So its been 3 weeks now since the release of Halo 4 and since the honeymoon phase of the release is over I was hoping to get some Honest answers as to how well 343 did and what we can look forward to in the Franchise.
So firstly I would like to answer some questions that people have been asking me.
Is Halo Dying?
Well the answer to this isn’t simple. No the Franchise is most certainly not dying. The first day purchases, the pre-orders and the consoles sold are testament to that and the novels also show that there is a lot that the universe has to offer.
However after watching or at least researching how the gaming world has evolved over the past 20 years(yes I have a lot of free time and I like doing analysis’), there are some signs which one learns to recognise which might spell out danger for any franchise.
The first sign is monetisation- Now as much as I love Halo, the amount of monetisation between the toys , consoles, mountain dew was almost embarrassing. This isn’t to say other companies don’t do it but you tend to notice that most other companies moderately monetise their properties to still maintain a level of respect. Halo 4’s monetisation is borderline greed and it shows that Microsoft wasn’t in this to push the game but to make money.- The second is -Yoink!- off your core audience- There is an unspoken rule between small- medium game devs. “Try not to piss off the core guys”. Sticking to this rule could mean life or death for your franchise (e.g Resistance).Why you ask? Its because while the core audience is usually the most annoying , gripy and entitled. They are always the first ones to pre-order, they are the one’s who go to conventions and QA sessions,They are the ones who support the extended fiction and above all they are the ones more than the other “fans” want to see the game sell .Of coarse once a game franchise has entered the public as a name brand (e.g call of duty , grand theft auto) it pretty much sells itself with very little effort from the devs. This is puts more attention on widening the consumer base rather than building on successful aspects of the game.
Now Halo 4 might be a good game for some but it admittedly alienated a lot of people from its community with most of the cuts and most of the additions weren’t really designed for its core audience. Let me say this, you only need to look at EA games and how they have handled their properties to know that trying to expand your fan base always results in something getting lowered. (In their case Bioware story quality always gets lowered).
343 if you want to replace the core Halo community with Kids who buy the game day one and then immediately trade them in for call of duty then hey that’s your choice. Im not really gonna respect you but again that’s your choice.
Does 343 show a lot of promise?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 343 has shown a lot of promise because they’ve vastly improved in game graphics (something Bungie never tried) and they’ve also brought dialogue and characterisation up from Halo reach to near Halo2/Odst standards which is something I will praise. However that doesn’t mean Halo 4 is perfect, far from it in fact. Im hoping 343 recognises this and works Harder to improve.
Will Halo 4 last longer than reach.
Its too early to tell but as much as I want to say yes because when it comes down to it Halo 4 is a better game, Im still going to say no. Simply put while Halo 4 may be strong when its compared to other Halo titles, its weak when its compared to the adjacent game releases. Its not 2001 anymore , all the new features (besides Spartan ops) that the multiplayer has been boasting to have, have been experimented with and then perfected in other games (e.g the rock paper scissor system is fun in call of duty but tiring in Halo 4).Hell at this stage after playing Black Ops 2 I can honestly say pound for pound Black ops has more content, more innovation and better understanding of both its competitive and off-line fanebase (Now how sad is that!)
Sure it might be beautiful and sure one or two of the character’s may be well written but games like Dishourned and Assassins Creed have a whole plethora of excellently written characters and are graphically astounding. Couple that with the Fact that Bungie’s new game “Destiny” is meant to be debuting at 2013 E3 and the release of the next gen call of duty then Im sorry to say but Halo 4’s population is only going to decrease .
Its a sad but honest truth, Halo as a Franchise is moving to the stage where its only good for first week/holiday sales. And to those who would say "well then stop playing Halo and go play call of duty " then listen carefully. This whole game (especially the decisions for multiplayer) was designed to capture the attention of the cod base. Meaning the crowd that played Halo for a week and then traded it for Call of duty was the crowd Microsoft specifically engineered Halo 4 multiplayer for. Sure 343 may have put a lot of effort into the single player but a lot of those bad gameplay decisions splashed from the multiplayer into the campaign making gameplay in the actual campaign Lacklustre. Chasing away people or the core audience just because you don’t agree with them is almost more catastrophic than helpful to both the community and the devs.
Okay that ended up being a rant towards the end there , but what Im trying to get across is that 343 has to shape up . No more excuses , no more promises. They have to work harder than before to rectify they’re mistakes and deliver on all those statements they made otherwise Halo will join the ranks of Mario and Sonic games. Profitable but ultimately soulless and insulting to its fans.
Ah yes because a game being announced at e3 will make online multiplayer games die, no.
Hold your -Yoink!-, halo ain’t goin’ nowhere, it’s one of the best selling franchises and sees higher sales each year. Sit down, crack open a can of pepsi, pop in halo 4, press the play button on that Barry White CD and enjoy your night.
ill play Halo 4 till Destiny drops then Ill play mostly Destiny if its baller. But will always go back to Halo. And Halo never dies the scrubs just leave for COD nonsense.
> Ah yes because a game being announced at e3 will make online multiplayer games die, no.
> Hold your -Yoink!-, halo ain’t goin’ nowhere, it’s one of the best selling franchises and sees higher sales each year. Sit down, crack open a can of pepsi, pop in halo 4, press the play button on that Barry White CD and enjoy your night.
Were getting to the point in the game industry were first day/week sales are not indicutive of overall game quality. Besides I already said Halo will never die atleast 3 times but what I worry about is the quality.
I didn’t read all of the OP as what has been said has been said before by countless others; so I’ll say this instead.
I do think Halo and 343 will both die unless something is changed significantly for Halo 5; and in a sense I hope Halo does die now. It deserves a dignified and honourable death instead of being dragged through the mud for another 2 games.
Interesting Post OP. That’s the thing about this game that’s irritated me when Microsoft tried to capture the COD crowd but then also catered to the Core. You can’t do that and win. You go all the way and you out COD…COD, or you don’t. Because what’s left is the core, which is pissed and COD is still the better version that recaptures its base.
343 and Microsoft played it safe. They added the bells and whistles but balanced them to the point of tears boring COD players. While completely alienating their Core by adding such features in the first place. 343 you can’t hold the attention of a player who has access to the cool tech found in games like BF3 and COD with a useless Auto Turret. You just can’t hold them with such mediocrity to make the Core feel safe with these toys being boring and balanced for 2001 and 2007 ideals.
Best return to Halo 5 and reskin it to a Halo 3.5 because if you’re not going to go all out and say we got the best tech and coolest toys on the market then you better Hop Hop till the 50 drops.
Halo will not die, MIcrosoft owns halo, and they will not let this cash cow go to pasture before its time.
343 as well wont die- they are a good company, and quit frankly got alot things right with halo 4. MP is enjoyable as was the campaign. Did live up to all the hype it was given? No. Most games don’t either. When Halo 3 came out, There was a laundry list of complains from the community because they changed alot from halo 2.
Bottom line if it’s making money- which it is, they are not going to pull the plug.
> Halo will not die, MIcrosoft owns halo, and they will not let this cash cow go to pasture before its time.
> 343 as well wont die- they are a good company, and quit frankly got alot things right with halo 4. MP is enjoyable as was the campaign. Did live up to all the hype it was given? No. Most games don’t either. When Halo 3 came out, There was a laundry list of complains from the community because they changed alot from halo 2.
> Bottom line if it’s making money- which it is, they are not going to pull the plug.
That iis what worries me more than Halo dying,Its the thought of Halo being dragged around by Microsoft forever stagnate, never trying to innovate like the first 2 did and always trying to make a quick buck.
> Interesting Post OP. That’s the thing about this game that’s irritated me when Microsoft tried to capture the COD crowd but then also catered to the Core. You can’t do that and win. You go all the way and you out COD…COD, or you don’t. Because what’s left is the core, which is pissed and COD is still the better version that recaptures its base.
>
> 343 and Microsoft played it safe. They added the bells and whistles but balanced them to the point of tears boring COD players. While completely alienating their Core by adding such features in the first place. 343 you can’t hold the attention of a player who has access to the cool tech found in games like BF3 and COD with a useless Auto Turret. You just can’t hold them with such mediocrity to make the Core feel safe with these toys being boring and balanced for 2001 and 2007 ideals.
>
>
> Best return to Halo 5 and reskin it to a Halo 3.5 because if you’re not going to go all out and say we got the best tech and coolest toys on the market then you better Hop Hop till the 50 drops.
You see thats what irritates me as well. For the first time in 10 years halo has had the chance to prove itself.To stand on its own merits and expand them.But instead what does it do?It copies other game mechanics and whats worse tries to pass them off as something new.
343 could have done so much with all their time and money.They could have rebuilt the armour ability system for all the modes individually, they could have allowed more spaces to explore in requiem , they could have put more effort into explaining forerunner culture in campaign.
Had I known that Halo 4 would have been released in this state ,I would have urged 343 to not make forward unto dawn and put that time and money into making the game.
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