One of the things that annoy me about halo 4 is its art style. Everything is very bright and clean to perfection. It’s not fun to look at after a while, especially when it’s used on every little thing. Take halo reachs art style for example, it is almost perfectly reminiscent of both halo 1 and 2. It has halo 2s bleak cities and halo 1s colorful skyboxes and structures in multiplayer. Halo 4 is essentially halo 1, which is cool and all, except for the fact that is on crack. I would love for a mix of halo 4s art style and reachs art style. Maybe throw a little halo 3 in there for the desert levels(if it has any).
I would like for this to continue over to the armor and weapons as well. Halo 4 had light grey weapons, which wouldn’t be used in real life military small arms often. Black allows you to conceal graphical errors much easier, and is also a common color for old halo weapons. If not black, very dark grey. Light grey allows for graphical blemishes to be amplified when combined with the lighting engine. Not only that, but light would shine off of the light grey color of weapons such as the BR or assault rifle, giving away a soldier’s position. Matte black doesn’t shine. The DMR got it right. Also, weapons don’t need stripes on them like the BR or DMR have. They serve no purpose and in my opinion make the gun look cartoony.
As I said before, I would like for the armor to be affected by this as well. The halo 4 armor is very cartoony, and “gooy”.
It lacks the mechanized and industrial look that halo 3 and reach had. It didn’t look practical or human for that matter. Halo 4 did have some good armor, but it looks mostly bad IMO. Again I would like some sort of compromise.
I really liked Halo 4’s art style a lot. The Forerunner structures for the most part were bright and clean but were nicely contrasted by the jagged, detailed outcrops and sand swept environments. Vertigo is a great example of a map that combines having a more or less pristine structure that is set in a wilder environment. Requiem is a great example of the above, but in Campaign.
While the pristine condition of environments was bland, nothing is more annoying than how empty the structures feel compared to the ones in previous games, which were frequently occupied and maintained by Sentinels.
Sentinels felt more down-to-earth than the Prometheans just being spawned out of nowhere.
Halo 4’s art style did exactly what it was intended to do.
Things look bright and fresh and clean? Exactly.
As the first of this trilogy, Halo 4 was supposed to visually look new. Think of the contrast when it transitions into darker themes.
Story had a major effect on it too. The UNSC/Covenant were coming out of their conflicts, into a new one. A restart. So, everyone is starting fresh. That will probably change later on if the war drags on.
And the major part… the Forerunners. The Forerunner structures in the past were uninhabited, weathered, and actually of a different caste style all together. We’ve seen the Builder’s and the Lifeworkers’ creations. Halo 4 showed us the Warrior-Servants.
Forerunner structures in Halo 4 were meant to be alive, new, untouched. Their scale was meant to add a sense of awe.
Though, like Sliding said, it would have been nice for increased activity inside structures, rather than really bright lights coming from transparant walls… everywhere.
> reaches art style was by far my favorite and hope it the next halo is based more off of that, especially the armor.
Hated Reach’s art style. It was dark, boring and it got old fast. I’d much rather have a Halo 4-like color pallet just less shiny and with better textures.
The reason why I prefer Reach’s style over Halo 4’s is because it was believable. Reach was a human world with human tech, and the artwork fit that aesthetic. Big skyboxes, and an always present sense of adventure just on the horizon.
Halo 4 was 90% Forerunner aesthetic, but the art didn’t quite fit the scale of what we’ve come to expect from Forerunners. The skyboxes were a tad smaller overall, and structures/hills felt more obstructive than previous games. I felt more confined than in previous Halos. And the shininess - that got old quickly.
I’m sure there were some aesthetic designs dictated for good reason and others which were just the wrong decision. I’m sure Halo 5 will have that all licked for the XB1.
For armor and other combat equipment (vehicles included) and human built structures I want Halo Reach’s art style. For Forerunner architecture, I want Halo 4’s art style.
> Story had a major effect on it too. The UNSC/Covenant were coming out of their conflicts, into a new one. A restart. So, everyone is starting fresh. That will probably change later on if the war drags on.
The war with humans and Covenant ended in Halo 3, the war is over, the Humans won. The Covenant in Halo 4 were not Covenant, they were Ex-Covenant and are more pirates than an army. It’s not a war, more like a battle. The war is done.
> > reaches art style was by far my favorite and hope it the next halo is based more off of that, especially the armor.
>
> Hated Reach’s art style. It was dark, boring and it got old fast. I’d much rather have a Halo 4-like color pallet just less shiny and with better textures.
Agreed, Reach was quite simply an ugly game. And it applied that in such a way not to take advantage of it, to use ugliness as a driving force behind some greater tone (see. WH40k) but haphazardly and chaotically, such that you can only say that it was ugly.
> > Story had a major effect on it too. The UNSC/Covenant were coming out of their conflicts, into a new one. A restart. So, everyone is starting fresh. That will probably change later on if the war drags on.
>
> The war with humans and Covenant ended in Halo 3, the war is over, the Humans won. The Covenant in Halo 4 were not Covenant, they were Ex-Covenant and are more pirates than an army. It’s not a war, more like a battle. The war is done.
No.
Jul’s faction is a continuation of the Covenant that follows the same beliefs (minus that of the Great Journey) but with a reformed structure. They are classified as Covenant consistently through Halo 4’s campaign, Spartans Ops, and other media. Also, it’s made perfectly clear that they are at war - Draetheus V, Requiem, and now Ealen IV, it’s being made pretty clear that the conflict is escalating.
I loved Halo: Reach’s art style. It was gritty and somewhat realistic and made everything appear better. I would welcome an art style similar to that in the next Halo game.
> I loved Halo: Reach’s art style. It was gritty and somewhat realistic and made everything appear better. I would welcome an art style similar to that in the next Halo game.
Even though Halo: Reach was a -Yoink- game, I guess I liked the art-style more than in Halo 4 and the other games.
Halo wars’ art style was probably my most favourite (well at least the cutscenes). It retained the original style, but a bit more tougher and more gritty.
> Halo wars’ art style was probably my most favourite (well at least the cutscenes). It retained the original style, but a bit more tougher and more gritty.
halo wars cutscenes were really good, the elites and spartans in halo wars especially looked bad***
> The Spartans in Wars were great. You’re even using one as your avatar.
>
> The Elites’ butts were kind of odd… but overall their appearance was pretty awesome, especially the Arbiters’.
I think Wars’ depiction of Elites being extremely wide at the shoulders and skinny at the waist actually fit them better. They felt more alien that way.
> Am I the only one who didn’t like Reach’s art? Everything looked too gritty and dirty. I much preferred CE’s.
Halo Reach’s did exactly as it was supposed to given the apocalyptic setting.
Still, I agree. I prefer Halo CE and 3 for art style. Halo 3 really nailed the Forerunner and Covenant designs in my opinion, however I think Halo CE-2 had much better setting and atmosphere. Halo 4 forerunner structures just look like this to me.
> The Spartans in Wars were great. You’re even using one as your avatar.
>
> The Elites’ butts were kind of odd… but overall their appearance was pretty awesome, especially the Arbiters’.
totally agree about the arbiter, loved his look in wars
