[SPOILERS] Halo 4 campaign analysis

[swordfalcon]

Well, I’ve finished the campaign mode last Sunday, decided to think about it for a few days to digest all the stuff and make a structured analysis, and now I’m sharing my view on the campaign here before the discussion gets old, because there are some points I would like to see debated. I was Halo CE and Halo 2 player, but didn’t play any other until now. However I watched the campaigns walkthroughs online and I usually like to go to wikis to get some more information, despite not having any of the books. I will discuss mostly the campaign events, I have nothing to say about gameplay, loved it completely, loved the Chief’s HUD, the graphics were incredibly realistic, the shadowing and light effects are also perfect, enemies were tough enough, weapons, structures, and vehicles, the soundrack also fitted the game nicely, the only thing I disliked was the Warthog’s sound.

 

First of all, right after finishing the campaign, I had mixed feelings, it didn’t feel like the Halo I was used to, so I took some time to adjust to the ambiance of the game, the soundtrack, even the main menu, which is not necessarily a bad thing, since I was expecting Halo 4 to be unlike previous Halos, but the lack of at least that main vocal theme from the previous trilogy made me have to readjust my fitting into the game. My congratulations to 343i for the boldness of reinventing the well stablished franchise.

So, about the campaign, I like I think the major drawback is in fact the lack of in-game explanation of the story, sure everything gets clearer after watching the terminals, but the fact that I went through half the campaign with no idea on why I was fighting the Covenant again is disappointing. I mean yes Cortana advised that those were not standard Covenant, and so it should be some rebel faction, but still it was not enough for me to understand why they were useful for Didact and his plan, not until I went to read the wikis. Sometimes I felt lost in the middle of the campaign, without fully understand why I was doing what I had to do, and that surely must have taken away some of that “save the world” feeling, propelled by a motivating track that was characteristic of the previous trilogy. To me, only after arriving to Ivanoff’s station is that I could start to feel why I had to battle the Didact. An annoying mistake happens when Cortana, at one point, still doesn’t know what are the garbled transmissions she is receiving and then all of the sudden she starts to provide information about Infinity.

 

Another aspect of the campaign that disappointed me was the lack of integration with the events of the webseries “Forward unto Dawn”, for me there was so much expectation about it and I could see so much potential, I mean, the series finale was great in making the connection with the events on Halo 4, but then when Lasky meets Chief for the first time, even though he saved the galaxy and was unfortunately condemned to float in space for 4 and a half years, the reception he got was deceiving, to say the least, and all Lasky says about their past experience is “I thought I’d never see you again”. Then, at the very end, Lasky tells Chief that he attended the Corbulo Military Academy, like Chief didn’t know… I mean according to the webseries, Master Chief was the reason Lasky embraced his career, he was an inspiration to him, so much that he kept the Hunter’s piece of armor with him for all those years, but still, no mention about that, no significant connection was established between the two, that was a let down for me, specially because the webseries was a great success! Oh and by the way, where are all the ships escorting Infinity?

 

However, for me, the biggest flaw in the entire game was the nuclear device detonation. I mean, COME ON! Master Chief is blowing that thing with his bare hands, right in front of his face. Aren’t you taking that luck thing too far? How could Cortana shield him on time and with such short distance? I understand that there were people dying on Earth’s surface, he couldn’t even wait for the countdown, but still…

 

Well, I also didn’t enjoy that I couldn’t understand right away how Cortana saved Chief until I read the wiki, it got me wondering what was happening instead of focusing on her saying goodbye to Chief, but that’s ok, I repeated the scene later on and I must say it was really emotional, without turning lame, an admirable sacrifice of her to save Chief’s life. About Cortana, as much as I loved how amazing she looks in this game, her nakedness is a bit distracting… not that it is a bad thing, but it grabs the focus from what’s important.

Now the characters motion was great, I honestly almost couldn’t tell if the prologue characters (Halsey and the interrogator) were real actors or not. The expressions in their faces, their mouth movements, all seems so natural and realistic, the voicing was also great, specially Cortana and Chief’s dialogue, Steve Downes really managed to give more emotion to Chief without ruining his tone, and Jen Taylor was just formidable.

I also enjoyed very much the plot, after reading all the necessary information to fill in the details, of course, The Didact really was an ancient evil that is awakened, he considers humanity as a threat to Forerunner supremacy and I liked how the events turned out… so I didn’t really like how the story was told in a fragmented way, but I did enjoy the course of the events.

 

For Halo 5, I don’t know about you, but I have a feeling that Chief will want to retire, having lost Cortana and the other Spartans he got close to long ago, he feels very lonely, I mean you can feel it in a dark way, on the final cutscenes, how much he is struggling with his loss, I see a lot of people caring for Cortana’s death, yes Cortana is a memorable part of my childhood also for me but what really impresses me is how this affects Master Chief, that part was very well done and you can actually feel his anguish.

 

Chief also probably feels too old to establish connections to someone else, specially with those Spartan IV’s wanna-be’s, some people didn’t like how they were acting like ordinary marines during the campaign but I say that it fits them just fine, Chief is a legend, the best of the best, he is a reclaimer, how come Sarah Palmer even tries to compare herself to him? The moment he walks by her, in the epilogue, completely dwarfing her, after his contact with the Librarian, I mean I stopped listening to Didact’s speech from that moment on because the level of badassness was too damn high! Her proper place was reassured. Del Rio’s attitude with Chief and Cortana shows he is seen as old and outdated, he won’t fit easily in any group, he needs someone familiar. By the way, the conflict between captain Del Rio and Chief is very revealing on how humans now think they are the pinnacle of creation, good to see Chief persisted on the right decision.

 

So I think Master Chief will, first of all, try to meet Catherine Halsey, she is all that he has left, for being a mother figure of the Spartan II’s and because of Cortana. I really don’t think that reviving the original Cortana is that hard to explain, but I am not sure if I would like to see her come back right away, I mean why kill her to bring her back just like that… I am not sure also about her coming back as a biological form, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

Well, now that Humans are no longer fighting for survival, but instead, thriving for galactic supremacy, who knows if we won’t have an overturn and Chief ends up fighting some greedy humans? Although Chief is going through an hard time, and he really seems a darkened character by now, I believe he will not lose sight of what’s right and wrong.

 

All in all, Halo 4’s campaign was something else, took some time to adjust and feel the greatness of the Halo saga once again, but it did it for me, and without too much of a cliffhanger (Chief is safe, at Earth, Cortana is destroyed for now), it raised a great amount of expectation about the way the events will develop in Halo 5 and how will Chief deal with his situation. I totally aprove the focus on exploring and revealing the true nature of Master Chief, I totally aprove the legendary ending showing his eyes, after all we have seen him as a child and also his full body in “Scanned” trailer. However, having liked the not so linear storyline, I wish it was not so fragmented to the point where it really gets in the way of fully enjoying the crucial moments of the campaign. And please, if you are going to do more live-action series, make it connect perfectly with the game, it is a great addition!

 

Thank you very much 343 for your delightful work, you can do it better on Halo 5, but this was a great start, without a doubt.

[smitty49]

i feel the same way, i just need to add that this wasnt equil to or better than halo's 1 2 3, odst, halo wars. storylines it just wasnt...

 

to confusing and even conflicted with what was sade in halo 3.