First Halo 3: Recon details emerge

Joystiq got a chance to sit down with Bungie's Brian Jarrard to discuss some of the details behind the upcoming Halo 3 experience, Recon. Many questions have been lobbed at the title since it was first officially revealed, and here, without further ado, are some of the answers (politely cribbed directly from Joystiq):

• "It will be a standalone disc sold in stores in boxes next Fall. It's also going to include some multiplayer maps."
• "It is a first-person shooter still ... It's not a squad-based shooter."
• "As an ODST, compared to playing as in invulnerable Spartan, you are going to have to sort of pick and choose your encounters a little bit differently."
• "It is going to very much feel like Halo. Full feature parity."

A few other details. Recon (as most have theorized) takes place directly after the Prophet of Regret jumped into slipspace during Halo 2, causing the destruction of New Mombasa. Players take the role of a single ODST -- not a full squad. Also, it would appear that -- as implied by the trailer above -- the Superintendent (the little green circle dude) will serve as Recon's "Cortana." When asked about this, Jarrard replied, "I think your observations seem pretty spot on. It certainly seems like there's a guiding hand of some sort there."



Concerning the size of the expansion and the price, Jarrard revealed that Recon isn't likely to be released as DLC and will be "value-oriented." Finally, the game has "full feature parity" with Halo 3, including Forge (with some new features) and multiplayer. So, in other words, we imagine dual-wielding and all that good stuff will still feel the same. Multiplayer, by the way, will still be standard Halo 3 multiplayer.

Finally, Recon is not the only project being worked on at Bungie, with Jarrard noting that it is being developed by a relatively small team of a "bunch of elders" that have had a hand in the series from the beginning. Head over to Joystiq for more details.