I and many of you have been happy to bash H4. Sure, there are still quite a few issues, but let’s ignore those for now and try and make a list of the things they did right since Halo Reach. If we only tell them what they did wrong, they might change some of the things they did right for H5. Obviously this is very subjective so try to keep it polite.
-
Bleed through - the Reach bleed through mechanic was bad, they’ve gone back to the old mechanic, and it’s a welcome change IMO.
-
Maps - sure the maps aren’t perfect, but they are sure as hell better than Reach. Especially with the introduction of the the Majestic map pack, I love playing on those maps.
-
Armour Lock - they took it out, enough said.
-
JIP - needs some tweaks obviously, but in general it’s nice to get new teammates when your old ones quit on you.
There are quite a few more, so feel free to add.
The campaign actually had a good narrative rather than there was a big battle and everybody died.
Movement - They nailed the jump height and speed of this game.
Sound effects - First thing I noticed about the game. The weapons and everything else sound fantastic.
Choose your own starting weapon - Sure there is room for improvement with the loadout situation but overall it solves an age-old problem, which was. Starting weapon selection. In H2 it was Smg vs BRs, In H3 it was AR vs BR, Reach was Ar vs DMR. Now we can finally start with whatever you want. (Although I do believe that you shouldn’t be able to start with Plasma nades)
Forge - Although the lack of zoom and precision editing sucks. At least now we get 3 distinct forge maps, more objects than ever, Cool new gadgets and OMG the color property on the blocks actually makes a difference.
No bloom.
The sound FX for everything but the hammer are phenomenal.
I personally enjoy the suite of AAs and try to use as many as possible.
JIP may need some tweaks but I do not miss the day of 8v2.
Loadouts are fun. I break mine down into slayer and objective loadouts but am constantly experimenting to find the righ balance.
Game types. Dominion is a worthy heir to territories. Team regicide is awesome. Binary slayer is tons of frenetic fun.
Flag pickup in CTF. I know this argued but if you’re a hardcore CTF player, you don’t min touching the flag of only to die quickly… Whatever resets that clock 
The relationship between John and Cortana in Halo 4’s campaign is very well done. Mainly due to Jen Taylor’s performance but Steve also does a fantastic job. Defiantly the highlight of Halo 4’s single player.
New weapons are always welcomed in my books, it’s about damn time we got an LMG in Halo and I still love the Railgun. And of course the God Cannon (IC) is still my new favorite weapon.
The soundtrack was good. Some tracks didn’t really feel like Halo to me but they still sounded damn fantastic.
The sound design in this game overall is fantastic. I don’t like the Magnum or BR’s firing sounds at all but that’s just me.
New game modes are always welcomed as well. Dominion is interesting and extraction is also fun.
Some of the new additions to game play are cool but for the most part they are poorly executed. But it’s nice to see 343 taking our feedback into account to improve these new additions.
Jip has gotten a lot better for me at least. I hated when team mates would quit, leaving you a couple of Spartans down…or worse, by yourself. But I agree with you op, this game isn’t the best. But it still has room for improvement. Their are 2 more games left for the trilogy. So I’m optimistic.
Yay an optimistic post and people actually being optimistic and appreciative of some stuff done right!
For me the deal maker was the sounds. I love all of them. Even the hammer noise, it’s a different take on a huge bang crash noise. Instead the charge of the hammer is what you hear (if that makes sense). After first shooting with AR and especially with the DMR they sound like weapons, they’re loud and sound powerful.
Movement is great and the actual mechanics of hitting another player are fantastic (the hit boxes may be a teeny bit big/ auto aim) but still that mechanic is very well done.
Agree with bleed through.
I like the ball tossing mechanic. good edition to customs
The AR finally does what it’s supposed to.
The visor colors are great.
Nothing much else to comment on I believe.
Oh, yes, the jump height is better improved from than Reach.
Thruster is a nice addition
Not to be the party pooper but…
I agree with all the stuff said so far. Halo Reach was everything buggie wanted to try in halo but never got around to. They didn’t have to balance it because they didn’t care, they didn’t even want to make the game.
Now in comparison to reach Halo 4 has improved considerably but Halo Reach wasn’t really halo. It was a half baked effort. So ya there are some good thing but what I got out of this is that the physics are better and the sound has improved.
However the list of issues still out ways what they got right. I won’t go into it as that has been done a little much for anyone to care.
The campaign was good, better story than usual but there was a lot that could have been better. Such as witty comments like we use to get from johnson. What bothers me the most though is that there was very little character development. They set it up perfectly to do so but didn’t go far enough. I felt for the characters yes but I could have more so. Overall though the campaign was well done.
> Movement - They nailed the jump height and speed of this game.
>
> Sound effects - First thing I noticed about the game. The weapons and everything else sound fantastic.
>
> Choose your own starting weapon - Sure there is room for improvement with the loadout situation but overall it solves an age-old problem, which was. Starting weapon selection. In H2 it was Smg vs BRs, In H3 it was AR vs BR, Reach was Ar vs DMR. Now we can finally start with whatever you want. (Although I do believe that you shouldn’t be able to start with Plasma nades)
>
> Forge - Although the lack of zoom and precision editing sucks. At least now we get 3 distinct forge maps, <mark>more objects than ever</mark>, Cool new gadgets and OMG the color property on the blocks actually makes a difference.
>
> No bloom.
My response to the highlighted part.
Things 343 did well with Halo 4? They finally made the game for us
I thought the campaign portrayed master chief better than Bungie did.
Bungie has made incredible campaigns, but he was always portrayed as the badass lean mean killing machine, and there isn’t anything wrong with that but if you wanted to know about him, you read the books.
343 showed that he was human, and that he had struggles, and the theme between him and Cortana was so well done.
I love how Halo actually plays a big part in the game, because a forerunner weapon is located on the ring, and this weapon is mentioned throughout the game (composer) and that master chief has to stop it before it enslaves all of humanity.
Well done 343, well done indeed.
> I and many of you have been happy to bash H4. Sure, there are still quite a few issues, but let’s ignore those for now and try and make a list of the things they did right since Halo Reach. If we only tell them what they did wrong, they might change some of the things they did right for H5. Obviously this is very subjective so try to keep it polite.
>
> - Bleed through - the Reach bleed through mechanic was bad, they’ve gone back to the old mechanic, and it’s a welcome change IMO.
>
> - Maps - sure the maps aren’t perfect, but they are sure as hell better than Reach. Especially with the introduction of the the Majestic map pack, I love playing on those maps.
>
> - Armour Lock - they took it out, enough said.
>
> - JIP - needs some tweaks obviously, but in general it’s nice to get new teammates when your old ones quit on you.
>
> There are quite a few more, so feel free to add.
Did you seriously say maps is something they did well? The maps in this games are some of the worst maps I’ve ever seen in a halo game. Halo reach maps were bad but I think the halo 4 maps are even worse.
I agree with you on Armour Lock and the bleed through mechanic but not on the join in progress. There are definitely way more thing that they did wrong with this game than good.
I do think they did a better job with the AA’s though. I only really have a problem with 3 of the AA’s and the rest I think are fine. Camo should be a pickup instead of an AA and pro vision and jetpack should just be removed imo.
The spartan design looks great. The armors, not so much.
Sprint makes the game more fast-paced.
The story in single player.
Spartan Ops was a good addition but it would have been nice to have a little more player immersion in the story (ex. missions played with spartan ops characters).
… Can’t think of anything else.
A 5v5 CTF Playlist
There are a few other decent ideas like JiP that need a whole lot more tweaking before they can be considered done well.
Graphics are outstanding in this game. That is the one thing that Halo 4 has impressed me over the others in the series.
What 343 did well with Halo? Hmmmmm…
The gun sounds, special effect sounds, sounds of the vehicles etc. have improved a lot since Reach. Now AR finally sounds something. H3 has the best game music, but H4 has better game music than Reach. IMO
Spartan ops is better than firefight. I hate both but I don’t hate spartan ops as much as I hate firefight.
ummm I think that’s it
The graphics and the railgun. Thats it.
Campaign: Graphics, story, music…I played Halo 4 with a buddy from start to finish on legendary on one play through with no sleep and -Yoink- it was worth it. Done that with 3, ODST, Reach, and now 4…plan on doing it again.
AR: Love the close range awesomeness of this weapon. With dex/firepower I feel the game plays a lot like Halo 3 switching from a precision weapon to AR depending on what range you are engaging.
JIP: I don’t care if it isn’t perfect it makes the game a whole lot better for someone like me who usually goes in solo or with one friend.
Objective based games rewarding you for actually going for the objectives: Thank god Halo is not just a kill based game anymore. Getting points for doing objective actions makes those game types way more fun.
New Objective game types and features: extraction, dominion, regicide, being able to toss a ball, and shooting while holding the flag are all pluses for me…especially shooting with the flag and moving more than 1 mph.
Honestly I really enjoy Halo 4. I have been playing since CE and find Halo 4 to be extremely enjoyable though I see where people are bummed about it not being quite as competitive as before. But I’ve been there …starting out as a scrub in halo 2 MP and working my way up to being a decent vet of the series. Maybe it’s just cause i’m older now but I play the have fun and this game is just downright fun. Just wish they made infinity slayer a must have DLC list so I can play the amazing new maps and not just haven, adrift, complex all the time.