When Halo: Combat Evolved first arrived on the scene, it was the sole reason to buy an Xbox. It modernized the first person controls on a gaming console with its’ dual analog setup. Its’ original developer, Bungie, now gone from the series saw some serious wear from the series with the last couple of titles. While Halo 3: ODST had a great campaign, it was rather short and not worthy of the full price Microsoft made it. Halo Reach, while heralded, was hated by many fans due to some of the creations in its’ multiplayer, along with its’ laughable campaign. But in their stead comes 343 studios, a Microsoft created development for the sole purpose of making Halo games. Considering it’s their first time, Halo 4 does have some growing pains about it, but it’s ultimately a worthwhile experience.
Halo 4 marks the return of the series’ hero, Master Chief, along with his AI companion, Cortana. After four years of drifting in space, Master Chief is awakened to a rogue Covenant group who boarded the ship on the outskirts of a Forerunner planet. The game doesn’t do a very good job conveying what is actually happening with the story, both present and past. While you can unlock background information via Terminals that can only be accessed via Halo Waypoint, an application, it drives the point home of the game having poor storytelling for its’ main thread. Unfortunately, for the story that’s there, it doesn’t really go that far with it, which makes it even more puzzling. Another plot thread is Cortana’s rampancy, which is really the only thing conveyed well in the game’s story. It makes you wonder why so much effort was put on that part of the story and not the main portion of it. It’s confusing, albeit straightforward. Halo 4 has an alright campaign, but it could’ve been better with some better storytelling.
Halo 4’s campaign also continues the tradition of semi-open areas for firefights. While there’s a good mix of small and large areas, which look amazing by the way with its’ gorgeous backdrops that will make you wonder how a console is doing this, on some of the higher difficulties firefights become a major issue of stop and go. At certain points the game will become a puzzle in terms of you figuring out how to pass them, due in part to the game’s poor AI. It’s frustrating to know that a single shot can ruin four or five minutes of progress because the game failed to load a checkpoint. The new enemies in the game, the Prometheans, aren’t all that fun to fight either. They essentially have Flood like numbers, but require the amount of bullets it usually takes to kill a Covenant Elite. You’ll constantly be scrambling for new guns and ammo, leaving you defenseless. While you can appreciate the variety the game is trying to promote, running out of ammo is often the line between progress and reload, a very harsh mistress indeed. What’s also harsh is the loss of firefight in favor of a new cooperative mode, Spartan Ops.
Spartan Ops is a short, mission-based, 5 chapters per week for 10 weeks mode. In this mode, players go throughout an area and kill all the enemies until the end with a cutscene start and finish. Ultimately it’s a short, filler mode that serves little purpose other than to keep people interested in the game for more than a week or two because of other shooters on the market. It’s not an equal substitute for Firefight, but it does an okay job to fill the gap if you get bored, or want more experience than what you’ll get from multiplayer. Halo 4’s multiplayer is a bit more Call of Duty like than Halo Reach. While there aren’t class loadouts for each playlist, you get points to unlock weapons, abilities and armor pieces. While armor pieces are automatic unlocks for various milestones such as getting to Spartan Rank 5, at each level you get 1-2 points to spend how you see fit on Weapons, Grenades or abilities. It’s an adequate system since it promotes choice to peoples’ play styles. What’s not right about it is how the game decides to show you what you can unlock. Instead of laying out everything from the outset, getting kills, gaining levels, and more allow you see what is ahead of you. It’s not tempting anyone to choose variety over a preferred style of play that makes them have a good time. It’s not a fundamental problem, but it’s enough to be a noticeable problem.
Halo 4 does a lot right. It’s graphically impressive, it sounds and controls beautifully. It does a few things wrong as well, most of which are inexcusable. But for the most part, despite its’ flaws, it’s probably the most fun you’ll have with an online shooter this year. That, in and of itself, is why is succeeds.
Score: 8.5 out of 10
+ Looks Amazing
+ Great Multiplayer
+ Good interaction between Master Chief and Cortana
- Terrible Storytelling
- Spartan Ops is disappointing
- Unlock System tedious, cumbersome past weapons
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