movie.

I was drawn into the series just because it was Halo related (and I imagine a lot of people who watch it were attracted for the same reason) and I can honestly say that I would watch it again. That being said, the story does fall kind of flat at times. I understand that not every second can be action packed, and I'm not saying that it should, but in my opinion, there were a few spots where the plot sort of dragged on.

On the other side of the coin, the acting was great. Most of the actors are relative unknowns, but that allows for new stars to rise. However, fans of the Narnia series should recognize Anna Popplewell as one of the cadets at the academy and X-Men and Twilight fans will recognize the voice of the Master Chief as Daniel Cudmore. This mix of new and familiar faces keeps the series fresh.

The Forward Unto Dawn series gets 9 stars.

After putting this series through our rating system, it was determined that H4: FUD gets 9/10 stars. It loses a star due to the storyline dragging slightly at a few points, but the high quality special effects and the large amounts of action help it out tremendously. If you want a Halo fix before you play the new game (or even while you're playing), I highly recommend this series. You can check it out on the Halo Waypoint app on your XBox 360 or on YouTube.

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