Halo 4, an Exercise in Unoriginality

Games Other Halo
1

Y’know the saying “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”?

It sounds like a good philosophy for video game sequel design. Keep some aspects of the previous game, add some new elements of your own, and borrow some things from other games that move the genre forward and … something blue. I don’t know what the blue is.

I was really hopeful for a new developer injecting some fresh air into an aging FPS franchise that had been long overtaken by Call of Duty in terms of sales, popularity and online population. I was excited to see the new directions 343 would take with the franchise.

Cause that’s the exciting thing right? Games getting better? Games innovating? That was something Bungie did very well. halo 1, 2 and 3 all introduced not only new features to Halo, but the moved the entire FPS genre forward. If Halo didn’t exist the entire FPS genre would be different place.

Let’s take a look at what the ways in which Halo left its mark on the FPS genre.

Halo 1

2 weapon system.
Dedicated grenade and melee buttons, the golden triangle of gameplay.
Regenerating health/shields
Seemless PFS/vehicle play/transition and controls

Halo 2

This game basically put console online competitive FPS on the map.
Lobbies
Clans
Playlists
Partying up
Halo 2 put in place systems that are standard in online console shooters.

Halo 3

Forge, interactive cooperative/competitive real time map editing.
Theater mode
File sharing
These features are commonly mimicked and standardized
Cooperative/competitive campaign scoring

Now let’s break down Halo 4 and the things that 343i have added, removed and borrowed.

Halo 4 features removed

A range of custom game options
Assault
The race gametype (an entire community ignored)
Infection custom options (another huge community)
Campaign theater (speed runners hamstrung)
BTB Objective
Good connection search options for international players
Firefight.
The list goes on.

Halo 4 features borrowed from other games (mainly COD)

Load-outs
Progression system, weapon unlocks
Sprint as default
Ordinance drops
Instant respawn
Perks

Halo 4 features new to the franchise invented by 343i

umm … virtually nothing.

Now here is Halo 4’s fundamental problem. 343 have NOT taken Halo 4 a new direction like so many people claim. They have not evolved anything. There’s no change here, just imitation. They’ve just fallen in line behind their biggest competitor. They had the choice to either innovate or imitate and it’s obvious which choice they made. Look at all the people trying to copy World of Warcraft, no one can succeed cause you can’t beat them at their own game. 343 tried to beat COD at it’s own game. Instead they should have splintered even further away from COD in their own direction and tried something fresh and new and exciting, something Halo players and FPS fans in general had never experienced before, not the same thing COD has been doing for years.

It makes sense from a business point of view. Innovation is risky, imitation is less risky. Halo was popular because it changed the whole game, then COD became popular because it changed the game once again. If 343 thought they were gonna revive Halo by not changing the game they were wrong.

343 has done little to add their own creations or systems to Halo OR the FPS genre. They have not put their own spin on Halo. Nor have they contributed to the FPS genre in any way. Like I said in the beginning if Halo 1, 2 and 3 had not been made the entire FPS genre would be very different. But if Halo 4 had never been made it wouldn’t make a difference to the at all. The FPS genre will not miss another COD imitation.

All there is here is “Something old, nothing new, mostly borrowed” … and the blue thing, oh yeah, the blue thing are the fans who expected more.

A note about Spartan Ops. Before you rush to point out how Spartan Ops is some kind of new idea you’re wrong. Spartan Ops is a separate co-operative campaign, this has been done before many many times. The only difference is 343 restricted the missions by time instead of having it all ready to go up front. On top of that they require you to be online and a Gold subscriber. And they also re-use environments consistently. Compare this to a recent example of a cooperative campaign, Farcy 3. In farcry 3 you can play the entire cooperative campaign straight away and there’s no Gold required and they don’t make you play the same level over and over. So you see, Spartan Ops is like a heavily restricted co-op campaign with a LOT of lag.

2

I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis of Bungie’s evolution of Halo.

3

> I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.

Nope, that was intentional.

4

> > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
>
> Nope, that was intentional.

Then your entire post is invalid.

5

> > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> >
> > Nope, that was intentional.
>
> Then your entire post is invalid.

Why?

6

> > > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> > >
> > > Nope, that was intentional.
> >
> > Then your entire post is invalid.
>
> <em>Why?[</em>/quote]
>
> Because a lot of Halo 4 content started in Reach by Bungie.

7

> > > > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> > > >
> > > > Nope, that was intentional.
> > >
> > > Then your entire post is invalid.
> >
> > <em>Why?[</em>/quote]
> >
> > Because a lot of Halo 4 content started in Reach by Bungie.
>
> And a lot of content started in Reach by Bungie was thrown away by 343i.

8

> > > > > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> > > > >
> > > > > Nope, that was intentional.
> > > >
> > > > Then your entire post is invalid.
> > >
> > > <em>Why?[</em>/quote]
> > >
> > > Because a lot of Halo 4 content started in Reach by Bungie.
> >
> > And a lot of content started in Reach by Bungie was thrown away by 343i.
>
> Then you agree your argument is invalid by not including it, your correct, 343i did remove content, but Bungie messed up with Reach too,
>
> 343i have done an amazing thing, and that’s taking on the franchise, I would never have wanted it as a developer.

9

> … something blue. I don’t know what the blue is.

cortana

10

> > > > > > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Nope, that was intentional.
> > > > >
> > > > > Then your entire post is invalid.
> > > >
> > > > <em>Why?[</em>/quote]
> > > >
> > > > Because a lot of Halo 4 content started in Reach by Bungie.
> > >
> > > And a lot of content started in Reach by Bungie was thrown away by 343i.
> >
> > Then you agree your argument is invalid by not including it, your correct, 343i did remove content, but Bungie messed up with Reach too,
> >
> > 343i have done an amazing thing, and that’s taking on the franchise, I would never have wanted it as a developer.
>
> Halo 1, 2 and 3 represent an entirely different age within Bungie than the era of ODST and Reach. During 1, 2 and 3 Bungie was owned by Microsoft who also owns the Halo franchise and their heart and soul was in Halo and making that the best it could be. After Halo 3’s success Bungie was in a financial position bought themselves back from Microsoft and became an independent studio. At this point their focus was on clearly on Destiny and their passion to evolve and inmovate was directed there (which is clearly evident by the concepts driving Destiny). ODST and Reach represent a contractual agreement between Bungie and Microsoft to produce 5 Halo games so at this point Bungie is independant and passionate about their own franchise, Destiny, while their other teams fulfil their contract with Microsoft by producing side stories within Halo that play with existing elements of Halo as opposed to evolving the franchise that don’t own.
>
> You can see the attitude Bungie had towards Reach and ODST. They reshuffled and tried new ideas like ODST, a stormy noire detective story driven by an open hub world design. And Reach, a prequel origin story with Tribes style class abilities. Instead of moving the franchise forward they move it sideways and play with the existing elements. It’s strikingly obvious at this point that their priority is not innovation.
>
> Halo 1, 2 and 3 have crystally clear different attitudes towards their development while Reach and ODST are the most decisive when it comes to opinion among fans.
>
> Personally, I thought Reach was a dropped ball.
>
> PS. 343 haven’t ‘taken on a franchise’ they’re an arm of Mircosoft assembled for the sole purpose of making Halo games. They weren’t some studio that already existed and took it on themselves to carry the franchise forward.

11

> > > > > > > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Nope, that was intentional.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Then your entire post is invalid.
> > > > >
> > > > > <em>Why?[</em>/quote]
> > > > >
> > > > > Because a lot of Halo 4 content started in Reach by Bungie.
> > > >
> > > > And a lot of content started in Reach by Bungie was thrown away by 343i.
> > >
> > > Then you agree your argument is invalid by not including it, your correct, 343i did remove content, but Bungie messed up with Reach too,
> > >
> > > 343i have done an amazing thing, and that’s taking on the franchise, I would never have wanted it as a developer.
> >
> > Halo 1, 2 and 3 represent an entirely different age within Bungie than the era of ODST and Reach. During 1, 2 and 3 Bungie was owned by Microsoft who also owns the Halo franchise and their heart and soul was in Halo and making that the best it could be. After Halo 3’s success Bungie was in a financial position bought themselves back from Microsoft and became an independent studio. At this point their focus was on clearly on Destiny and their passion to evolve and inmovate was directed there (which is clearly evident by the concepts driving Destiny). ODST and Reach represent a contractual agreement between Bungie and Microsoft to produce 5 Halo games so at this point Bungie is indepemdant and passionate about their own franchise, Destiny, while their other teams fulfil their comtract with Microsoft by producing side stories within Halo that play with existing elements of Halo as opposed to evolving the franchise that don’t own.
> >
> > You can see the attitude Bungie had towards Reach and ODST. They reshuffled and tried new ideas like ODST, a stormy noire detective story driven by an open hub world design. And Reach, a prequel origin story with Tribes style class abilities.
> >
> > Halo 1, 2 and 3 have crystally clear different attitudes towards their development and they’re also the most decisive when it comes to opinion among fans.
> >
> > Personally, I thought Reach was a dropped ball.
> >
> > PS. 343 haven’t ‘taken on a franchise’ they’re an arm of Mircosoft assembled for the sole purpose of making Halo games. They weren’t some studio that already existed and took it on themselves to carry the franchise forward.
>
> I cannot agree more, but your OP would have taken more seriously if you included that, you cannot go on about 4s’ originality etc without including all the games, regardless of the studios standing,
>
> I know what 343i were created for, I mean the people within the studio, they can’t win, I would not have put myself in the firing line, they can’t win right now, but all Halo games have led us to this point.

12

> > > > > > > > > I think you accidentally left out Halo: Reach in your analysis.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Nope, that was intentional.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Then your entire post is invalid.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > <em>Why?[</em>/quote]
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Because a lot of Halo 4 content started in Reach by Bungie.
> > > > >
> > > > > And a lot of content started in Reach by Bungie was thrown away by 343i.
> > > >
> > > > Then you agree your argument is invalid by not including it, your correct, 343i did remove content, but Bungie messed up with Reach too,
> > > >
> > > > 343i have done an amazing thing, and that’s taking on the franchise, I would never have wanted it as a developer.
> > >
> > > Halo 1, 2 and 3 represent an entirely different age within Bungie than the era of ODST and Reach. During 1, 2 and 3 Bungie was owned by Microsoft who also owns the Halo franchise and their heart and soul was in Halo and making that the best it could be. After Halo 3’s success Bungie was in a financial position bought themselves back from Microsoft and became an independent studio. At this point their focus was on clearly on Destiny and their passion to evolve and inmovate was directed there (which is clearly evident by the concepts driving Destiny). ODST and Reach represent a contractual agreement between Bungie and Microsoft to produce 5 Halo games so at this point Bungie is indepemdant and passionate about their own franchise, Destiny, while their other teams fulfil their comtract with Microsoft by producing side stories within Halo that play with existing elements of Halo as opposed to evolving the franchise that don’t own.
> > >
> > > You can see the attitude Bungie had towards Reach and ODST. They reshuffled and tried new ideas like ODST, a stormy noire detective story driven by an open hub world design. And Reach, a prequel origin story with Tribes style class abilities.
> > >
> > > Halo 1, 2 and 3 have crystally clear different attitudes towards their development and they’re also the most decisive when it comes to opinion among fans.
> > >
> > > Personally, I thought Reach was a dropped ball.
> > >
> > > PS. 343 haven’t ‘taken on a franchise’ they’re an arm of Mircosoft assembled for the sole purpose of making Halo games. They weren’t some studio that already existed and took it on themselves to carry the franchise forward.
> >
> > I cannot agree more, but your OP would have taken more seriously if you included that, you cannot go on about 4s’ originality etc without including all the games, regardless of the studios standing,
> >
> > I know what 343i were created for, I mean the people within the studio, they can’t win, I would not have put myself in the firing line, they can’t win right now, but all Halo games have led us to this point.
>
> If you’re saying its impossible to please everyone, that goes without saying. No matter what road they took they’d be bashed, be it going back towards legacy or going in a new direction. I’m just disappointed with the lack of originality, that they chose to swim in charted waters and risk little. They were bound to lose and make fans no matter what but they could have made a splash but instead they just made an echo

13

> If you’re saying its impossible to please everyone, that goes without saying. No matter what road they took they’d be bashed, be it going back towards legacy or going in a new direction. I’m just disappointed with the lack of originality, that they chose to swim in charted waters and risk little. They were bound to lose and make fans no matter what but they could have made a splash but instead they just made an echo

Once again all I can do is agree, I have faith they’ll come good, Halo 4 is a good game, it just needs balancing out a bit, but I feel you have been around a while too, so you know what the community is like,

They are never happy, H CE and 2 were loved by all, Halo 3 was moaned about all the time, take out this add that boo hoo this, nerf that and so on, it’s then dubbed Halo 2.5 by a large number of the community,

ODST arrives, they’re complaining it’s too hard, it’s not Halo it doesn’t feel right, no you’re a Human ODST, not an 8ft 1 ton waling tank, of course it feels different,

Reach comes along, wah wah wah wah, crying again Armour Lock has to go, AAs’ in general are frowned upon, all of a sudden, Halo 3 or 2.5 as some called it was the best thing since sliced bread,

Halo 4 arrives, new developers, now we will see the Halo we have all dreamed of, I use we loosely, but once it’s released, wah wah wah wah, crying again, they’ve taken out this, they’ve done that, and YES, the thread appears,

Maybe Reach was the better game, or words like that,

I appreciate your post, but the bottom line is the community need to adapt too, instead of just walking away and not playing stick around, give them positive constructive feedback and show them you all care about Halo.

Throwing the toys out the pram is not the way, and that’s not at you OP.

14

Spartan Ops isn’t new?

“Left its mark”… there hasn’t been enough time to see whether or not this episodic content thing will catch on.

15

“Something blue” stands for ‘purity, love, and fidelity’. Which should be ignored if the game was given to a new developer, as when developers try to imitate that they just spend thier time sucking up to the fans and doing everything they can to make the new game feel like the old games. Which is a problem I had with the campaign. A whole lot of what I’ve alreday done.

Also, Halo didn’t introduce regenerative health, that was Halo 2. A decision that people are split on and really it should have been an option.

Also, you ignored ODST, Wars and Reach, all games that innovate while keeping true to the franchise.

16

Finally, A well versed thread, with constructive critizism from both sides.

17

I don’t know what you are expecting from a game series that is already into its fourth game. Halo changed FPS games when it first came out, changing the FPS genre now would be hard to do without either coming out with a completely different game or completely changing Halo. I am all for change but I do not feel that Halo should be completely different than it is now, I feel that Halo is on the right track.

18

Here is what I see. I have Halo 4 on Xbox, and CODBO2 on PS3…what is the difference between the two games? Halo 4 is in space with the option for vehicles and larger maps. CODBO2 is in modern times, with current weapons, and played on smaller maps and no vehicles…other than that the games are almost identical…Well Halo 4 still takes a little more skill…

19

> > If you’re saying its impossible to please everyone, that goes without saying. No matter what road they took they’d be bashed, be it going back towards legacy or going in a new direction. I’m just disappointed with the lack of originality, that they chose to swim in charted waters and risk little. They were bound to lose and make fans no matter what but they could have made a splash but instead they just made an echo
>
> Once again all I can do is agree, I have faith they’ll come good, Halo 4 is a good game, it just needs balancing out a bit, but I feel you have been around a while too, so you know what the community is like,
>
> They are never happy, H CE and 2 were loved by all, Halo 3 was moaned about all the time, take out this add that boo hoo this, nerf that and so on, it’s then dubbed Halo 2.5 by a large number of the community,
>
> ODST arrives, they’re complaining it’s too hard, it’s not Halo it doesn’t feel right, no you’re a Human ODST, not an 8ft 1 ton waling tank, of course it feels different,
>
> Reach comes along, wah wah wah wah, crying again Armour Lock has to go, AAs’ in general are frowned upon, all of a sudden, Halo 3 or 2.5 as some called it was the best thing since sliced bread,
>
> Halo 4 arrives, new developers, now we will see the Halo we have all dreamed of, I use we loosely, but once it’s released, wah wah wah wah, crying again, they’ve taken out this, they’ve done that, and YES, the thread appears,
>
> Maybe Reach was the better game, or words like that,
>
> I appreciate your post, but the bottom line is the community need to adapt too, instead of just walking away and not playing stick around, give them positive constructive feedback and show them you all care about Halo.
>
> Throwing the toys out the pram is not the way, and that’s not at you OP.

You weren’t around on the bnet forums when Halo 2 was out. It was the same complaints back then as it is now: ‘the BR is too powerful, nerf the plasma pistol/sword, the maps suck, this isn’t Halo anymore’. The moaning about Halo 2 was just as loud.

But I’m afraid I can’t play stick around like you said, and this is for an entirely different reason than anything I’ve listed in my OP. See, I’ve played Halo since the beginning, it’s always been my home. I’ve stuck with Halo through thick and thin, I was even willing to live with armour lock. But now after just several months Halo is no longer my home. Why? 343 removed good connection searching preference. And I’m from Australia. So that means my experience is frustrating and horrible. I want to play Halo 4 too. I’ll live with load outs and COD’s hand me downs, I’ll live with ordinance, I’ll live with Halo 4 like I lived with armour lock. But playing on foreign hosts 70% of the time … nope. So I haven’t quit Halo but 343 has quit on Australian Halo fans. Every single or of my fellow Aussie Halo friends has stopped playing too.

It’s sad that 343’s silence on the topic is deafening. It’s an issue they’ve swept under the carpet.

I have zero faith in them.

20

> I don’t know what you are expecting from a game series that is already into its fourth game. Halo changed FPS games when it first came out, changing the FPS genre now would be hard to do without either coming out with a completely different game or completely changing Halo.

Call of Duty 4 says hi.

The fourth game in that series made such dramatic changes to the formula which catapulted it to the number 1 shooter of this generation, ahead of even Halo. So you’re wrong, extreme change to the formula is very possible and it’s been done before and it’s the reason Halo is in second place.