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91862239 (banned)
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91862239 (banned)

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halo 4 special edition bundle

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i just pre ordered any one else ?

C0deZer0
Oc'D To Rhythm And Police
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join:2001-10-03
Tempe, AZ

C0deZer0

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That 'box set looks rather good, I must admit. Though I couldn't be less interested in the game. The trailers just make me want to throw my hands up in aggravation.

DslrMark
join:2000-06-29
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Man that's just Fugly.

TheBionic
Funkier than a mohair disco ball.
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I love these special edition consoles but I already have a 360 so I've never loved one enough to buy another. That one is kind of cool looking but I fail to see the 'Halo'-ness of it. I have high hopes for Halo 4.
whymeintrouble
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join:2001-06-20
Naperville, IL

whymeintrouble

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said by TheBionic:

... I have high hopes for Halo 4.

I have a feeling many have high hopes for it. this may be a turning point for Halo fans, whether or not they choose to continue following the MC.

If I have to cash, I may choose to get this one, as seeing my current MW2 edition seems to be getting a bit old. may have to buy it by then, although I don't play it as much as I once did, damn kids

tiger_scout
join:2010-02-20

tiger_scout

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I wish I knew when the 720 was coming out.
91862239 (banned)
join:2011-10-15
Brownsville, TX

91862239 (banned)

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Click for full size
halo unsc controller
sometime around Christmas 2014 for the xbox 720

also i found out microsoft will have a limited edition halo 4 controller thats diffrent from the controllers that come in the bundle to be sold separately i canceld my order an will be getting just the controller cuz its cheaper then getting the whole bundle

Grimm
join:2011-05-23

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The blue LEDs on the xbox and controllers are a neat touch. I wonder if they'll have the halo sounds like the Reach xbox

Goggalor
Psychonaut
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join:2009-06-09
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Goggalor

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said by Grimm:

The blue LEDs on the xbox and controllers are a neat touch. I wonder if they'll have the halo sounds like the Reach xbox

It is supposed to have unique sounds as compared to regular 360s.

As for Halo 4, I am not getting the special edition console, but I am getting the legendary edition of the game. I did the same for Halo 3 and for Reach; Master Chief's replica helmet and the Delta squad statue are just awesome to have around.

Grimm
join:2011-05-23

Grimm

Member

said by Goggalor:

said by Grimm:

The blue LEDs on the xbox and controllers are a neat touch. I wonder if they'll have the halo sounds like the Reach xbox

It is supposed to have unique sounds as compared to regular 360s.

As for Halo 4, I am not getting the special edition console, but I am getting the legendary edition of the game. I did the same for Halo 3 and for Reach; Master Chief's replica helmet and the Delta squad statue are just awesome to have around.

I'm going to one-up you lol. I still have about 10/12 cans from a 12 pack and an unopened 2-liter of Game Fuel from the Halo 3 release and pretty much every 7-up Slurpee cup of Halo design.

Goggalor
Psychonaut
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join:2009-06-09
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Goggalor

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said by Grimm:

I'm going to one-up you lol. I still have about 10/12 cans from a 12 pack and an unopened 2-liter of Game Fuel from the Halo 3 release and pretty much every 7-up Slurpee cup of Halo design.

*shakes his fist in the air* GRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMM!!1!1!1!one!won!

WK2
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Looks good, just bought a 4Gb Xbox though
LucasLee
join:2010-11-26

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said by TheBionic:

I have high hopes for Halo 4.

i don't.

as a long time fan of Bungie (really since Bungie was just Alex Seropian and he released Operation Desert Storm in the very early '90s), and as someone that played each version of Halo prior to their respective release dates, i have zero faith that 343i is going to handle the franchise in a respectful manner. EVERYTHING i've read about it sounds like they're trying their hardest to turn it into another Call of Duty wannabe.

NONE of the important franchise driving creative talent left Bungie for 343i.
The Halo series is now in the hands of a former assistant editor from IGN (Frankie O'Conner), who's great claim to fame with respect to the Halo series is being the Community Manager during Halo 2/3, and some rather sad attempts at essentially fan fiction quality stories in the "Halo Essentials" short story collection.

honestly, at this point, i wish Bungie had just killed off the Master Chief at the end of Halo 3 so that 343i couldn't just bring him back with their creative bankruptcy.

as an aside, i feel my beliefs are warranted given i dislike all of the balance changes they've made to the Halo Reach multiplayer since they took over its stewardship.
message to 343i: "Stop wreaking a game that is not yours" (Reach).

TheBionic
Funkier than a mohair disco ball.
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TheBionic

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said by LucasLee:

said by TheBionic:

I have high hopes for Halo 4.

i don't.

as a long time fan of Bungie (really since Bungie was just Alex Seropian and he released Operation Desert Storm in the very early '90s), and as someone that played each version of Halo prior to their respective release dates, i have zero faith that 343i is going to handle the franchise in a respectful manner. EVERYTHING i've read about it sounds like they're trying their hardest to turn it into another Call of Duty wannabe.

NONE of the important franchise driving creative talent left Bungie for 343i.
The Halo series is now in the hands of a former assistant editor from IGN (Frankie O'Conner), who's great claim to fame with respect to the Halo series is being the Community Manager during Halo 2/3, and some rather sad attempts at essentially fan fiction quality stories in the "Halo Essentials" short story collection.

honestly, at this point, i wish Bungie had just killed off the Master Chief at the end of Halo 3 so that 343i couldn't just bring him back with their creative bankruptcy.

as an aside, i feel my beliefs are warranted given i dislike all of the balance changes they've made to the Halo Reach multiplayer since they took over its stewardship.
message to 343i: "Stop wreaking a game that is not yours" (Reach).

Fair enough and you may be right...but honestly you've already made up your mind before you ever played. It's going to be VERY hard to please you.

I have played all the Halo campaigns through, as well as multiplayer on each for a while, and enjoyed them all but I'm not as hardcore as you so I will be somewhat easier to please.
LucasLee
join:2010-11-26

LucasLee

Member

said by TheBionic:

Fair enough and you may be right...but honestly you've already made up your mind before you ever played. It's going to be VERY hard to please you.

i admit you are completely correct.
one of my main issues regarding the multi-player: i'm aware they're adding essentially call of duty style perks which influence your spartan's abilities.
this breaks the very specific balance each previous Halo game's multi-player has had, in that previously experience only provided visual benefits and map knowledge.
imo, the kill streak style perks, and ability changing perks break multi-player as it creates players that have essentially different amounts of hit points and different damage dealing abilities.
Halo is not this time of game. Halo is not class based like Tribes, never has been.

two spartans are no longer equal, and your ability to play the game has less influence over the outcome of an encounter.
i suppose this is fine for an arcade game. but if there is to be any sort of balanced competitive environment as per the entirety of the series' history, then this type of skinner box bonus breaks the game.

also, i believe Frankie O'Conner is a moron.
i acknowledge that i'm apparently biased against all these changes, and it could turn out that Halo 4 is a fine game.
but i don't wish to reward or encourage this type of franchise sullying cash grab, while the REAL talent behind the many games from Bungie that i've enjoyed for years (beyond simply Halo) has moved on to what sounds like bigger and better things.

Woody79_00
I run Linux am I still a PC?
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Woody79_00

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To be honest with you, they should have just let Halo die. Reach should have been the last Halo game....atleast for a long while....there is such a thing as running something into the ground (See Call of Duty, see Activision)

I like the Halo games, but the time has come. You can ruin a good thing you know, and it looks like thats what they want to do.

On a side note, I have a Xbox 360...and i won't be buying the Xbox 720 or the new Playstation 4. Microsoft messed up big time with the 360 in the last year.

I bought an Xbox 360 and got rid of my Ps3 to get away from the "all in one media center" and the "i can watch TV and such on my console"

I bought a game console, not a set top box. MS has left me no choice and has pushed me away from their console. I am now a PC gamer with Steam (You know where the focus is on games, and not other useless nonsense like Netflix)

Game consoles are no longer game consoles...they are becoming small media center PC that are focused on Media Center abilties(Netflix, Hulu, music, etc) and gaming is now a distant second thought in their mind.

I left Sony because of the "All in One" mindset, and then Microsoft who had a good console for the 1st year and a half i owned it, has now turned into EXACTLY what i left Sony for.

The new Dashboard update is just downright horrid, MS has no platform Exclusive IP's expect Halo and Gears...i mean even Sony showed them up big time at E3 where i never thought i would say this...but Sony had good exciting and new IP they were showing off.

So I have been pushed to PC gaming...where i will most likely stay....it a shame that consoles are uninventing themselves and turning into set top boxes and media centers...invest those resourceds into R&D and developing IP for exclusive titles and you would have a good console...sadly it seems MS and Sony has abandoned true gamers.
LucasLee
join:2010-11-26

LucasLee

Member

said by Woody79_00:

To be honest with you, they should have just let Halo die. Reach should have been the last Halo game....atleast for a long while....

which was a portion of my point. Bungie has moved on, they feel they have told the stories they want to tell within the Halo universe. now, 343i run by a former community manager and none of the legitimate creative talent that made the series what it is, are going to run Halo into the ground.

and i feel all the pandering 343i has done to the COD community simply illustrates my belief.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

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said by Woody79_00:

To be honest with you, they should have just let Halo die. Reach should have been the last Halo game....atleast for a long while....there is such a thing as running something into the ground (See Call of Duty, see Activision)

I like the Halo games, but the time has come. You can ruin a good thing you know, and it looks like thats what they want to do.

On a side note, I have a Xbox 360...and i won't be buying the Xbox 720 or the new Playstation 4. Microsoft messed up big time with the 360 in the last year.

I bought an Xbox 360 and got rid of my Ps3 to get away from the "all in one media center" and the "i can watch TV and such on my console"

I bought a game console, not a set top box. MS has left me no choice and has pushed me away from their console. I am now a PC gamer with Steam (You know where the focus is on games, and not other useless nonsense like Netflix)

Game consoles are no longer game consoles...they are becoming small media center PC that are focused on Media Center abilties(Netflix, Hulu, music, etc) and gaming is now a distant second thought in their mind.

I left Sony because of the "All in One" mindset, and then Microsoft who had a good console for the 1st year and a half i owned it, has now turned into EXACTLY what i left Sony for.

The new Dashboard update is just downright horrid, MS has no platform Exclusive IP's expect Halo and Gears...i mean even Sony showed them up big time at E3 where i never thought i would say this...but Sony had good exciting and new IP they were showing off.

So I have been pushed to PC gaming...where i will most likely stay....it a shame that consoles are uninventing themselves and turning into set top boxes and media centers...invest those resourceds into R&D and developing IP for exclusive titles and you would have a good console...sadly it seems MS and Sony has abandoned true gamers.

Actually you don't make any sense since the PC also is a multi media device. Yet when the Xbox or PS3 does it you can't stand it. Error! Also what's the big deal? If you only want to use the XBOX for games NOTHING is preventing you form doing that. Get with the times. The days of a stand alone gaming machine are over so get over yourself.
whymeintrouble
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join:2001-06-20
Naperville, IL

whymeintrouble

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said by 88615298:

...The days of a stand alone gaming machine are over......

as fortunate or unfortunate as this may be, it is 100% correct. the whole industry is looking to consolidate, put as many functions into one piece of equipment as possible.

stonhinge
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I guess I'm in the minority of people who like the media center capabilities of modern game systems. Heck, when I got my PS2 I was thrilled that I wouldn't have to find a way to have a DVD player and the PS2 hooked up at the same time.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've never owned a standalone DVD player. Or Blu-ray player. Having it in one package is handy.

(Yes, I know that there are "better" DVD/Blu-ray players out there. But I don't watch DVDs that often, so I'll "make do".)

Woody79_00
I run Linux am I still a PC?
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said by 88615298:

Actually you don't make any sense since the PC also is a multi media device. Yet when the Xbox or PS3 does it you can't stand it. Error! Also what's the big deal? If you only want to use the XBOX for games NOTHING is preventing you form doing that. Get with the times. The days of a stand alone gaming machine are over so get over yourself.

The PC is a multi-media device, but comparing it to a console like the Xbox 360 is like apples to oranges. For starters the hardware on a PC is vastly superior and upgradeable, an Xbox is not.

secondly when i bought my Xbox, it was advertised as a "Video game console" not a set top box. If i wanted a set top box i would have bought one, I bought a video game console they have turned into a set top box.

thirdly, Did anyone see Microsoft's pathetic showing at E3...outside of Halo and Gears that had pretty much ZIP in the new Intelectual Properties for the Xbox 360. This is because they are spending all their efforts turning the darn thing into a set top box.

Lastly, PC gaming is making a major comeback in a really big way. Its no coincidence that as the console makers are focusing on this set top box nonsense, PC gaming numbers are increasing big time.

People want a video game console not a damn set top box...we don't want to surf the net on the Xbox we have a PC, Laptop, and Cellphone to do our facebooking and god knows what else on...we want to game...

»www.maximumpc.com/articl ··· comeback

»www.destructoid.com/pc-v ··· 11.phtml

There is a reason more and more people are turning to PC gaming since the consoles started this garbage....and it will continue as long as they stay on this path, in fact by 2015 most estimates have PC gaming outdoing console gaming in sales and users altogether.

I actually like consoles, I don't want to see them die, but their vision of a set top box have pushed myself and many millions away from them...thats not what we bought...The Xbox was advertised as a game console...i bought a game console...not a set top box...not a multi-media center...but a game console.

game consoles were much better when they focused on games. You can clearly see the quality of Xbox 360 games from launch till now and the game of the last 2 years since they started this crap the game qualitiy and such is going down the drain and MS can't even put up any new IP at E3 because they have been wasting resources on this set top box nonsense.

just my opinion....
jack322
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It's beautiful
LucasLee
join:2010-11-26

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could you please repeat yourself a few more times within one post?

we get it, you don't like an all in one multimedia and entertainment device.

that said, you clearly didn't follow the advertising for the 360 before or during the launch back in 2005. even the name, "Xbox 360" was an attempt by Microsoft to be at "the center" of the living room for all entertainment possibilities. 360, as in it is surrounded by entertainment options of all kinds. tv and direct download of video services was always part of the promotion.

personally, i dig the integration.

i'd love to see the source for your "most estimates have PC gaming outdoing console gaming in sales and users altogether" by 2015. perhaps if you're counting flash games and other disposable web content and mobile smart phone games. by 2015 there will be a new set of consoles out and they'll be selling like crazy again pushing serious PC gaming into a niche corner for technically minded enthusiasts. consoles will always fair better with the general market. mark my word.

Goggalor
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Goggalor

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said by LucasLee:

consoles will always fair better with the general market. mark my word.

Marked and totally agree!

Grimm
join:2011-05-23

Grimm

Member

said by Goggalor:

said by LucasLee:

consoles will always fair better with the general market. mark my word.

Marked and totally agree!

Thirded?

I sit at a computer all day here at work. Usually, the last thing I want to do is the same at home, so a couch + tv + console wins out 99.99% of the time.

Woody79_00
I run Linux am I still a PC?
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said by LucasLee:

could you please repeat yourself a few more times within one post?

we get it, you don't like an all in one multimedia and entertainment device.

that said, you clearly didn't follow the advertising for the 360 before or during the launch back in 2005. even the name, "Xbox 360" was an attempt by Microsoft to be at "the center" of the living room for all entertainment possibilities. 360, as in it is surrounded by entertainment options of all kinds. tv and direct download of video services was always part of the promotion.

personally, i dig the integration.

i'd love to see the source for your "most estimates have PC gaming outdoing console gaming in sales and users altogether" by 2015. perhaps if you're counting flash games and other disposable web content and mobile smart phone games. by 2015 there will be a new set of consoles out and they'll be selling like crazy again pushing serious PC gaming into a niche corner for technically minded enthusiasts. consoles will always fair better with the general market. mark my word.

yeah i got a bit carried away lol, please excuse my passion.

As for my source about sales for consoles and PC,

»www.maximumpc.com/articl ··· comeback

Dan Stapleton, editor-in-chief at GameSpy.com, says PC gaming is indeed on the upswing, and he thinks there’s even proof in the numbers.

“If we’re talking about raw numbers, how about 30 million active Steam accounts, 15 million League of Legends accounts, more than 10 million World of Warcraft players, and 4 million Minecraft sales?” Stapleton says. “Those are huge numbers, and each is representative of the things that are really driving modern PC gaming: aggressive digital distribution, free-to-play gaming, MMOs, and unfettered indie developers.”

Stapleton says the performance gulf between the PC and console is so big right now that he suspects console players are envious.

“You can’t look at the visual difference between Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, or Battlefield 3 running on a console next to the PC and not be at least a little jealous,” Stapleton says. “We’re also getting amazing deals from Steam sales, and entire genres like real-time strategy that just don’t work well on consoles. I don’t want to paint all console gamers with one brush, but PC gaming is pretty compelling right now.”

As you can see from the chart above, PC gaming has risen considerably from 2008 to 2012 much moreso then consoles.

This is not to mention how many accounts Steam has added in that time frame.

My neighbors son who is 13 just sold his Xbox, built a PC and installed steam...you can't beat the prices...games are 10-15 dollars cheaper on Steam. Console ports are even cheaper.

IMO the Xbox and PS are in trouble...i won't be surprised if the next gen is the last....I do think Valve will release a Steam Console and it will be upgradeable, and will be the only viable console moving forward simply due to the cheap price Valve can deliver games compared to the others.

again just my take.
LucasLee
join:2010-11-26

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LucasLee

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i only meant friendly chiding, and i understand your passion, i've played games for decades across all kinds of consoles and computers.

your source while being clearly from one particular side of the discussion to begin with (a pc mag) appears to fail to accurately acknowledge that the current console generation is 7 years old. of course the pc is doing well right now, and of course the hardware is not equal. but this generation is almost over.
that's exactly what happened back in 2004 when the ps2 and original xbox were slowing their growth.

i guess, i just see too much of your argument mirroring things i heard back when the Voodoo 2 video card was all the rage and people predicted the end of consoles in the 1990's.

so, out of list of "active accounts" referenced (steam/LoL/WoW/Mincraft) there is only marginally more than the number of current active Xbox Live Gold subscribers. and i think it's fair to guess that there is some overlap in those pc gaming related accounts, many of the WoW players likely also have Steam for example.

i'm not saying you're wrong, i just think, this is the most convenient time to make the argument that pc gaming is making a big return to prominence since it's the end of the current console generation. in 3 years, i have a feeling the market wont look like your bar graph as the market is in for a major change once again.

pc gaming is great, it's just not for everyone given the amount of extra effort required to get the most out of the experience.

Krisnatharok
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The console wars topic aside in this thread, the reviews for Halo 4 are starting to leak out, and they look good.

I rarely play my Xbox nowadays, with PC-only games gobbling up most of my time (WoW, LoL, GW2 when I get bored with the first two), but I am going to head down to BB, cash in some vouchers, and pre-order Halo 4.

Goggalor
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Goggalor

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IGN's review of Halo 4 (9.8/10.0):

As usual, of course, the fate of the universe rests on Master Chief’s long-dormant shoulders – the green-armored super-soldier has been on ice aboard the Forward Unto Dawn since Halo 3 faded to black five years ago – but this time our hero bears an even greater burden.

Saving humanity is the easy part. In Halo 4, his more difficult task is rescuing Cortana from herself. She is slipping into rampancy – a condition that plagues all UNSC AI constructs after they’ve been in service more than seven years. As their knowledge base expands, they eventually, as Cortana explains, think themselves to death. And that’s the unexpected heart of Halo 4’s greatness. The plot delves deeper into John’s humanity than ever before, but Halo 4 is more about Cortana and the fight for her own – ironically enough – humanity.

Amazingly, Halo 4 is not only a success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire first-person shooter genre. And just how new developer 343 Industries has done it will surprise, delight, and excite you.

Familiarly Unfamiliar

It starts with a mesmerizing CG cutscene that flat-out knocks you on your ass. The lighting is flawless, subtle movements and animations abound, and it even goes so far that Commander Lasky (yes, the same Lasky we see as a teenager in the Forward Unto Dawn webseries) has crooked teeth – not the usual polygon-perfect Chiclet choppers that every other animated video game human has. It strikes a fine balance between old-school fan service and establishing context for new players, and it quickly segues into gameplay, where Halo 4’s greatest strength becomes immediately apparent: its gunplay.

Halo’s weapons continue their trend of working in complementary harmony, where each gun has a purpose, and every situation a fitting firing solution. The inaccurate Promethean Suppressor and undesirable Covenant Storm Rifle proved near-useless at times, but Halo 4 still hits on a ludicrously high percentage of its death-dealers. The short-range Energy Sword or new Scattershot are great to pack alongside mid-range delights such as the DMR or Battle Rifle, which also pair nicely with the ferocious Sniper Rifle if you’re into the long game.

In the opening mission, Master Chief is thawed out and immediately put back to work shooting Covenant, evoking both Halo: Combat Evolved (it’s set aboard an under-attack spaceship) and Halo 2 (the stage’s major battle takes place in zero-G on the hull of the ship). Expect your jaw to drop at least once on every level of Halo 4’s eight-mission campaign, especially after crash-landing on the Forerunner planet Requiem, emerging from the wreckage, and ascending a hill whose apex overlooks a gorgeous valley. It is your introduction to the planet you’ll be spending most of the game exploring and fighting the new Promethean enemies on, an obvious callback to the unforgettable moment when you touched down on the Halo ring for the first time in Combat Evolved.

Now Hear This

Of course, gorgeous graphics are only one responsibility a console’s killer app must bear. Perhaps equal to Halo 4’s monitor-melting visuals is its bar-none, best-in-class sound design. If you think you’ve heard Halo, check your ears and listen again. Nary a gunshot, MJOLNIR boot clank, or Covenant Elite’s “Wort wort wort” passes through your speakers without a significant, authoritative overhaul that lends an aggressive, testosterone-inducing punch to Halo 4’s combat.

Few game series are known as much for their music as Halo, and thus much has been made of British electronica producer Neil Davidge taking over for the beloved Bungie incumbent, Marty O’Donnell. It’s a bold shift – and probably wise of 343 to go in a tonally different direction rather than attempt to emulate O’Donnell – but the results are mixed. The trademark monk chants are gone, and Davidge’s moody tunes are complementary rather than additive. The new tracks simply aren’t memorable and never elevate the action happening on the screen the way that O’Donnell’s bombastic scores did, though this may be intentional, as Davidge’s compositions are decidedly atmospheric.

Hello New Day

Resplendent set-pieces are ubiquitous during your quest, matched by what is inarguably the finest Halo sandbox yet. Halo 4 feels much more open-ended and organic than Halo Reach’s paint-by-numbers sequences because of its massive scale, scope, and freedom for possibility. Go it on foot, or take the Scorpion in front of you? Hop in a Ghost, or take the riskier strategy of trying to get to a heavily guarded Wraith? All of these choices exist in a moment, not a spectacular scene, allowing for emergent encounters dictated by the opportunities you seize.

To be clear, Halo 4 certainly has its share of dedicated vehicle sections. The walking two-story Mantis robot packs a high-caliber machinegun alongside a rocket barrage. It’s even sporting a mean foot stomp attack to flatten any Covenant or Promethean scum who dare venture within spitting distance of you. The time you’ll spend behind its controls is both empowering and refreshing.

Halo 4 also finally lets me do two things I’ve always wanted to do in a Halo campaign: fight alongside other Spartans and fly a Pelican. It’s a treat to blast Covenant Phantoms out of the sky with the silver bird’s beefed-up Spartan Laser, giving a classic Halo vehicle its long-overdue moment in the sun. Furthermore, an amazing near-final sequence tips its cap to the Halo finales of yore – you’ll know it when you see it and I dare not spoil it for you – even if it’s very obviously reminiscent of another powerhouse pop-culture phenomenon.

Digging Deeper

All throughout, the Halo 4 campaign is paced better than any first-person shooter this side of Half-Life 2, deftly mixing on-foot combat, vehicle sequences, quiet story moments, and key Chief-and-Cortana interactions. That pacing is most evident on Normal difficulty, where you won’t run into the patience-testing battles for the next checkpoint that define the Heroic and Legendary settings.

The series has long been lauded for its brainy bad guys, and they’ve gained a whole host of IQ points for Master Chief’s return. As you’d expect, the full smarts of Halo 4’s brilliant enemy AI are most evident at higher difficulties. Vehicles get brought down to earth – sometimes literally, in the case of the Banshee – now that enemies are proficient at firing ride-disabling overcharged Plasma Pistol bursts. And the new Promethean aggressors are wicked intelligent without being unfair.

Watcher units hover above the Knight infantrymen, acting as guardians and medics – if you can get around the protector’s shield or return-to-sender grenade tosses, it can revive its allies. Halo 4’s combat is about efficient prioritization: kill the Watcher before it can get to cover, and turn the Knights to dust before they can escape, all the while dodging fire from swarms of speedy wall-running Crawlers – dog-like denizens of Requiem that can only be shot in the face.

An Imperfect Being?

The campaign has few failings, but the primary annoyance is that a lot of great story content is left for the eight hidden Terminals. Unlike previous Halos, the Terminal tale here isn’t a side-story, but rather it fills in important backstory for both the main antagonist and a key allied character. Worse, you can’t view the videos within the game. Instead, you’re directed to Halo Waypoint, which serves only to pull you out of the experience, literally and figuratively.

On a related note, as much as Halo 4 delves delightfully deep into its iconic characters, it leaves a number of threads hanging. Why is Spartan-II creator Dr. Catherine Halsey in handcuffs in the intro? What did Master Chief’s [spoiler redacted] do to him? How did [spoiler redacted] survive at the end? No doubt these will be addressed in the fifth and sixth Halos, but until then the discussions will be heated and the wait will be maddening.

Fair warning: Getting the special Legendary ending is going to require a lot of tough work.

Halo 4’s other drag is one that’s only really evident on Heroic or Legendary difficulties: some of its fetch quest-y, flip-three-switches sequences feel like they artificially lengthen the game because of how long you can get hung up on them when the going gets tough. I spent upwards of an hour trying to trudge through one of them on Heroic, but when playing again on Normal I cruised through on the first try. At one point, Cortana even makes a self-deprecating remark about the repetition, which I recognized and appreciated.

These are mostly just scrapes in the paint of Master Chief’s MJOLNIR armor, however. His return in the Halo 4 campaign is a success of mission design, art direction, level design, technology, and story writing. Underpinning it all, though, is that irresistible combat. Some shooters get a few weapons right, or, like Sniper Elite v2, they build their entire experience around one facet like long-range. Halo, however, boasts the best of all worlds. As you’d expect, this plays exceptionally well in Halo 4’s robust multiplayer modes.

Great Expectations

No console shooter has a richer, deeper, more revered multiplayer history than Halo. So how does Halo 4’s multiplayer suite live up to the legacy in 343’s hands?

It’s golden.

Halo has evolved, wrapping its multiplayer in an unexpected narrative context – the Spartan-on-Spartan battles are presented as training sessions aboard the UNSC Infinity ship – complete with more of the same visually arresting introductory cutscenes for both the adversarial War Games and the new Spartan Ops co-op mode.

With Halo 4’s immaculate weapon balancing and gun-for-every-situation combat strategies, it needs only a great crop of multiplayer maps in order to qualify for classic status. Fear not, as 343 packs War Games with 10 mostly stellar stages and three additional Forge-built battlegrounds. Exile leads the vehicle-heavy Big-Team Battle complement, Ragnarok shines as a Mantis-showcasing remake of Halo 3’s Valhalla, and Haven is among the series’ all-time finest small and symmetrical levels. Oh, and one of the official Forge constructions, Settler, is a smaller, crazier evolution of the franchise’s most famous map that I absolutely love: Blood Gulch. Halo 4 might not have its instant-classic (a la Halo 2’s Lockout), but this is an impressive collection of outstanding battlegrounds, with a seemingly greater emphasis placed on the large-scale, vehicle-inclusive levels that are Halo’s bread-and-butter.

Meanwhile, Halo 4 includes all of the same matchmaking, playlists, customization, and social options you’ve come to expect from the series. The more visual lobby screen, where player cards depict each person’s custom Spartan, is a bit more cluttered and difficult to parse through than previous Halos, but that’s the only downgrade. Everything else is on par with what Bungie had previously established. The Theater returns virtually unchanged, as does the Forge editor, with its notable improvement being a magnet feature that allows you to more easily connect Forge pieces.

That leaves Spartan Ops, a downloadable series of 10 episodic side missions for Gold subscribers, each of which include a lengthy CG cutscene. The first one spans five chapters, and it took about an hour to play through in four-player co-op on Legendary difficulty. As you’d expect, the more friends you bring the easier it’ll be – and, while it’s perfectly enjoyable and makes for a good excuse to jump online with your pals once a week, once you’re finished with each episode, it lacks the replayability and score-based incentives of the Firefight mode it replaces. However, the incredible pre-episode cinematics make the mode a must-play regardless, and it opens up a number of interesting narrative possibilities for future episodes and seasons. So even if you only play each episode once, you can’t complain about the fact that nine more weeks of downloads await you.

The End of the Beginning

After soaking in the new game, I am beyond thrilled to be so in love with Halo again, more than I’ve been since Halo 2. Halo 4 is a masterstroke everyone can and should celebrate, and its two guaranteed sequels instantly make the next-generation Xbox a must-own system, with Halo 5 its most anticipated title. Halo has been rebuilt. It has been redefined. And it has been reinvigorated. The Xbox’s original king has returned to his rightful place on the throne.

The Verdict

Cortana once asked Master Chief what would happen if he missed his target, and in the single greatest line of dialogue in Halo history, Chief replied with the coolest, calmest confidence, "I won’t."

With Halo 4, he doesn't.


Snuffbox
nice irl
Premium Member
join:2011-04-15
Milwaukee, WI

Snuffbox to Woody79_00

Premium Member

to Woody79_00
said by Woody79_00:

To be honest with you, they should have just let Halo die. Reach should have been the last Halo game....atleast for a long while....there is such a thing as running something into the ground (See Call of Duty, see Activision)

Wow... You could not be more wrong.

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