Halo 4 is the game I had been waiting for ever since it’s official announcement. Now that it’s been out for a while, a lot of people are either jubilant or strongly disappointed. I’m satisfied with Halo 4, no reason to hate a game, but as for someone who enjoys making machinimas out of videogames, there are a few things I suggest 343 fix, add, or remove, either as title updates to Halo 4, or featured in Halo 5(maybe).
1. SMG: A favored weapon of mine and of others I’m sure, it’s just another classic armament that needs to return. Halo 4 featured a light machine gun, so why not its counterpart?
2. Theater Mode: Ever since Halo 3, you were able to record campaign, multiplayer, custom games, Forge games, and eventually Firefight in ODST. Halo 4 doesn’t allow media(films and snapshots) from campaign or Spartan Ops. People who enjoy the hobby of game-capturing may want to have some awesome theatrical footage of their legendary spartan and their own spartans kicking *** besides other spartans’.
3. Falcon: Do you know why they replaced the Falcon with mechs? I don’t have a problem with adding something from Armored Core, but I’m concerned with 343 decision to remove the Falcons. If the Covenant have a badass airborne vehicle, why can’t humans?
4. Volume Options: Subtle, but useful. I haven’t seen any option to alter game volume except for chat options. Sometimes you might want to play the most suspenseful part in the game without all the suspenseful music. Or maybe ambient noise effects in-game are disrupting chat. Take example from Call of Duty. They have all the audio options setup to alter: master, music, voice, and sound effects.
5. Action Mapping: The ability to customize your controller’s preference to manipulate your avatar might be a little fun option for people who want a challenge of gameplay controls or to fit their style of playing. This is just a little example from Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.
6. Underwater: Ever seen a spartan swim? It would be interesting. It would be intriguing if players were given the ability to play not just on, not just in, but under the water. It’s understandable that players would just play “Jaws” all match long and not “drown” while stackin’ kills, so here’s a suggestion(as all of these have and are). Make it inaccessible in online multiplayer, but accessible in custom games and Forge mode. And make the waters deep enough so creative Forgers can build stunning underwater kingdoms.
7. Gun Sounds: Machinimas are more appealing when sound effects match its criteria. The battle rifle, in my opinion, sounds more appealing in Halo 3; it sounds like an actual weapon instead of some form of dubstep from Halo 4’s BR. The shotgun needs to sound like Halo Reach’s shotgun. The rocket launcher(SPNKr) doesn’t sound like a rocket launcher, more like a suppressed mini mac-cannon. Halo Reach has the right audio for it. Sniper Rifle sounds clanky; Halo 3 has an intimidating sniper sound. The magnum just sounds like a plastic toy; Halo Reach’s magnum has SOLID audio. Other weapons may require better sound: needler and plasma pistol.
8. Suppressors: Halo 3: ODST proved suppressors worthy of one of the human weapons, so why not try fitting the rest of the non-explosive human weapons with the suppressor attachment(no other attachments)? Obviously, great for stealth and makes the game more interesting.
9. Elites: Ever since Halo 3, you had the ability to play as one of the ever-radical aliens desperate for the Great Journey even at the cost of death; or, in a friendly manner, the multi-jawed creatures we’ve come to know and love. In Halo 4, 343 took ‘em out. This is a let down for people who want to make machinimas of Humans vs. Covenant(one of the main reasons why Arbiter617 disagreed with making Rise of the Spartans Part 9 in this game). It’s also a disappointment for people who enjoy playing as Sanghelli.
10. Passenger Warthogs: This is just my personal suggestion to add in Big Team Battles, Custom Games, and Forge; transporting teammates from one part of a map to another is helpful and is an interesting concept overall. With at least 4 passengers in the back, it should make the battlefield feel more soldier like. It’s also a great piece for a bus or cab in machinimas.
There are other concepts and ideas that could be added to improve the game as a whole, but I just listed what I thought was necessary for making machinimas or for enjoying game nights with friends . For the people reading this, you may agree or disagree, criticize or support these ideas, and you can certainly suggest ideas yourself. For 343 Industries, you’ve got some work to do. I admire your company for creating Halo Waypoint, and Halo 4 delivered stunning presentation for me, although there are a lot of things people have concern for, some of which listed above. The rest of these concepts come from my opinion and perspective of games. And besides, you’re now continuing the role of Bungie’s legendary campaign through the rest of the trilogy; you gotta listen to your fans, people. But the ultimate decision is yours, 343. You could completely ignore this forum topic or even fully incorporate all the concepts listed above in this game or the next. You have all time, the potential, and support from avid Halo fans. But at the end of the day this is all just advice. You can do whatever the **** you wanna do!
