I actually agree with that, this new cover does say "pause, take deep breath, continue" but I don't see anything that connotes darker or grittier.
My point about this cover being similar to H2 was just to show that this new cover doesn't convey a darker theme. The Chief is off centered in this new art, but the background shows torn rubble and destruction very similar to the chief standing atop the heap of rubble and destruction on the Halo 2 cover. In that cover he also isn't really moving. He's standing atop a hill of rubble taking pause, again very similar to the new box art.
The sun is going down on earth (literally and metaphorically), with wreckage in the background. Dark times ahead. That's always been my interpretation of the "Emotion" piece, anyways.
The similarity to the Halo 2 cover is interesting. In the story, on the surface, the start of the two games are similar. Earth is under Covenant attack, the Chief is there to defend it. The difference is, before Halo 2 came out we thought the Chief had a chance to fend off the Convent - it was a "let's kick some ass" pose, diving into the fight. At the start of Halo 3, Earth is "thoroughly conquered" according to Bungie. That fight has been lost.
Anyhoo, since we're comparing - just for context:
Definately some similarity, but to me they strike a different tone. Halo 2 is diving into the fight; Halo 3 is after that fight has been lost.
Edited by GhaleonEB, 07 June 2007 - 10:10 AM.