The latest update from Bungie on the progress of Halo 3 has revealed that a newly released build of the sequel is virtually level-complete, which is allowing the developer to start "testing properly for difficulty and length." Listen very carefully, and you can hear the sound of 'closer, it's coming closer' echoing around the videogaming ether.

In the update, it's explained too that layers of detail are now being added to Halo 3's campaign at an astonishing speed, Bungie's Frank O'Connor describing his experience when "tooling around in a huge indoor environment and admiring the light shining softly through the dirty skylights above".

"I was getting up close to a chain link fence and enjoying the rusty steel texture visible on the quarter-centimeter wide chain link... I noticed that there's a lot of extruded detail - that is to say, 3D objects on what would normally be flat surfaces. Think at the simplest level, a real drainpipe against a wall, but more impressive were these brilliantly done, and wonderfully conceived things like taut steel cables, the aforementioned chain link fencing, realistic electrical and communications wiring and just the random garbage that covers the world - all lovingly recreated with a futuristic bent."

Adding that lighting "is still being introduced in new and exciting ways" and talking about work with in-game water, O'Connor then goes on to discuss combat dialogue and says that "We have a lot more characters this time around, with more Marines, Grunts, Brutes, Elites and more to write dialog for", adding, "The acting roster is being filled out now, and the people involved are going to be amazing folks to work with. True talents, old and new, famous and obscure. It's going to be a riot."

"...one thing I noticed is that the sheer number of characters on screen, talking simultaneously, affects the flavor of combat. Hearing three grunts panic while two charge you, yelling, makes combat feel way more intense. Grunts are still funny, but it's not so funny when they're winging plasma 'nades at you like The Big Unit after a bad haircut. The number of times I have been taken by surprise by a gang of angry Grunts - I can't even tell you. And don't even get me started on Brutes and Jackals."

He also reveals there's "a working, controllable version of a brand new vehicle", featuring in the latest Halo 3 build, explains that the difficulty levels are implemented in single-player - but "Nothing like ready, or finished" - and that new voice announcements for multiplayer will accompany original favourite announcements "so you'll be aurally rewarded or punished for various multiplayer antics.".

via cvg ...