Dear 343 Industries
This is my official retirement of the Halo series.
I've been in the game since the very first Halo, and it pains me to actually say goodbye, I have a total confirmation of 40,000+ confirmed kills and countless hours of game time. But Halo 4 has drawn the line. When Halo 4 was on the brink of launch, I was expecting a game that rivaled Reach, but this one fell short, far too short. Halo: Reach had a total combination of a great story line, an awesome multi-player experience, and a Forge mode that cannot be compared to. The best part of Halo: Reach, was that there was no DLC. Mainly due to the fact that it was Bungie's last release of the Halo series. But it's farewell was a priceless jewel.
I commend you for your cinematic experience within the campaign, but that doesn't make up for the game's shortfalls. I had a great time playing the campaign mode, it was a lot of fun, and fairly challenging, but this was playing on Legendary mode from the get-go. I completed it from start to finish within 8 hours though. Fairly disappointing for a game that was so anticipated. The multi-player is fantastic, without a doubt, still some bugs to work out, but those don't subtract from the value of the experience.
What was the most disappointing, is how you, 343 Industries, has turned such a unique, space-age game, into a copy of what we know as Call of Duty, there are the aesthetics of course, but the core of the multi-player is almost a clone of the Call of Duty franchise. Custom classes, objective games are played with the main goal (i.e. Capturing the flag, planting the bomb, capturing territories) being secondary to killing your foes, and the simple-mindedness of it all.
Armor abilities are now treated like perks, except you have to earn, and then buy them (Similar to Call of Duty: Black Ops) along with your weapons, and other such items. The only real aspect of Halo 4 being different to every Call of Duty game made so far is the Spartan Customization. You can change your armor, and the color of it. but that doesn't change game play mechanics at all. You have introduced Prestige Levels, otherwise known as Specializations, and you've completely altered what Bungie had left in place to be built upon.
Specifically in the campaign, when Master Chief even says it himself, "I thought the Elites were on our side." And all Cortana says is, "A lot can happen in four years." and you expect us to take that as an answer. Brutes are never even seen in this game, nor are drones. What in the world happened in four years? That much? Brutes extinct, the elites break the truce, and not even a word from the Arbiter. I was hoping throughout the entire campaign, for him to show up at some point and save Master Chief like he did at one point or another in Halo 3.
I'm just done, 343 you have ruined everything that Halo was for me. Left so many questions unanswered, and completely destroyed the uniqueness that Halo had before. I didn't even mention how you left us hanging for Forge mode, i.e. there not being one. Because what you put in Halo 4, that's not forge, that putting more vehicles, sandbags, and guns in maps. That's not fun, that's not Forge. That's just pathetic. Yet I have no doubt that you intend on releasing DLC with the real Forge Experience included. And to that, I raise the highest middle finger I possibly can. This game you released is $60 here in America, and personally, that's half of my paycheck per week. That's not the kind of money I can just fritter away. Maybe for some kids, who's parents buy them all of their video games, where it's not too bad for them. But this game is not worth $60.
And I don't even want to talk about Spartan Ops, that's just another copy/paste from Call of Duty, except you changed the name from "Spec Ops"
And not to mention the total lack of creativity in your writing department, did you notice how many things they had copied from Star Wars? Because I sure did, and I'd be careful with that, now that Star Wars is owned by Disney.
Tomorrow, I'm going to package this game up, bring it back to the retailer I bought it from, and get every last penny I can back. You've ruined it 343, I'm going to go back to playing Halo: Reach, when everything was perfect. Awesome campaign, awesome multi-player, awesome forge mode, and superb everything else.
Goodbye 343 Industries
And goodbye Halo, I will never forget the golden days.
SirFfuzzyLogik, over and out.
