'Spartan Ops' Is Halo 4's New Episodic Multiplayer Mode

@ez123: Well I know someone who's actually at E3 who's played several hours of the game who says otherwise; that the game feels nothing like CoD, it's more Halo at it's core. The perks and loadouts are all well balanced so no-one is 'better' than someone else just because of their perk choice like in CoD. From what he tells me (he's the biggest Halo fan I know btw, like seriously hardcore) there is nothing to worry about :)

@DanTheGamer32: It's been known for a while that the game is going to have perks. I don't consider grinding multiplayer just so I can be equal to other players fun, others do. Ordinance Drops and Instant Respawn seems indicative of what they're going for, too. People who'd complain about waiting 10 seconds after they died.

How I know is that someone posted this stuff here.

@ez123: how is the multiplayer too 'CODified'? More importantly, how do you even know?

@EndlessLotus said:

What the hell is the "Requiem"?

Requiem is the Forerunner Shield World (I think it is a Shield World at least) that some parts (or the majority as far as we know) that Halo 4 will take place on.

If this I like the amzing Spec-Ops from COD MW2 I will buy.

What the hell is the "Requiem"?

why is everyone comparing this to COD spec ops there saying it has weekly story events built in that seems nothing like spec ops to me, spec ops is a pointless bolt on to the game so another point can be put on the back of the COD box this seems like a co op campaign

@Ravenlight said:

Episodic? Valve has proven that it's literally impossible to release more than two episodes. If Valve can't do it, what makes MS/343 think they can do it?

You realize that as of now, Valve is the only one to outright fail at delivering on the episodic promise, right?

Op-sey daisy.

welcome to 5 weeks ago

Sounds like multiplayer is a cross between COD and Syndicate and will probably have some classic Halo type multiplayer as well. I just hope they don't mess the game up like the way Team Ninja destroyed Ninja Gaiden.

Spartan Ops is an incredibly lazy name but it sounds really cool. Spartan Ops and Single player is where this game can make itself stand out, multiplayer might be fun but too CODified to be special.

What is this Infinity they're talking about, and does it have wards?

Renegade Spartan Black Covert Special Ops you say?

Because Black Ops and Spec Ops weren't Ops enough.

@EchoEcho said:

@Tarsier said:

@Scodiac said:

@Tarsier said:

i really hate the approach to multiplayer this time around. i want varied landscapes i dont want every map to take place on the same got damn ship.

That's just the hub for multiplayer. I'm pretty sure there will be maps on the ship and on Requiem(the forerunner planet the ship is orbiting).

interesting.. so its like a spartan war battle ship and you walk around and get deployed to different places including the planet and other ships?

that sounds acceptable and quite cool and interesting.

Not quite. That wouldn't really make sense, considering it's Spartans versus Spartans. The Infinity has training simulators on board (think holodecks from Star Trek) that create varied landscapes for the Spartans to battle each other in. The Spartan Ops mode will be where you're actually doing combat in other locations on the planet that the ship is orbiting.

@Brodehouse said:

Don't say Spec Ops. These are Spartan Ops. They're TOTALLY different!

They're operations undertaken by Spartan teams. Sounds like "Spartan Ops" is a reasonable term to use to describe them, even if its similarity to the term Spec Ops (and the mode's similarity to Spec Ops in CoD) is rather blatant.

ah, thats much less cool.

@Alex said:

@MordeaniisChaos: Lashing out? What in god's name did I even lash out at?

Just giving you a hard time :3 And it was more of a general thing, earlier you posted an article, I forgot what on, where you were a bit aggressive on the subject, so I think that's what I was getting at. But not I was not leveling an actual complaint.

@Tarsier said:

@Scodiac said:

@Tarsier said:

i really hate the approach to multiplayer this time around. i want varied landscapes i dont want every map to take place on the same got damn ship.

That's just the hub for multiplayer. I'm pretty sure there will be maps on the ship and on Requiem(the forerunner planet the ship is orbiting).

interesting.. so its like a spartan war battle ship and you walk around and get deployed to different places including the planet and other ships?

that sounds acceptable and quite cool and interesting.

Not quite. That wouldn't really make sense, considering it's Spartans versus Spartans. The Infinity has training simulators on board (think holodecks from Star Trek) that create varied landscapes for the Spartans to battle each other in. The Spartan Ops mode will be where you're actually doing combat in other locations on the planet that the ship is orbiting.

@Brodehouse said:

Don't say Spec Ops. These are Spartan Ops. They're TOTALLY different!

They're operations undertaken by Spartan teams. Sounds like "Spartan Ops" is a reasonable term to use to describe them, even if its similarity to the term Spec Ops (and the mode's similarity to Spec Ops in CoD) is rather blatant.

Awesome

So... that's a thing.

@EmuLeader said:

@iAmJohn said:

@Purple_eye said:

Spartan Ops.........really??

My thoughts exactly.

I would assume it is because of name familiarity, but that doesn't excuse it. Super lazy naming.

You know the audience they're aiming for!

This seems like it could be pretty neat.

@iAmJohn said:

@Purple_eye said:

Spartan Ops.........really??

My thoughts exactly.

I would assume it is because of name familiarity, but that doesn't excuse it. Super lazy naming.

Hmmm..wonder if these episodic updates will be free?

@Scodiac said:

@Tarsier said:

i really hate the approach to multiplayer this time around. i want varied landscapes i dont want every map to take place on the same got damn ship.

That's just the hub for multiplayer. I'm pretty sure there will be maps on the ship and on Requiem(the forerunner planet the ship is orbiting).

interesting.. so its like a spartan war battle ship and you walk around and get deployed to different places including the planet and other ships?

that sounds acceptable and quite cool and interesting.

UNSC or USNC? The story says both.

@MordeaniisChaos: Lashing out? What in god's name did I even lash out at?

@Tarsier said:

i really hate the approach to multiplayer this time around. i want varied landscapes i dont want every map to take place on the same got damn ship.

That's just the hub for multiplayer. I'm pretty sure there will be maps on the ship and on Requiem(the forerunner planet the ship is orbiting).

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

i really hate the approach to multiplayer this time around. i want varied landscapes i dont want every map to take place on the same got damn ship.

Alex is getting really lazy, just lashing out at whatever in really un-inventive ways. I miss his clever remarks.

Also I think this whole thing sounds awesome. Great way to keep things interesting.

@Ravenlight said:

Episodic? Valve has proven that it's literally impossible to release more than two episodes. If Valve can't do it, what makes MS/343 think they can do it?

Valve is about the only person to fail with that model (not counting folks that don't make enough money off of it), and this is just a few missions that won't be terribly complex if I had to guess. Plenty of TV shows are episodic, and most of those are run by idiots.

Ops

I thought this was revealed when they posted that video >_>?

Will we get to know what happened to Kelly? I need to know what happened to Kelly!

Don't say Spec Ops. These are Spartan Ops. They're TOTALLY different!

I hope they have the balls to market this as the final chapter.

@KaneRobot said:

I weep for the standards of what people consider hilarious around here.

I concur.

@Yummylee said:

I'm not even excited for Halo 4 or anything. I just wanted to post a Buzz Lightyear pic.

Brilliant.

I weep for the standards of what people consider hilarious around here.

@Yummylee said:

I'm not even excited for Halo 4 or anything. I just wanted to post a Buzz Lightyear pic.

This is fantastic.

@Scodiac said:

Looking forward to seeing more about this. New mission weekly? I wonder if that's just like the challenges in Reach or if there is actually some story involved.

It's supposed to include an actual story and unique missions including cutscenes. The missions won't be campaign complexity or anything though.

@divxz said:

SpartanOps...its no replacement for Firefight.

Too bad its a replacement for firefight.

343 said that if you like firefight you'll like this, except it's more objective based. Older missions are replayable. My *guess* is that it will be like firefight with unique maps weekly, similar to firefight maps, except they force you to move around the maps to complete objectives (maybe with a final hold-out wave).

Episodic? Valve has proven that it's literally impossible to release more than two episodes. If Valve can't do it, what makes MS/343 think they can do it?

Uh, sure... Wait, why is this news?

We've known about Spartan Ops for over a month I think...

EDIT 2: Although I don't recall hearing them calling the standard multiplayer War Games - only referring to it as Infinity (as in the ships name, where all the multiplayer happens).

EDIT: GameInformer had a story on Spartan Ops on the 18th of April.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/04/18/spartan-ops-the-bold-new-co-op-of-halo-4.aspx

With captions like those, who needs bylines?

What is this? Halo Wednesday?

Never change, Alex.

Sounds like an awesome addition.

SpartanOps...its no replacement for Firefight.

Too bad its a replacement for firefight.