Halo 4 complete Review...well sort of

Games Other Halo
1

<mark>Warning lots of text ahead, better grab a coffee.</mark> If your not a fan of long Threads don’t worry, I’ll write a list of all the pro’s and cons at the end of the review however I do recommend reading the full review to know my reasons for the pros and cons.

Its been 7 weeks since the release of Halo 4 and after spending a fair amount of time with it I decided to finally pool together all my thoughts on the game and share them.

Please note that I’ve tried to explain my thoughts the best I can but if you disagree or don’t fully understand what I mean then I would be happy to clarify.Also in some of the sections I resorted to using bulletpoints because I got lazy but if you would like explanations just ask.

Also try to avoid responses like “you’re an idiot.” (Even if you disagree your not really doing 343i proud or the community proud by using demeaning terms)

So lets begin with the campaign (story and level design)

Prologue and Dawn
Im going to be honest, I was really impressed with how 343 combined the events of Halo Fall of Reach In the prologue, and naturally went into the events of the Kilo-5 trilogy without going into too much detail. I was also impressed with how Cortana (and to some extent the chief) showed more emotion in Dawn’s opening cinematic, showing a combination of vulnerability, happiness and sadness all at the same time . Kudos to the voice actors and motion capture actors and directors .

However I did find the fact that after 4 years of in cryo both the chief and Cortana aren’t the least bit curious as to why they were attacked by an elite a bit weird. They simply brush it off with “A lot can happen in 4 years” which I suppose is appropriate given Master Chief’s military background (trained to be ready for anything) but given Cortana’s curiosity in these sort of situations (see Halo 1 and Halo 2) I was hoping Cortana would say something like, “I’ll begin Hacking their networks” to show that the player isn’t the only one confused in this situation.

I also personally didn’t like the fact that 3 minutes after waking up ,I was pretty shooting everything that breathes within a 5 mile radius. That pretty much destroyed the pacing of what could have been a great start to a game. And I think it’s a problem which good story driven games recognise and address by having a slow start to the game inorder to immerse the player (see Dishonoured, Far cry 3, Bioshock infinite 5 minute intro and to some extent Assassins creed 3’s intro). Therefore I believe a better approach to easing people into combat would’ve been to have combat in the first half of the mission optional, putting a lot of emphasis on the chief sneaking through the level while avoiding detection only to be discovered by a patrolling elite while at the FOD’s command centre. This also would have been a great opportunity to have “new” hidden collectibles or more terminals detailing the Spartan 2 programme.

I also found the” we’re flying toward the planet section” really lacking, I thought it would have been a great opportunity to show the zero-G capabilities of the mljnior armour by having us fly/jump toward an escape pod while avoid Debris from the ships or better yet allow us to fly an escape pod into the planet.

Requiem

Requiem starts off strong just like dawn with a strong emphasis on magnifying Cortana’s and showing Chiefs human side .Again props to the voice actors, motion actors, writers and directors of this scene.

I also loved the little segment were you come out of the cave only to behold a large beautiful landscape (skybox). However if I were to improve that section I would have had a little first person cinematic at that moment with chief lowering his weapon , walking slowly out the cave and Cortana saying something to fit the mood like “ Well , You DO always take me to the nicest places.” But Im fully aware that Chief and Cortana had more pressing issues than checking out the scenery with Cortana’s rampancy and all however it would have been a nice to hear Cortana say that as a nice Halo 2 throw back.

I also appreciated the fact that this level was relatively open with space for vehicles and hidden weapon caches to reward those who explored the level.

However Requiem was the first of many levels which I noticed a reoccurring problem in 343i’s level design philosophy which is “Shine over detail”. Simply put, there was no section in the level which made me go “ Wow . This place WAS really home to an ancient civilisation” which is a shame because 343i even said in one of their vidocs that they wanted to tell the story of the Forerunners through Requiem and the concept art is heavily influenced by Aztec architecture .
I also didn’t like the fact that the only interaction we got in the level (and throughout the campaign) with High level elites was shooting them in the face. This level was probably the best place to showcase how the covenant had changed by having the chief interact with a dying elite or better yet by discovering a covenant terminal (sort of like the one with the prophet of Regret from Halo 2). Even if they weren’t the focus or the main enemies of the game ,the covenant should have received an adequate amount on in game exposition to strengthen the plot since they play a vital role in it.

However I liked the “O -Yoink-” moment at the end of the level when the Knights finally make an appearance in the game that was awesome, although I would have had the scene occur in first person , but that’s just a preference and really has no bearing on how much I loved /hated the game.

Continued on Page 2

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Forerunner

Arguably the climax of the whole game.

This level was probably the most interesting for me because let’s face it if meeting an ancient Alien who can use the force and command an army of Ai doesn’t interest you, then sadly I don’t know what will. The Didact was excellently written , introduced awesomely and above all else, he had the most menacing presence of all your enemies in the entire game.

I would also like to point out that my favourite piece of dialogue from the whole campaign was from the Didact when he said , “Time was your ally…human but now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners Have returned.”

However one thing I found weird was that both the Chief and Cortana weren’t really all that surprised to see a living Forerunner. I mean don’t get me wrong this isn’t the weirdest -Yoink- that the Chief and Cortana have seen but still there was a level of surprise that was to be expected given the situation.
I also found the last battle of the level to be pretty exhilarating, with both the Knights and elites attacking you.
Again shiny well designed level, but not really selling the whole civilisation thing.One way I would have improved this level was to use the concept that the jungle you are fighting in was a botanical garden. Meaning there would be multiple terminals and paths intersecting above and below the tree lines allowing for alternate routes of advancement.
Last vehicle section was pretty cool (I guess) but it’s the first vehicle section ever were grunts actually knock you off you path or slowed you down which is weird and slightly disappointing (maybe its just me)

Infinity

I was actually impressed with the level design (insivible walls aside) I thought it was really impressive how 343 designed the level so that you could shoot the Prrometheans from on top of the tree branches if you wanted.
I also like the fact that we get to meet and fight alongside Spartan IV’s.

Special Mention: I really liked Laskey, he struck me as the most human character in the game along with Cortana.

I also really liked the concept of the Mantis
Trouble is the level pretty much gets repetitive after a while. You’ve pretty much encountered all the enemies and used all the weapons at this point.

I think the most disappointing this about the level (which is my fault in all honesty) was the fact that this didn’t happen. It would have been awesome if the had didact personally come aboard the infinity (the science wing and not the command centre) and got the information on earths location while simultaneously killing all who stood in his way.
Surprisingly while I enjoyed driving the mantis in Multiplayer, I really didn’t enjoy driving the Mantis in campaign but I’ll discuss that when Im talking about the vehicles.

Rest Of the Campaign

Okay to save time Im just gonna sum up what I liked and what I didn’t like in the rest of the game and you would like me to explain, just ask
What I liked

• Master Chief basically telling Del Rio to go -Yoink- himself
• Laskey proving he’s the ultimate bro by allowing Chief to go
• The librarian section
• Emotional Distraught of Cortana After the composer is used
• Human scientist dialogue well written

What I found Lacking

• The didact’s minimal presence in the second Half
• That boss “fight”
• There was no high point in gameplay after the 3rd mission , it spiralled into the same encounters over and over again (no new enemies or weapons)
• Again 343 not really using Forerunner architecture to tell the story , simply using levels as a means to an end

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Mechanics , Vehicles ,Weapons and Enemy Design

Vehicles

Let me be Frank, I hated the paper vehicles we got in Halo reach, In fact the only vehicle worth a damn in the whole campaign was the Saber which unsurprisingly was only designed for campaign. You see what I hated about Halo reach was that slowly the multiplayer settings were encroaching on the campaign which actually ended up hurting its gameplay mechanics.

That’s why I enjoyed driving vehicles a lot more than in Halo reach because the vehicles were more powerful and were more durable.
But sadly there are still trace elements of Halo reach left in Halo 4. While driving the Mantis I never really got the impression that I was driving a killing machine(but that’s really more of a personal quam .I know a lot of people enjoyed driving the Mantis in campaign.)

However I will say this; Halo reach’s unrestricted saber mission is miles better than the star wars mission we got in halo 4.

Enemy Design

Again one of the ways which 343i falters in halo 4 is in their enemy design and how they introduce them. Halo 4 has the least variety in main enemy design of the new IP’s. For example they could have easily redesigned the battlewagon to be bigger than the rest of the knights while making it slower and having it have significantly less weaknesses than other knights. It pretty much looks and moves like a regular knight …but with spikes on top of it. I seriously had levels were I really didn’t notice that I’d actually killed a battlewagon.

Having a different variety of enemy designs not only improves the aesthetic of the game but it also forces developers to think about how the AI behaves . E.g if the battle wagon is bigger than the other knights then its obviously going to be slower however its probably going to have more powerful weapons and denser armour that will require a more specific tactic than just shoot it with whatever you have.
The fact that by the third mission you’ve pretty much encountered all the enemy types really doesn’t help keep the tension of the gameplay.

Weapons

This brings me to the weapons. Let me start of by saying I really like how the weapons form in your hand and have individual reload animations surrounding the formation animation.

I also enjoy the new sound design for the UNSC weapons (the assault rifle sounds beast).I also enjoy the fact that assault rifles have now been beefed up and actually offer some tactical advantage unlike reach.
I also found that the weapons have their specific ranges and uses which helps to balance the multiplayer environment.

However what I did not appreciate was the fact that for an ancient civilisation, their weapons felt human and pretty much fit into the multiplayer weapon archetypes. Your basic assult rifle (suppressor), scoped rifle(light rifle), shotgun(scattershot), pistol(boltshot) ,sniper rifle(binary rifle) and a heavy weapon (incineration canon). It really feels as though creating the new weapons was more like ticking a sheet of requirements rather than using a process that encourages imagination and creativity.
Armour Ability

Let me start off by thanking 343i for removing Armour lock. Seriously Thank you!!!
I will also praise 343 on how the AA system is somewhat balanced in multiplayer while also adding new ones .

However in respect to campaign I will say this : Please stop including gimped AA abilities in campaign for the sake of “Balance”. No offence but sadly Halo reach and Halo 4 are the only games which I come across that contain campaigns which actively give disadvantages to their abilities for the sake of balance. 343i if you’re worried that the Armour Abilities are too powerfull for the AI then what you shouldn’t be doing is gimping the AA abilities, instead what you should be doing is building stronger and faster AI. (E.g For example one improvement would have been to make active camo work on most enemies irregardless of how fast you move but useless when faced with enemies equipped with promethean vision.) In fact that’s what makes a good sandbox, make the unbalanced nature of the sandbox apparent, the player is outmatched in numbers, weaponry and technology and he should feel this way and want to rely on the AA abilities more.

But why should I rely on Active camo when it forces me to move really slowly when using it? Why should I rely on hardlight shield if it doesn’t recharge my shields,even slowly? Why should I rely on the jetpack when it only lasts for a short time in campaign ? Unnecessary disadvantages will only decrease the worth of a system which people already have mixed feelings about.

343i the AA system is the key to the gamaplay evolution of Halo’s campaign and Spartan Ops however if you keep reducing its capabilities for the sake of “balance” you will only squander its potential.

Multiplayer

Pros

• Inclusion of loadouts and random ordinaces introduces a new level of fun to Halo
• Waypoint Markers encourage new players to move and gives a clear objective to them
• Weapons and abilities are well balanced for the most part
• Concept of War games being virtual Reality seems very interesting

Cons

• No real incentive to play competitive playlists (no ranks, no bonuses)
• Maps too big for competitive playlists
• So maps are just really bad (complex) however this is highly subjective
• Some weapons are unbalanced (Saw, Boltshot, DMR)
• The current state of the Personal Ordinces’ hold no lasting appeal unless 343i decides to include kill streaks in their game modes to attract a bigger fan base. (which is just as bad)

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So in conclusion

Pros

• Connects Books and games beautifully in Prolouge and Dawn
• Well designed segements of gameplay (e.g when you walk out the cave.)
• Cortana and chief are more human-especially Cortana showing a plthra of emotions within the camapign
• Didact well written and well introduced
• Laskey feels like a real human being who anyone can relate to
• Beautiful Graphics
• Generally more Balanced weapon for MULTIPLAYER
• UNSC WEAPON sounds rock (Assault Rifle)
• Outstanding Cutscenes in both campaign and Spartan ops and voice actors in campaign
• Soundtrack is really good
• Amour Lock gone !!!
• Balanced Multiplayer Armour Abilities
• Great concept for Spartan Ops
• Inclusion of loadouts and random ordinaces introduces a new level of fun to Halo
• Waypoint Markers encourage new players to move and gives a clear objestcive to them
• War games Virtual Reality great concept.

Cons

• Once you reach the 4th mission you’ve seen all the game has to offer
• Pacing in Dawn could have been Better
• Elites ignored even though they play such a big role in the campaign
• Forerunner arctecture feels more like a random assortment of lego peiece than buildings with practical uses to a society
• AA system potential wasted in campaign
• Level design largely based on old Halo games and encounters
• The boss fight
• Spartan Ops dialogue is almost unbearable sometimes (shut up egghead)

5

WOAH Dat super, duper, mega, huge thread man!

But in all seriousness I agree most of these points the only one I didn’t really agree on was the SAW being OP.

6

Hmmm I ACTUALLY agree w/ you over all.

I think the Campaign was near perfect but what you mentioned all DID bother me deeply.

7

Very nice review. I agree with above, the SAW isn’t OP. I DO agree the (charged) boltshot is quite overpowered given the short charge time coupled with the damage distance.

8

well I wouldnnt say its too powerfull however the range on that thing ad the clip size do need to be redused otherwise what you’ll get is a bunch of people running around on complex with Saws.

9

> Once you reach the 4th mission you’ve seen all the game has to offer

Pretty much. After that, there are two experimental levels before the campaign goes to a better version of Dawn and a longer version of Forerunner.

> Enemy Design
>
> Again one of the ways which 343i falters in halo 4 is in their enemy design and how they introduce them. Halo 4 has the least variety in main enemy design of the new IP’s. For example they could have easily redesigned the battlewagon to be bigger than the rest of the knights while making it slower and having it have significantly less weaknesses than other knights. It pretty much looks and moves like a regular knight …but with spikes on top of it. I seriously had levels were I really didn’t notice that I’d actually killed a battlewagon.
>
> Having a different variety of enemy designs not only improves the aesthetic of the game but it also forces developers to think about how the AI behaves . E.g if the battle wagon is bigger than the other knights then its obviously going to be slower however its probably going to have more powerful weapons and denser armour that will require a more specific tactic than just shoot it with whatever you have.
> The fact that by the third mission you’ve pretty much encountered all the enemy types really doesn’t help keep the tension of the gameplay.

Thank the Forerunners someone else has noticed.

I really wish the Battlewagon didn’t have that Scattershot. It came so close to being like a CE Zealot, something refreshing from your average enemy. Nope, it turned out like this:

Battlewagon: Knight with more armor and a power weapon
Elite General: Elite with more armor and a power weapon

It’s sad to see a reskinned Halo 2… without it’s charisma. AI have been like this since that game unfortunately. But Halo 2 spiced things up (Ultra Elites pulled out swords). This game does nothing like that. The AI all behave the same.

10

> I also personally didn’t like the fact that 3 minutes after waking up ,I was pretty shooting everything that breathes within a 5 mile radius. That pretty much destroyed the pacing of what could have been a great start to a game. And I think it’s a problem which good story driven games recognise and address by having a slow start to the game inorder to immerse the player (see Dishonoured, Far cry 3, Bioshock infinite 5 minute intro and to some extent Assassins creed 3’s intro). Therefore I believe a better approach to easing people into combat would’ve been to have combat in the first half of the mission optional, putting a lot of emphasis on the chief sneaking through the level while avoiding detection only to be discovered by a patrolling elite while at the FOD’s command centre. This also would have been a great opportunity to have “new” hidden collectibles or more terminals detailing the Spartan 2 programme.
>
> I also found the” we’re flying toward the planet section” really lacking, I thought it would have been a great opportunity to show the zero-G capabilities of the mljnior armour by having us fly/jump toward an escape pod while avoid Debris from the ships or better yet allow us to fly an escape pod into the planet.

Instead of pacing, they impose QTEs even on higher difficulties where players already know what’s going to happen.

Apparently, they had the idea of making that environment but then they thought it’d break the game…

> Requiem
>
> Requiem starts off strong just like dawn with a strong emphasis on magnifying Cortana’s and showing Chiefs human side .Again props to the voice actors, motion actors, writers and directors of this scene.
>
> I also loved the little segment were you come out of the cave only to behold a large beautiful landscape (skybox). However if I were to improve that section I would have had a little first person cinematic at that moment with chief lowering his weapon , walking slowly out the cave and Cortana saying something to fit the mood like “ Well , You DO always take me to the nicest places.” But Im fully aware that Chief and Cortana had more pressing issues than checking out the scenery with Cortana’s rampancy and all however it would have been a nice to hear Cortana say that as a nice Halo 2 throw back.
>
> I also appreciated the fact that this level was relatively open with space for vehicles and hidden weapon caches to reward those who explored the level.
>
> However Requiem was the first of many levels which I noticed a reoccurring problem in 343i’s level design philosophy which is “Shine over detail”. Simply put, there was no section in the level which made me go “ Wow . This place WAS really home to an ancient civilisation” which is a shame because 343i even said in one of their vidocs that they wanted to tell the story of the Forerunners through Requiem and the concept art is heavily influenced by Aztec architecture .
> I also didn’t like the fact that the only interaction we got in the level (and throughout the campaign) with High level elites was shooting them in the face. This level was probably the best place to showcase how the covenant had changed by having the chief interact with a dying elite or better yet by discovering a covenant terminal (sort of like the one with the prophet of Regret from Halo 2). Even if they weren’t the focus or the main enemies of the game ,the covenant should have received an adequate amount on in game exposition to strengthen the plot since they play a vital role in it.
>
> However I liked the “O Yoink!” moment at the end of the level when the Knights finally make an appearance in the game that was awesome, although I would have had the scene occur in first person , but that’s just a preference and really has no bearing on how much I loved /hated the game.
>
> Continued on Page 2

Requiem’s flaws:

-lack of checkpoints
-no marines, making driving the Hog around less exciting
-poor exploration
-weapons cache easter egg is pointless

That said, the only wow moment I’ve had in the gameplay was fighting the Elite snipers on Legendary with 11 skulls on because I had to get really creative to beat them.

And yeah, I’d loved to see Chief interrogate a dying Elite at the crash site. That’d have reminded me of Mercy’s death in Halo 2 (it draws my sympathies). Btw, there are Covie terminals, but they’re only at the crash site.

Yeah that Knight surprise scene was pretty cool. IIRC, there was a tweet implying a boss battle on this level…

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> Forerunner
>
> Again shiny well designed level, but not really selling the whole civilisation thing.One way I would have improved this level was to use the concept that the jungle you are fighting in was a botanical garden. Meaning there would be multiple terminals and paths intersecting above and below the tree lines allowing for alternate routes of advancement.

Yeah I hated how restrictive the game was when I finally reached the Cryptum area.

> Last vehicle section was pretty cool (I guess) but it’s the first vehicle section ever were grunts actually knock you off you path or slowed you down which is weird and slightly disappointing (maybe its just me)

Nah, that’s just the Ghost’s poor physics + excess autoaim (which was a problem in Halo 3’s Hog run as well). Still though, a bunch of rocks jutting up and either stopping you in your tracks or launching you out of the map, that’s bad level design.

> Infinity
>
> I thought it was really impressive how 343 designed the level so that you could shoot the Prrometheans from on top of the tree branches if you wanted.
>
> Special Mention: I really liked Laskey, he struck me as the most human character in the game along with Cortana.
>
> Trouble is the level pretty much gets repetitive after a while. You’ve pretty much encountered all the enemies and used all the weapons at this point.
>
> I think the most disappointing this about the level (which is my fault in all honesty) was the fact that this didn’t happen. It would have been awesome if the had didact personally come aboard the infinity (the science wing and not the command centre) and got the information on earths location while simultaneously killing all who stood in his way.

Yeah that was merciful.

Same here.

Yep. The holdout fight is the only one that I play it for.

Yeah, Del Rio and Palmer would be shaking in their boots if that happened. :stuck_out_tongue:

> Rest Of the Campaign
>
> Okay to save time Im just gonna sum up what I liked and what I didn’t like in the rest of the game and you would like me to explain, just ask
> What I liked
>
> • Master Chief basically telling Del Rio to go -Yoink!- himself
> • Laskey proving he’s the ultimate bro by allowing Chief to go
> • The librarian section
> • Emotional Distraught of Cortana After the composer is used
> • Human scientist dialogue well written
>
> What I found Lacking
>
> • The didact’s minimal presence in the second Half
> • That boss “fight”
> • There was no high point in gameplay after the 3rd mission , it spiralled into the same encounters over and over again (no new enemies or weapons)
> • Again 343 not really using Forerunner architecture to tell the story , simply using levels as a means to an end

Hmm now that I think of it, I did enjoy some of those scenes.

Yeah relegating him to dialogue was disappointing. The Prophet of Truth had numerous appearances, even as a hologram. I remember good old Arby roaring at one of them.

Yep, QTE… bad way to end a game.

Agreed.

I wouldn’t say that. There are pebbles at the console after your encounter with the Librarian and apparently, there are similar pebbles are on Forerunner (indicating Bornstellar’s journey). Also, Composer has some interesting artifacts procured by UNSC science teams and Requiem was pretty appeasing.

12

> …

Thanks for the replys, to be honest I was fairly sure none would get past the first page :slight_smile:

You know what, I must have missed the pebbles and the artifacts. I’ll have to look for those on my next playthrough.

Regarding the Terminals
One simple rule- If anything in a game requires me to go onto a website to watch or read it then that thing is dead to me.