Okay, so I got the opportunity to play Halo 4 at the Eurogamer Expo 2012. Needless to say I was amazed at how great the game had turned out.
First off, the game was very balanced. Even with all these new additions that people have been saying will throw the entire game out of whack, you still feel that everyone was on even ground and any time you died you honestly felt like it was your own mistake.
There was no dominant weapon in the game, every gun had their ups and downs and everyone had their own favourite. It all really seemed to depend on the player.
My favourite weapon was the Carbine, it felt very quick, accurate and powerful.
The DMR was also a great gun. It was very powerful, but felt quite sluggish compared to weapons like the Carbine and Battle Rifle.
The Battle Rifle, I didn’t really like, but it was indeed very quick and was quite useful mid and close range, but didn’t seem to do the job I wanted done (I’m more of a outer mid range guy, it’s not quite long range and not quite mid range, which is why the Carbine felt perfect for me)
If you’re a more close-mid range guy, the BR is your choice. If you’re a mid-long range guy, the Carbine is your choice. If you’re a long range guy, the DMR is your choice.
The only weapon I didn’t get much of an experience with was the Light Rifle. I got to use it, but really didn’t like it. It felt slow and weak when I used it and not very effective.
The Suppressor had to be my least favourite weapon. It was just so weak. It had huge bloom, small projectiles and low damage. I doubt anyone will really use it.
The Assault Rifle was okay, still felt a little useless in my hands but in CQB… Jesus Christ… It’s so deadly. I was in someone’s face and killed him within 2 or 3 seconds. From further away (still close though) It seemed a little longer though. I’m not an automatic guy, so I didn’t quite like it. But it looks and sounds -Yoink!-.
The Storm Rifle is about the same story as the AR except it wasn’t as good as it in CQB. Other than that, not much to say.
Now, the power weapons… They were great. My favourite would be the Sticky Detonator. It was very fun to shoot and rack up kills. No longer do you have to hold down the button to keep it from going off. You just shoot once, wait, then shoot again and BOOM! Dead. It seemed to have a fairly large explosion, one that could hit a lot of people around it.
The Concussion Rifle kind of sucked, but I never liked weapons like the Concussion Rifle and Brute Shot, so don’t go off of my word in deciding what the weapon’s like.
Needler is a beast. The speed in which it takes to kill someone is so small. It takes just about 2 seconds from fairly long ranges and BOOM! Dead! Definitely one of the better power weapons that I got to use.
The SAW was an absolute beast also, killing almost everything and everyone that got in my way. Wherever it was used it left a path of death and rage behind it. Loved this gun and will continue to when the game is released.
The Sniper was very difficult to use. It had very small aim assist so head shots weren’t nearly as common as they were in Reach. Definitely requires a lot of skill to use.
The Railgun is quite fun. It charges fairly quickly and is very satisfying to get kills with. Although it has very small splash damage, it seems like it will be great against vehicles.
Now, to the powerups. The only two I got to use were Damage boost and Overshield.
Damage boost was very useful. I got a hold of it when I was using the DMR and changed it from a 5 shot to a 3 shot (from what I could tell anyway.) It was very powerful, but doesn’t last to long.
Overshield was really good. When I stole it from someone, it appeared to have a meter that fills as you hold down the button and then you obtain it. It helped me last for quite a while and didn’t have that annoying invinciblity thing you had in 3 for a few seconds.
The armour abilities were very balanced also. They felt more like a small sort of extra that you would use only for certain situations and hardly felt like a necessity like they did in Reach.
Hardlight Shield was interesting. It would protect you for a small amount of time, giving you the time to get to cover and regain shields, but were very vulnerable to grenades and any other explosive weapon.
Thruster Pack was good for getting away from grenades and tight situations. It’s not as OP as evade in closing the distance between two players and feels fairly fun.
Active Camo felt kind of useless seeing as the maps in the game had a very small amount of places to camp, which is great.
Promethean Vision was useless also. I found myself using the radar so much more. PV has such small range and shut small usage time. Not to mention the long recharge. You guys got the nerf you wanted. I personally feel the nerf was for the worst.
Now, on to the last part. The maps. The maps were, for the most part, really good. Excluding Solace.
Solace felt too hectic and it seemed like way to many people were engaging in the same place, making them begin firing at many different people. You really panic a lot and tend to feel like you’re getting dominated on the map.
Adrift was, for a change, a good ship based map. It was fun, pretty and well designed. The middle room was great for fighting as there were so many different levels and the hecticness in the map was very different to that of Solace. It was very spaced out and fun and you didn’t really panic too much.
Haven was my favourite map of them all. The lighting on the map is just astounding, I couldn’t get enough of it. I actually found myself stopping mid game and looking at the wondrous structure you run around on. The map design was almost flawless. Hardly any places to camp and was really well spaced. I always seemed I was engaging with someone and the battles were always really enjoyable, even when killed. Best map of the 3 that I played.
In conclusion, Halo 4 was an amazing experience. Better than Reach. Better than 3. Better than 2. And better than CE. Halo’s back for sure. Hurray for 343i!! Well done on such a great job and doing in 4 years what Bungie couldn’t do in 10 years.
Note:
Everything stated here is mearly my opinions on the game and may differ from that of others. Please do not use what I say as 100% fact. Thank you!
