1 more quick (Edit: ha ha ha) suggestion as to the campaign of Halo 4-
I heard that you altered the lighting in the Library to make it easier to navigate. Which is fine. But remember that getting lost in a campaign level is not just a downside of lack of ease of navigation - it also makes the campaign level seem 1000x bigger and longer.
For example, think of Reach’s campaign levels. Were they large? Yes. Did they give you ANY reason to go and explore your surroundings? No. Your progress was completely orchestrated by a series of waypoints, and all you had to do, really, is walk straight.
Being lost, and having difficulty navigating, forces players to explore their surroundings, bringing back that original feel of exploration we all associate with Halo CE. It’s not just the look of the maps and levels that encourages that - Forge World was a bit of a throwback to the Halo CE E3 look - it’s the incentive to wander. Reach and Halo 3 both gave you little incentive to wander, in contrast to Halo CE and ODST’s Mombasa Streets. The only levels that I managed to get lost in in Halo 3, ODST and Reach is Mombasa Streets (without the map, I would have been SCREWED) and Cortana (a little).
In conclusion, if you allow people to get lost, they take their focus off of completing the level and start to look at what a nice campaign space you have provided for them. If they don’t get lost and every waypoint is simply laid out for them, they focus more on completing objectives and notice much less around them. Thinking of walking/driving to work in the morning - do you look around? Now imagine you get lost - how much more do you notice your surroundings?
Get my point? This stands for multiplayer, firefight, and campaign maps. Think of Infinity. Although it might not actually have been bigger than Reach maps, it looked huge because navigating it wasn’t easy. Now think of Spire. Think of all the unexplored areas on that map that people just DON’T NEED to go to, and therefore never appreciate. Think of Mombasa Streets, with its emphasis on wandering; now think of the Reach mission Pillar of Autumn, with absolutely NONE of that. Bring wandering back. Make us get lost.
Aside from less-than-spot-on navigation, there are a couple of other ways to induce that feeling of exploration, given an already completed campaign space. One is skulls and black boxes; I hope Halo 4 features both, and lots of 'em. Hiding units like Engineers in ODST (with a motive for finding them, like an Achievement) might also accomplish the same effect, except you’d have to make them Proto-Graveminds, Flood Dens, Stalks, or Juggernauts (please please please) because there won’t be any Covenant.
Another way to enhance this feeling of exploration might be to introduce a new mechanic into the Halo campaign, something I don’t remember ever seeing: Flanking and Ambush by hostiles. In Halo, generally you fight your way straight across a level. It would be more interesting if there was less of a “wall” of enemies like Reach/H3, and more of a system for roaming “groups” of enemies, like what is partially implemented in Mombasa Streets. This approach requires strategy, forces you to wander, and instills fear. Especially if the “groups” of enemies are made up of new Flood types - I’m imagining combat forms, Stalker forms, infected marines, infection forms, Juggernauts, thrashers, and those bird things in Halo Wars. Imagine seeing them wandering around, and you of course have to hide. Interesting, right?
