Halo 4 - Xbox 360

343 Industries Balances Old And New

Matt Miller — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:01:00 GMT

343 Industries had a series of challenges in front of it when it began to create Halo 4: Take a beloved series from the original developer Bungie, maintain the legacy established through a decade of development, and reignite enthusiasm by delivering something new. That is a daunting list, but 343 Industries was clearly up to the task. Halo 4 is a thrilling adventure, and takes the science fiction franchise headlong into the future. The magic formula is intact, but the new development team isn’t afraid to put its own signature features into play, assuring that Halo is on a path to growth instead of stagnation.

Recent Halo entries felt ancillary to the core story. Halo 4 returns to the resonant drive of the series – Master Chief and his unrelenting defense of humanity. For the first time, the story has an emotional core that grounds the fiction: the connection between John and Cortana. As the two characters face a reemerging threat to the galaxy, we finally gain insight into the mysterious Forerunner race hinted at since Combat Evolved. Along the way, 343 Industries plays around with some heady science fiction concepts, from the nature of artificial intelligence to the planned shaping of a species’ evolution. While these ideas might be bewildering to newcomers, the story is the most cohesive and well-structured in the series.

As I played through that story, I was struck by the extraordinary production values on display. Halo 4 is a visual marvel, with gorgeous environments accentuated by high dynamic range lighting and breathtaking particle effects. However, the experience is more than the graphics; I rarely feel the need to call out the sound effects of a game, but Halo 4 is an exception. The first time I fired a gun, I was startled by the forceful burst, and the impression only improves as the fights progress. From the distorted static of a scrambled audio communication to the revving propulsion drive of a speeding Ghost, Halo 4’s audio drags players into the game world by their ears. Several stirring new musical themes add to the effect, but those melodies are sometimes obscured within the sound mix. I wish Halo 4 allowed for manual adjustment of the audio mix like most high-end games on the market.

Enemies have defined the feel of Halo gameplay since the beginning, and Halo 4 balances familiarity and novelty. The Covenant returns (for reasons the in-game story fails to articulate), providing the classic experience Halo fans love – popping Grunts, zeroing in on distant Jackals, and furiously dueling Elites. Thankfully, new foes enter the picture before long. The Prometheans offer a robust tactical challenge, from the infuriating regenerative abilities of the floating Watchers to the savage Crawlers and teleporting Knights. Each battlefield becomes a tense puzzle as you decide which bad guy to engage first. That’s why the widely spaced checkpoint placement is such a bummer; I love the searing difficulty the game exhibits on higher challenge levels, but Halo 4 often sends its players too far back as a punishment for failure.

Master Chief has new toys to bring into the fight, including several powerful new guns. Added to the array already introduced previously, the armament variety is impressive, and trying them all out is fun. The game encourages experimentation by severely limiting ammo on most pick-ups. At times, the strategy succeeds by making players use all the tools at their disposal. However, frequently running out of ammo slows the momentum of the action as you’re forced to scavenge for an alternative.

Levels are thoughtfully structured and entertaining. One breathtaking environment is followed by the next, and several alternative gameplay sequences offer variety, from the new walking mech Mantis battles to high speed flights in outer space. The ever-changing locations and set pieces give Master Chief’s adventure a scope and grandiosity that’s lacking in many other shooters.

For many, Halo 4’s excellent campaign will be secondary to the endless battles of the newly introduced Infinity multiplayer. An integrated cooperative and competitive narrative tracks the progress of your Spartan as he or she trains aboard a UNSC ship and then heads out on missions, ranking up and improving on the way. Advancing your character is a joy, as you unlock armor pieces, customizable loadouts, and bonuses to boost performance in battle. The smooth and streamlined front-end interface is easy to navigate. Playing with friends is seamless; only time will tell if matchmaking can stand up to the rush that will hit after launch.

A few small changes to the flow of competitive multiplayer help Halo 4 feel more vibrant and replayable. Points have overtaken kills as the primary scoring mechanic. Random powerful weapon drops remove the chance for experienced players to camp equipment spawns. Support abilities and customized loadouts offer more flexibility. Combat is fast and intense, and hews close to what I’ve always loved in the series. New multiplayer modes like Regicide and Dominion join perennial favorites like Slayer, Oddball, and Capture the Flag, and all the modes play out across an impressive set of over a dozen strong new maps.

Along with the returning option to play through the campaign cooperatively with friends, 343 Industries introduces an episodic cooperative experience with enormous potential to change the way post-release content is delivered in games. Spartan Ops brings a new cinematic episode every week, along with five connected missions. The large battles and objectives available in these missions are ideal for a group of friends, and at a little over an hour per episode, it’s perfect for a weekly gaming meet-up. I’m disappointed that this new cooperative mode replaces Firefight, but I’m stoked about a continuing narrative that I can follow after the game is out.

Multiplayer is rounded out by the return of Forge and Theater options for the more creative. Each of the multiplayer maps plus several variants can be fleshed out into wholly new levels inside Forge. I especially appreciate the new tools to make iteration easier, from magnets that click pieces together, to simple button taps that replicate your last object placed. Along with broadened options for environmental effects, such as gravity shifting, I can’t wait to see what the community comes up with.

Whether I am watching a grenade explode a Promethean into a shower of sparks or charging with friends at my side through a cooperative adventure, Halo 4 makes the series feel new again. 343 Industries’ clear affection for the property shines through, leaving me thrilled to join Master Chief for another decade in defense of the galaxy.

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Above: Watch us play Halo 4's multiplayer in this episode of Test Chamber.

Get Sucked Into The New Vortex Map

Jeff Cork — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:06:00 GMT

Halo 4 masterminds 343 Industries have released info on one of the game's new multiplayer maps, Vortex. You can see it in action in a seven-minute gameplay video, too.

Take a gander at the embedded video below, and then read part of 343's extensive development notes on it. From the looks of it, it's money well spent.

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Early in development, Vortex was large and open. After initial playtests, we realized it was slightly too large and engagements were too infrequent. One difficulty we encountered when shrinking the map was that it made vehicle paths more constrictive, so we had to slowly expand the roads. This expansion impacted the placement of the bases, which we had to adjust in order to line them up along the highly geometric, symmetrical axes of the Forerunner architecture. Through subsequent iterations, large rocks were added and the bases became more closed off to focus the encounter spaces.

There are upper and lower paths that link all the bases together and provide vehicle lanes beneath the central base. These lanes have plenty of rocky cover and some connecting paths to allow infantry to utilize them with some degree of safety. If you happen to prefer vehicular combat, the power vehicles are located in the cave and side bases.

Sitting high in the map is a large, central Forerunner structure that is accessible by ramps, man cannons and gravity lifts. It has a few sniper points but much of the base is only accessible from the interior. The smaller bases around the edges of the map are used for spawning and as Dominion bases. All of these have multiple access points, as well as various vehicle spawns and ordnance drop locations.

The hardest design challenge we had with Vortex was making sure there was fun interplay between vehicles and infantry. We went through iterations where vehicles were dominant and people were complaining that they couldn’t traverse from base to base without getting killed by a vehicle. Adding man cannons as quick entrances into the middle base helped this problem greatly. Semi-related, at one point during Vortex’s development, the man cannon on the eastern end would always shoot the player into a wall and kill them. While I found it hilarious, others found it frustrating, so we improved the consistency of the jumps.

Sightlines made long range weapons initially dominant on this map, so we added caves and tunnels to circumvent the long open roads and provide additional options for medium and short range players. Despite being a very large map, the traversal time from one side to another is surprisingly short. One small piece of advice, though: getting caught in the open on the vehicle paths will result in a one-way ticket to Splattersville. Consider yourself warned.

Halo 4 Forge Video Dives Deep Into The New Features

Kyle Hilliard — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:22:00 GMT

A huge ten minute video covering a number of new details in Forge for Halo 4 has appeared online care of Gamespot. The video shows new Forge levels and features in action, including the new lighting system, the magnet system, and many many others. Check out the full video below to get more information on Forge than is reasonably necessary.

Halo 4 releases November 6 exclusively for Xbox 360.

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Halo 4's Mantis Mech Can Teabag, Too

Jim Reilly — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Microsoft revealed the map Valhalla returns as Ragnarok in Halo 4. There's also a new vehicle, the Mantis. It can stomp on things. Check out the official reveal trailer below.

Halo 4 is out November 6.

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Behind The Scenes Of Halo 4

Jim Reilly — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:16:00 GMT

Microsoft released a new Halo 4 video called "Prelude," which shows off some behind the scenes footage of the making of the game. Here, you see some motion-capture sessions, the recording of the soundtrack, as well as a look at art and animation.

Halo 4 is out this holiday on Xbox 360.

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See Halo 4's New And Classic Weaponry In Action

Kyle Hilliard — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:54:00 GMT

Along with returning favorites like the assault rifle, battle rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, and sniper rifle, this weapons trailer also offers a peak at the new sticky detonator, saw, and single-shot weapons.

Halo 4, which I had always hoped would be immune to the dub-step trailer, is coming November 6 to Xbox 360.

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New Halo 4 Multiplayer Footage

Jim Reilly — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:20:00 GMT

343 Industries released a new Halo 4 multiplayer video showing off the game's features, weapons, and modes. You'll also get commentary from fans and pro gamers who attended E3 2012.

Halo 4 launches on November 6, 2012.

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Behind Closed Doors With Spartan Ops

Bryan Vore — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 01:00:00 GMT

Earlier today we posted screens and trailers of Halo 4's multiplayer modes. Now we've got new details straight from 343 Industries.

If you're not up to speed on the new Spartan Ops mode, it's a weekly co-op narrative series that is included with every copy of Halo 4. Today we learned that this mode begins six months after the conclusion of the game's campaign starring Master Chief. You and your buddies will control Majestic Squad aboard the 3.5-mile-long spaceship Infinity. The co-op squad is dispatched to various locations around the planet Requiem throughout the expected months-long series. Each week players will be able to watch a five-minute story video and play a collection of five different co-op missions that are around 15 minutes or more each.

We got to see an early mock-up of the first episode in which Majestic Squad suits up in Spartan armor onboard the Infinity, flies past a massive Star Wars-caliber space battle in a smaller vessel, and attempts to stop Covenant forces from reaching an artifact on Requiem. This faction of Covenant believes that one of their gods resides on the planet, which is occupied with some version of the Forerunners called the Promethians. While Spartan Ops takes place on the same planet as the campaign, 343 promises that unique level designs and geometry separates the two modes in the vast majority of cases.

This mission we saw was relatively brief as promised, but we got to see three of the new Promethian enemy types in action. Crawlers are the smaller dog-type enemies that come in close for melee attacks. They can climb walls and jump long distances so no areas are really safe to hide in from these roaming packs. Watchers are the hovering drones you may have seen in the recent gameplay footage that catch your grenades and toss them back at you. They can also spawn new enemies and bolster their defenses. Knights are the only humanoid Promethians shown so far and can loosely be compared to Covenant elites, though 343 says they're much stronger. The demo also featured a new Promethian weapon called the scattershot, which is basically a shotgun with a ricocheting spray if you happen to blast a hard surface.

That's about all 343 will show for now, but the team did stress the Spartan Ops will contain very significant narrative content, essentially like having two full campaigns in the game once all of the episodes have activated. We'll be checking out more Halo 4 this evening in a special hands-on event so be sure to check back.

Halo 4 Screens And Trailer Highlight Co-op And Competitive Multiplayer Action

Jeff Cork — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:28:00 GMT

The Halo series is known for its multiplayer, and 343 Studios certainly doesn't want to foul up that formula in Halo 4. That doesn't mean that they aren't willing to tweak a few things, however.

Halo 4's multiplayer is split into two main sections, War Games and Spartan Ops. War Games is a relatively traditional competitive multiplayer experience, with career-based progression.

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Here's the official description, to give you an idea of what to expect:

The competitive multiplayer modes of “Halo 4,” known as War Games, take place on the combat deck of the UNSC Infinity and revive the visceral and immersive experiences that “Halo” multiplayer is famous for. Featuring 10 diverse and action-packed new multiplayer maps at launch, “Halo 4” introduces a broad variety of immersive new game modes and strategies to help you progress your Spartan-IV career, while delivering an experience that’s distinctly “Halo.”

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Spartan Ops is more of a departure from the norm. These episodic adventures expand on the game's fiction, while giving fans of co-op gameplay a chance to work together. Again, here's the official description:

The story of the UNSC Infinity intersects with the “Halo 4” campaign, and then continues on in a brand-new, story-driven experience known as Spartan Ops. A first-of-its-kind, exciting new addition to the “Halo” franchise, Spartan Ops is an episodic adventure that blends immersive storytelling, high-quality cinematics and action-packed gameplay to deliver an unprecedented serialized experience.

Through a weekly series of cinematic episodes, Spartan Ops will tell the continuing story of the UNSC Infinity, following the events of “Halo 4.” These episodes will center on the UNSC Infinity leaders and crew as well as a new team of Spartans — Majestic Squad. These cinematic episodes will provide the backdrop for the weekly Spartan Ops gameplay missions. Playable in single-player or cooperatively with up to four players, Spartan Ops lets you explore the corners of Requiem in objective-based missions and help uncover the secrets of the mysterious Forerunner world.

A massive-scale adventure that builds off the “Halo 4” story, access to Spartan Ops is included with “Halo 4” at no additional charge — effectively delivering two campaign experiences in one game.

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For a ton of other details, check out our exclusive Halo 4 multiplayer videos. We highlight the changes to competitive multiplayer, dig deeper into Spartan Ops, and pass on our hands-on impressions of Halo 4.

Halo 4 Screenshots

Jim Reilly — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:50:00 GMT

As we approach E3 later this June the news and info for Halo 4 is starting to ramp up. Check out these screenshots from our exclusive cover story.

Due out November 6, Halo 4 is the first major game being worked on by Microsoft's new internal studio 343 Industries. Game Informer brought you the first details about the game in our May issue and online throughout this month. When you're done checking out the screenshots below, head over to our Halo 4 hub page to see all the latest stories.

Be sure to check back on Monday for a look at some Halo 4 concept art!

Halo 4 Details From The Microsoft Spring Showcase

Dan Ryckert — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Outside of a holiday 2012 release date and a brief E3 trailer last year, news on the Halo 4 front has been scarce. At Microsoft’s Spring Showcase event in San Francisco last week, many attendees were hoping for substantial information regarding Master Chief’s next adventure (and first to be developed by 343 Industries). We did receive some new information about the game, but the bulk of Halo 4 is still a mystery.

The 20-minute briefing began with a video that featured executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and 343’s Frank O’Connor talking up the importance of Halo 4 (you can watch the video below this article). They stressed that character development would be a key focus of the next entry in the series, and that fans will learn much more about Master Chief. Halo’s protagonist will be facing a new threat “unlike anything he’s seen before,” and O’Connor told me that this threat will make a significant impact on both the narrative and the gameplay. As anyone who played the first game knows, the appearance of a new enemy (the Flood) can drastically change the experience.

Spartan IVs will be introduced in this sequel, and they’re (as expected) bigger, faster, and stronger than the Spartans we’ve seen in Halo’s past. Cortana is also set to play a pivotal role in the game, but Wolfkill and O’Connor didn’t elaborate on her status.

O’Connor spoke about how the campaign and multiplayer felt like they existed in separate worlds in previous games, and the team wants to change that. They want both modes to feel like they’re part of the same universe, and there will even be an explanation in the story that illustrates why red Spartans fight blue Spartans in multiplayer. Here’s hoping it makes sense in the narrative, as it could certainly seem forced otherwise.

I wasn't shown any footage from the campaign, but they did show two very brief walkthroughs of multiplayer maps. Warhouse is an abandoned military manufacturing facility that features plenty of verticality as well as a large Cyclops II mech in the center. Previous features like grav lifts and man cannons were displayed in this map. The second area was Wraparound, a Forerunner facility that serves to create an artificial sun. As such, the sky is extremely bright, reflecting off the sleek floors and walls of the environment.

Halo: Reach allowed players to customize what their Spartan looked like on the battlefield, but Halo 4 promises to have custom armor pieces that serve more than an aesthetic purpose. O'Connor and Wolfkill wouldn't elaborate on the functionality of this system, but they did say it would be deeper than the loadouts of Reach.

It's nice to get any info at all about the upcoming FPS blockbuster, but the Spring Showcase didn't bring us any significant answers regarding storyline, multiplayer direction, or release date. We may not know much as of now, but O'Connor ended the presentation by teasing the announcement of a "big ticket item" later this year. We'll be sure to report back once we hear more about Halo 4.

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The Beginning Of A New Halo Trilogy

Matthew Kato — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:08:00 GMT

Microsoft and 343 Industries are starting a whole new chapter in the Halo universe with a new trilogy to go alongside Bungie's previous work. Take a look at Halo 4's E3 teaser trailer.

343 Industries has posted the game's E3 teaser trailer that ran at the Microsoft press conference, and although it doesn't tell us much, Master Chief and Cortana are indeed back together again.

Halo 4 is slated for a holiday 2012 release.

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[Thanks to reader Tim Dunn for the tip]

Halo 4 First Screenshots, Details

Matt Miller — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:05:00 GMT

The Master Chief's adventures continue with a new alien menace. Find out everything we know.

There's not much to go on, but we can certainly draw some conclusions. Microsoft wrapped up its E3 2011 press conference with the announcement of the long awaited Halo 4.

First the first time, a numbered entry in the series is being designed by a developer other than Bungie. Taking over duties is 343 Industries, a team set up from the ground floor to handle the Halo brand.

Where Reach took us back in time to the beginning of the existing story, Halo 4 seems to be starting a whole new story, with the only apparent connection point being the presence of Master Chief and Cortana. At first glance, the new game doesn't seem to deal directly with the Covenant, the Flood, or any of the characters from Earth, but we'll have to wait and see if those legacy story elements return.

It will make for an interesting challenge for 343 Industries. While maintaining the visual ID that makes Halo 4 a Halo game, the team will have to simultaneously introduce new weapons, vehicles, aliens, planets, and other elements not seen in the earlier games.

Another surprising part of the announcement yesterday was the fact that Microsoft effectively announced Halo 5 and Halo 6 at the same time by revealing that Halo 4 would be the first part of a new trilogy.

Any way you cut it, one thing is for sure. We've got a while to wait before we'll know anything concrete. Halo 4 is set for a Holiday 2012 release. In the meantime, we can enjoy the first screens from the CG trailer, and a small shot of the potential box art.