Today I went to play Halo 4 at Fan Expo along with my good friend. After talking with one of the employees at the booth, he confirmed that it was in fact the E3 build. For a first time Halo 4 player, I was thrown of by the default controls and the movement of the screen. If I had to explain it with what I saw, it felt as though the screen was zoomed in and if I recall correctly, the HUD had a bit of delay after the gun movement. After minutes of gameplay and a change in the controls I felt very comfortable playing the game. The kill times felt good and I felt right at home with the bleed through. Going in, my goal was to test out everything they had to offer but one minute into the game I felt eager to quickly run back into the battle. It was a good feeling. The game play ran smoothly on both Haven and Adrift (mind you I only played about 2 matches on each) but my concern was with Long Bow. I had only gotten to play one match on Long Bow and the game did not go as I had hoped. I found myself scattered from my team along with the enemies bunching together and throwing grenades and suppressing anything that moved. I did come across the sniper rifle. I immediately went to a vantage point but with no one in sight I was forced to move in closer to the point were no scoping had to be done. The Sniper did feel rather bulky up close but I did not get a chance to check long range. I hopped into the gunner seat of the warthog with a buddy and hoping to dominate the entire map, we did mainly the opposite. I found the kill times a tiny bit too long due to the increased sensitivity found upon entering the gunner seat. My friend and I had the opportunity to switch seats mid way through our battle. I found the driving to be similar to Reach’s with increased handling (and possibly speed) which made splattering foes a breeze. Although I did not get enough time on Long bow to judge the quality of the map, I’m sad to say that I did not enjoy my first experience on it. Overall, the game felt great, the armour abilities along with specializations were there to help but did not get in the way of the game play all that much. Aside from using the DMR, the game really did feel more like Halo 3 which was to be expected. I enjoyed my time playing the game and I could only wish that I had more time with it.
A very helpful and informative post, we need more threads like this.
I do have a few questions:
-BR or DMR? [or even the carbine?]
-What is the best AA?
-Is anything overpowered?
-Did you try any of the new weapons?
Like many have said before me, I think it depends with the range to see which gun fits best in the battle. The BR is very difficult to use at long range while rather easy mid to close while the DMR is fairly easy to use at long range and mid but can get rather tricky up close. I do however believe that if you practice and get very comfortable with the DMR it can become the best weapon to use in all long, mid and short range battles. Carbine had the same range as the BR and I found it to be a very good weapon. The kill time might have been a little faster than the BR but if you had skill with the BR, you would be killing enemies with carbines in no time.
Again the AA’s really depend on the map. PV was all right when using it on the smaller maps (Haven, Adrift) but it was mostly useless on Long bow. Hardlight Shield would be use full when using it at the precise time. Its usage depletes quickly and it does not help regain your shields in a battle. Best case scenario is that you use it in the hopes that a team mate kills your attacking enemy, but if that doesn’t happen your dead. Compared to the other AA’s it was definitely the most annoying armour ability for having to wait for him to get out but you could easily throw a grenade or flank. Thruster pack did not help players move across the map easily, it helped confuse your opponent while he was trying to kill you. Hologram was a bit more tricky to tell whether they were an actual player or not. Not only did the hologram no longer flicker like it did in Reach but many players did not know how to play the game and many of them would simply stand still.
I did find the needler to be the only weapon I noticed to be a tiny bit overpowered.
Sadly, I did not get to try many of the new weapons. I got to try the Storm Rifle, Scatter Shot and the Sticky Detonator.
Just got back from Fan Expo! The line for playing Halo 4 was honestly about an hour long each time, but since it was the only thing I went for I managed to get in three games, two on Haven and one on Adrift. Here are some of my thought about the game:
-
AR is actually pretty decent. I accidentally forgot to switch to my custom loadout (BR/DMR, Promethean Vision, Frags, Firepower, Awareness) and managed to take out a BR user and another AR player with a trade while using it.
-
Promethean Vision is VERY useful. Honestly the only AA worth using, in my opinion. I believe I was playing E3 build because I saw no change from the E3 footage. I think it could definitely be toned down a little but it wasn’t grossly overpowering, just really helped with awareness to players exact position. For example, on Haven someone ran away from me and hid behind a pillar while I was still on the stairs, so I used PV and instantly spotted him for a quick jump around finish.
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BR feels good. Really good. While the DMR took me a few minutes to get the hang of, the BR felt good right away. After getting used to the DMR I can honestly say I like it better (more familiar maybe?) but both weapons are very good. Since I had both in my loadout I found myself switching between the two a lot.
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Possibly TOO easy to get assists. I finished all three games with a 2.0+ KD, but on the second and third games I had 10 and 11 assists. Got a wingman medal the third game. Not sure if it was because it was an 8v8 on maps that weren’t too big (didn’t get to play Longbow unfortunately), but I just kept getting assists.
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Prefer frags over stickies. Maybe because I didn’t have time to really work with the plasmas, but they just felt meh to me. Didn’t go as far as I expected when I threw one. I tried to throw one at a wall to bounce down to the guy standing around the corner but it didn’t even reach the wall lol. Frags I felt more comfortable with so I switched to them in the second and third game.
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I didn’t notice this on trailers but I definitely noticed in game: your radar shows the direction players are facing! I thought it was a cool addition.
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Customization seems pretty cool. I read people saying that you could have three colours, but in this build there were only two. The helmets definitely look better in game than they do on art sketches, in my opinion. The six or so that were unlocked weren’t the best looking, but better than I thought they looked when I saw drawings. Didn’t have much time to look at all the customization, but the chest pieces looked pretty great to me.
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Managed to pick up a scattershot and a rocket launcher. Rocket launcher felt the same as Reach’s, scattershot was pretty cool.
Overall I really liked the game and can’t wait to actually have it. Definitely hyped!
Good to see threads like this.
Question: I noticed the warthog turret (and the normal turret) aren’t hitscan anymore, and the bullets travel noticeably slower than in previous games. Did this affect gameplay at all?
I was at fan expo on Friday.
Got to play twice both on adrift.
-sword lunge is decreased
-felt like melee lunge is almost completely gone
-I was never able to escape using Sprint
-I felt promethean vision was useless, but that’s because I use my radar a lot
-thruster was not op because unlike evade its only one quick short burst
-assassinations are sweet
-Scattershot was freaking awesome
-br and dmr are nice, pistol cleans up kills
-either the fall damage is really minimal or nonexistence or I just didn’t notice it
Other notes:
-the tvs we played on were big and caused a lot of screen lag. Playing on 7 sensitivity caused crazy lag
-seemed like no actual 343i employees were there, they were focused on getting get people in and out, rather than showing off the game
-game started within 10 seconds so no chance to see controls/set load out
-almost everyone used the AR load out
-Extremely chaotic because it was 8v8 on a somewhat small map with tight corridors (this is what bothered me the most)
-I blame the tv for most of the faults I felt in the game
-There was 2 lines but most people only saw the really long one
-no sound
-no poster 
Anyone know what the top scorer won?
Thats really great. Its always good to hear what people have to say that have actually played the game.
Can anyone please give me an in depth explaination on the Thruster pack?
Was it good for evading Grenades?
Was is good for strafing?
Did it throw you off when you used it?
ECT…
> Can anyone please give me an in depth explaination on the Thruster pack?
>
> Was it good for evading Grenades?
>
> Was is good for strafing?
>
> Did it throw you off when you used it?
>
> ECT…
It will definitely help you get away from nades. Its hard to grasp the distance with only one game.
Don’t think it will help you while strafing because im pretty sure the other opponent will be able to follow you, unless he has rockets.
I’ve heard it has changed since this build and now goes into 3rd person view
Did you see jetpacks?
> Did you see jetpacks?
Unless he played Spartan Ops, no.
> Good to see threads like this.
>
> Question: I noticed the warthog turret (and the normal turret) aren’t hitscan anymore, and the bullets travel noticeably slower than in previous games. Did this affect gameplay at all?
I did actually notice it was more difficult to kill enemies than it was in previous games.
> Can anyone please give me an in depth explaination on the Thruster pack?
>
> Was it good for evading Grenades?
>
> Was is good for strafing?
>
> Did it throw you off when you used it?
>
> ECT…
^
Actually didn’t see anyone using thruster, though I probably should’ve tried it. I saw hologram, hardlight shield and pv. We had like ten seconds to customize loadouts.
Grenades were pretty easy to avoid anyway, and when they did hit they weren’t crazy damaging. They’re much better than Reach’s superpower grenades.
I got to play it once at fan expo today too! I have to say all the weapons in this game are awsome, EXCEPT for the pistol. The Halo 4 pistol is easily THE WORST pistol in any Halo game. It is very weak, and fires a little bit faster than Reach’s Pistol, but not as fast as ODST’s pistol. And because it cannot be dual weilded, it is very, very usless. Worst pistol ever. Other than that all the weapons were awesome, game feels like Halo except everything feels a little more fast paced and the HuD is a bit more zoomed in. Some of the sound effects are quite different (Like the plasma pistol) so it might feel a bit different.
> I got to play it once at fan expo today too! I have to say all the weapons in this game are awsome, EXCEPT for the pistol. The Halo 4 pistol is easily THE WORST pistol in any Halo game. It is very weak, and fires a little bit faster than Reach’s Pistol, but not as fast as ODST’s pistol. And because it cannot be dual weilded, it is very, very usless. Worst pistol ever. Other than that all the weapons were awesome, game feels like Halo except everything feels a little more fast paced and the HuD is a bit more zoomed in. Some of the sound effects are quite different (Like the plasma pistol) so it might feel a bit different.
Did you get to play with the Thruster pack?
> I got to play it once at fan expo today too! I have to say all the weapons in this game are awsome, EXCEPT for the pistol. The Halo 4 pistol is easily THE WORST pistol in any Halo game. It is very weak, and fires a little bit faster than Reach’s Pistol, but not as fast as ODST’s pistol. And because it cannot be dual weilded, it is very, very usless. Worst pistol ever. Other than that all the weapons were awesome, game feels like Halo except everything feels a little more fast paced and the HuD is a bit more zoomed in. Some of the sound effects are quite different (Like the plasma pistol) so it might feel a bit different.
AHAHAHA! Did you ever try the Halo 3 magnum?
Any insignificant glaring problems or was the experience purely Halo perfection?
> > I got to play it once at fan expo today too! I have to say all the weapons in this game are awsome, EXCEPT for the pistol. The Halo 4 pistol is easily THE WORST pistol in any Halo game. It is very weak, and fires a little bit faster than Reach’s Pistol, but not as fast as ODST’s pistol. And because it cannot be dual weilded, it is very, very usless. Worst pistol ever. Other than that all the weapons were awesome, game feels like Halo except everything feels a little more fast paced and the HuD is a bit more zoomed in. Some of the sound effects are quite different (Like the plasma pistol) so it might feel a bit different.
>
> Did you get to play with the Thruster pack?
No, sorry.
> > I got to play it once at fan expo today too! I have to say all the weapons in this game are awsome, EXCEPT for the pistol. The Halo 4 pistol is easily THE WORST pistol in any Halo game. It is very weak, and fires a little bit faster than Reach’s Pistol, but not as fast as ODST’s pistol. And because it cannot be dual weilded, it is very, very usless. Worst pistol ever. Other than that all the weapons were awesome, game feels like Halo except everything feels a little more fast paced and the HuD is a bit more zoomed in. Some of the sound effects are quite different (Like the plasma pistol) so it might feel a bit different.
>
> AHAHAHA! Did you ever try the Halo 3 magnum?
Halo 3 magnum was awesome, almost as powerful as Halo Combat Evolved’s pistol, and it could be dual wielded.