Halo 4 NEEDS to be dark

Games Other Halo
1

Multiplayer Maps excluded.

Halo CE: Bright
Halo 2: Dark
Halo 3: Bright
Halo 4: DARK

Why dark you ask? Well simply because the chief is facing the unknown. It wouldn’t make sense to have fun flowers, and ponies frolicking in the bright fields like previous games, since MC is all alone fighting an unknown force. ODST and Halo 2 had captivating dark campaigns, with some bright spots. Halo: CE and Halo 3 were both EXTREMELY and unnecessarily bright.

Light = Known
Dark = Unknown

Trailer was in the darkness of space, and so was Halo 2’s trailer. Halo: CE and Halo 3 were both outside in brightness. Please 343 let this clue be true.

2

Halo CE was about nothing but the unknown and still bright, that’s false logic. I say that Halo 4 should retain the colorful art style Halo is known of. It makes the game look much better. And I see no way for Halo 4 to be dark when we are going to end up inside a Forerunner shield world with green landscapes.

But brightness and colorfulness just give so much to make enviromental details look good. Darkness on the other hand, usually looks just bland.

3

I am definitely not a fan of dark. I know it’s supposed to make i more somber, etc; but. for me it just cancels all emotions generated by environment b/c so much detail recognition is lost. Comparing CE with CEA level 343GS I found CEA version more engaging. Dame with the library in fact.

That being said I know a lot of people do like dark levels.

I don’t want to see a new and unknown world and not be able to see it.

4

Matter of opinion.
Personally, I liked Halo:CE’s and Halo 3’s bright aesthetics. They were dark where they had to be to set the mood, and bright where it counted.

I think your interpretation of the color palette in Halo is far off the mark. If light represent the known and familiar, and dark represents the new and unknown, then Halo:CE would be dark, and Halo 2 would have had a lighter color.

A better interpretation would probably be that a more colorful range of colors represents exploration, while a darker and more monotone range signifies survival. In Halo: CE, the brightest levels are the ones when we are exploring the titular ringworld, ending with “343 Guilty Spark”. And the level before (Assault on the Control Room) that was bright, but monochrome, an effective bridge between the lighthearted exploration of the first half of the game and the grim survival in the second half of the game.

The latter half of the game is dark and monochrome, when we are running from the Flood and attempting to disarm the gun aimed at the head of the universe. The exception is The Maw, the final level, where I presume the environment becomes brighter and somewhat more colorful to stir hope in the player as the crisis is quickly resolved.

The darkest Halo games (ODST and Reach) are a lot less subtle with their colors, and to be honest, I feel that they were trying too hard at times. Yes, the Noir-ish atmosphere of Halo 3: ODST was a great change of pace and well-executed in many places, but often the environment was so dark or washed out, it negatively impacted the player’s ability to play the game. Reach was better, but I’d love a return to the colorful vistas of Halo games past.

Darkness for the sake of darkness does not make a more mature or more serious story. Without light to contrast the darkness, or color to balance the grays, the color pallet can’t set the atmosphere. And if you feel differently, then I challenge you to show where the previous games were “EXTREMELY and unnecessarily bright.”

Anyhow, for the best analysis I’ve watched of tone and aesthetics in games, go here.
Death to ‘Real is Brown’!

5

I actually prefer brightness. It brings out more color, emotion and beauty. And replay valuebin my opinion. I’m not your average competitive gamer. I game depending on my mood, whether that be competitive or casual.

Halo 3s brightness and colors made me come back every time. I spent hours forging PIT. Halo 2 was an amazing game, but the darkness kinda took away from what could’ve been.

And bug me for this all you like, but there’s something in Halo 3s graphics that I think is better than Reach.
H3 wad glossy, and colorful, and cartoony, and felt new; made you feel at home. I had the best time in H3s campaign.

I prefer a cartoony looking Halo over a gritty sandpaper Halo. Reach kinda felt like you were on a foggy smokey gritty battlefield.

Even in some of the night missions on BF3, the color comes out a lot more compared to Crysis 2.

Im honestly hoping Halo 4 has the same brightness, color, fun, and action CEA had. I hope they just improve on it.

ASTHETICS OVER GRAPHICS. Like the vid above me said. There’s a reason games like Mass Effect, Halo 3, and Gears look better than Killzone, Reach, and (at times) BF3. I hope 343 gets the imporance of asthetics over graphics. I shudder when I wonder what Reach could have looked like with a better chosen color pallet and polish.

6

I vote both. I really am wishing for a dark scary scenario and atmosphere if the Flood are included because it’s scarier but I do want emotion, vivid colors, and detail so I go both.

7

why cant they just have moments of both

8

I want it to actually be mixed, I still want some vistas, but at the same time I want some missions to feel isolated, dark and heavily atmospheric.

9

> why cant they just have moments of both

good idea like at the start it should be dark because we don’t know much about the enemy but as we progress it gets brighter

10

I think it should be a pretty even mix. Halo 2 did that pretty well. At the start of the game the MC’s levels were bright and the Arbiter’s dark, once they met the Gravemind it switched.

11

I loved Halo 2’s darkness. I remember checking every corner for enemies the first time I played. Please 343i bring that back!

12

I’d rather not have another game full of gritty, depressing and angsty scenery.

13

It does not NEED to be dark. It is up to your preference. Some people prefer it bright. Wasn’t there another thread in this section of the forums with the EXACT same name?

14

As others have said, dark does not always equal unknown. Although playing the levels 343 Guilty Spark in CE (the first real dark level) was quite freaky considering you can’t find anyone for the first half of the level.

I would much rather see a bright, rich and vibrant world that is alive! Yes we are on a strange, new world, but so was CE and that was bright for the most part. Especially when you are traversing the world and exploring it, I want to be able to be in awe of the world and think “This is beautiful!”

There does need to be a mix of dark and brght, but the game should NOT be an overall dark game. I mean it is the REBIRTH of HALO!!

15

What about Reach maps? You seem to have excluded them from your post.

16

i like dark as in darkness and you have to see with a torch and stuff cos that adds tactical-ness :stuck_out_tongue: even if tha is a word

17

Halo 4 can be bright yet unknown and mysterious. Thats what I loved about Anniversary. It felt like you were on a new, mysterious ringworld with a wide variety of environments. And it was bright. Sure, maybe another night mission or a night map, but I don’t want the game to be dark.

Also, never say “NEED” when referring to Halo 4, and its succesors. Halo 4 doesn’t NEED to be anything except for Halo 4. Which is why I hate it when people say “Halo 4 NEEDS to be more like Call of Duty if it is to be successful”.

18

I’m pretty sure 343 intended to make Halo 4 a little like CE, in the sense that you’re in a gorgeous and yet mysterious environment, and CE’s art style wasn’t all gloomy. I’d rather explore vibrant and beautiful environments than dark, gloomy environments. If they were making a more ODST style game, I’d accept that, but Halo 4 is different.

19

Halo CE felt like we were facing the unknown. Much more than any of the sequels.

I hope they don’t make the enemy speak English. At the very least, if they must have the enemy communicate with the player, make it like something along those “Gravemind moments”. Don’t make the enemy actually physically speak with the player. Subliminally communicating like that with the player would still keep that alien feel.