If you have yet to see the behind the scenes footage of Halo 4 and its development
WARNING: this article includes plenty of juicy Halo 4 screens.
After watching the video, The current state of the game looks great; no more ridiculous bloom, smoother (clean) kills, visual updates (other than graphics) such as HUD elements including updated versions of the traditional Halo mechanics making the game much closer to its Halo 2 and 3 brethren.
In the early stages of Halo 4, we are introduced to the things all Halo fans know and love including the return of the Battle rifle, and the powerful remodeled Spartan IVs
(which seem to have lost some armor weight in contrast to their Reach counterpart).
Alongside the new Spartan IVs, comes the Spartan we've all been waiting for in anticipation: the new and reinvented Master chief.
In comparison to other Halo games, Master Chief's new armor appears to be a blend between his armor seen in Halo 2 and 3, returning to the armor color seen in Halo 2. Halo 4 is to resume Master Chiefs conquest against the covenant, and a new, yet to be revealed enemy. (Images above)
Gameplay Elements:
As you feast your eyes on the early version of the new HUD 1.1 sit down and look closely (in the screen above):
One of the first things to note, is that sprint has made its return(although no armor ability indicator is visible, so its safe to assume the dreaded armor abilities are gone).
The health system has returned to the Halo 2/Halo 3's system (as you are a Spartan IV).
There are no health bars below shield indicator ( in other words: no more scavenging hopelessly for health packs as your shields will recharge).
Among the many things present, the last important thing to note would be the scoreboard.
From what we can see in the early version of the game, score increments have changed (resulting in various factors that affect points earned per kill) as well as in game emblems displayed alongside the team's score, and the gametype name below (bottom right in screen above).