Interview with Chris Haluke about Spartan Ops
Pretty much a lot of the same we’ve been hearing for a while now, though I didn’t know that there would be full CG cutscenes, as well as cliffhangers and what not. It really does seem like Spartan Ops will be a separate campaign on its own.
It’s going to be the game changer for Halo in many ways. If they really cater to the hard core book fans and show off locations from the stories then you’ll gain a lot goodwill from this group. If it has tense firefight ( NOT ARCADE) like battles it will pick up the ODST and Reach Firefighters. Throw in the customization perks you get through it for competitive and a story narrative for the campaign co-op players you got a perfect storm for putting Halo front and center with 360 owners. He’s right it will be a water cooler hot topic for a lot Halo gamers. I just hope it doesn’t fall flat on it’s face, because the core idea is outstanding. I just hope the reality is as well.
I also like that we’ll be getting all new environments each week. Like a return to Reach, or other locals seen in the Halo novels. Should be good.
Very nice interview, thanks for the link! I’m really happy that they’re making an effort to give us new places to explore rather than just cheap out and reuse campaign mission locations like Bungie did Halo Reach.
I can’t express how excited I am to play Spartan Ops!
> Very nice interview, thanks for the link! I’m really happy that they’re making an effort to give us new places to explore rather than just cheap out and reuse campaign mission locations like Bungie did Halo Reach.
>
> I can’t express how excited I am to play Spartan Ops!
It makes me wonder if 343 will go the extra mile and include voice acting for our Spartans? And if there will be things like a team leader or some other squad structure, like who ever has the highest rank gets to be squad leader.
It’ll be interesting to see how this works out.
> I also like that we’ll be getting all new environments each week. Like a return to Reach, or other locals seen in the Halo novels. Should be good.
OMG that would be epic! I would love to revisit Reach, Harvest, Earth. Or maybe go on a mission where I have to help the people under Serine Osman’s command in Glasslands, which would mean I would have to go to Sanghelious and help Naomi (another Spartan) and Philips. And because of this we could even run into the Arbiter, who is with Philips on the planet 
Dude, that picture of Chris Haluke. Hilarious.
Anyway, nice find.
Since this guy worked on Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell, I wonder if we’ll get some stealth gameplay options in Spartan Ops?
Plus, I want to see Arcadia, Cote-de-Azure, and other locals. We know they aren’t completely glassed as that has been retconned (and rightly so).
> Since this guy worked on Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell, I wonder if we’ll get some stealth gameplay options in Spartan Ops?
>
> Plus, I want to see Arcadia, Cote-de-Azure, and other locals. We know they aren’t completely glassed as that has been retconned (and rightly so).
Actually, Arcadia was completely glasses. After the brief invasion by the Covenant in 2531 (as seen in Halo Wars), they returned later in the war and finished the job.
Côte d’Azur is a city, not a planet, and it was nuked by Spartans in a successful asset denial in regard to the Covenant. The planet, Sigma Octanus IV, is under human control, and was never glassed in any version of the Halo fiction.
> > Since this guy worked on Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell, I wonder if we’ll get some stealth gameplay options in Spartan Ops?
> >
> > Plus, I want to see Arcadia, Cote-de-Azure, and other locals. We know they aren’t completely glassed as that has been retconned (and rightly so).
>
> Actually, Arcadia was completely glasses. After the brief invasion by the Covenant in 2531 (as seen in Halo Wars), they returned later in the war and finished the job.
>
> Côte d’Azur is a city, not a planet, and it was nuked by Spartans in a successful asset denial in regard to the Covenant. The planet, Sigma Octanus IV, is under human control, and was never glassed in any version of the Halo fiction.
I thought the whole completely glassed was retconned due to it being literally impossible for the Covenant to do so. According to new canon, large pockets of Arcadia should be habitable and otherwise untouched.
I forgot what happened on Sigma Octanus IV. Even still, I’d like to see it, just to see what 343 can do in terms of showing different alien worlds and making them each unique.
> > > Since this guy worked on Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell, I wonder if we’ll get some stealth gameplay options in Spartan Ops?
> > >
> > > Plus, I want to see Arcadia, Cote-de-Azure, and other locals. We know they aren’t completely glassed as that has been retconned (and rightly so).
> >
> > Actually, Arcadia was completely glasses. After the brief invasion by the Covenant in 2531 (as seen in Halo Wars), they returned later in the war and finished the job.
> >
> > Côte d’Azur is a city, not a planet, and it was nuked by Spartans in a successful asset denial in regard to the Covenant. The planet, Sigma Octanus IV, is under human control, and was never glassed in any version of the Halo fiction.
>
> I thought the whole completely glassed was retconned due to it being literally impossible for the Covenant to do so. According to new canon, large pockets of Arcadia should be habitable and otherwise untouched.
>
> I forgot what happened on Sigma Octanus IV. Even still, I’d like to see it, just to see what 343 can do in terms of showing different alien worlds and making them each unique.
Glassing has never meant “literally turned to glass”. It was colloquial term for the Covenant burning the surface of a planet, which they can do quite effectively.
> though I didn’t know that there would be full CG cutscenes
On the bright side,
This means a heck lot better fight choreography and we get to see amazing fights and graphics. And campaign (inferred from the E3 demo) will still be using in-game like all Halo fps games so this is not highly controversial.
On the downside,
In-game cutscenes can be altered. CGI can’t. As fun as it is to re-watch cutscenes, I prefer changing them and getting different results every time.
> > though I didn’t know that there would be full CG cutscenes
>
> On the bright side,
>
> This means a heck lot better fight choreography and we get to see amazing fights and graphics. And campaign will still be using in-game like all Halo games (inferred from the E3 demo).
>
> On the downside,
>
> In-game cutscenes can be altered. CGI can’t.
I can’t say that CGI cutscenes makes me too happy, but I guess we can live with it since the story should still be wonderful.
> I can’t say that CGI cutscenes makes me too happy, but I guess we can live with it since the story should still be wonderful.
Agreed.
> I also like that we’ll be getting all new environments each week. Like a return to Reach, or other locals seen in the Halo novels. Should be good.
Return to reach! That’d be freaking awesome. See what a sea of glass looks like 
> > I also like that we’ll be getting all new environments each week. Like a return to Reach, or other locals seen in the Halo novels. Should be good.
>
> Return to reach! That’d be freaking awesome. See what a sea of glass looks like
One thing that is probably most certainly confirmed is a return to Earth. If only to one up Mas Effect 3’s ‘Take back Earth’ slogan. Like an assault on ONI headquarters to take down insurrectionist agents who have taken control of the building.
I’d just think it’d be interesting to face of against regular human oponents in the Halo verse.
If it’s CGI cutscenes (which can’t be altered according to a previous poster, although I personally have no idea about such things) then we won’t be able to see our Spartan in them (like Reach)? NOOOOOOOOOOOO…
> > > I also like that we’ll be getting all new environments each week. Like a return to Reach, or other locals seen in the Halo novels. Should be good.
> >
> > Return to reach! That’d be freaking awesome. See what a sea of glass looks like
>
> One thing that is probably most certainly confirmed is a return to Earth. If only to one up Mas Effect 3’s ‘Take back Earth’ slogan. Like an assault on ONI headquarters to take down insurrectionist agents who have taken control of the building.
>
> I’d just think it’d be interesting to face of against regular human oponents in the Halo verse.
Where did you get the idea of returning to Earth from? I don’t think we’ll be seeing Earth again at all in Halo 4, nor do I want to,
Spartan Ops bridges the story of Halo 4 and 5. Seeing as how the Chief and Infinity escape Requiem, it’s a forgone conclusion that John will go back to Earth for all the debrief and other award ceremonies and such. 343 will probably take advantage to throw in a Earth based mission, even if it’s just one. After all, there are several season spanning several months at a time. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
Considering Halo 2, 3, and ODST had Earth as a major setting, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it return in Spartan Ops. Though it probably won’t be Africa though.
I hope that the CG cutscenes are really just referring to the weekly episodes, not in the in-game cutscenes themselves. Still have really high hopes for Spartan Ops and, as I see it now, will probably spending more time with it than War Games.