Something I noticed about the direction of H4

Games Other Halo
1

Before I begin, I just want to say that I don’t think Halo 4 is good or bad. I will save that judgement for when I play the game. However, I a, basing this from the news I hear.

Every halo that has ever come has revolutionized and changed from the one before it, and more importantly, differed from the status quo of what the FPS industry was before it. That might seem confusing to you but here are the examples:

Halo CE introduced an extremely balanced and addictive shooter for the console for the first time ever.

Halo 2 introduced a skill based ranking system and a popular FPS shooter online for the first time ever. It also greatly changed the balance that was in CE, and many people were upset at the time,. However, it doesn’t change the fact that Halo 2 introduced things that were not only new to the Halo universe, they were new to the whole gaming industry.

Halo 3 repeated this. It was the first popular FPS for the 360 and the first console shooter to have a theater mode along with dual progression/ranking systems. It was drastically different than Halo 2, but it pioneered changes that were never before seen in the gaming industry.

Now we have Halo 4. Yes, in my opinion, Halo 4 definetly needs to change, and every Halo game has done so as well. I think that most of the changes that 343 are very nice, and are going to be very refreshing for a long time Halo player. I do not mind this (this includes specializations, loadouts, ordinance, etc- they all look really nice). However, what is really bothering me is that Halo 4 is not going to be revolutionizing, and it won’t introduce anything new to th industry. Instead, to me, it looks like Halo 4 is changing, but not revolutionizing

Here is my summary: Instead of Halo 4 changing the demands of what gamers want from a game (essentially revolutionizing the market), Halo 4 is simply adjusting to the market, rather than changing the market by taking the aspects from the market that are popular today and not pioneering new things that could be popular.

And that is the main thing that I am personally bothered about. Do you agree or disagree?

2

Hm, a really good point that I hadn’t though about. It’s still different though, because the other shooters that have these perks and stuff are extremely fast-paced, pretty much based on who sees who first. Halo still has player shields, slowing gameplay down enough for a different kind of strategy than that of COD and other such shooters. Throwing perks in here is still something the industry hasn’t really seen before. That said, I definitely see what you’re saying. None of it’s new. Just the combination of Halo and these things is new. Interesting.

3

I agree with you, but the scenario certainly isn’t unique to Halo. The game industry as a whole seems to be moving away from fresh new innovative ideas and into tried and tested repetition. Of course there are exceptions to this, but they are exceptions.

At the end of the day games are a business now. What are game companies going to do? Make an innovative game that may be a success and may make money, or are they going to repeat what has already been done before and has been proven to make them money?

4

I agree and disagree.

Let me explain. I agree that for “War Games” (multiplayer) there seems to be a status quo w/ some very cool added bonuses to try and make up for the lack of revolutionizing the multiplayer experience. Don’t get me wrong because I believe it will still be, if not the best, one of the best FPS games released thus far.

Now I disagree in the sense of what 343i has introduced with “Spartan Ops”, which I consider as revolutionary. What other FPS has introduced an episode based series that compliments the campaign mode with new content and challenges released every week. That is very cool. However, the problem is that this may favor the casual player at the expense of potentially unsettling the other range of players upto the professional players. However, this is all speculation because I sense that 343i really wants to cover all bases to provide something for everyone. So I can see 343i pulling another rabbit out of the old hat.

Cheers…

5

Here’s the thing. There’s not much room left for innovation. Bungie did a REAL nice job wrapping things up with Halo 3. So much of a nice job that one wonders what one could add to the Halo series that would be just as game-changing as Theater or Forge.

I honestly think that all one can really do now with Halo and the 360 is to just polish and add a little bit more upon everything until it becomes truly complete for the 360 versions of Halo. Everyone is now stating that they are starting to reach the limit of what the 360 can do. A new console would open up a lot of possibilities in terms of powerful gameplay features. (See: Unreal Engine 4)

6

Another way to see this problem is to take a quick glance at the game release schedule.

Black ops 2 (in reality about the 8th call of duty?)

Halo 4 (again, more like the 6th halo game.)

Assassins creed 3 (actually about number 5?)

Repetition is the name of the game at the moment.

7

I do agree with your point about Spartan ops, it is a revolutionary concept, im am intrigued to find out where 343 can take it.

8

> I agree and disagree.
>
> Let me explain. I agree that for “War Games” (multiplayer) there seems to be a status quo w/ some very cool added bonuses to try and make up for the lack of revolutionizing the multiplayer experience. Don’t get me wrong because I believe it will still be, if not the best, one of the best FPS games released thus far.
>
> Now I disagree in the sense of what 343i has introduced with “Spartan Ops”, which I consider as revolutionary. What other FPS has introduced an episode based series that compliments the campaign mode with new content and challenges released every week. That is very cool. However, the problem is that this may favor the casual player at the expense of potentially unsettling the other range of players upto the professional players. However, this is all speculation because I sense that 343i really wants to cover all bases to provide something for everyone. So I can see 343i pulling another rabbit out of the old hat.
>
> Cheers…

Yeah… And I hate to burst your bubble, but if you think about it, Spartan Os is unfortunately (but justifiyingly) going to cost money. This means that it’s just another campaign bonus with DLC, and I believe L4D has that already.