Halo 4: Could Not Be Happier

[RisingPho3nix]

Long story short, in my opinion, Halo 4 is the best Halo game so far.

 

(TL;DR Version: Halo 4 is the same, but different, and that's exactly what I was hoping for.)

 

Perhaps my feeling this way is because I didn't go in with any real expectations. If anything, I only expected it to play the same, but feel different. I was not expecting it to feel like I was playing a Bungie Halo.

 

Perhaps one of my biggest, and longest standing, hopes for Halo was one that grew after reading Fall of Reach and First Strike. That hope was that in future games, we'd get to see a more human side of John-117. And this is why I absolutely adore the ending of Halo 4. For 3 games, John-117 has been the embodiment of the perfect, invincible soldier. And for those 3 games, it was awesome! But I have always played Halo for the story, first and foremost, and I my initial excitement for Halo 4 was limited because I thought that it was going to be more of the same on that front. I didn't think the Master Chief would go through anything that would really test him, and so I was less excited to step back into his armor.

 

I am so happy that I was proven wrong.

The scene where John-117 stands up to Captain Del Rio is a great example of this. It proved he is not only capable, but willing, to stand up to authority to protect the people he cares about. That is a decidedly human trait, one that we haven't seen from him before, and one that I think makes him even more badass than he already is.

 

 

 

Furthermore, the death of Cortana is something that I never wanted to happen, but now that it has, I think it was a beautiful stroke of storytelling. Her loss is something that is deeply, deeply personal for the Master Chief because she was closer to him than pretty much anyone. I think feeling the pain of that kind of loss is going to seriously make him question who or what he really is, and I think that will make the Master Chief grow and evolve into a much more compelling character.

 

 

Also, on another note, I don't want the Master Chief to die at the end of this new trilogy. At the same time, I also know that unless he changes and evolves into a more human character, he won't have a place in a more peaceful world, and so the writers would have to either kill him off, or pull another Halo 3 ending. So because I don't want either of those endings, I want the Chief to evolve and become a little more truly human. Since that is the direction Halo 4 seems to be steering him, I could not be happier with his continuing story.

 

I do miss Marty's music though.

[MemoryDecay]

Agreed, it felt like an amazing Bungie Halo, but better. I think 343 did better than Bungie would have (because Bungie ruined Reach and made it suck as far as multiplayer goes).

 

And yeah man, it totally blew my mind. I had no idea Halo 4 would be this great! It is better than expected. And for a long time Halo 2 and 3 were my favorite Halos, now Halo 4 takes my #1 favorite! The changes in multiplayer and campaign both were necessary, it was time Halo moved on to new things, and it was done RIGHT, it was done with balance in mind, and made so much sense. And gameplay is more interesting than ever before! I love it. Absolutely love Halo 4. And I agree Master Chief was so much more interesting in this Halo than ever before, you actually learned a lot about him and Cortana and why their relationship was so important and personal. I have been wanting to experience that so much more before and was finally givin that experience of their deep persona. Very emotional, sad, epic, and hopeful campaign all combined. It really gets your emotions and interest and desire as the heart of the game. And the campaign was better than Halo 2's (more epic and fun), which I never thought would happen. I agree with everything you've said man! And I actually like this new music, it needed to sound slightly new to match the new sega!

[RisingPho3nix]

Yeah, I hear you with the whole "new trilogy needs new music", but while I think it suits the game quite well, it's not as memorable or unique as Marty's music was. I do like however

that we still got a small use of the classic monk chant when we visit the research platform orbiting Installation 03. That was a very nice touch.

 

 

All in all, the abscence of Martin O'Donell's music is one of only two negatives I have found in Halo 4. The other being that the armor options for your custom Spartan are almost all ugly as hell.

[SykoWolf]

I like the new music, but id like to see Marty come back and assist with the score's.

 

This Halo game is probably my favourite so far, closely followed by the original Halo:CE.

It has an epic story and beautiful backdrops.

[GameOverViper]

I must say that I'm much happier with the Halo 4 Multiplayer, than the Halo: Reach multiplayer. The custom loadouts is great.

[Vamphaery]

Totally agree with everything you said, particularly re: the narrative. It was beautifully told imo.

[RisingPho3nix]

I must say that I'm much happier with the Halo 4 Multiplayer, than the Halo: Reach multiplayer. The custom loadouts is great.

 

Absolutely. Custom loadouts are a big step up. To me, Halo 4's multiplayer feels like a hybrid of Halo 2 and Halo: Reach. I think perhaps my favorite thing about the multiplayer so far is that the Assault Rifle isn't useless anymore. I thought it was an absolutely pitiful weapon in both Halo 3 and especially in Reach. I also like how the DMR works now. I don't know what they did to it, but it feels like a true marksman rifle now instead of just a BR replacement.