First off, if you are here reading this post, I greatly thank you. This will not only be my opinions of the game we all know and love, but also those of many other loyal Halo fans that have shared various topics and suggestions to me. This is meant for ANYONE to comment or touch up on, but more specifically, it is directed towards 343industries. I have been a proud fan of the Halo series since the original Halo Combat Evolved and have played all of the other Halos since then (and still do!). I know my fair share of the Halo lore and history and would honestly like to share some of the community’s and my own suggestions, tips, and thoughts. These are all REAL opinions from REAL Halo fans of all sorts, so please take this into serious consideration.
I would like to start off by saying that 5 years is a long time. Imagine being a dedicated fan to the Halo franchise and you’ve beaten Halo 3 and npw all there is to do is to wait and desperately hope for a brand new Halo game to arrive that continues onto the story of Master Chief and Cortana. Reach was a great game despite other peoples’ opinions. But Reach failed to fill in the gap we -the fans- desired. We needed Halo 4. Which we did indeed recieve in the long run. The point of this is for you to imagine 5 years of waiting (2007-2012) for the next great continuation of our favorite series. After 5 years of suspense and speculation, and some helpful hints and news, it would only be normal for our expectations to be high. The most important aspect of a game is to meet the awaiting fans’ expectations, or else it would in turn get bad reviews and would be the center of A LOT of hate. 343industries… you have met most of our expectations. It is only normal to judge every single little thing in a game when one has been waiting this long however. Now we know that Halo 4 has its flaws, but I think that 343industries has recognized this and hopefully will do their best and strive to make the next Halo installation even more enjoyable for everybody.
-Campaign- Might as well start with pros right? Ok, so we were all incredibly filled with joy to see the return of our beloved Master Chief. There were so many good factors about the campaign I don’t even know where to start. The gameplay flowed very smoothly and about 85% of the time, the graphics were amazing. Their were some faults in some places, but we’ll get to that later. The storyline was easy to follow and I think that it has inspired many fans who do not know about the Haly history to actually look into it. The Master Chief’s upgraded armor looked surprisingly very appealing, and not to mention, the new Cortana model was also outstanding. Overall, the character designs were absolutely astounding, hands down. Now, the cutscenes. Cutscenes in Halo 4, most of which, were really great and well thought out. I myself cannot complain. This also applies to the spartan ops cinematics as well, as they too, were incredible to say the least. I digress, just by playing through the campaign, you already get that feeling, “Wow, I’m playing Halo”. As I mentioned earlier, the campaign flows very smoothly and had many awesome parts that really satisfied us. The environments were extremely detailed and most of us adored them. Introducing the new threat, Prometheans and the Didact, was an amazing idea and I really think it was a great to kick off the new trilogy. It will really start getting things spiced up and have people dying to know all about what happens next. Cudos for that.
>>FLAWS(I will not hold back)- If you read any part of this section, make it this one. So a lot of people have been complaining about the teammates that fight alongside you in the campaign(marines, spartan IVs, etc.). I strongly feel that this should be discussed more often. The marines, in all honesty, just get in the way most of the time and are usually of no help. They are weak, slow, and from my point of view they just get in the way. I know for an absolute fact that I am not alone on this. Hopefully next time, the marines will be improved, maybe make them faster and more agile at the very least. Possibly make them more independent and smarter. The spartan IV teammates… oh.God. Ok, great idea, but they are incredibly bland! Every single spartan IV you run into in the campaign all look EXACTLY the same, with that same color scheme and same custimization. They literally are just like the normal marines except they have shields. This was one of the things that really got to me. Also many of their voices are all the same as well. Please work on this, I don’t know how much I need to stress this, it’s just one of those little things that makes the campaign that more rememerable and fun. Anyway, the next flaw would be the prometheans. I can sit here and critisize anyone who enjoys the promethean models all day, but that I won’t do. Instead, here is what a LARGE amount of Halo fans have to say. Firstly, the crawler. In all seriousness, I can really say that I have never played the game with anyone that actually likes the model of the promethean crawler. I am severely dissapointed in the crawler, as it looks like it may be as intimidating as your average fire ant. It is hardly a challenge, unless swarmed by at least 5 of them and I really think there needs to be a better infantry class type deal for the prometheans. The watchers were a good idea I will say that, but the model is just too simple and unappealing, much like the crawler. Here you have all this forerunner tech all around you and then comes along this promethean watcher and or crawler that is clearly unsuiting in the surrounding futuristic, complex environment. I have even heard someone say that they look like toys that a child had constructed in his spare time. Promethean Knights are different though. Being early humans spoilers, their design is somewhat fitting, however it did not truly please most of us. The knights are very intimidating and their arsenal the same, but it’s really just not exactly what we expected from WARRIOR-class servants in the FORERUNNER military. We want more intimidating enemies, the kind that appear like they will not hesitate to end your life, not the current prometheans we know. We need enemies that when we engage in battle with, we know for a fact that it will be intense and they’re not going to screw around. Although we ask of this primarily, I’m pretty sure I can safely say that we all respect the comic relief that the grunts provide us. Another campaign flaw is that some of the explosions were extremely anti-climatic in a sense to some. Making the explosions really stand out, grab your attention, and make you clench your controller tightly would greatly be appreciated.
>>Interesting suggestion- Playing through the campaign on all the difficulties and with or without the extra skulls is really quite satisfying and enjoyable to say the least. But a certain familiar feature that would be very intriguing to implement into the game would be to play through as your own spartan. That’s right, a little Halo Reach respect in here as well. Come on, let’s all be honest with ourselves here, this idea was AWESOME! I personally love and would prefer playing the campaign as our living legend, Master Chief, however how cool would it be if we actually had a choice? An option to let us enjoy the full Halo experience as Master Chief or as our very own custimized spartan.