Highly disappointed with H4

[Ramo 'Talusee]

Maker forbid anyone dares to read the books or worse yet, HAVE A CIVIL CONVERSATION ABOUT HALO WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS!! That would be heresy and we still kill heretics where I come from.

[pissonthercorpse]

I agree with cbr and some of the others. Halo's graphics havn't always been immediately as impressive as stuff like Uncharted but it always delivers in the small details like no other game does, a lot of the stuff is always incredibly detailed when zoomed in up close and there was always attention to detail. As for the campaign in Halo 4, i thought it was probably the worst out of all of them (even ODST). It showed me that 343 just aren't as good as talented as Bungie, not even close.

 

They posess an obvious lack of creativity, with many of the missions revolving around fighting off wave after wave of enemy, or flipping 3 switches etc. The missions just felt like more of a chore than any previous Halo. Missions like the one in Halo 2 where you stormed the bridge with the tank and took over the scarab were so exciting, well paced and memorable, and there were tons of good missions like that in the previous Halo games, I litterally can't think of ONE standout level in Halo 4. The level design took a serious step back for sure.

 

Also there was a serious lack of humor, no more talking grunts or marines and the AI seemed dumber than usual, there was a serious shortage of ammo in the campaign, some things just felt off like in the 2nd mission where you had a warthog but no marines to gun for you just felt wrong. Here was this big area of covenent and here you are with a nice new warthog.... and no gunner, so what's the point? Just so many little things like that proved that 343 don't have it where it counts (level design).

[Slave Zero]

Well i love Halo 4 good job 343.

[cbr]

I agree with cbr and some of the others. Halo's graphics havn't always been immediately as impressive as stuff like Uncharted but it always delivers in the small details like no other game does, a lot of the stuff is always incredibly detailed when zoomed in up close and there was always attention to detail. As for the campaign in Halo 4, i thought it was probably the worst out of all of them (even ODST). It showed me that 343 just aren't as good as talented as Bungie, not even close.

 

They posess an obvious lack of creativity, with many of the missions revolving around fighting off wave after wave of enemy, or flipping 3 switches etc. The missions just felt like more of a chore than any previous Halo. Missions like the one in Halo 2 where you stormed the bridge with the tank and took over the scarab were so exciting, well paced and memorable, and there were tons of good missions like that in the previous Halo games, I litterally can't think of ONE standout level in Halo 4. The level design took a serious step back for sure.

 

Also there was a serious lack of humor, no more talking grunts or marines and the AI seemed dumber than usual, there was a serious shortage of ammo in the campaign, some things just felt off like in the 2nd mission where you had a warthog but no marines to gun for you just felt wrong. Here was this big area of covenent and here you are with a nice new warthog.... and no gunner, so what's the point? Just so many little things like that proved that 343 don't have it where it counts (level design).

 

The second mission doesnt make any sense at all as you said they provide you with their version of the warthog but no gunner? Why not have a group of marines that survived the crash? Things like this only show how they just tossed the campaign together without any real thought.

 

Agree its all those small things put together that create a great game, Halo always stood above the rest now with H4 it feels like any other FPS out there. The campaign just felt empty and copied. The opening scene in the damaged space ship felt and played like CE, then you went to an underground base and rescued scientist hmmm pretty much like Reach "The Package". Dont even know where to begin with the "finally battle" if you can call it that.

 

There was nothing ground breaking in the game at all. Its little things like hearing the grunts scream "run away" or talking to each other, that crazy marine they had in all the games (unless I missed it there wasnt one in H4), detailed graphics, well timed music that flowed perfect with the game or the grunts dancing at the club.....All these little things make Halo what it is and lets it stand apart from all the other FPS out there. 343 did a great job remaking CE but they seem to not fully understand what actually made Halo what it is today.

 

 

Well i love Halo 4 good job 343.

 

Ok specifically what aspects of the game did you like?

[PIITB]

A minor point on graphics...compare the splash of the wraith shot from Reach to this...it's practically non-existent and just disappears when it hits the deck. A minor thing for sure, but a microcosm that parallels the other issues with this game.

[cbr]

A minor point on graphics...compare the splash of the wraith shot from Reach to this...it's practically non-existent and just disappears when it hits the deck. A minor thing for sure, but a microcosm that parallels the other issues with this game.

 

 

Agree its all these little things you dont notice at first but once you look at everything as a whole in the game it just doesnt deserve the ratings it is getting.

 

Its small things like the menu system or the lobby in matchmaking it just looks generic now compared to Reach or even Halo it feels outdated or unfinished.

[Ramo 'Talusee]

The second mission doesnt make any sense at all as you said they provide you with their version of the warthog but no gunner? Why not have a group of marines that survived the crash? Things like this only show how they just tossed the campaign together without any real thought.

 

 

Um...what the heck? Isnt the second mission the one where after Chief and Cortana survive the Forward Unto Dawn crashing onto Requiem they venture forward on the hog? I could be mistaken and if so please correct me. Anywho, no one was on the ship other than Chief, Cortana and some of Jul's rebel covies.

 

EDIT: Just thought I should clarify a little more. Not a single living soul was aboard the Forward Unto Dawn except Cortana (if you count her as alive) and Chief. No marines just cheif and cortana unless 343 decided to mess up the canon

[cbr]

Why even have a warthog with no gunner, unless they just wanted to show of their new lawn mower sound effects of the warthog? They could have applied some type of automatic targeting system or even gave you the option of a mongoose but instead they just said here is a warthog enjoy not shooting anyone. It was pointless just like that Star Wars Death Star scene with the pelican.

[pissonthercorpse]

Yeah it makes sense from a story perspective, but from a gameplay perspective it felt like the level designers were thinking "Here's 2 warthogs for you if you're playing co-op, but if you're playing single player then **** YOU, you're on your own". It's not that big a of a deal to be honest, but it's symbolic of a lot of little issues that Bungie wouldn't have allowed. I got the feeling 343 looked at a couple of the levels from Halo 1 like two betrayals and Halo, and thought "people liked fending off waves of enemies and following waypoints to flip switches, so let's give em more of that" all the while not actually knowing how to create good, original levels themselves. I'm not asking for a Call of Duty style rollercoaster setpiece tour, but it felt like it was seriously lacking exciting moments like in Halo 3 where you and a bunch of marines are riding around rocketing a giant scarab.

 

Instead of anything fun like that, all I got from it were dull, hollow imitations of Halo 1 style levels, but not pulled off as well. It also felt too serious and lacked the soul of the past games but it's not suprising considering 343 are an essentially souless studio who only exists because Microsoft don't know how to let a good series of games die with grace, whereas Bungie actually liked to have fun and it showed with all the dialogue, easter eggs and humor they put into their games. I guess I just never really cared about the serious side of Halo, I was always more of a fan of the crazy **** grunts would say and sargeant johnson etc.

 

Then again, I felt that way about Halo Reach's campaign too, but atleast the levels were all quality, can't say the same about Halo 4. I will say though, the actual gameplay and the feel of controlling the Chief is better than ever, it just feels right. Maybe I was just expecting something more from the campaign. I do have hope Halo 5 will be better.

[Stu117]

This topic is essentially nitpicking everything that isnt repeated to exact specifications from previous halo games into halo 4. yup no marine banter on every level. no magic warthog gunners. a game on a seven year old system might not have super epic detail on the roots of trees. 343 is trying to make a more mature (completely subjective do not freak out because you think some story points are not super elite mature) halo series in the campaign mode if you do not want this do not play it, but it is their decision to make, they own it. Imo they are trying to appease a more hardcore fanbase with the story and as a hardcore halo fan this pleases me but you will miss out on some story stuff if you dont read the books are talk to someone who did.

 

I hear people complain omg no one makes hardcore games where you have to work for things. You have to be up to date and read about halo lore to get the most out of the story they're rewarding you for doing it with info. No game will ever be perfect and while presenting issues to the devs will make the next game better (343 is very good at listening to feedback) alot of these things are not objective and will not be adjusted because most people dont care that the 3 minute warthog segment mostly with no enemies had no gunner and you do not need a gunner to beat it easily, even on legendary. I know i did it.

[cbr]

Its not about complaining its about 343 releasing a game that is sub par when compared to the latest released Halo games. They have failed to produce a quality game but yet all the reviewers cant stop talking about how great the game is.

 

Matchmaking is a train wreck now.There is no longer any friendly fire so you can shoot straight through your team. Just turn on PV and mash the trigger and toss grenades like crazy. As mentioned in another thread a teammate can destroy your vehicle but you cant boot him because you didnt die. They have removed all the skill in the game by doing so. Then with team members able to leave and join at will it destroys the entire aspect of playing a match. Rank means less now than it did in Reach. Im getting 15-20 kills a game with a K/D of +12 through +15 but still only get maybe 2500 XP. But the guy who goes negative gets almost the same XP? Then there is the XP cap which limits play for some reason. Then you cant tell you is a good player or a bad one as a player may only have 2 kills but he could have just joined the game. The DMR is so overpowered its almost a joke.

 

With campaign it just felt rushed and unfinished, even if 343 is good and listening to feed back they cant recover from this because they basically gutted everything that made Halo what it is and instead gave us your average FPS. It seems to me that they didnt even try with campaign evident by music, lack of attention to detail, well laid out levels, a decent AI or even an actual final battle. Its more about faulty game mechanics and general lack of effort that made the campaign come across as a poorly put together package.

 

Maybe they thought people would not care about campaign and only play matchmaking? Which seems like the case as they tweaked Halo to be far more like COD. The problem with that is Halo has always had a great campaign at its core. I would have been much happier if they didnt even release a campaign but instead only matchmaking.

 

As I stated I like how they tried to balance the AA and the fact you can still play pro but with what they did to the campaign I dont think ill buy another Halo game produced by 343 again. I hope they are good at taking criticism because across the board long time gamers are disappointed with what 343 did to Halo. This was a huge mistake to take a step away from what Halo is and release a game that just doesnt hold up to previous releases. They just missed the entire concept of Halo. I hope their company can recover from this mistake. I just feel as if H4 was an insult because the core quality of the game was so low. Who knows maybe they can tweak matchmaking and redeem themselves.

[Twinreaper]

 

man that is some grey stuff right there

 

Yeah, then get up close to everything it all washes out. Like I said, everything looks great from far away. Even when you open the image up to full size, the cliffs look washed out, the detail maps are seriously lacking, and to be honest, the lighting is not that good. Many people don't realize it, but runninglighting is not just the rasterizing and photon casting from the sun origin. Most of the ambient lighting used I found to be stemming from the shaders. Shaders have a section inside certain ones, that include emissive power setting. most of the time you all think they just lit everything awesome..when really it justs properly used values in the shader tag. The lighting system itself kinda sucks and lacks.

 

Seriously folks, open the image and look at the grass decorators they used. it looks like complete crap, and looks like a poorly made made cookie cutter MS PAINT JOB. Next, look at the tires. The warthogs are not even that far away, yet where is the detail. They look like grey smudged circles. Does everyone here need glasses? No, I think everyone just bought into the hype a little too much and does not want to come to grips with the reality, that Halo 4 is a massive letdown.

[PIITB]

Washed out is a good way to describe it.

[cbr]

Yeah, then get up close to everything it all washes out. Like I said, everything looks great from far away. Even when you open the image up to full size, the cliffs look washed out, the detail maps are seriously lacking, and to be honest, the lighting is not that good. Many people don't realize it, but runninglighting is not just the rasterizing and photon casting from the sun origin. Most of the ambient lighting used I found to be stemming from the shaders. Shaders have a section inside certain ones, that include emissive power setting. most of the time you all think they just lit everything awesome..when really it justs properly used values in the shader tag. The lighting system itself kinda sucks and lacks.

 

Seriously folks, open the image and look at the grass decorators they used. it looks like complete crap, and looks like a poorly made made cookie cutter MS PAINT JOB. Next, look at the tires. The warthogs are not even that far away, yet where is the detail. They look like grey smudged circles. Does everyone here need glasses? No, I think everyone just bought into the hype a little too much and does not want to come to grips with the reality, that Halo 4 is a massive letdown.

 

Agree after seeing how they remade CE I was very excited to see what they could do with their own game. Even when I started playing I was thinking this is great but reality soon sunk in as I really started to look at the graphics. I was so stunned by the poor quality I had to load up Reach and H3 just to see how their graphics compared. I couldnt believe this is what 343 released. Instead of boasting about release sales numbers they should honestly be ashamed of the final product they released. People are taking notice now though after really playing the game just look at all the boards they are filled with people who are beyond disappointed with H4 and 343. I dont know if 343 will be able to recover from this.

 

 

People want to give 343 a free pass and not accept the fact that the graphics and actual game play dont stand up to Reach or even H3 in some areas. For example I was playing big team in H4 and Valhlla came up I was really excited as I loved that map until I saw it. You seriously have to be blind to not see the graphics are horrible when compared to H3 Valhlla everything was completely washed out almost zero color what so ever. Once you factor in graphics and all the other issues I just dont see how people think this game is better than the other Halo releases or even worth $60 for 4-5 hours of campaign play.