Campaign is greatly overrated.

Games Other Halo
1

I don’t understand the positive remarks about the campaign and story of this new installment of the Halo franchise. It feels very bad - the dialogue, characters, enemies, weapons, …everything.

Perhaps I’m missing something here. I feel that this game’s singleplayer can’t stand toe-to-toe with many games on the market today (ones that deserve their place for exceptional campaigns).

So, please, can you fans tell me what’s great about the Halo 4 campaign and its storyline (don’t include graphics)?

Some examples of a couple things that could be answered:

What makes the villain so unique?
How does Master Chief’s one-liners create a compelling and dramatic sequence?
How was the emotional bond between the player and the ending?
Did you actually care for the characters in the story?
Spot any cliches?
Did you enjoy fighting the same enemies over and over again throughout the campaign?
Any plot holes?
Did each weapon feel unique (not a counterpart of another)?
…etc

Really, any opinion would be of great benefit.

Thanks!

2

Prometheans were neat, especially on solo legendary.

3

I still haven’t completed it -.- I didn’t know it was overrated but thankfully Halo 4 wasn’t just a campaign and war games. If so I would have returned to Reach. I have really enjoyed Spartan Ops with friends. I will be sad if they only have 10 episodes :confused:

And for the record, is The Librarian related to Lord Voldemort? They look like they’re related. Maybe it’s the nose…

4

A lot of the characters were boring. I would have loved to see more of Del Rio, just because he was a good -Yoink-, work more on the hate for MC. Why does he hate MC? And so on.

Didact, well that was just a villain put in to have a big villain.

Also, the new saying for doing something manually, is doing it “Halo style”.

Everything is done manually in this game.

5

You are the first person that I’ve met that isn’t blown away by the campaign. It is truly brilliant. The only problems that I have with it is that the story can alienate some player from the experience because they have not read the latest books or other media that connect the newest installment of the Reclaimer Trilogy.

Other than that and a few minor annoyances that aren’t really worth mentioning, Halo 4’s campaign was in my opinion the best of any Halo game to date.

6
7

The campaign was boring. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s not good either. I didn’t mind the story/characters lacking because that’s not the main reason that makes it fun. The setpieces and battles sucked, and there was little variety in the campaign. That’s what ruined it for me. Kill bad aliens, move onto next area, get a new vehicle, kill aliens. And the prometheans look rediculous, need I say more?

8

It just does everything well, at least to me it does.

Is the villain doing anything particularly new beyond wanting to wipe humanity out? Not really but the way it links his motivation with humanity’s past and the new enemy I thought was interesting. Only slight drawback is that a lot of the backstory which really fleshes all this out is in the terminals. The relationship between Master Chief and Cortana is the really central aspect of the game and I liked how their relationship was developed not just in cutscenes but during the actual game play too. The sequences where Cortana is struggling to hold it together and it’s Chief that has to help her and not stopping the action to do it all the time were well handled; that whole aspect if it was.

Gameplay didn’t deviate from past Halo games or indeed any shooter much really; kill enemies, complete objectives, move to next area. It was standard fare really. It seemed well paced, didn’t seem rushed or drag at any point. The Prometheans are a pain to fight (especially for as someone as bad as me) Trying to take out the Watchers whilst avoiding being mauled by the Crawlers and dodging the bullets from the Knights made things very tricky. But that’s not a criticism, that’s a good thing. I did have more fun fighting the Covenant though.

Overall I had so much fun playing the campaign. It doesn’t do anything particularly ground breaking it just does everything really well. But that’s just my opinion.

9

> It just does everything well, at least to me it does.
>
> Is the villain doing anything particularly new beyond wanting to wipe humanity out? Not really but the way it links his motivation with humanity’s past and the new enemy I thought was interesting. Only slight drawback is that a lot of the backstory which really fleshes all this out is in the terminals. The relationship between Master Chief and Cortana is the really central aspect of the game and I liked how their relationship was developed not just in cutscenes but during the actual game play too. The sequences where Cortana is struggling to hold it together and it’s Chief that has to help her and not stopping the action to do it all the time were well handled; that whole aspect if it was.
>
> Gameplay didn’t deviate from past Halo games or indeed any shooter much really; kill enemies, complete objectives, move to next area. It was standard fare really. It seemed well paced, didn’t seem rushed or drag at any point. The Prometheans are a pain to fight (especially for as someone as bad as me) Trying to take out the Watchers whilst avoiding being mauled by the Crawlers and dodging the bullets from the Knights made things very tricky. But that’s not a criticism, that’s a good thing. I did have more fun fighting the Covenant though.
>
> Overall I had so much fun playing the campaign. It doesn’t do anything particularly ground breaking it just does everything really well. But that’s just my opinion.

That’s exactly why it failed, the gameplay part. Actually, this Halo has less variety of all of them.

10

Naqser he didn’t hate Master Chief… He was just a coward. He has a record of bringing his ships home (which means he runs away a lot).

Hell, he even send Gypsy in WITHOUT FORCE RECON to check the terrain and opposition before sending in the troops. Pure cowardice because he wants to get home and will use anyone as bullet shields to do it.

The story was cool imho. Only downside was the Forerunners calling themselves Forerunners (Should have had a unique name… After all a Forerunner is someone who came before… but if they were there then the name had to come after).

It was more Cortana’s story for once. Remember this is the team of MC/Cortana that was envisioned by the Librarian. She designed both and I have this feeling that Halsey is an unwitting tool of the Librarian.

A lot of the people who hate the campaign are those who have missed a lot of the subtleties… When I was younger I probably would have done the same thing but the writers have missed their target audience I think. This is what is causing the problem of campaign hate (ie the lack of understanding the reason behind Del Rio losing it with the chief).

I mean, come on… MC is the person who saved Earth and he is treating him like a senile old soldier? That should have rung a few bells to say the least.

11

Oh and the bad guy being the same… not in the slightest. This is one bad guy I can empathise with. If you have watched all the terminal videos you will understand his reasoning. In fact Humanity was the bad guys in a way. He was just fighting to save his own race and preserve the rest of the races in the galaxy. That was his mantle of responsibility.

12

I was dissapointed, and found it hard to understand.

13

> problems that I have with it is that the story can alienate some player from the experience because they have not read the latest books or other media that connect the newest installment of the Reclaimer Trilogy.

There are actually books? How does that work?
Ch. 1
Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.
Ch. 2
Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.

14

Even though they tried watering it down (You found it confusing? You got Halo Lore lite), I loved how this Campaign was geared towards the larger universe and those who read the books.

Would you have liked Halo 4 more if they simply rehashed ‘Master Chief fights insert Covenant, Flood, Sentinel’? On: Earth/Forerunner Installation?
I liked the new direction they took with the Campaign. Somewhere new, fresh and exciting.

What makes the Didact so unique? He wasn’t a bad guy to start off with. When first introduced (as an actual character) in the Forerunner Trilogy, the Didact was basically at his lowest point: in exile (on Earth, ironically of all places), mourning over his family and basically regretting everything he had done.
He was a likable character in my opinion. Eventually, after a series of events, he slowly shapes into the antagonist that we see in Halo 4, not because he’s evil for the sake of evil, but to save the galaxy from the greater threat (Flood)
Ever pondered the dialogue? 'Humanity’s imprisonment is a kindness" ?

As of the Master Chief, he came across as a real character more than any other of the games. Unlike in the books, where it is possible to build his character purely in thought and dialogue alone, in a visual media, it’s a way harder challenge to create a decent character out of someone who doesn’t even have a face and speaks seldom.

I enjoyed the dialogue and thought the story was the best yet.
Honestly, your nit-picking where there is no nits to be found.

15

> There are actually books? How does that work?
> Ch. 1
> Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.
> Ch. 2
> Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.

Insulting the written works is quite ignorant. Are you a fan of Halo beyond the multiplayer? Because, honestly, you have no idea.

16

> > problems that I have with it is that the story can alienate some player from the experience because they have not read the latest books or other media that connect the newest installment of the Reclaimer Trilogy.
>
> There are actually books? How does that work?
> Ch. 1
> Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.
> Ch. 2
> Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.

[raises hand] yup…hardcore story based waited for this. [raises hand/]

17

> > problems that I have with it is that the story can alienate some player from the experience because they have not read the latest books or other media that connect the newest installment of the Reclaimer Trilogy.
>
> There are actually books? How does that work?
> Ch. 1
> Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.
> Ch. 2
> Master Chief gets to the end of the level and presses a switch.

There is only 1book following the Chief in a game. The Flood, which I thought wasn’t bad.

The rest are stories, new stories. Showing Spartan teasm growing up and training, the strenghts of each Spartan, and some of the missions they were completing. Its just like other Sci-Fi books, why would they be any different?

The Reclaimer Trilogy was different because it didn’t follow Humanity. The Reclaimer Trilogy was set 100,000 years in the past during the Forerunner times. Following important characters like the Didact, Bornstellar, and Chakas. This told the story of the end of the war, or will tell the story. Silentium will detail specifically what happened to the Didact to make him… what he is in Halo 4.

There is a lot in the books, that you are apparently oblvious to. I would assume you know nothing of Blue team’s first contact with the Covenant and the loss off one of John’s closest friends? You know nothing of Contact Harvest and the ORION Project? Anything about how the Spartan IIs were trained by Chief Mendez? How the UNSC is getting all this Forerunner tech? How the Storm Covenant came to be? Who Jul M’dama is?

I found Halo 4’s campaign to be amazing simply because the story connected so much. The Didact and Librarian. Requiem. Del Rio’s cowardly personality and skill at running away. Lasky. The Infinity itself. The Prometheans… its all coming from roots set in the books. The story of Halo 4 has been widely hinted at through the books, the Didact’s dislike for Humans and the Infinity’s immense size and power. The Storm Covenant were looking for the Didact on Requiem. Jul M’dama was captive and had an explosive harnness around him, and now he is doing the same to Glassman. The Spartan’s Humanity. They were Human, they talked, they joked, they had friendships… and now John’s finally showing it.

While I did find the campaign a bit short and perhaps rushed (I can see where newbies would get confused… lack of introductions) it was great. The gameplay was newer with the Prometheans, not much different than past games. That was expected by me. The Prometheans were fun and got challenging at times. Many improvements like actually pushing a button and some different objectives like destroying power cores or targetting giant AA guns. That can be expanded in times to come. The weapons are nice, especially the Promethean. Though the UNSC got a lot of new equipment too, and it was interesting trying to use each in different aituations.

So yeah, thats why I loved the campaign. The story was amazing. There were some new things to do and improvements in a lot of places. The enemies were fun to fight, the Prometheans mainly. Yeah there are things that could’ve been done better, length, objectives, and stuff. But I really liked it.

18

> The campaign was boring. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s not good either. I didn’t mind the story/characters lacking because that’s not the main reason that makes it fun. The setpieces and battles sucked, and there was little variety in the campaign. That’s what ruined it for me. Kill bad aliens, move onto next area, get a new vehicle, kill aliens. And the prometheans look rediculous, need I say more?

This is a shooter, what else are you going to apart from kill aliens? The only thing I acn think of is a warthog race but we can’t have half the game being a race. All halo’s are go here kill x, go back kill x, oh no flood are here. They can’t really change the formula that much.

If you have any suggestions please say.

19

> Naqser he didn’t hate Master Chief… He was just a coward. He has a record of bringing his ships home (which means he runs away a lot).
>
> Hell, he even send Gypsy in WITHOUT FORCE RECON to check the terrain and opposition before sending in the troops. Pure cowardice because he wants to get home and will use anyone as bullet shields to do it.
>
> The story was cool imho. <mark>Only downside was the Forerunners calling themselves Forerunners (Should have had a unique name… After all a Forerunner is someone who came before… but if they were there then the name had to come after).</mark>
>
> It was more Cortana’s story for once. Remember this is the team of MC/Cortana that was envisioned by the Librarian. She designed both and I have this feeling that Halsey is an unwitting tool of the Librarian.
>
> A lot of the people who hate the campaign are those who have missed a lot of the subtleties… When I was younger I probably would have done the same thing but the writers have missed their target audience I think. This is what is causing the problem of campaign hate (ie the lack of understanding the reason behind Del Rio losing it with the chief).
>
> I mean, come on… MC is the person who saved Earth and he is treating him like a senile old soldier? That should have rung a few bells to say the least.

Actually it made perfect sense for the Forerunners calling themselves Forerunners.

“Forerunner” was the name they gave themselves. The name likely based off their true gods… the Precursors (whose name meant the same thing). Its what they wanted to be called as a species, because they believed they were so important in the Universe’s Living Time (a concept derived from the Precursors, also where the Forerunners inherited the Mantle… the idea that they must protect all life).