It's been a while since I've done a Knee-Jerk Reaction blog, mainly because there haven't really been any games that I felt deserved to have one written. However, upon plugging in Halo 4...oh, there is definitely a Knee-Jerk Reaction in this.

HOURS PLAYED: about 20 minutes of multiplayer (War Games, Infinity Slayer)

THE GOOD

• The presentation of the game all around is much prettier, but it's also more helpful than previous Halo games. The HUD for your Spartan is far more useful and immersive (thanks in part to the curvature added to look like a Spartan-IV visor that you look through).
• SPRINTING IS FINALLY A THING! It's about time also. I mean, I understand that Spartans are wearing a literal ton or two of armor...but for fuck's sake, they are also genetically engineered SUPER SOLDIERS! They should be able to goddamn sprint whenever they want.
• It feels like Halo in most ways: the jumping is right, the guns sound good, the announcer is still there, etc.

THE BAD

• Welcome to Halo of Duty. The puzzle of the multiplayer combat (weapons on the maps, etc) is gone and replaced with Loadouts like Call of Duty. New weapons and such are unlocked through ranking up. NOT a fan of that. This was the one thing that kept Halo different from everything else: you relied on knowledge of the maps and knowledge of the weapons. Now, you just need to rely on knowledge of what level your Spartan is.
• There doesn't seem to be a clear indication once your shield has been taken down of how many shots you can take before you are dead, or particularly how much life you happen to have available to you. This was something conveyed much better in Halo: Reach.
• The maps are overly elaborate and don't seem to have a very good flow so far. I've only played on one or two maps (left my first match because you still deal with people leaving a match because they are getting stomped).
• Slayer is determined by points now instead of overall kills, and there are multiple different things that give you "points", such as being a distraction while someone else pops a kill, getting assists, etc. This is a highly unbalanced way of letting people win a match, as it will promote stat hacking far more than something like Call of Duty.
• 8GB REQUIRED INSTALL TO PLAY MULTIPLAYER! This information is conveyed to you in VEEEEERY small print on the back of the box. Luckily, you can install that 8GB to a flash drive and still be able to play. Unfortunately, it shows just how little they thought about the people on 4GB Xbox 360 consoles...
• As far as I've seen, no more guests on Xbox Live accounts. If this is different, then let me know. I haven't been able to find it in the game...and it's not like this game came with an instruction manual. By the way...
• ...the game doesn't have an instruction manual. It has some bullshit from Mountain Dew and a 14 day XBL trial card. THANKS, GUYS!

All in all, within 20 minutes, I don't think I honestly WANT to play more of Halo 4. The initial impression is a shellshock. I'm all about change in games, but this is a franchise that benefitted from not changing that much. I'm going to give it some more play time just to see if all this changes, but honestly...I think I'll just wait for Black Ops 2. = /

It's been a while since I've done a Knee-Jerk Reaction blog, mainly because there haven't really been any games that I felt deserved to have one written. However, upon plugging in Halo 4...oh, there is definitely a Knee-Jerk Reaction in this.

HOURS PLAYED: about 20 minutes of multiplayer (War Games, Infinity Slayer)

THE GOOD

• The presentation of the game all around is much prettier, but it's also more helpful than previous Halo games. The HUD for your Spartan is far more useful and immersive (thanks in part to the curvature added to look like a Spartan-IV visor that you look through).
• SPRINTING IS FINALLY A THING! It's about time also. I mean, I understand that Spartans are wearing a literal ton or two of armor...but for fuck's sake, they are also genetically engineered SUPER SOLDIERS! They should be able to goddamn sprint whenever they want.
• It feels like Halo in most ways: the jumping is right, the guns sound good, the announcer is still there, etc.

THE BAD

• Welcome to Halo of Duty. The puzzle of the multiplayer combat (weapons on the maps, etc) is gone and replaced with Loadouts like Call of Duty. New weapons and such are unlocked through ranking up. NOT a fan of that. This was the one thing that kept Halo different from everything else: you relied on knowledge of the maps and knowledge of the weapons. Now, you just need to rely on knowledge of what level your Spartan is.
• There doesn't seem to be a clear indication once your shield has been taken down of how many shots you can take before you are dead, or particularly how much life you happen to have available to you. This was something conveyed much better in Halo: Reach.
• The maps are overly elaborate and don't seem to have a very good flow so far. I've only played on one or two maps (left my first match because you still deal with people leaving a match because they are getting stomped).
• Slayer is determined by points now instead of overall kills, and there are multiple different things that give you "points", such as being a distraction while someone else pops a kill, getting assists, etc. This is a highly unbalanced way of letting people win a match, as it will promote stat hacking far more than something like Call of Duty.
• 8GB REQUIRED INSTALL TO PLAY MULTIPLAYER! This information is conveyed to you in VEEEEERY small print on the back of the box. Luckily, you can install that 8GB to a flash drive and still be able to play. Unfortunately, it shows just how little they thought about the people on 4GB Xbox 360 consoles...
• As far as I've seen, no more guests on Xbox Live accounts. If this is different, then let me know. I haven't been able to find it in the game...and it's not like this game came with an instruction manual. By the way...
• ...the game doesn't have an instruction manual. It has some bullshit from Mountain Dew and a 14 day XBL trial card. THANKS, GUYS!

All in all, within 20 minutes, I don't think I honestly WANT to play more of Halo 4. The initial impression is a shellshock. I'm all about change in games, but this is a franchise that benefitted from not changing that much. I'm going to give it some more play time just to see if all this changes, but honestly...I think I'll just wait for Black Ops 2. = /

Hopefully you will play more and update what you think about it. 20 minutes is just too short of time to fully judge a game.

So far I'm loving Halo 4's multi-player, so there's that. I think you need to give it a little more time. Not that there is anything wrong with not enjoying the game, though.

That's why this is a "knee-jerk reaction". I typically document my first very early thoughts about the game in this, then compare it to how I feel after some time. The point is to look at the juxtaposition between ideas of "immediate thoughts" and "overall thoughts".

So, for newcomers, is this okay? Have you played any of the single-player?

@jakob187 said:

• The HUD for your Spartan is far more useful and immersive (thanks in part to the curvature added to look like a Spartan-IV visor that you look through).

I consider this to be a bad thing. A bunch of shit cluttering up the UI and blocking peripheral vision might be immersive if you are used to seeing the world through a tube with sticky notes pasted around the edges. Did they really need to add that? Have you ever once felt like you weren't playing as the chief when you were?

@YOU_DIED said:

@jakob187 said:

• The HUD for your Spartan is far more useful and immersive (thanks in part to the curvature added to look like a Spartan-IV visor that you look through).

I consider this to be a bad thing. A bunch of shit cluttering up the UI and blocking peripheral vision might be immersive if you are used to seeing the world through a tube with sticky notes pasted around the edges. Did they really need to add that? Have you ever once felt like you weren't playing as the chief when you were?

I like this, and I loved it in other games like Prime. I think it adds a certain element of claustrophobia, in both games.

Is there local co-op for the story?

A whole 20 minutes? With more time you will figure out how many shots it'll take without a shield and you'll get used to the map designs. I really don't think 20 minutes is enough to even have a knee-jerk reaction. Also, I do enjoy the fact it install 8GB of data. That sounds nice, fuck those 4 giggers!

Oh, and also you can get 1 guest online. Which is a step down, but it's still not zero.

The points you earn for certain feats like Assists and Distraction are separate from your team's total kill score.

Hah, 20 minutes.. get to Chapter 3.

@jakob187 said:

It's been a while since I've done a Knee-Jerk Reaction blog, mainly because there haven't really been any games that I felt deserved to have one written. However, upon plugging in Halo 4...oh, there is definitely a Knee-Jerk Reaction in this.

HOURS PLAYED: about 20 minutes of multiplayer (War Games, Infinity Slayer)

THE GOOD

• The presentation of the game all around is much prettier, but it's also more helpful than previous Halo games. The HUD for your Spartan is far more useful and immersive (thanks in part to the curvature added to look like a Spartan-IV visor that you look through).
• SPRINTING IS FINALLY A THING! It's about time also. I mean, I understand that Spartans are wearing a literal ton or two of armor...but for fuck's sake, they are also genetically engineered SUPER SOLDIERS! They should be able to goddamn sprint whenever they want.
• It feels like Halo in most ways: the jumping is right, the guns sound good, the announcer is still there, etc.

THE BAD

• Welcome to Halo of Duty. The puzzle of the multiplayer combat (weapons on the maps, etc) is gone and replaced with Loadouts like Call of Duty. New weapons and such are unlocked through ranking up. NOT a fan of that. This was the one thing that kept Halo different from everything else: you relied on knowledge of the maps and knowledge of the weapons. Now, you just need to rely on knowledge of what level your Spartan is.
• There doesn't seem to be a clear indication once your shield has been taken down of how many shots you can take before you are dead, or particularly how much life you happen to have available to you. This was something conveyed much better in Halo: Reach.
• The maps are overly elaborate and don't seem to have a very good flow so far. I've only played on one or two maps (left my first match because you still deal with people leaving a match because they are getting stomped).
• Slayer is determined by points now instead of overall kills, and there are multiple different things that give you "points", such as being a distraction while someone else pops a kill, getting assists, etc. This is a highly unbalanced way of letting people win a match, as it will promote stat hacking far more than something like Call of Duty.
• 8GB REQUIRED INSTALL TO PLAY MULTIPLAYER! This information is conveyed to you in VEEEEERY small print on the back of the box. Luckily, you can install that 8GB to a flash drive and still be able to play. Unfortunately, it shows just how little they thought about the people on 4GB Xbox 360 consoles...
• As far as I've seen, no more guests on Xbox Live accounts. If this is different, then let me know. I haven't been able to find it in the game...and it's not like this game came with an instruction manual. By the way...
• ...the game doesn't have an instruction manual. It has some bullshit from Mountain Dew and a 14 day XBL trial card. THANKS, GUYS!

All in all, within 20 minutes, I don't think I honestly WANT to play more of Halo 4. The initial impression is a shellshock. I'm all about change in games, but this is a franchise that benefitted from not changing that much. I'm going to give it some more play time just to see if all this changes, but honestly...I think I'll just wait for Black Ops 2. = /

your ruining my evening man......... halo of duty :(

I'm a bit confused here because most of those cons are not true.

@jakob187: The only thing that counts towards your teams score in team slayer games (or infinity slayer or whatever they call it) is kills.

To point out, I only had 20 minutes of play time because I was at work, having to install the game to flash drives in order to make sure customers could play the game. Since we cannot PLAY the games while we're on-shift, that's the only time I was able to get in before my shift started.

A couple of things that we've found out since then:

• You CAN bring guests online, but much like Call of Duty, you can only do one other person aside from yourself.
• You CAN do co-op on campaign without installing the data on the second disc, but as all Halo games have done, it can only be with one other person per console.
• There ARE some things that don't count towards your team's total score in something like Infinity Slayer...but the fact that it's all points-based is still pretty shitty to me.

@Baillie: A knee-jerk reaction is defined as having very little time with something and then forming opinions about it. If you go back and look at my previous knee-jerk reactions, this is generally the way that it goes. Again, this is not my FULLY FORMED END OPINION. This is my knee-jerk reaction. Also, I don't understand the hostility over someone having a 4GB Xbox. After the last holiday season when they were dirt cheap, it means that Microsoft has a massive install base with that particular SKU. Doing something like this with a Microsoft-branded game seems like a slight to the customers, especially when there is little indication that it is needed otherwise. They don't even have the second disc labeled as "Install Disc". It's just "Disc 1" and "Disc 2". Since there is also no instruction manual with the game, there is even less indication. Leaving your customers in the dark about this shit when they pick up that box is a sad ordeal, and it can very easily create a negative experience for the buyer.

@DarthOrange: There is local co-op for the story. They've complicated the menu a little more than necessary in order to get those people into the game, but it is still there. Again, though, it's only two players per console for that co-op.

@jakob187 said:

THE BAD

• Welcome to Halo of Duty. The puzzle of the multiplayer combat (weapons on the maps, etc) is gone and replaced with Loadouts like Call of Duty. New weapons and such are unlocked through ranking up. NOT a fan of that. This was the one thing that kept Halo different from everything else: you relied on knowledge of the maps and knowledge of the weapons. Now, you just need to rely on knowledge of what level your Spartan is.

This is the one thing that I really, really don't like about what I've heard about Halo thus far. I loved Halo 3's multiplayer, I played thousands of matches, both in Matchmaking and Custom Games, and it had no progression in it except for cosmetic stuff and most of that was unlocked through other means. I think the Call of Duty approach is great, it works really well for that game, but I just can't see it working well for Halo. It just doesn't sound like Halo. It sounds like a suit said "Call of Duty has this system. It's popular. So if we put this system in Halo, then it will contribute to its popularity."

I'd just like to know who suggested and/or gave the OK for that in the first place so I could point out that Halo isn't fun because you unlock a new fucking scope every few matches. It has such a great multiplayer because the systems in play, the maps you're on, the weapons you're using, they all used to combine to be the reason for playing Halo multiplayer. Throwing all of that away for unlocks and perks really rubs me the wrong way. I still want to play Halo 4's single player, but just seeing that system in the Quick Look made me decide not to spend money on a month of Gold to play Halo 4 for a little while.

@believer258 said:

@jakob187 said:

THE BAD

• Welcome to Halo of Duty. The puzzle of the multiplayer combat (weapons on the maps, etc) is gone and replaced with Loadouts like Call of Duty. New weapons and such are unlocked through ranking up. NOT a fan of that. This was the one thing that kept Halo different from everything else: you relied on knowledge of the maps and knowledge of the weapons. Now, you just need to rely on knowledge of what level your Spartan is.

This is the one thing that I really, really don't like about what I've heard about Halo thus far. I loved Halo 3's multiplayer, I played thousands of matches, both in Matchmaking and Custom Games, and it had no progression in it except for cosmetic stuff and most of that was unlocked through other means. I think the Call of Duty approach is great, it works really well for that game, but I just can't see it working well for Halo. It just doesn't sound like Halo. It sounds like a suit said "Call of Duty has this system. It's popular. So if we put this system in Halo, then it will contribute to its popularity."

I'd just like to know who suggested and/or gave the OK for that in the first place so I could point out that Halo isn't fun because you unlock a new fucking scope every few matches. It has such a great multiplayer because the systems in play, the maps you're on, the weapons you're using, they all used to combine to be the reason for playing Halo multiplayer. Throwing all of that away for unlocks and perks really rubs me the wrong way. I still want to play Halo 4's single player, but just seeing that system in the Quick Look made me decide not to spend money on a month of Gold to play Halo 4 for a little while.

I was hyped for this thing until I found out that exact thing. I don't care about this game anymore at all really.

@living4theday258: It still feels very Halo. If you were okay with armor abilities in Reach, you'll be fine here.

@PeasantAbuse: Again, this is a "knee-jerk reaction". This was my first experience with the game overall. I've purposely avoided all forms of coverage on this thing in order to come in fresh and unexpecting.

I played another round a few moments ago, and a couple of things I found:

• Of the three maps I've played so far, none of them were memorable or even worthwhile to me.
• The Ghost sounds FUCKING AWESOME when you hit the boost.
• Watching Killcams (ugh) has taught me that a lot of people have no fucking aim whatsoever.
• Promethean Vision OP...but very cool looking.
• There has to be more going into everything than just kills for the score, as I did the math and the enemy team's numbers didn't add up based solely on kill points.

@jakob187 said:

I played another round a few moments ago, and a couple of things I found:

• Of the three maps I've played so far, none of them were memorable or even worthwhile to me.
• There has to be more going into everything than just kills for the score, as I did the math and the enemy team's numbers didn't add up based solely on kill points.

Which maps in particular? Reference list.

And the personal score and game score are two completely different things. You get personal score/points for doing all sorts of things (killjoys, etc.). Game score is the tally that wins games (be it kills, holding points for a certain duration, etc.). Just make sure you're comparing the right fields. No idea what they're actually called in the game, but just be aware that these two things are entirely separate.

@believer258: @DystopiaX: It's not as serious as you might think, there are still power weapon locations on the map just like previous games. The weapons you're unlocking are rifles like the DMR and BR, or the Plasma Pistol or Bolt Shot and skins for those. It's not like CoD where you can rank up to start with Rockets or the Sniper. You're never going to be able to start with those guns unless you're playing a custom. You have to fight for those still or some guns like the Railgun you can call down with an Ordinance Drop which is basically made available once you get a number of points. Kinda like a Killstreak but it doesn't reset when you die and somebody can take you out and steal it from you, it's made pretty obvious to everyone when you call it in.

If you liked the previous mp you should give it a shot, I've only played a handful of matches but it doesn't feel unbalanced or different. Sure there's loadouts but if you were cool with the Armour Abilities in Reach you'll be totally comfortable with this game.

@DarthOrange: There is local co-op for the story. They've complicated the menu a little more than necessary in order to get those people into the game, but it is still there. Again, though, it's only two players per console for that co-op.

Yeah the more I hear , the more I think that this is indeed Halo of Duty ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo , the thing that made halo was using the guns and the power ups that was available for anyone no matter how much they have played , and just getting cosmetic stuff for playing long hours was fine .... I worry of how much COD design bled into the single player .... If I see too many corridors and less sandboxy zones Im going ape nuts!!!!! >:(

8 GB install? I forgot I love needing to make room on my hard drive to play a fucking game.

@DystopiaX said:

@believer258 said:

@jakob187 said:

THE BAD

• Welcome to Halo of Duty. The puzzle of the multiplayer combat (weapons on the maps, etc) is gone and replaced with Loadouts like Call of Duty. New weapons and such are unlocked through ranking up. NOT a fan of that. This was the one thing that kept Halo different from everything else: you relied on knowledge of the maps and knowledge of the weapons. Now, you just need to rely on knowledge of what level your Spartan is.

This is the one thing that I really, really don't like about what I've heard about Halo thus far. I loved Halo 3's multiplayer, I played thousands of matches, both in Matchmaking and Custom Games, and it had no progression in it except for cosmetic stuff and most of that was unlocked through other means. I think the Call of Duty approach is great, it works really well for that game, but I just can't see it working well for Halo. It just doesn't sound like Halo. It sounds like a suit said "Call of Duty has this system. It's popular. So if we put this system in Halo, then it will contribute to its popularity."

I'd just like to know who suggested and/or gave the OK for that in the first place so I could point out that Halo isn't fun because you unlock a new fucking scope every few matches. It has such a great multiplayer because the systems in play, the maps you're on, the weapons you're using, they all used to combine to be the reason for playing Halo multiplayer. Throwing all of that away for unlocks and perks really rubs me the wrong way. I still want to play Halo 4's single player, but just seeing that system in the Quick Look made me decide not to spend money on a month of Gold to play Halo 4 for a little while.

I was hyped for this thing until I found out that exact thing. I don't care about this game anymore at all really.

Whoooooooa. So there are no map-based weapon spawns? There have to be power weapons spread about the map, right? All of Halo's multiplayer was built around making a map that flows and has choke points based on those very weapon placements. Without that, I'm really skeptical of the multiplayer in general. And only one guest for online multiplayer? That's really crappy too.

@TheSouthernDandy said:

@believer258: @DystopiaX: It's not as serious as you might think, there are still power weapon locations on the map just like previous games. The weapons you're unlocking are rifles like the DMR and BR, or the Plasma Pistol or Bolt Shot and skins for those. It's not like CoD where you can rank up to start with Rockets or the Sniper. You're never going to be able to start with those guns unless you're playing a custom. You have to fight for those still or some guns like the Railgun you can call down with an Ordinance Drop which is basically made available once you get a number of points. Kinda like a Killstreak but it doesn't reset when you die and somebody can take you out and steal it from you, it's made pretty obvious to everyone when you call it in.

If you liked the previous mp you should give it a shot, I've only played a handful of matches but it doesn't feel unbalanced or different. Sure there's loadouts but if you were cool with the Armour Abilities in Reach you'll be totally comfortable with this game.

Yeah, I don't know, I got a really "CoD-esque" vibe, from that to the perk they showed off where you can see dudes through walls in close proximity, which basically was like a UAV- IMO a big part of the skill gap in Halo isn't just aiming right it's also map positioning and teamwork, and knowing where dudes are takes away from a huge skill gap cause people who are good at the game can't get a jump on noobs as easily. I didn't really like Armor Abilities either, and as soon as the no armor ability playlists came up (MLG, for example) I stopped playing vanilla slayer.

I get that it's mainly because I liked old Halos so much that I take issue with a lot of the more "nit picky" stuff, like the ordnance drops- your kills should be rewarded with higher scores and winning the game, not with better guns, since if you hit that first you're obviously already better and not in need of a super-powered weapon to help you win, or the fact that I think in Halo everyone should start on the exact same playing field- BR start, or AR start, or whatever, because I loved the competitiveness of Halo and once people can start with better/worse guns it kinda kills the whole thing.

I have a question!

Does the campaign have open environments as big as Halo Reach's? Or are they pretty small like CoD?

the whole halo of duty thing is so blown out of proportion, the gameplay is stil very much halo. So let's not get our panties in a bunch

For all those who are worried about it being CoD (which it's not),let's not forget about the Slayer Pro playlist. This is a great classic "Halo" feeling playlist. You get to choose from 3 defined loadouts (no custom loadouts) and there's no special abilities available other than sprint. I played a few and could definitely tell that it would take some skill, knowledge and teamwork to be good in it.

I've played something like 500 hours of Halo 1 multiplayer via system link and at least a couple hundred hours of all the series main entries. After having played about 10 hours of the multiplayer I disagree that it still has that "Halo feeling." Positioning and map control have always been the key to Halo multiplayer and frankly to me this game feels like it misses that. I was never much of a fan of sprint because I think it greatly reduces the punishment for bad positioning and I think this has only gotten worse through poor map design. At this point I have no intention of playing anymore of the multiplayer, I'd rather play any of the 3 main entries' multiplayer than Halo 4's or Reach's for that matter.

@DystopiaX said:

@TheSouthernDandy said:

@believer258: @DystopiaX: It's not as serious as you might think, there are still power weapon locations on the map just like previous games. The weapons you're unlocking are rifles like the DMR and BR, or the Plasma Pistol or Bolt Shot and skins for those. It's not like CoD where you can rank up to start with Rockets or the Sniper. You're never going to be able to start with those guns unless you're playing a custom. You have to fight for those still or some guns like the Railgun you can call down with an Ordinance Drop which is basically made available once you get a number of points. Kinda like a Killstreak but it doesn't reset when you die and somebody can take you out and steal it from you, it's made pretty obvious to everyone when you call it in.

If you liked the previous mp you should give it a shot, I've only played a handful of matches but it doesn't feel unbalanced or different. Sure there's loadouts but if you were cool with the Armour Abilities in Reach you'll be totally comfortable with this game.

Yeah, I don't know, I got a really "CoD-esque" vibe, from that to the perk they showed off where you can see dudes through walls in close proximity, which basically was like a UAV- IMO a big part of the skill gap in Halo isn't just aiming right it's also map positioning and teamwork, and knowing where dudes are takes away from a huge skill gap cause people who are good at the game can't get a jump on noobs as easily. I didn't really like Armor Abilities either, and as soon as the no armor ability playlists came up (MLG, for example) I stopped playing vanilla slayer.

I get that it's mainly because I liked old Halos so much that I take issue with a lot of the more "nit picky" stuff, like the ordnance drops- your kills should be rewarded with higher scores and winning the game, not with better guns, since if you hit that first you're obviously already better and not in need of a super-powered weapon to help you win, or the fact that I think in Halo everyone should start on the exact same playing field- BR start, or AR start, or whatever, because I loved the competitiveness of Halo and once people can start with better/worse guns it kinda kills the whole thing.

Yeah I get what you're saying, I guess it just comes down to what you want out of the game. I personally like the added touches because it's still centered around Halo combat which doesn't play anything like any other shooter. Sprint is a great addition that's been sorely missing for a while and I don't think any of the drops or loadouts are going to disadvantage a player. To your point about not needing a power weapon if you're already good, in the same way, if you're good at halo, having a different loadout then somebody else isn't going to give you any disadvantage, or somebody being able to call down a speed boost powerup isn't going to wreck the balance against good players. But yeah, if you just want old Halo mp with nothing added I can see not digging this. I just don't think they can release that game again, they're already get some small amount of flack for not being different enough from some reviewers.

Halo of Duty? Don't you mean Halo of Battlefield? That series had load outs before Call of Duty, and I'm sure there's probably some other game before that which had loadouts. You're points are very 'knee-jerk' indeed, snd I think you're knitpicking too much. Many gamers don't appreciate fun games these days.

@nail1080: This is Halo. Nitpicking is something that is done with the franchise. When the BR changes from 4 bursts to kill to 5 bursts to kill, it's something that matters. This is a game that will be played on highly competitive levels, and little things like that make a world of difference.

With that said, I have put some more time into the multiplayer, and I can now update my thoughts in a more thorough process...

Stay tuned for the next blog...

@jakob187 said:

@nail1080: This is Halo. Nitpicking is something that is done with the franchise. When the BR changes from 4 bursts to kill to 5 bursts to kill, it's something that matters. This is a game that will be played on highly competitive levels, and little things like that make a world of difference.

Change is good. Halo 3 and Reach are great games and can still be played online, I want a somewhat different experience out of Halo 4 so I can still enjoy all the games for what they are.

The multiplayer install was only 1.9 GB for me, not 8 GB.

But yeah, I'm loving the game even though I'm not a huge fan of the changes made to make it more like Call of Duty. Hopefully the future games don't head further in that direction.

I don't get the complaints about the weapon unlocks the best guns can be unlocked in a couple hours.

This game feels pretty smooth and fresh to me, while still retaining a lot of the Halo feel.
 
Sure, it's faster and omfg they got load outs but there's still (random, yay!) weapon drops on the maps and that alone kind of makes things more fun than the "rush the power weapons, camp them with your entire team!" thing going on in previous Halo's.
 
I kind of fail to see the use of this topic. There's no way to judge a game like this so quickly. This goes for anyone but really just keep playing. Your level has shit to do with your skill/etc, most gametypes offer basic equipment load outs. 
 
I've been playing with my cousin and he did not make a single personal load out yet, only used the default load out and he's having no trouble keeping up. It's still up to luck, skill and host. Not to level, abilities or weapons. The whole puzzle thing is still there and as always it's about your own judgment of the situation.

@laserbolts: Not even that. I got the plasma pistol (i.e. the best gun in the game that isn't a needler) in about 40 minutes.

I read all this... and think it is awesome.

Like... really awesome. Stuff Halo MP needed since 3. Gonna grab it later when I clear out some backlog, so I am glad that they are at least making it a somewhat faster game.

This is slightly off-topic, but can some definitively confirm whether or not XBL is required for local multiplayer/co-operative?

I like it, it still feels like Halo to me. The loadouts are no worse than Reach, except now you stipulate your own loadouts instead of sticking to their pre-determined ones. And besides, most people seem to be sticking to the battle rifle. Weapon spawns still happen on the map, though I don't like they it shows you where they are. The fun used to be finding the energy sword before the other guy, now there's practically a way point going HERE IT IS GUYS.

Anyway, it's definitely nowhere as unbalanced as CoD's loadout unlocks.

My Main beef (SR11 atm, Campaign complete, workling on legendary) is no scoring in Campaign mode. Like in Reach you could level you character just by single player if you wanted rather then Multiplayer. I do feel aswell the game is totally more centered around Multiplayer.

My knee jerk reaction is more or less disapointment, I haven't played the game but seeing battles with Covenant... again, after they surrendered or whatever in Halo 3 just holds the game back. I get that they will have some reason for them being there, a seperate group from official Covenant but my point is that they made a concerted effort to bring them back when they didnt have to. What would have been more interesting if more difficult for the devs would be to go all out with the new enemy type and possibly have Covenant allies with covenant technology (or combinations of covenant/human technology) now that would have been great.

I am loving Halo 4. It is still different enough from CoD to stand out in a Halo way. You still have much more health than in Cod and you still do need to find the better weapons like rocket launcher and shotgun and all the other crazy weapons. Your default is not a gamebreaker like in Cod.

It plays like Halo. People should take their hands away from the panic button.

My beef is that there are too few maps, and that I feel like I'm always playing either Ragnarok or Haven. Vote for something else, damnit.

Just play more, the core fundamentals of Halo are still very much there, they might have changed a few things but it plays like Halo in all the right ways. The only real disappointment for me so far is spartan ops, I really hope they do more in the future with it.

I will still call it a knee-jerk impression, but I will say I am about 5 missions into the single player. As far as the single-player goes, there are a myriad of problems. It does still have touches of Halo, and I will say out and out, this does not feel like a Bungie Halo. The fact that this doesn't feel like a Bungie Halo could be a good or bad thing, I think we will have to wait for a sequel to see the general direction of this series. The first for me is it looks great, it just doesn't look like Halo. I really do like the new enemies and their orange aesthetic, but I think the orange would have gone even better if they left the purple overtones in the series.

Next, the music is way off, and the general vibe of the soundtrack feels like exactly how the games presents itself, it is pulled in two directions, yet the developers don't exactly know which way they are pulling away from Bungie. They know they are pulling away, 343 just doesn't know where. There is a low more "drone" and ambient music which is great and would have served great in the parts with the Promethean parts of the story, but they should have taken cues from Marty and kept some of the drum stuff, and teh classic Halo riff, even if it was a remixed version.

The Terminal Codecs are a mess in that you can collect them from somewhat hidden or at least miss able sections of the single-player campaign, but then there is not a thing you can do with them from in the game. So, 343 has waypoint which is supposed to be their social hub (I think it is dumb, and that they should have just included that Waypoint hub in the game as well as on the dashboard if they are going to push for that social network), and now you are supposed to watch those videos in Waypoint. Okay... fine, we have to go to the dashboard to watch some story-arc videos for a game, except not if you are not a subscriber to Xbox-Live gold which is infuriating. They are locking single-player campaign content behind their Xbox Live Gold pay wall, which they could have easily included in Halo 4 as they did with Halo: CE Anniversary, except they didn't due to an agenda.

Now that we have started talking about story, wtf?! Seriously, I have played every Halo game since November 2001 and I have a hard time grasping all what is going on in this game with the Prometheans, Infinity, DIdact, The Composer, ect. They explain nothing, and the story is starting to feel like Call of Duty where you are being ripped from one scene to another so fast, and there is so much going on that you don't have time to take it all in unless you have read the Halo novels which I think I may have only read one out of curiosity years ago, but still didn't seem to help a ton.

343 also didn't do a great job with using the power-upgrades such as the; "Jetpack", "Promethean vision", "Promethean Sentinel", and "Promethean Shield". It feels out of place most of the time and you run into confusion when there are many options laying around the field just before your next big battle, you are not sure which one you want to use that would make that next fight smoother. The fact is, you really don't need any of these upgrades most of the time anyway.

Like I said, I have not gone too far into multi-player except that the install is a terrible idea, as well as not being explained anywhere on the box. So say you still have a launch "core" xbox 360 with no storage other than a Memory Unit or a small USB stick, you are not going to be able to add multi-player. Or say someone just jumped into the xbox 360 with a unit that only has the 4GB internal storage, they are also SOL. The only thing the back of the box explains is "4 MB to save game", and then in small writing "In available games, paid subscription required for online multiplayer; some features and downloads require additional storage, hardware and/or fees". I feel like Microsoft has gotten so far away from their hard standardization rules that they once had earlier on in the generation like size caps for XBLA games, patch size limits, games being fully functional on lowest "core" xbox 360, ect. It all feels disgusting unless you are in their XBL Gold walled garden, then everything is great, except I have no desire to pay $60 a year to play multiplayer games I will stick to my PS3 and PC.

I probably have other concerns, but those are the major ones for me that really pop out. If I would have to score the game, i'd give it a 7/10.

@nail1080 said:

@jakob187 said:

@nail1080: This is Halo. Nitpicking is something that is done with the franchise. When the BR changes from 4 bursts to kill to 5 bursts to kill, it's something that matters. This is a game that will be played on highly competitive levels, and little things like that make a world of difference.

Change is good. Halo 3 and Reach are great games and can still be played online, I want a somewhat different experience out of Halo 4 so I can still enjoy all the games for what they are.

That's the problem: this isn't a "different" experience. Sure, it's different for HALO, but it's still Call of Duty imported into Halo. The franchise itself stood on a pedestal for being THE "different" experience in first-person shooters. Even with Reach, they introduced loadouts, but it was all preset and the game was still very much Halo. This feels far less like Halo and more like *insert any other shooter out there*.

If that makes sense...

I mean, I know you, nail1080. You typically have some relatively cynical comments to throw around on the site, and I know you and I have butt heads more than a few times. Nonetheless, I also know you are an intelligent cat. To say that Halo 4 is anything less than Microsoft and 343 trying to get Call of Duty dollars is a little naive, though.

I've played far more Halo 4 now, and I'll offer updated impressions on the multiplayer soon. I just want to play in some of the other playlists a bit more before I offer those impressions, as I wish for them to be more thoroughly rounded-out.

@TaliciaDragonsong: The point of my "Knee-Jerk Reaction" blogs is strictly to show a KNEE-JERK REACTION. That's why it is called such. It's about that first initial impression after going in with little to no info on what the game is. It's to look at the stigma of jarring first impressions and see how a fully-formed opinion later varies to it. Particularly, it's a blog series that I had started doing solely because there are times where I forget what my first impressions were of a game, so it gives me a backlog to go back and say "oh yeah", then see how my opinion either differed or went further down the rabbit hole at a later date. That's all. I understand that it can be something of a misrepresentation to some people, as they are expecting some type of crazy review. It's literally just "hey, I played the game for a little bit, here's a couple of quick things".

As I've played more of the game, I can go back now and look at those initial first impressions and go "man, those were wrong in a lot of areas". There ARE random weapons on the map, and to be honest, I've kind of enjoyed both the way they handle that aspect as well as how they handled "killstreaks", or "ordinance" as they call it on this game. What I don't like is how insanely easy it is for you to be killed, how the later weapons that are unlocked (Boltshot, Light Rifle) are actually more powerful in the long run, pretty much guaranteeing a spot in loadouts, and how the majority of the perks in the game just aren't worth it. I'm not saying I'm a Halo expert, but I'm pretty damn good at the games. I'm usually either top kills or close to top kills. However, I've found that despite that, I'm now also at a negative KDR, even though I'm carrying my team in matches. Maybe it's that I'm having to learn some new strategies for playing Halo, but I'm doing nothing more than playing Halo the way I've always played Halo. It just doesn't feel...right...to me.

@Voxel: Yeah, the 8GB install is apparently for BOTH discs installed. Disc 2 itself looks to be around a 3GB install or so. We had one machine here with a 20GB hard drive. Got it to 11GB free, and it was at around 7.5 afterwards. I'll get the exact number of it whenever I write up some final impressions stuff.

I am a long time Halo fan. I wouldn't say I am a die hard or a fanboy, but I've enjoyed all of the Halo titles for one reason or another and all of the multiplayer modes have been good. Knee jerk reaction about Halo 4? Fuck this shit; it sucks. 343i should be a little ashamed of the final product. Maybe if they beta tested the game first, but then again that might be why they didn't beta test it...I also don't really care for any of the maps, a first for the series. Honestly thinking of going back to Reach.