Halo 4 is not combat evolved but combat refined.
Halo 4 has been in development for around three years under newly formed studio: 343 industries. Microsoft has put together the most talented developers at their disposal and given them unlimited resources to continue bungies halo legacy, putting Microsoft’s most valuable property in the hands of a new development studio could be considered a huge risk; fortunately they exceeded all of our expectations.
Halo combat evolved is among my top five games of all time. It is as close as a developer has come to producing a perfect first person shooter. In 2001 Halo redefined the genre making console First Person Shooters valid for the first time. Prior to its release existed a myriad of lacklustre console shooters and with PC being hailed as the only platform for hard-core shooter fans, halo changed our preconceptions and moulded the genre in its vision.
The most integral part of the Halo single player experience is the halo combat puzzle. Players are given a sandbox with which to experiment in. situations can be approached in a selection of ways involving a large variety of weapons vehicles and environments. Intelligent AI duck and weave into cover, flanking the player and offering up a real challenge. This system rewards player skill over everything else.
Campaign
This is the most graphically impressive game on the 360, the CGI cut scenes are as close to reality as video games have come in this generation. The motion capture technology rivalling LA noire for uncanny valley visual facial detail. The environments are the most detailed seen in a halo game and the forerunner architecture brings a new complementary art style to the series. Among the traditional blues and purples of old halos comes the striking orange of new species: the forerunners the game incorporates copious levels of lens flare rivalling even that of JJ Abram’s
Halo 4 contains an almost overwhelming level of weaponry at the chief’s disposal, as well as all the weapons introduced in the series, there is an entire new set of alien weaponry via the forerunners, they are distinctively alien in their orange glowy and dynamic shape changing design. Forerunners are a new challenge which are far more dependent on a well-placed head shot than the covenant, they are more agile, most specifically the knights which have the ability to teleport at any moment.
Sprint is now default ability; this was by far the most popular power up ability in reach and has now been incorporated from the start. New abilities have been added to the game such as a large centurion style blue glowing shield and floating sentries.
Halo 4 is a more human and personal story involving the degradation of the AI companion Cortana referred to as rampancy as well as exploring the Spartan training programme. how the UNSC treats the missing in action Spartan "John"as well as the dynamic relationship between Master Chief and Cortana it is definitely the most cohesive story told in a halo game. The halo fans that are aware of the wider lore surrounding the halo-verse are rewarded with references throughout.
Sound
It is clear that the sounds for each weapon has been rerecorded, these are the best sounding weapons of any shooter, the orchestral soundtrack is a natural evolution of the original composed by Martin O'Donnell it is effective in creating these large scale scenes and creates a darker tone than its predecessor. There is no thundering score as the original games instead it walks the line between ambiance creating the tone and electro portal esque themes.
multiplayer
Halo 4 has certainly taken a look at the strengths of the core call of duty multiplayer experience and incorporated them into the tried and true halo formula. They have introduced kill cams which have been an oversight of Bungies. A new levelling system is introduced with a cap of 50. Players are rewarded with Spartan points which they can assign to weapon and ability unlocks. Kill Cams, load outs, a perk system as well as weapon and armour unlocks are present, there is also a prestige like system called specialisations which will allow players to unlock special abilities which are otherwise unavailable.
The PVP game mode is incorporated under the umbrella of war games which is explained in the cannon as training grounds for new Spartan soldiers. Slayer matches are now a score based affair instead of the number of kills within a match. The score based modes encourage a more cooperative and team mentality approach to the multiplayer arena, it has a similar feel to a battlefield title, there are no support abilities however you will benefit through communication and strategy.
Spartan Opps takes the place of the score based game mode firefight. It is a cooperative and episodic experience, each week 343 are going to add a new episode to the series, and each of these episodes consists of around five chapters taking around an hour to complete. The episodic story structure of this game mode is sure to discourage trade ins and will keep the fans happy for a number of weeks. The first season is going to be free, with the subsequent seasons incurring a charge.
There are ten maps released at launch, each of them are finely tuned and carefully balanced create the magic halo chaos whether it is in one of the smaller, close quarters maps or the large scale vehicle themed maps.
New game modes dominion and flood have been added. Dominion is a base capture style mode. There will be three capture points on the map, once captured the bases will reward the team with reinforcements in the form of weapons and spawning vehicles. This is the most cooperative dependant game modes and effectively introduces a team based dynamic to the traditional lone wolf modes of the past. With the Flood game type 343 industries have resurrected the zombie mode from reach and incorporated the polarising adversary the flood in their place. This is a tension inducing mode where the human players will be armed with shotguns and attempt to stave off faster and stronger flood opponents.
Summary
Halo 4 is not combat evolved but combat refined.
343 have produced a technically proficient masterpiece of this generation, pushing the seven year old Xbox console to its limits. Although lacking innovation they inject refinement through all elements including sound and level design. Multiplayer is overhauled with new game modes improving the overall package.
Halo 4 has the most cohesive narrative in a halo game it succeeds in delivering an emotional and personal experience. the campaigns pacing is close to perfection there is sufficient variety between each of the eight missions343 industries retained the feel of halo while also injecting new elements to a quickly become stagnant franchise to produce the best halo yet.
