Now to start this off I would like to say that I thought the campaign was alright, but it just did not stand up to halo 1-3 campaigns. And do not tell me that the campaign does not matter, because halo began as much of a story based game as a multiplayer game. Here are my reasons-
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I did not find Prometheans to be a memorable enemy. They were difficult at first but then once you got used to their abilities they just kind of died and it became a job to kill them rather than an excitement. Their teleporating ability became predictable. It seemed to be that there were specific nodes that the prometheans teleported to. Also I found it really hard to distinguish between the different types of prometheans because they all looked the same. The only way I could tell which ones were the “gold elite” of the prometheans was by their weaponry. And the incineration cannon was ridiculous, dieing to an unavoidable shot is not that much fun. The fuel rod is at least a slow moving projectile so you can try and dodge it.
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The way that the NPCs treated the chief was very unrealistic in my opinion. They come across a war hero who has saved Earth on many occasions, and the captain’s response is to call the chief an outdated piece of machinery. I know some people will say that his response is meant to exemplify the ending sequence where polaski tells him he isn’t a machine. Or maybe it is meant to be there to create an emotional response and get mad at the captain, but for me it just makes me annoyed at the game. The master chief is supposed to be the ultimate soldier and war hero, a commanding officer and ally treating him with disrespect breaks that image down a bit. Now if 343 had to have the relationship between the captain and the chief then so be it, but I think it could have been altered to make it better. Instead of the ship’s crew just going about their duties, I think it might have added to the chief’s image if a lot of the crew or spartans followed the chief because they knew he was doing the right thing. I don’t know, these are just ideas.
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The plane sequence meant to be reminiscent of the warthog races during halo 1 and 3 was really boring. In halo 1’s warthog race there are explosions all around you and enemies to get in your way. Your warthog flips a couple times and you have to respond to that. The unpredictably of the warthog race makes it interesting and different every time you play it. The plane race or whatever you want to call it, lacked luster. You moved right and left, up and down dodging architecture and shooting some beams that are meant to make it interesting. But you can just slow the ship down, shoot the beams and rocket forward. I actually just accelerated through the whole thing because the beams weren’t hard to shoot and the architecture not hard to dodge.
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Now I have read the first 3-4 halo books, I viewed all the terminals from halo 1, and halo 4. With this information I still found the whole sequence between the Didact, Librarian, and the chief confusing and forced. The whole idea that the librarian implanted genetics to make the chief possible is strange and far fetched. Even though the game is science fiction, it has to be grounded in reality. The fact that the chief’s suit and his abilities are from the librarian takes away from humanity’s achievements. The chief is supposed to be the best humanity has to offer, and you can not just come in during the fourth installment of the game and tell us that humans did not come up with the chief or his abilities.
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This is a short one, the music. I thought the music was alright but it had lost that memorable halo music. It became more background music but music can make some of the most memorable impressions for games and movies. So just having background music to an epic series of events does not really do that much.
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There’s nothing fun about killing Watchers and Crawlers, I agree, but I find fighting Knights to be engaging. It’s especially fun watching them fight Covies and even themselves (via glitch). Their interaction with the terrain is much more interesting than the Elites.
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The captain has been discharged by the end of Halo 4 so whatever relationship they were going for is probably going to be transferred to the novels. Or won’t be explored at all.
I’m actually glad that the captain wasn’t part of ONI. Some people hate on him for attacking Chief but I think it was a good thing that Parangosky was not completely in control of the Infinity.
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Actually, it was a supposed to be a new thing. Or more accurately, a mix of the Hog run and Sabre battle. The Halo 4 Hog run is on Forerunner and is probably the worst due to how limited your path is.
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Ancient humans were favored by the Librarian weren’t they? I think she may have been like a psychologist.
I disagree on all counts. Your complaints seem to stem more from wanting to pick apart the game rather than actually being let down.
I found the Prometheans to be the best enemies I’ve fought in a game since Big Daddies in Bioshock. They’re tough, their weapons kill quickly, and they do that terrifying thing where they teleport in a zig-zag pattern and get in your face.
The jet sequence was fun as hell. Flying along that trench was one of my favorite parts of the game, and the only thing that could have improved it is enemy fighters engaging you.
I really don’t know what to tell you. You have every right to not like the game, but I firmly believe that there’s a demographic of this community that would have been disappointed no matter what 343i released. It’s not that they don’t like the game, it’s that they don’t want to like the game.
Your point about the music is valid, but not due to the soundtrack being lackluster. In fact, it was a fantastic soundtrack, maybe the best since ODST’s, but not nearly enough was featured in the game. Granted, not many people can be bothered to listen to the whole thing and make a purely musical judgment, but the greatness is there. They could have used SO much more of it in the game.
> I really don’t know what to tell you. You have every right to not like the game, but I firmly believe that there’s a demographic of this community that would have been disappointed no matter what 343i released. It’s not that they don’t like the game, it’s that they don’t want to like the game.
This is the quote applicable for the ages right -Yoinking!- here.
I believe the demographic was probably split 3 ways:
- People who’d like H4 regardless of whether Bungie or 343 released it.
- People who weren’t going to like it purely cause it wasn’t a Bungie title, or because they thought 343 would ruin the franchise, and in turn give themself the belief that they did ruin it without giving it a chance.
- People who legitimately dislike it due to flaws etc, and are just apart of the ‘hard to please’ crowd.
I agree with all your points. Disappointing Campaign, dreadful Multiplayer. Maybe Halo 5 will be better.
The campaign gameplay was a little meh and I did miss the Warthog chase. However, I loved the story and cinematic aspect of things and I thought on that account H4 was incredible.
Eh, I’ve only played the first 2 chapters of campaign. So far I’ve found it quite enjoyable, not for the story but for the overall experience. I focus more on the multiplayer rather than everything else.
> I disagree on all counts. Your complaints seem to stem more from wanting to pick apart the game rather than actually being let down.
>
> I found the Prometheans to be the best enemies I’ve fought in a game since Big Daddies in Bioshock. They’re tough, their weapons kill quickly, and they do that terrifying thing where they teleport in a zig-zag pattern and get in your face.
>
> The jet sequence was fun as hell. Flying along that trench was one of my favorite parts of the game, and the only thing that could have improved it is enemy fighters engaging you.
>
> I really don’t know what to tell you. You have every right to not like the game, but I firmly believe that there’s a demographic of this community that would have been disappointed no matter what 343i released. It’s not that they don’t like the game, it’s that they don’t want to like the game.
>
> Your point about the music is valid, but not due to the soundtrack being lackluster. In fact, it was a fantastic soundtrack, maybe the best since ODST’s, but not nearly enough was featured in the game. Granted, not many people can be bothered to listen to the whole thing and make a purely musical judgment, but the greatness is there. They could have used SO much more of it in the game.
I feel like the osts are better off being listened too as standalone music. The audio of the OST were drowned out a lot, especially in cutscenes. I was thinking that listening to in game music would be better before I judge. That rule worked for the Trilogy and other bungie games, but I found it worse to hear in game. Nevertheless, I liked the Campaign a lot. I played it heroic solo.
Reach Campaign is still disappointment imo. I’d still put halo as 2nd from the last, Reach being at the bottom…
Good writing, OP. I agree. Promethean enemies were forgettable and boring to kill, like machines. Give me the Covenant any day. At least they act like they’re alive.