So where to start? I thought I’d start a post about general discussion/expectations/potential grievances/things looking forward to in Halo 4, personally I’m going to discuss my expectations of the overall package relative to the rest of the Halo franchise, this will be a long one. (Unfortunately for me, that is not what she said).
(For those not being bothered to read my great wall, the red heading discusses Reach briefly, while the Blue one touches on Halo 4)
Without a doubt the Halo franchise has had a huge influence over the modern gaming scene, whether it’s from its influence for the popularity of such franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Mass Effect, Gears of War and so many more. Halo: Combat Evolved stands shoulder to shoulder with other innovating games including Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and Call of Duty 4.
**BUT,**what sets the Halo franchise apart from the rest is that every game in the original trilogy innovated, rather than iterated. As is general knowledge for us all, Halo CE’s influence game from it’s early foray into the gaming scene, setting the bar for others to come. Halo 2 is responsible for popularizing online gaming, and setting in motion the shift in priority from a game’s campaign to its multiplayer component, as well as starting the once-respected idea of DLC. Halo 3 brought the theatre and Forge to mainstream gaming, while not the first ever game to do so, it did prompt other games to adopt similar items.
Every Halo game to date has been GREAT, though every game had its flaws. Halo CE’s third act was physically a copy and paste of the first, Halo 2 literally was missing its third act, and Halo 3 unfortunately had a slight greater emphasis on its MP than Campaign. Ignoring its horrendous price, Halo 3: ODST is a solid expansion pack, and Halo: Reach’s main problem was that it was a Military Sci-Fi Shooter, deviating from previous installments’ deep grounding as strictly science fiction shooters.
The discussion will now briefly touch upon Halo: Reach
There’s no denying it, Halo: Reach is a good game, and runs off of one of the greatest gaming engines in history. But, it did figuratively drop the ball when it came to the main trilogy’s habit of innovating. Ignoring its plot hole-ridden campaign and questionable combat interface, Halo: Reach brought an improved Forge, improved Custom Games system, slightly more efficient matchmaking and breathtaking visuals powered by a truly phenomenal engine.
But what is Reach’s main issue? The main issue affecting Reach affects every other game in modern gaming, it’s the concept of borrowing from other games, something which Halo CE - 3 did little of. As I said, for the record, it is imperative that video game designers borrow from others developers in this crowded and fast paced market of the modern time. Reach is an influenced Halo game, borrowing lightly from many AAA shooters of our time but still actually keeping the core of what Halo is meant to be. Reach is a great game, but it failed to innovate on the level of the main trilogy.
Time to talk about Halo 4, the next big thing in the Halo franchise, the start of a new trilogy, THE START OF HALO’S RESURGENCE TO THE TOP!
Actually the last part isn’t true, Halo will never again see record sales while it remains single-platform. But I do believe there’s no denying Halo 4 will be a great game, because as I said, iterating what is great, makes something great. We have the Battle Rifle back, MASTER CHIEF, OG AR, increased diversity in the sandbox, improved Forge, new locations/weapons/characters/enemies, and an iteration of everything Halo: Reach did wrong.
Remember, Halo 4 is destined to be a great game, though it is borrowing from other shooters more than Reach, which isn’t a bad thing, but it is detracting from the one thing that made Halo stand out from the bunch, which is all players starting on an even, clean combat slate.
AA’s are fine, they were the “perks” of Halo Reach, but on top of them now we actually have real perks, including faster shield regen or radar while zoomed in. My main reaction to his is what the hell? Why is Halo 4 borrowing more from other shooters than Reach did? This game should be billed as the heroic return to the true fundamentals of the Halo franchise, everything is even, everything is to be expected, but now Halo 4 is going deeper into things such as “classes”, “chance”, “randomness” and “unexpectedness”. By conforming to mainstream FPS’s, you are eroding the true core of the Halo franchise, losing the advantage of being truly different from the rest of the crowd.
Don’t get me wrong, Halo 4 will be great, but by becoming more like the crowd, you’re going to disappear faster into obscurity than any other Halo game before you.
TL;DR version: Halo 4 is at a hugely increased risk of falling into obscurity than previous Halo games by becoming more like the generic FPS of our day, but this is can be negated by 343i’s promise of sooner sequels to counteract the genericism of the Halo franchise.