10 years ago 343 released its first Halo title. Halo 4 is actually the only game release where I went to a midnight launch to pick it up at Gamestop. I remember being real excited about getting to continue Master Chief’s journey and learning about the planet we only so briefly saw a glimpse of in Halo 3’s legendary ending. In the end, I was and still am very satisfied with Halo 4. I absolutely love the campaign, one of my top 3 in the series alongside 2 and ODST. The multiplayer was a significant improvement over Reach. Not quite Halo 2 MP quality, but I’d say ultimately I like it a bit better than Halo 3’s. The soundtrack was also very solid. Not as good as Marty’s music, but I think it has some memorable pieces and themes.
343 certainly has problems and things they need to improve on, some of them drastically needing improvement, but I think their first release was excellent. There have definitely been missteps like Halo 5’s story and the lack of support for Infinite, but when I look at modern day Bungie and Destiny, frankly I’m happier with Halo being in the hands of 343.
I’ve heard people say this a million times and have never had it explained how Halo 4 was somehow like COD. Loadouts (which were first introduced by Bungie in Reach in case you’re one of those who pretends that was 343’s creation) do not a COD make. Destiny’s gunplay feels way more like COD than Halo 4 ever has.
Reach introduced preconfigured loadouts which I’ve heard people describe as closer to Battlefield than COD. Halo 4 took it all the way with the addition of customizable classes, introduction of perks, random kill streaks, and an overall faster pace of gameplay. At least in the MCC I can play with most of that crap disabled, but at launch infinity slayer was a rough time.
Fair enough about the perks, but getting to spawn in an overshield or a fuel rod gun after earning enough score isn’t even remotely close to calling in an air strike or helicopter support.
Best thing about Halo 4 in my opinion is the vast point-based scoring system as it was an ideal way to reward a wide variety of gameplay contributions within a social environment. In other words, Halo 4 arguably possesses one of the best social gameplay experiences thanks in large part to its in-game scoring system.
I wish 343i would take notice of its brilliance and incorporate it or something like it into Halo Infinite for its social environment while leaving its strict objective score system in place within its ranked competitive playlists.