These are my opinions and assumptions on the possibility that there are boss battles in Halo 4
We all know this was something Bungie was never good at, especially in Halo. With a new developer, I’m hoping that boss battles will take a large step (if they decide to have bosses). I would like the boss battles to feel unique, that would make me want to face against those bosses again. For me, it was when Scarabs appeared that I (only to a degree) felt like I was fighting a boss. However, there may be some things that need to be taken into account.
If there are multiple boss battles throughout Halo 4’s campaign, then those in the beginning and midsections of the campaign need to be somewhat shorter as to not detract from the rest story, but not too short like the battle with Guilty Sparks. Something from 3-5 minutes seems like a good amount. Earlier battles need to be a little easier. The final battle would need to be (ony to a certain degree) harder than the other boss battles, and slightly longer (5-8 minutes).
Another thing that needs to be taken into account is that depending on how long the campaign is will determine how many boss battles there will be. If there is 8 missions, then there should be 2-3 boss battles. If there are 10-12 missions, there should be 3-5 boss battles.
Then the strengths, weaknesses, and variety. Fighting Tartarus in Halo 2 was more of a spray-and-pray type battle. Fighting Guilty Sparks was just slow and in no way felt unique. Bosses need to be able to use a wider variety of attacks. A boss needs to have a weakness that requires a level of thinking and strategy to attack. The bosses strengths should be in their attacks. There should be a main attack that is the most powerful out of their other attacks.
Now I have an example for if we ever had battled against the Gravemind in Halo 3. First off the player would need to take out its tentacles (5 tentacles). Once the 3rd tentacle is destroyed, the Gravemind would begin to call on small groups of Flood combat forms which would add a new level of difficulty as the player attempted to take out the other two tentacles. This situation would especially work well in co-op where one player goes for the tentacles while the other(s) protect that player from the combat forms. Once all the tentacles have been destroyed, the Gravemind would open its mouth, spewing Flood Spores that would act differently from the normal spores. If the player was to be hit by these spores, the player’s movement speed would be reduced for a short amount of time (2-5 seconds). To finally defeat the Gravemind the player would need to shoot inside the Gravemind’s mouth as it begins to collect the Spores to shoot out.
Again it’s just an example. Also, as to not drag on the boss battles, once the player has been fighting the boss for over a minute but hasn’t dealt any damage, then Cortana would give a hint as to where to attack.
There could be different types of boss battles from on foot combat to vehicle combat. I’m not saying that there needs to be boss battles. However, if there are, then they need to be more dynamic.
