Halo 4 (Spoilers!!!)
- Thread starter Neo Shark
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El Oh El. Planet asplodin and me on a ghosty. Just driving along and what do I see? A line of grunts running away! Weeeee! SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT.
Edit 9:55
The sound of the Scorpion's main gun is seeeeeexeeeeey.
Edit 9:57
Holy hell, the new Elephant has a giant friggin gun on its back.
Edit 9:55
The sound of the Scorpion's main gun is seeeeeexeeeeey.
Edit 9:57
Holy hell, the new Elephant has a giant friggin gun on its back.
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Was the game horrible?
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You see a lot more emotion from Chief and Cortana. After finishing the campaign I think there may be a fifth. However, I could be mistaken. I was pleased with the story overall, but I need to play more multiplayer this morning after work. Having kick ass internet is so nice.
My xbox live tag is the same as my profile name, Neo Shark, two words. I work graveyard, so I can't guarantee I'll be able to play with you very often.
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It was mediocre. Not great, but not awful. Gameplay-wise, it lost a great deal of its punch by becoming TRON, just in the enemy-sets. Now, from a story perspective, the enemies are interesting, but there's a lack of a visceral punch to hitting them, and the AI, while competent, has limited flexibility since the enemy types are less varied than the old Covenant and Flood types. Armor abilities are back, and some of the more annoying stuff from Reach, etc. has been fixed. Major missed opportunity to make the game evolve.
Make the Chief faster, make him an actual supersoldier, give us some puzzles and platforming if you wanna take the mantle of Half-Life (as 343 apparently wanted to do.) The level design is bland and repetitive, but the graphics are quite pretty. Sound design is top notch, but the music is... well. Okay. A good job, but it lacks the motifs and thematic nature of O'Donnell's stuff. I like the direction they went with it (Neil Davidge was a good choice), but they really need to up the scope and nature of the music. I get that it's supposed to be atmospheric, but a missed opportunity there.
Multiplayer is well-balanced, but the modes, etc. are mostly the same. Some fun new vehicles (like a mecha-type thing called a Mantis), but if you've played Halo before, you more or less know what you'll be getting.
With that being said, I still found this a superior outing to Reach or Halo 3 and about equal to ODST or 2. Bungie has always been a pretty inconsistent and even incompetent designer (check their behind-the-scenes history), and the amount of effort and professionalism put into this already dwarfs and previous work. With all of the missed opportunities, 343 has also made some strides away from the original trilogy that work.
So why is this better?
The story. With a few caveats of course. Read on!
So I won't give it an arbitrary grade. I think by the standards of great gaming (particularly in 2012), Halo is a bit hidebound. It still has great production values and is one of the more cinematic franchises out there. The story is enjoyable and reasonably engaging and deep. With that being said, if you are looking for an FPS, it offers a different experience than just CoD. Sci-Fi nerds will also enjoy the nice melange of influences that Halo brings. And old fans will generally be onboard. Whether those who have resisted the hype thus far will step into the MJOLNIR is a different question altogether.
Make the Chief faster, make him an actual supersoldier, give us some puzzles and platforming if you wanna take the mantle of Half-Life (as 343 apparently wanted to do.) The level design is bland and repetitive, but the graphics are quite pretty. Sound design is top notch, but the music is... well. Okay. A good job, but it lacks the motifs and thematic nature of O'Donnell's stuff. I like the direction they went with it (Neil Davidge was a good choice), but they really need to up the scope and nature of the music. I get that it's supposed to be atmospheric, but a missed opportunity there.
Multiplayer is well-balanced, but the modes, etc. are mostly the same. Some fun new vehicles (like a mecha-type thing called a Mantis), but if you've played Halo before, you more or less know what you'll be getting.
With that being said, I still found this a superior outing to Reach or Halo 3 and about equal to ODST or 2. Bungie has always been a pretty inconsistent and even incompetent designer (check their behind-the-scenes history), and the amount of effort and professionalism put into this already dwarfs and previous work. With all of the missed opportunities, 343 has also made some strides away from the original trilogy that work.
So why is this better?
The story. With a few caveats of course. Read on!
Before I get into the story, I should note that another problem here has been that the story itself has become somewhat convoluted, or rather overly reliant on other sources. I've read the Halo novels (the good ones at least), and so I was immediately conversant in the plot. Now, I know they're pushing the synergy of different media and whatnot, but there needs to be a balance here. A lot of the story zipped along without meaningful exposition, and the pacing was a bit off.
With that being said, I still found this story immeasurably superior to the original trilogy. Why?
Compelling characters, first of all. I've always liked MC and Cortana, but the greatest character written into the Halo franchise is The Arbiter, with interesting villains like Truth, and Gravemind providing some texture. While the development of Cortana and MC here do not quite match that of the Arbiter, we finally get actual running dialog, motivation, and growth for the Chief. He doesn't seem to exhibit the same signs of PTSD he did in III, but it's a subtle and evolving performance that shows an aging soldier trying to just make his way in the world and to help his friend. Steve Downes' voice has aged and become gravelly and his V.O. work hits all of the right emotional chords. We get to see the humanity of the Chief.
Ditto Cortana, who has the most development (and far less superficial development than the type she had in III) in the game. She's going rampant, which as you know, if you've read the backstory stuff is bad news. Personalities come out to play. She's losing her edge, and yet she also has a sense of vulnerability that she didn't have before. Her relationship with the Chief is the emotional highlight of the game and it makes the story more resonant. Jen Taylor likewise gives a sterling performance, never hamming it up unnecessarily and bringing a sense of both resigned toughness and vulnerability to the character, which had previously been one-note and occasionally grating (and I generally like Cortana.)
Now, the story. It had to do with some of the baggage from the Bungie trilogy, so I'll cut them some slack, but I had issues with the pacing. The staging was also a bit repetitive (villain tricks Chief, villain has superweapon, villain goes to Earth), but I can forgive it for building a wider world and for bringing in interesting concepts. And already the second trilogy is already far more planned out and cohesive than the first.
With that being said, I still found this story immeasurably superior to the original trilogy. Why?
Compelling characters, first of all. I've always liked MC and Cortana, but the greatest character written into the Halo franchise is The Arbiter, with interesting villains like Truth, and Gravemind providing some texture. While the development of Cortana and MC here do not quite match that of the Arbiter, we finally get actual running dialog, motivation, and growth for the Chief. He doesn't seem to exhibit the same signs of PTSD he did in III, but it's a subtle and evolving performance that shows an aging soldier trying to just make his way in the world and to help his friend. Steve Downes' voice has aged and become gravelly and his V.O. work hits all of the right emotional chords. We get to see the humanity of the Chief.
Ditto Cortana, who has the most development (and far less superficial development than the type she had in III) in the game. She's going rampant, which as you know, if you've read the backstory stuff is bad news. Personalities come out to play. She's losing her edge, and yet she also has a sense of vulnerability that she didn't have before. Her relationship with the Chief is the emotional highlight of the game and it makes the story more resonant. Jen Taylor likewise gives a sterling performance, never hamming it up unnecessarily and bringing a sense of both resigned toughness and vulnerability to the character, which had previously been one-note and occasionally grating (and I generally like Cortana.)
Now, the story. It had to do with some of the baggage from the Bungie trilogy, so I'll cut them some slack, but I had issues with the pacing. The staging was also a bit repetitive (villain tricks Chief, villain has superweapon, villain goes to Earth), but I can forgive it for building a wider world and for bringing in interesting concepts. And already the second trilogy is already far more planned out and cohesive than the first.
So I won't give it an arbitrary grade. I think by the standards of great gaming (particularly in 2012), Halo is a bit hidebound. It still has great production values and is one of the more cinematic franchises out there. The story is enjoyable and reasonably engaging and deep. With that being said, if you are looking for an FPS, it offers a different experience than just CoD. Sci-Fi nerds will also enjoy the nice melange of influences that Halo brings. And old fans will generally be onboard. Whether those who have resisted the hype thus far will step into the MJOLNIR is a different question altogether.
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For someone who never beat the first Halo and never played one past that, is this a good place to start?
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the game Pros.
@BN: Yes and no. If you want a good scifi fps sure. But if you want to enjoy the full story you should play the others too. Although, there is a kind of history review in the first level that I skipped over. After you first start there is a small area below a catwalk with a terminal. The terminal gives a review of the MC's service history. I didn't need the review so I didn't listen to it. Not sure how in depth it is.
@BN: Yes and no. If you want a good scifi fps sure. But if you want to enjoy the full story you should play the others too. Although, there is a kind of history review in the first level that I skipped over. After you first start there is a small area below a catwalk with a terminal. The terminal gives a review of the MC's service history. I didn't need the review so I didn't listen to it. Not sure how in depth it is.
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Well i doubt this game got 9.8's and 10 out of 10's on nearly every review it's been give by being crap.
Ordered my copy tonight (alongside Assassins Creed 3 and Forza: Horizon) so looking forward to the mail in a week or two.
Ordered my copy tonight (alongside Assassins Creed 3 and Forza: Horizon) so looking forward to the mail in a week or two.