Halo 4

Blog Post: Setting a Higher Standard

BRAV0 F1VE — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 01:45:00 GMT

I’ll be the first to admit, I walked into Halo 4 fairly skeptical. 343 made a series of moves that made fans accuse the company of heresy, as customizable classes, the removal of the popular firefight mode, and the addition of an entirely new enemy class were all risky and potentially disastrous decisions that many thought would damage Halo’s sterling reputation. Come the launch on November 6th, 343 proved the doubters wrong when it not only lived up to the high standards set by its predecessor, but it set new benchmarks for the series.

After numerous sequels, most Halo fans began to know what to expect. Most thought the story’s main drive would focus on Master Chief relentless defense against the covenant. Halo 4’s first few hours provide a more classic experience, as the Covenant inexplicably return after a previous truce. The plot quickly changes gears when Master Chief arrives on a mysterious new world, and finally encounters the Forerunner race, who were hinted at since the earliest games of the series. The Forerunners don’t take kindly to humanity’s sudden arrival, and Chief's motives shift from returning home to saving the human race. Defeating the Forerunners also require a level of strategic planning, making each firefight multi layered and challenging. Who do you take out first; The promethean knight or the watcher healing him? These kinds of questions make Halo 4 a more challenging game than previous Halos, so players used to cruising through on Legendary difficulty should expect their skills to be tested.

Halo 4’s story was very emotionally compelling, a breath of fresh air for the shooter genre. Master Chief and Cortana generate genuine chemistry as usual, but this time around, with the stakes higher than ever, their relationship goes beyond occasional banter. I won’t spoil anything, but the aging Chief is forced to deal with loss and his own imperfection.

Character animations look more lifelike than ever, making it easier for characters to convey their emotions, and emotional scenes more impactful. From Cortana to Captain Del Rio, most characters look they could have been pulled out of a high quality CGI trailer. As I was watching one of Halo 4’s cutscenes, a non-gamer friend walked in and asked what movie I was watching. Yes, the graphics are that good. The same can be said for Halo 4’s top notch voice acting. The cast consists of quality actors like Jennifer Hale, so you won’t find many grating voices in the game.

Many gamers eagerly await the next generation of gaming, but I believe that Halo 4 gives us a preview of the of the future with the excellent audiovisual presentation of display. The gorgeous environments of Requiem look great on their own, but the astounding lighting effects and sweeping score truly bring it to life. Halo 4 also sets precedents for sound design, as the sound effects are even more immersive than before. Weapons sound powerful and weighty, grenades explode with great force, and engines roar like never before. With its exceptional sound design, Halo 4 takes one step forward towards total immersion. I was disappointed however, that the exceptional soundtrack was often tuned out by it’s stellar sound effects, and with no way to adjust music and FX volumes, this left music enthusiasts high and dry.

While Halo 4’s stellar campaign offers an entertaining experience, some are more interested in the retooled multiplayer. Halo 4 doesn’t shake things up too drastically, adding a few new weapons, maps, game modes, and the ability to customize your classes. The game seems to cater towards newcomers, as powerful weapons randomly drop around the map, and points have replaced kills as the primary stat. New game modes such as Dominion and Regicide join mainstays like Slayer and Capture the Flag, and are supplemented by a strong set of maps. Multiplayer is rounded out with the addition of the new Spartan Ops mode. Spartan Ops is an episodic cooperative campaign set six months after Master Chief’s recent exploits. This new mode delivers five new episodes per week, each about twenty minutes long each. I was however, disappointed with Spartan Ops, as I found most missions to be repetitive, and the overarching narrative was less than compelling. Spartan Ops suffers from crippling bouts of lag, to the point that makes it unplayable with friends. This can be attributed to its synchronous network model, which unfortunately causes the game to crash and burn, even if only one member on your team has bad connection. To add insult to injury, the addition of Spartan Ops comes with a cost, as it replaces the popular firefight mode.

Another nagging issue I encountered during my time with Halo 4’s multiplayer also hampered my enjoyment of the game. While most games were easy to join, the game struggled switching hosts, which has become a legacy issue. This really isn’t a dealbreaker, but I have been bugged more than once due to these abrupt interruptions of the gameplay.

Aside from the less than perfect online infrastructure, the new additions implemented by 343 are refreshing changes to the property. Combining a mix of stunning graphics and precise gameplay, Halo sets a new standard for the FPS. After putting down the game for the last time, I can’t wait to see what 343 has in store for Master Chief and Halo.

9.25/10

Blog Post: If your a Halo fan then you need to play this game!!!

bear_shinn — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:27:00 GMT

I was never into the Halo series as much as a few of my other shooters, but after playing a bit of "Halo 4" I remembered how much fun it was!!! Did I mention it also one of the best 4 player split-screen games out there up there with "MW3" and the rest of the top ranking spilt-screen games!!! The single player campaign is a blast, though a bit short. However, the multi-player is amazing and worth the play through on it's own!!!

Blog Post: The most gorgeous and cinematic Halo to date

AHardGamesNight — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:52:00 GMT

Before you read any further, know that I am a newcomer to the Halo series and played Halo Reach this January after receiving it from a friend. After finishing it, I started playing the original trilogy and finished the campaign of this game just a few days before this review. To keep things simple, here is my breakdown:

Graphics:

Oh my gosh, it is insanely gorgeous. The HDR lighting and textures are mind blowing, and the entire game plays and looks just like a CGI film. The Elites/Sangheili are genuinely intimidating and borderline terrifying. The cutscenes are also incredibly detailed, and I thought the prologue was actually live action for the first minute or so. The guns and the scopes are beautiful and it is a complete visual treat.

Sound:

The sound has been edited incredibly well, and the soundtrack is awesome. The weapons, however, did not sound as powerful in my opinion. The DMR and .45 sound a bit more wispy; something that I found a bit disappointing compared to Halo Reach's pounding audio for those same weapons. Other than that, all the weapons sound incredible. The grunts and elites don't speak English very much, and even if they do, the grunts are barely understandable. I really enjoyed the dialogue from the grunts from Halo CE-3, but since the Covenant appear to be rogue in this game, maybe that was intentional on 343's part.

Gameplay:

Plays just like Halo should. For the first time ever, you can finally sprint as Master Chief in addition to other armor abilities you can acquire throughout the game. Not too much to say other than that. There's a few other fun cinematic gameplay additions, but I'm going to leave them out so it can be a surprise.

Story:

The story, in my opinion, was incredible. If you are expecting it to feel like the first three, then you will ruin the experience because this is a completely different experience in terms of mood and story. Just be open to what will come and don't make any judgement until the end. The new perspective and approach to the Chief and his story was done very well, and I look forward to the next installments.

Multiplayer:

The multiplayer is SO FUN. I just wrote in all caps, that's how fun I find it. While the new loadout feature is reminiscent of Call of Duty, it's actually a refreshing addition to the series. You also get to call down ordnance, and with some practice, the drops can actually destroy enemy vehicles when timed and aimed properly.

Machinima and the File Browser:

While I have not used the File Browser much, I was very disappointed that it is not possible to save replays of Campaign and Spartan Ops sessions in the File Browser. Why this feature was removed, I do not know, but I hope 343 issues an update so that becomes possible. I love taking screenshots with in-game cameras, and one of my favorite things in Reach was taking cinematic stills of the campaign. Anywho, it sucks it isn't there for campaign and Spartan Ops.

Spartan Ops:

I am only on Episode 5 of Season 1, but have been quite entertained so far. The dialogue of the Spartans can be quite funny at times, and the story is actually a tad intriguing. While you can play it solo, the mode is definitely designed for a large party of friends to play with you. It's certainly possible, I'm sure, to finish a mission without dying on Legendary, but good luck with that. There are times where you are cornered with literally 50-60 enemies that suddenly appear all at once in a tight space. Aside from the difficulty factor of playing solo, it's really not as fun as playing with others, and if it is possible I definitely encourage you to find others to play with.

Conclusion:

To conclude this, I would love to give Halo 4 a 10, but the lack of being able to save replays from campaign sessions is not cool, and the change of the DMR and .45's sound forced me to rate it 9.75.

Wiki: Halo 4 Guides

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:39:00 GMT

Guides for Halo 4

Blog Post: FIRST HALO GAME I PLAYED

darksigner22 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:20:00 GMT

I LOVE IT! STORY, COMBAT, ALL OF IT! BUY IT NOW!

Blog Post: Better than Bungie's Halo

Robertman2 — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:07:00 GMT

Halo 4 is easily one of the best games of 2012. It has innovative Post-release Support, Awesome Multiplayer, and a great Campaign! The Campaign actually makes the Master Chief "human" and shows a more personal side to him.

Concept: Bring back Master Chief in a amazing and fairly innovative FPS.

Graphics: Easily the best on the Xbox.

Sounds: Best gun sounds in a long time, great score

Playability: Great & tight controls

Entertainment: Great Campiagn, extra replay vaule from Multiplayer and Spartan Ops

Replay: High

Blog Post: must buy

BABYGIRLREDRUM8 — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 04:30:00 GMT

love online!!!!

File: Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

Kyle Hilliard — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:02:00 GMT

Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

File: Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

Kyle Hilliard — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:02:00 GMT

Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

File: Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

Kyle Hilliard — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:02:00 GMT

Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

File: Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

Kyle Hilliard — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:02:00 GMT

Halo 4 multiplayer map screens

Blog Post: DownPlay Reviews #7 - Halo 4

ManManDoo — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 03:00:00 GMT

So after five long years, it’s once again time to step into the gangrenous boots and strap on the dandruff-coated helmet of Master Chief. 12 years he’s been at this whole “saving the world” nonsense and he’s never even bothered to change. Must smell awful. Anyways, four years after concluding whatever was going in Halo 3, Master Chief and his lady friend are floating aimlessly through space when they are attacked by the Covenant. To which Chief replies, “I thought we had a truce with the Covenant”. Seven and a half hours later, I’m still wondering the same thing. The main problem that I noticed in this game is that nothing is adequately explained. No reasons are ever given for the Covenant breaking the truce, or as a matter of fact, how they managed to find Chief’s ship in the first place. This whole incident also happens to be taking place just outside an uncharted alien world that is drawing Chief and Cortana ever closer. But the nonsense doesn’t stop there. It also happens that Cortana has put her big-AI panties on and revealed her true age to Chief along with the fact that her AI is deteriorating, put her in a constant switch between Mopey McDreary and premenstrual syndrome. Again, how convenient. Upon learning this fact, Chief replies, “That means we need to find Halsey.” Oh right, because we’re stranded on the middle of an undiscovered alien world, we can obviously just go FIND Halsey. And it only gets worse from there. Next thing we know, more of the UNSC shows somehow and the objective suddenly becomes to send a transmission. Thus ensues a boring and repetitive trek through the alien of multiple canonized words. Forerunner, Promethean, Covenant, even the word Arbiter is thrown around a few times. And the arrival of the new antagonist thing only serves to make matters even more confusing. When Chief and Cortanavi (see) magically assume that the enormous alien sphere before is some kind of interspace walkie-talkie. Surprise surprise, it fails and unleashes the Didact, a very bland and unthreatening individual. But what really bit my balls about that whole scene is when Cortana nonchalantly comes to the realization that Chief’s garbled transmission was reworded by the Didact to release himself as if she knew that was going to happen. Well if it was so obvious to you, smartass, why did you tell me to send the damn transmission? All that remains is a convoluted arrangement of sequential events relying heavily on convenience to drive the plot. It exasperates me to go on like this, so I’ll just sum up my basic feelings on it. Essentially, Halo 4 is to the previous Halo games, even 3, what Bioshock 2 is to the first Bioshock, excessive, meaningless story extension. The franchise was finished, maybe not cleanly, but without too many loose ends as to warrant another full game. It doesn’t even feel like its own story. It feels like parts of different Halo stories taken apart and rearranged with an extra touch of fan fiction. I would dismiss it and call it by Halo fans for Halo fans, but I can’t even go that far. It’s the kind of story that only makes sense to the person who created it and because of that, it’s impossible for me to feel any form of involvement in it. As for the gameplay, what is there to say? It’s Halo. It has its own formula. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. There’s nothing to complain about, but there’s nothing particularly to praise either. I can say with certainty that the vehicle controls are as unintuitive as they always have been so at least we can respect Halo Fans Inc. for keeping in touch with tradition no matter how stupid the tradition may be. Oh and there’s also multiplayer. Final Score: 80/100 Next Week on DownPlay Reviews: DMC: Devil May Cry Sincerely, DownPlay Reviews

Wiki Page: Beginner's Guide to Halo 4

James B — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:05:00 GMT

One of the biggest games of the year released about a month ago, and some people are a little late to the fight. Don't worry! This guide will help new players rank up faster!

Tip 1: Double xp!

This should be a no-brainer, if you like Mtn Dew, or Doritos, or both, buy some and you will rank up much faster. Normal sized bags of Doritos (family size ones) are worth 12 matches, and a 6 pack of Mtn dew is 6 I believe.

Tip 2: Play Team Regicide

Team regicide is the perfect mode to play, especially if you are king.

Tip 2b: Play a lot of Spartan Ops with friends

Spartan Ops are fun with friends and give you a lot of xp and they are just fun in general

Tip 3: challenges and commendations

Halo 4 features daily, weekly, and monthly challenges. (ex. Kill x amount of enemies in x mode, etc) complete these for a jackpot of points!

Wiki Page: Halo 4 Set U Guide

James B — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:02:00 GMT

Step 1 Buy the game

Step 2 Put disc 1 in the Xbox 360

Step 3 Close tray

Step 4 Start up game and marvel at the great graphics

Step 5 Put in disc 2 and download all the features of Halo 4 (War Games Spartan Ops ect.)

Step 6 Wait a while the downloading takes a few minutes

Step 7 Put disc 1 back in the try

Step 8 Play Halo 4 and enjoy

Step 9 Best game ever

Step 11 GameInformer is the best

Blog Post: Halo's no angel

themccombfactor — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 03:46:00 GMT

I was never one for the halo franchise but I decided to play it at my friend's house and was immediatly turned off by the way you aim down the sights. you have to push the control stick you aim with to aim down sights. the controls are frustrating and I did not know why they did not follow the popular call of duty layout as many gamers would have loved that much more. The Campaign has a great story, and multiplayer is awesome, but a terrible control layout completely ruins the game.

Blog Post: 343 Exceeds Expectations

EmanRS72598 — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:32:00 GMT

I first got into the Halo Universe playing Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. I was always in favor of Bungie's efforts and work, but it's not surprise that I had less faith in 343 Industries when they were making Halo 4 and the rest of the new trilogy. I was pretty mind blown about the game when I first started the campaign. The graphics were amazing and I honestly thought the first 5 minutes of the campaign was a live-action cutscene. Graphics are one of the last things to think about, but the story was done really well and you finally get to see more into Master Chief's relationship with Cortana. Strangely, you do feel weaker in the campaign and Master Chief needs to take more cover as shields easily deplete. The war games multiplayer is slightly different from Reach's playlists, but you can get used to it. I liked the ranks better when there were barely any numbers involved, but I've grown to like the SR system.

Blog Post: Reclaimer Saga: Introducing Installment

Zuriah — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:54:00 GMT

This Installment to the Reclaimer Saga was a tremendous success. There is hardly anything to complain about. The game is a perfest combonation of Co-operative, Competitive, and individual gameplay. As this game contains a structured gameplay found in campaign, it balances the mix with the creative sense unique to Forge. When booting up your system, the only struggle becomes that to decide which of the many ways to play you shall choose to emerse yourself in first. Time is to short to get everything out of the game. This is good, for you will never be bored of the worl that is Halo 4. The experience of the intense campaign, competetive split screen multiplayer(custom games), and, of course Forge (as well asd theater) is only the tip of the iceberg, for there is an imense universe to explore in the field of online multiplayer, Infinity Play. As the game is not based off of only one aspect, all these modes of gameplay together on one disc is what makes Halo 4 just that. It is a great game, and only one question remains, how are they going to improve on such an already great game when Halo 5 comes around...

Blog Post: Master Chief is Back and (mostly) better than ever.

Kenny Ray — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:34:00 GMT

STORY:

Immediately upon seeing that Master Chief would return in the beginning of the new trilogy, I was drop dead excited, and like many fans of the series, or just people who played the previous installments, was curious how they'd handle Chief's story along with Cortana's, and in a greater sense, Humanity's. They go into Chief and Cortana (in notably immense depth), Humanity, the history and role of the Forerunners, and some other new characters that play a pivotal role with Chief. (In fact if you play in the Spartan Ops side mode, the story extends even further into known characters like Doctor Halsey.) This is fantastic, as it finally brings into the game's story characters and background that will further help players understand what typically only book readers did, and one character in particular that was introduced from the books is indeed one of the best in the game itself. Aside from the occasional snag in logic or tacked on event to help further the gameplay, the story is golden, and arguably the best presented yet. I'm extremely satisfied with the story 343 has rendered, and for once, certain characters actually draw you in emotionally and create an unexpected connection. This is something new to Halo, but it works, and incredibly well at that. All this, and it remains very consistent, as well as being paced perfectly. With the extra kick given to higher difficulties over previous games, it promises (and delivers) a good run through.

GAMEPLAY:

Halo's gameplay philosophy has always been four things: Guns, Grenades, Melee, and Vehicles. As it was in every other Halo title (excluding Halo: Wars, if you're nitpicky.) it is in Halo 4, along with eight new weapons, and the new Mantis Heavy Vehicle. Similar to Reach, Halo 4 has sprint in all modes, whether it be campaign, multiplayer or spartan ops, though unlike Reach, Sprint is now default, with a perk that allows for unlimited sprint should you choose to have such. This was among great controversy, as Halo has always had a unique nature to the way it plays, and fans felt it would be giving in to the norm of modern shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield. Despite the negative reaction from that side of the players, the default sprint works perfectly, and flows with the maps given to you. But more importantly, it just feels right, and doesn't feel like a change to the Halo gameplay, but more of an evolution of it. A few other things have been changed slightly, like armor lock now being a less powerful Light Shield, and the default control scheme being tweaked. A major change worth noting though, is that there are now load outs. This as well as the default sprint had the same controversy, but don't worry, it as well works wonderfully with the game, and is something I've always wondered about in the Halo games. While it in the long run works beautifully as a new addition to the gameplay approach, there are a few issues with it, too. In the previous Halo games, weapons were spread across the map, forcing players to approach certain situations in certain ways, and mixing up the games, while settling in a general balance to the map field. Now if somebody has a high power semi-automatic rifle (DMR) with cloak, they can just camp out in certain game modes and, if they're an experienced enough player, not worry about losing any points, especially since they get assists and defense bonuses now. Whereas in Halo 3 you had to interact with the map, now you just glue to one part, and this makes certain matches very dull, especially larger variants and objective based modes.

MULTIPLAYER/SIDE MODE:

Halo 4's multiplayer, even if a bit flawed in particular areas, is a phoenominal experience. While expanding upon Reach's contributions to the franchise, it brings forward inspired modes and systems that reward the player for being a good team mate, and finally provides a leveling system both simple and complex. With Halo 4 343 has introduced "Specializations" Which are unlocked at level 50, then every ten levels beyond that until the maximum level, which is 130. Each specilization brings forth a new set of unlockable armor and a perk unique to the class' play style. For example, one is focused on stealth, which increases assassination time and decreases your appearance of thermal scanning, where another is focused on vehicular gameplay, and increases vehicle damage resistance and decreases the time your vehicle is paralyzed from the Plasma Pistol. There are many others, and each has their own helpful addition to the way you play. It's a neat style of perks, and keeps you interested in the leveling process. These interesting approaches to ranking up are consistent, and with daily, weekly, monthly, and indefinite challenges, you'll be busy for a long time, with 343 also throwing in new gametypes then and again for people to play, like Grifball, Team Snipers, and SWAT. Granted if ever the matchmaking aspect becomes a chore, you can always hop onto fully customizable custom games or forge to play a match where and how you want to play it, on a map layout preset or to your liking, something that I hope becomes a thing with modern day shooters, and shooters to come in the near future.

But sadly, where Halo 4 dominates in multiplayer, it utterly collapses in its side mode, Spartan Ops, a co-op based, episodic storyline with five missions released each week with a cutscene to give some background. While the three to four minute cutscenes kept me focused on the events and interested in the characters' story, the gameplay, which is 90% of the mode, is lackluster at best. Every mission you are thrown into with cheesy dialogue is on a recycled map, from both the multiplayer and the campaign. Seriously, with the exception of one or two maps, the 25 that have been released thus far are carbon copies of other maps already in the game, just with NPC's tossed into it. This shakes the foundation of strategy and gets boring very fast, with each mission usually being survival with an insignificant objective tossed into the beginning. This wouldn't be too bad if it were the first side mode in a halo game, especially being 343's first, but with the countless fun on Reach's side mode, and the beautiful execution of Halo 4's campaign and multiplayer, it just doesn't feel as well done, and resonates being tacked on without much focus or care. This is disappointing, especially from a franchise that is known for delivering quality additions.

OVERALL:

In the end, Halo 4 is an extraordinary game. Not only does it exceed most other Halo's in certain aspects, but is arguably the best Halo ever made, and delivers the best multiplayer shooter you can get this year. This is the Halo you've been waiting for, and will make the wait for Halo 5 on the next gen Xbox all the more difficult. It's beautiful, touching, interesting, intense, worthwhile, and most importantly, it is incredibly fun.

Wiki Page: How to get a Rocket Launcher on every section of every mission in Campaign !

TheSonofKrypton — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:28:00 GMT

The process is very simple.

The first thing you need to do is just allow the enemies to pile.

Don't switch out any of your basic already carried on weapons. Leave them.

Wait for piles and piles of enemies to come after you. Or you and your partner if your playing Co - Op campaign.

If you run around the base of the area which you are at. A Spartan Laser will pop up, DONT TOUCH IT !

Go behind it and then you'll see your Rocket Launcher.

( This works on all sections of Halo 4. )

It may or may not work on Multiplayer because I haven't tried it yet.

Thanks for reading !!

Blog Post: Probably the best in the series...

Cody — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:23:00 GMT

Everything from the campaign to multiplayer to forge mode is amazing. It's absolutely one of my favorite shooters of all time. Graphics are amazing. Audio is sublime. It captures all the fun and magic of the original Halo CE without ever tiring out. i don't miss the brutes or the flood (never really liked them anyways) and the Prometheans add a great challenge to the gameplay. The only thing i would say is missing is the firefight mode. i loved playing it both alone and co-op offline but for some reason 343 decided to replace it with the Spartan Ops multiplayer side story missions... which would be fine if it didn't need to take up 2 gigabytes of space on my hard drive to store something i can only access online... which i would be fine with if i had internet. But that problem pales in comparison to how absolutely amazing every other aspect of the game is.