Lamborghini Designed A Halo-Themed Urus You Can Drive In 'Forza Horizon 6' (More Importantly, I Got To Meet Master Chief)

If you're like me and had a pulse in the early 2000s, you probably have fond memories of the Halo franchise, especially the original game, "Halo: Combat Evolved." My friends and I used to set up makeshift LAN parties at our town library, downloading the multiplayer demo on the computers. The video game landscape has changed a lot since then, not least in how advanced gaming systems have gotten, so Xbox Game Studios has followed in the footsteps of many other AAA titles and created a full remake of the original game, now called "Halo: Campaign Evolved."

Because we live in such a new world, there's an unexpected car-related partnership to promote the remake, which comes out tomorrow, July 28. The Halo team got together with Lamborghini to design a one-off Urus SE called the Master Chief 117 Edition, inspired by its namesake's helmet and armor. Though it made a real-life example, Lamborghini isn't actually going to be selling any of these — but if you have "Forza Horizon 6," you'll be able to download the Urus as a special free livery starting July 30.

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I got to check out the Master Chief 117 Edition in person, and it does look pretty cool. But the much better parts of the afternoon were getting to see and sit in the drivable 1,000-horsepower Warthog built by Hoonigan, play the first level of "Campaign Evolved," and meet a Master Chief cosplayer who created his own costume.

Full disclosure: Lamborghini invited me to drive to a studio in Culver City so I could see the one-off Urus and Warthog and play a bit of the new game.

The Urus is wrapped in a matte green akin to the color of Master Chief's armor. There are thicker accent lines along some of the Urus' character lines, little arrow markings pointing at vents and other details, the number 117 painted on the front doors and tailgate, and the UNSC logo on the taillight as well. I particularly like the reflective gold window tint that gives the look of Master Chief's visor, and the yellow headlight lenses. Otherwise it's just a regular-degular Urus SE, with 789 horsepower from a twin-turbo V8 with a plug-in-hybrid system. Too bad it's not based on the new Urus SE Performante.

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In "Forza Horizon 6," the downloadable Master Chief 117 Edition looks basically the same as the real thing, save for different wheels and a few other details that (I guess) couldn't be recreated in-game. If getting the car in Forza isn't enough, Lamborghini has also launched a sweepstakes that's giving away "a limited number" of 1:18-scale models of the Halo-themed Urus. I can't wait to see what people list those for on eBay.

Outside the studio, Hoonigan had the full-scale Warthog replica on display. It was built in 2021 in an official partnership with Xbox for the release of "Halo Infinite." Sadly, I wasn't able to go for a ride in the thing, but climbing into the driver's seat and hearing it start up and rev was plenty entertaining. It's built on a rock-crawler chassis with four-wheel steering (though the rear steer was welded up for a drag race), with a turbocharged Ford Windsor V8 stuffed into the front end.

It's really huge — those are 43-inch tires — but surprisingly easy to climb in and out of, even though I'm "only" 5-foot-9. Not to brag, but the Hoonigan reps said I was the most graceful out of any of the journalists that got in. The driving position is very racy and laid-back, and with how giant the hood is and how tall the whole thing is, I had essentially zero forward visibility. But I guess when you're driving a Warthog, you'll just drive over anything in your way.

Even with its massive real-life dimensions, the Hoonigan build still isn't as huge as the Warthog is in the games. In Halo, the rig is 20 feet long, almost 10 feet wide, and just as tall. The Hoonigan Warthog is faster, though. The ones in the game have a top speed of 78 mph, but Hoonigan's will hit triple digits. Hoonigan put out a lot of really great YouTube videos about the Warthog and its build, including one where they race it against a DeLorean.

To be completely honest, I'm not an Xbox person. I've owned a few different ones, but only ever to play the Forza series. (Growing up, my friends had Xboxes, so I played a lot of stuff on 360, but never had one myself.) Once it was announced that previously Xbox-exclusive games would be available on PlayStation 5, I sold my last Xbox console. The last Halo game I actually extensively played was "Halo 3," though I did get about halfway through "Halo Infinite," which I also enjoyed.

Lamborghini

This new remake wasn't really on my radar as a game to get excited about, but running through the first level was a blast. The new game was completely rebuilt with Unreal Engine 5, and it does look extremely good. It plays great too, feeling enough like the original while still playing like a modern game. Controlling the Warthog in-game has been particularly improved. What I didn't get to do is try out the Urus in "Horizon 6." I'm patiently waiting for the PS5 release of that one.

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Though the nostalgia I felt while playing the remake's first level probably won't be enough for me to buy it for myself, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't giddy seeing the cosplayer walking around and posing with the car. I got even giddier standing next to him for some photos. Gonna tell everyone Master Chief is my husband now.