Even if Halo 4 is a massive pile of dog turd. I'll still be buying it.

I just like the teams take on certain "big" games as they normal get it spot on. I've got my Limited Editon on Pre-Order ready for a midnight launch!

I'd also bet that Jeff will review it. I remember how big it was when he Finished the Fight the first time. Here, watch this in the meantime. 
 
  

I only said Brad/Drew for the Review as they have been going/doing all the preview stuff for it up on the site.

Halo 4 is in league with Mountain Dew and Doritos so it has to be good. I hope they let that one guy review it. I think his name is Sushi-X or Scary Larry.

@TooWalrus: Jesus christ I'm glad that GB figured out how to do sound levels properly. That was painful.

I would rather see a Quick Look as well. Does anyone know if there is an embargo set?

I got us some inside info people!

@jeffgerstmann What can you tell us about Giantbombs Halo 4 review?

@BigjonW It will contain several words about Halo 4, Master Chef, Cortanya, and the whole Halo Gang!

People who watch/read reviews these days focus on the score something gets and then there's the whining.... I hate hate HATE when a big blockbuster title comes out because its a whine fest of "THEY DIDNT STICK TO CANON" "WHY IS IT LIKE CALL OF DUTY?" "THE LAST GAME WAS SO MUCH BETTER". Pretty much leads me to stay away from sites like meta critic, /V/, and sometimes even Giantbomb because of this. I think that a major concern of a game is if its playable or not fun at all which is where I think reviews can be quite useful.

@Kaineda77 said:

Giantbomb is slowly leaving the review-business. But they are the biggest player in the quick look-business, and I like it that way.

Same here. No review has every helped me make a buying decision as a Quick Look does. Quick Looks have sold me games I wasn't previously aware of or interested in.

Reviews are... well, pointless really. Reviews work for film because the experience is always the same and can be graded accordingly. But a game is such an interactive dynamic experience that the only way to decide if it's something you're interested in is to see it in action and see if it's a work that speaks to you or not.

Unfortunately while I don't care about reviews, the industry does and these reviews will determine , to some extent, the next year for many of the employees at 343 Industries. It's the same for most other game developers and its just a sad reality of the games industry. Jeff is reviewing this game, probably, since he went to the review event. I expect a 4/5 from him considering his past Halo reviews. I'd be shocked, SHOCKED, if he gives the game a 5.

@Zereta: I have read a few single player reviews, none with spoilers of course, and every one of them stated that they think this is the best Halo campaign ever made. They said the story was beautiful, and one said that he was in tears by the end of the game. I know that does not mean much, but I hope that this game is a 5, and from the sounds of it that is possible.

Also I think Brad is reviewing it, he seems pretty hot on it too.

Let me open the gateway to next week and let you peak in early:

Man I was kind of ambivalent towards this game for a while despite loving the series, but between the stuff I am hearing and Forward Unto Dawn, I am getting fucking moist over Halo 4

i'm gonna guess a 4 out of 5.

I think a lot of reviewers are in a no win situation over Halo 4. In video game reviews there is no middle ground on scores anymore and with the crap hitting the fan with gaming press this last week things will be interesting.

High score - People will claim you've been bought off

Low score - You're just doing it to save your ass from criticism

Geoff Keighley being shown with Doritos and Mt. Dew and fall out over the Eurogamer piece screwed stuff up for a lot of people.

I think a lot of reviewers are in a no win situation over Halo 4. In video game reviews there is no middle ground on scores anymore and with the crap hitting the fan with gaming press this last week things will be interesting.

High score - People will claim you've been bought off

Low score - You're just doing it to save your ass from criticism

Geoff Keighley being shown with Doritos and Mt. Dew and fall out over the Eurogamer piece screwed stuff up for a lot of people.

it's a wonder a lot of Games writers manage to get through the madness of the autumn review season year after year.

All the free swag and trips makes it easy.

i hope its not jeff

I hope he gives it a 1/5 because that would be fucking funny.

@punkxblaze said:

@adam1808 said:

The Drewpinion is the one I require.

Forget reviews, livestream Alexis and Drew playing through it on Co-op with some post mortem talk afterward.

And a lot of pizza. A loooot of pizza.

So a 10 hour spoiler-stream? I think their plan of playing it next year, for charity, was a better idea. Although, Drew would be the most qualified to review it.

The Geoff Keighley stuff is amazing in terms of how that got overblown. It's advertising. Giant Bomb does it. Eurogamer does it. Master Chef US does it. It's part and parcel of this business.

Well, now it's out it's about what I expected, I'd have been surprised if it had got a 5/5 on GB, I love the Halo franchise more than any other and will play it and love it i've no doubt.

As much as i'm glad IGN gave it a 9.8, I don't trust or care for any of their reviews at this point.

I'm bummed out that they played things this safe and I'm done with Halo if they plan on staying safe throughout the new trilogy. I'm hopeful that the next gen will allow for drastic changes. I understand why they didn't do it but I'm not one of the people who are content for more of the same gameplay.

@Branwulf said:

As much as i'm glad IGN gave it a 9.8

But why? In the scheme of things, what does IGN giving it a high score mean to you?@Colourful_Hippie said:

I'm bummed out that they played things this safe and I'm done with Halo if they plan on staying safe throughout the new trilogy. I'm hopeful that the next gen will allow for drastic changes. I understand why they didn't do it but I'm not one of the people who are content for more of the same gameplay.

Likewise, man. The snippets they let out pre-release were actually exciting, then the news came out about the lead designer/director leaving because they wouldn't let him deviate from what the franchise had already set up. I know one sale means very little, and it isn't out of spite, but I have very little interest in playing the same story again.

I'm really torn on this. Honestly, I'm really not a fan of the Halo games play, but I have fond memories of playing multiplayer with my friends. One of the earliest memories I have of my 360 is waiting in line with my friends for Halo 3 and seeing everyone on my friend's list playing it. I just know if I buy this one, I'll hate myself. I hated myself for getting Reach, even though it had it's moments in multiplayer. It's not like I don't have anything else to play...

@Colourful_Hippie said:

I'm bummed out that they played things this safe and I'm done with Halo if they plan on staying safe throughout the new trilogy. I'm hopeful that the next gen will allow for drastic changes. I understand why they didn't do it but I'm not one of the people who are content for more of the same gameplay.

Thats what i'm thinking, that the next one will be a bigger jump for the Halo franchise. This one is has to have some of the old in it just so it flows nicely from 3 to 4. I think the next one will be be more focused on the new enemies plus with it being on new hardware and not on 7 year old tech!! ( i still can't believe the 360 is that old) it should allow for them to take a few more risks.

@GetEveryone:

It's not that it means anything to me, it's just that as a fan of the series I like to see high scores for it.

People that get so riled up over review scores need to get a god-damned life. A collection of people have given your their opinions on whether they think this was a good game. It looks like the general consensus is that, "Yo, this game is Halo. If you like Halo, play it." If you don't know if you like Halo, then no amount of reviews will help you. Either buy it or don't.

I will choose not to buy it, because I'm moving as much of my gaming as possible to the PC where Dota 2 and stuff like XCOM and Dishonored are taking up all my time. No room for Halo or AC 3. Sorry!

Halo 4 Review:

It's Halo 4.

Pour one out for all the brain cells lost reading the review comments. Dear lord.

Halo 4? How about...Halo MORE? hahahahaha

Beating a dead horse here, but notice how the embargo has been lifted WAY BEFORE the game comes out and is (or will be) 90+. Compare that to Assassin's Creed 3 and its 12pm day of embargo and overall 85.

Isn't it reasonable to think that embargo dates and times = developer's faith in their product?

Good for Microsoft and 343. Glad they were able to put out a seemingly solid game.

(P.S. This is not an "I only buy 90+ metacritic games!!!!111!11!". Reviews do matter (because you wouldn't buy a game with an average review of 10), but not the point here.)

@GrantHeaslip said:

It's even worse for Giant Bomb since they have a 5-point scale. In a world where Nintendo fanboys lost their minds over Jeff giving Twilight Princess an 8.8, it's clear a lot of people see 3 as "failure", 4 as "disappointment", and 5 as "great". In that context, you can almost see why some outlets stick with 100 and 20 point scales.

And it's bizarre that somebody thinks that. 5 isn't "Great," 5 is Perfect - or at least in the colloquial sense. Really people should look at the scores like this:

5 - Perfect/Near Perfect

Accomplished everything the developer went for and potentially stands as a landmark of that genre/franchise.

4 - Great

Accomplished everything the developer went for but doesn't quite push the boundaries to be that landmark game or is mired in enough small blemishes to hold it back from perfection.

3 - Good

Doesn't quite hit all the marks. The developers may have bit off more than they could chew or time/budget constraints were a factor, but the game has significant design flaws or bugs which make it a playable game, but not necessarily the game the designers intended.

2 - Poor

More bugs, more problems. The design is sloppier, and is not anywhere near what the design goal was.

1 - Bad

Just Really. Fucking. Bad.

@allworkandlowpay said:

@GrantHeaslip said:

It's even worse for Giant Bomb since they have a 5-point scale. In a world where Nintendo fanboys lost their minds over Jeff giving Twilight Princess an 8.8, it's clear a lot of people see 3 as "failure", 4 as "disappointment", and 5 as "great". In that context, you can almost see why some outlets stick with 100 and 20 point scales.

And it's bizarre that somebody thinks that. 5 isn't "Great," 5 is Perfect - or at least in the colloquial sense. Really people should look at the scores like this:

5 - Perfect/Near Perfect

Accomplished everything the developer went for and potentially stands as a landmark of that genre/franchise.

4 - Great

Accomplished everything the developer went for but doesn't quite push the boundaries to be that landmark game or is mired in enough small blemishes to hold it back from perfection.

3 - Good

Doesn't quite hit all the marks. The developers may have bit off more than they could chew or time/budget constraints were a factor, but the game has significant design flaws or bugs which make it a playable game, but not necessarily the game the designers intended.

2 - Poor

More bugs, more problems. The design is sloppier, and is not anywhere near what the design goal was.

1 - Bad

Just Really. Fucking. Bad.

While we don't believe any game is perfect, we recommend this game without reservation.

Still very good and easy to recommend, though it doesn't quite live up to its full potential.

The halfway point. An inherent appreciation of this game's specific gameplay style, characters, subject matter, and so on may play as big a role in your enjoyment as the actual quality of the game.

This game's problems outweigh its good qualities.

This game will make you wish you had died in a fire moments before turning it on.