Jump to content

Halo 4 is almost finished


Recommended Posts

Halo 4 is in the final stretches of development according to creative director at 343 Industries, Josh Holmes, but how’s everything looking?

 

 

halo4_4.jpg

 

A brave new world

 

“I think we were all aware of the challenge going in and that was one of the things that attracted us to Halo 4,” explains 343’s creative director Josh Holmes.

“It’s just not something you can dwell on as a creative team, you can’t keep thinking about all the potential ways it could go wrong.”

“You have to find, what you think is the right vision for the game and stick to your guns.”

“The teams been really excited about having this opportunity to take on a franchise that they love and try to bring a new set of eyes and a new creative vision to Halo. We’re in that final stretch and you can see it all now coming together after years of labour and it feels really good.”

It’s not just about ‘30 seconds of fun’ any more. For 343, it’s become about understanding the eclectic multitude of reasons gamers love Bungie’s creation and working out a way of retaining them for its sequel while simultaneously delivering something new.

An unenviable task if ever there were one, Halo 4 has shown its focus and visual design are walking a tight line between innovation and creativity.

Frank O’Connor, 343’s franchise director, has already stated he believes Halo 4 will be one of the most visually arresting games the 360 has ever seen.

 

Though it looks pretty, it’s a statement we’ll reserve judgement on until this autumn. What we’re more interested in are the minute hints 343 has given to Halo 4’s gameplay and story. The further you delve into Halo’s lore, the more likely it becomes that the Forerunners are the central foe.

As a species, they’ve already engaged humanity in a war long before the firing of the rings, which originally wiped out the Flood’s first attempt at assimilating life. It was this event that destroyed the Forerunners and saw the Ark re-release life back into the universe.

 

hey would certainly make an engaging enemy, but there is another species that predates even them, the Precursors. As if to confuse matters further, the Precursors were an advanced civilisation knocking around long before the Forerunners and are, surprisingly, under-explored in Halo’s fiction.

halo4_1.jpg

343 has spoken about returning to Halo 2’s recharging shield system (minus the health pack setup) and the Cyclops Mark II mech, seen in the new multiplayer map Warhouse, will form some part of the gameplay.

There’s so much that can go wrong with Halo 4, but witnessing 343’s genuinely intelligent changes and new direction seems to show that it will deliver on all fronts. It would confirm 343 as a new industry talent worthy of Bungie’s heritage and hopefully convince fans of the series that the Master Chief is in safe hands.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There’s so much that can go wrong with Halo 4, but witnessing 343’s genuinely intelligent changes and new direction seems to show that it will deliver on all fronts. It would confirm 343 as a new industry talent worthy of Bungie’s heritage and hopefully convince fans of the series that the Master Chief is in safe hands.

 

There is so much that can go wrong. We'll just have to wait and see. 343 seem like smart people though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank god the shield system is back. I always hated having to run around looking for a health pack on the campaign. Nice find Adam, now all 343industries needs to do is have a public Beta (I know they said they wont have one) but I think its necessary at this stage. They could see what people like and dislike and easily change it before releasing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...