The new Halo 4 BTS is proving to cause a stir, alot of people complaining about unimportant or small things, and everybody has their own opinion. Well here’s mine, based purely on things I’ve TAKEN TIME to analyze and think about, instead of just impulsive complaints.
1: Master Chief
We have finally seen Master Chief in all his glory. And we’ve seen an image of him right next to Halo 3’s model. And I have to say, he looks GREAT. I’m still not a fan of the shape of the shoulderpads, but in-game they actually fit on the shoulders, unlike the Toy model that roused complaints before. I like it, and I don’t think there is any reason to complain.
It also seems 343i plans to give Master Chief more physical movements in the game, which is great. In the Halo series we rarely see Spartans actually DO anything awesome, so long as it isn’t overexadurated like Halo Wars or Halo Legends. Jump flipping over Elites. Overpowering Elites in terms of strength. Bowling over elites AND brutes in a straight sprint and not losing speed/staggering. Easily defeating a Brute in hand-to hammer. These are examples of what Spartans CANT do, at least, not without actually looking like it was a very hard battle, in all of these examples the Spartans never seemed to break a sweat, take a hit. Heck, they dance around Elites and Brutes like MLG pros dance around 1st timers. Especially since in Novels, Master Chief is seen having long hard struggles against single Elites/Brutes, often having his life saved by allies.
2: The Battle Rifle
The Battle Rifle is back, and the first thread I see about it is a complaint about the new appearance. But again, I LIKE it. It’s not supposed to be the BR55 from Halo 3, it is supposed to be the BRXX from Halo Reach. And while 343i claims MLG might not be big on burst fire weapons, I have a feeling they will adopt the MLG no matter what single-shot weapon is in the game (the Carbine was there the whole time and they mostly ignored it).
The BR IS Competitive Halo, it is symbolic, and from what I’ve seen in gameplay it looks like it will work just as well as it did before, hopefully even better than Halo 3’s “massive spread” rifle :P.
Most importantly NO BLOOM.
3: Sprint
Now Sprint is the only thing I was hoping not to see in Halo 4, that actually made it in. But from looking at the gameplay clips, we can see that default movement speed is MUCH higher than it was in Halo Reach, and in comparison, Sprint is not a huge difference from default, so I am not as disappointed as I could have been. I AM however glad to see that Armor Abilities have disappeared.
4: Spartan IVs
Spartan IVs were a nice surprise, I was expecting to see Spartan IIs in Multiplayer again. But I am glad to see that 343i made certain they would play like a Spartan II. The faster movement speed is excellent, Halo 3 and Reach both felt far too slow outside of MLG. And the appearance is really cool. Very fresh, very new, and in no way bad. Any complaints I’ve seen about appearance can be easily fixed by changing your multiplayer armor, but I LIKE the new look.
Can’t wait to see how you create a Canonical MP experience, I’m guessing it will be similar to Abstergo in Assassin’s Creed, where you are simply in simulations, but I hope it will have a cinematic feel (opening cutscene/mission similar to “The Armory” in Halo 2 during which you customize your Spartan’s armor, learn about the weapons old an new, maybe even do a tutorial? I wouldn’t mind.).
5: Graphic Design
Halo 4 looks amazing. It rox my sox. I especially like that the appearance of Multiplayer has been given a more “Halo 2/3” look in terms of largeness/shape/movement. But darker and grittier. Halo Reach, while grittier than Halo 3, didn’t follow the right… I dunno SOMETHING. Whether it’s got to do with color, or the size of characters or whatever. It just looks better now.
LIKE.
6: Health
This is one thing I don’t really like, I do admit it is good to see healthpacks disappear again, but I am disappointed that we can’t see our healthbars. Knowing exactly how many shots you can take is a crucial element to any shooter, and not having a healthbar means you are always running on estimates. While health should regenerate Halo 2/3 style, we should be able to see how much we have, and how quickly it comes back.
7: Sound
I haven’t seen alot of discussion on Sound, but it all seemed great. Crisp, clear, and realistic sounds are something that were always absent in Halo games, like the joke Halo 3 AR. It is nice to see 343i putting REAL effort into making Halo sound like a real universe.