Halo 4 Review (Spoiler Alert)
Submitted by OD, reposted from the Inquirer:
Halo 4 hands-on review
An early peek at the blastastic next installment of the iconic first person shooter series
Wed Sep 26 2012, 18:33
MICROSOFT HAS UNLEASHED the press on its eagerly anticipated first person shooter Halo 4, giving us go at two of the game's levels and full rein with its multiplayer features.
On hand at the scene, The INQUIRER blasted, clawed, drove and punched its way through the levels on show and we have to say that we're impressed.
Playing the game, we instantly felt at home, with an overarching sense of familiarity taking hold of us the moment we heard Master Chief and Cortana speak. Listening to the two characters' conversation and from what we've seen, 343 Studios has done a masterful job of recapturing the characters' tit for tat dialogue.
This sense of familiarity carried on to the game's mission format. Like its predecessors Halo 4's single player campaign is split into a number of missions, which are themselves each split into several checkpoints. In Halo 4 as in Halo 1, Halo 2 and Halo 3, Cortana acts as your guide, updating and instructing you on what action you need to take at any given time.
Starting with the game's opening level, Dawn, we saw Master Chief awaken to find a ship infested with Covenant soldiers. 343 Studios claims the level was intentionally designed to be reminiscent of the original Halo's opening level, and having played, we have to admit that it really did give us a sense of nostalgia, with the dark metal corridors, flashing blue control panels and industrial pipes lining its walls all being unquestionably Halo.
In Dawn, we found ourselves being pushed forward further into the Covenant infested spaceship to find out why humanity hadn't responded to Master Chief's distress call. This saw us traverse through a number of dark corridors and docking bays, fighting past the familiar Grunts and Drones to get to the ship's command centre, all of which felt quite familiar and in keeping with the previous games.
It was only later into the level that we began to see just how much 343 Studios has added to the series. Chief among the gameplay additions are quicktime events. Akin to mini games, quicktime events are gameplay sequences that require you to follow custom onscreen commands within a set time period. In our hands-on demo, midway through Dawn we were tasked to help Master Chief claw his way through an access shaft while dodging debris.
On hand at the scene, The INQUIRER blasted, clawed, drove and punched its way through the levels on show and we have to say that we're impressed.
Playing the game, we instantly felt at home, with an overarching sense of familiarity taking hold of us the moment we heard Master Chief and Cortana speak. Listening to the two characters' conversation and from what we've seen, 343 Studios has done a masterful job of recapturing the characters' tit for tat dialogue.
This sense of familiarity carried on to the game's mission format. Like its predecessors Halo 4's single player campaign is split into a number of missions, which are themselves each split into several checkpoints. In Halo 4 as in Halo 1, Halo 2 and Halo 3, Cortana acts as your guide, updating and instructing you on what action you need to take at any given time.
Starting with the game's opening level, Dawn, we saw Master Chief awaken to find a ship infested with Covenant soldiers. 343 Studios claims the level was intentionally designed to be reminiscent of the original Halo's opening level, and having played, we have to admit that it really did give us a sense of nostalgia, with the dark metal corridors, flashing blue control panels and industrial pipes lining its walls all being unquestionably Halo.
In Dawn, we found ourselves being pushed forward further into the Covenant infested spaceship to find out why humanity hadn't responded to Master Chief's distress call. This saw us traverse through a number of dark corridors and docking bays, fighting past the familiar Grunts and Drones to get to the ship's command centre, all of which felt quite familiar and in keeping with the previous games.
It was only later into the level that we began to see just how much 343 Studios has added to the series. Chief among the gameplay additions are quicktime events. Akin to mini games, quicktime events are gameplay sequences that require you to follow custom onscreen commands within a set time period. In our hands-on demo, midway through Dawn we were tasked to help Master Chief claw his way through an access shaft while dodging debris.
Moving
to play the second demo level, Forerunner, it truly dawned on us just
how much 343 Studios has added. Set on an alien world full of jagged
rock formations and towering futuristic alien architecture, we were
flabbergasted at how good Halo 4's graphics are. The game looks
simply amazing, featuring high definition textures and flawless
animations that we would have thought too demanding for the Xbox and its
now ancient processor to deal with.
Forerunner's map was far more open than the claustrophobic corridors of Dawn and housed a number of new weapons and enemies. This level gave us an opening introduction to the Forerunners, a lost race of techno-demigods responsible for creating the galaxy destroying Halo weapons. Here we were confronted with the Knight, Crawler and Watcher Forerunners.
Knights are large creatures made of a mix of steel and hologram that fall into the same class as the Covenant Elite but with the added ability to teleport around the battlefield. Crawlers are a race of dog-like creatures with big canine teeth that swarm across walls and flat surfaces to attack you in packs. Watchers are flying drones that hover around the battlefield healing and shielding their allies.
Playing this second level we found fighting the Forerunner enemies far harder than we expected, with each class behaving differently than any enemy we've ever encountered in a Halo game, thus forcing us to adapt our playing style and fighting tactics while engaging them.
The Forerunner level also adds a number of new weapons to the series. The coolest of these were the Light gun, Boltshot and Suppressor, which equate to variations on the classic Battle Rifle, Shotgun and SMG. The weapons are interesting due to the fact that they have both primary and secondary firing modes. The Light Rifle for example lets you fire three shots from the hip, or one more powerful shot zooming in. The addition of the different firing modes made using the weapons require a lot more thought, forcing us to plan which mode was best suited to the task at hand before entering a firefight.
Forerunner's map was far more open than the claustrophobic corridors of Dawn and housed a number of new weapons and enemies. This level gave us an opening introduction to the Forerunners, a lost race of techno-demigods responsible for creating the galaxy destroying Halo weapons. Here we were confronted with the Knight, Crawler and Watcher Forerunners.
Knights are large creatures made of a mix of steel and hologram that fall into the same class as the Covenant Elite but with the added ability to teleport around the battlefield. Crawlers are a race of dog-like creatures with big canine teeth that swarm across walls and flat surfaces to attack you in packs. Watchers are flying drones that hover around the battlefield healing and shielding their allies.
Playing this second level we found fighting the Forerunner enemies far harder than we expected, with each class behaving differently than any enemy we've ever encountered in a Halo game, thus forcing us to adapt our playing style and fighting tactics while engaging them.
The Forerunner level also adds a number of new weapons to the series. The coolest of these were the Light gun, Boltshot and Suppressor, which equate to variations on the classic Battle Rifle, Shotgun and SMG. The weapons are interesting due to the fact that they have both primary and secondary firing modes. The Light Rifle for example lets you fire three shots from the hip, or one more powerful shot zooming in. The addition of the different firing modes made using the weapons require a lot more thought, forcing us to plan which mode was best suited to the task at hand before entering a firefight.
As well as its single player additions, 343 Studios also tweaked Halo 4's multiplayer mode, updating it to give the player far more control over their Spartan character. Halo 4 features a level system similar to the one seen in Halo Reach,
rewarding players with Experience after every multiplayer map, which in
turn allows them to unlock new armour variants and upgrades.
However, for Halo 4 343 Studios has vastly increased the number of customisation options, giving players the ability to customise their weapon and item loadouts as well as their Spartan's appearance. Creating a loadout we were able to choose our primary and secondary weapons, grenade type, armour ability, tactical package and support upgrade.
New additions to the series, tactical package and support upgrades are variations that grant specific perks like increased speed or health to your character. Using the fully levelled Spartan used in the demo, were amazed at the number of armour variants and weapons on offer.
Outside of Halo 4's core Dominion, Capture the Flag, Regicide, Infinity Slayer and Flood multiplayer modes, 343 Studios has added a cooperative Spartan Ops mode. The mode is set to be released in weekly instalments, each of which will come bundled with a CG webisode that lays out the mission's backstory. During the demo we got to try out the Land Grab and Sniper Alley Spartan Ops. Both the missions featured run and gun gameplay that was similar to Halo 4's main campaign.
Halo 4 is set for release on 6 November. Having played through the opening sections of Halo 4, we have to say that we're really impressed. From what we've seen 343 Studios has done an excellent job, adding a host of new features to the Halo series while faithfully retaining the character and feel of its predecessors. Here's hoping that we'll be equally impressed with the full game.
Check back with The INQUIRER later for a full review of Halo 4. ยต
However, for Halo 4 343 Studios has vastly increased the number of customisation options, giving players the ability to customise their weapon and item loadouts as well as their Spartan's appearance. Creating a loadout we were able to choose our primary and secondary weapons, grenade type, armour ability, tactical package and support upgrade.
New additions to the series, tactical package and support upgrades are variations that grant specific perks like increased speed or health to your character. Using the fully levelled Spartan used in the demo, were amazed at the number of armour variants and weapons on offer.
Outside of Halo 4's core Dominion, Capture the Flag, Regicide, Infinity Slayer and Flood multiplayer modes, 343 Studios has added a cooperative Spartan Ops mode. The mode is set to be released in weekly instalments, each of which will come bundled with a CG webisode that lays out the mission's backstory. During the demo we got to try out the Land Grab and Sniper Alley Spartan Ops. Both the missions featured run and gun gameplay that was similar to Halo 4's main campaign.
Halo 4 is set for release on 6 November. Having played through the opening sections of Halo 4, we have to say that we're really impressed. From what we've seen 343 Studios has done an excellent job, adding a host of new features to the Halo series while faithfully retaining the character and feel of its predecessors. Here's hoping that we'll be equally impressed with the full game.
Check back with The INQUIRER later for a full review of Halo 4. ยต
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