I'm finally going to bring you my review of the newest game in the Halo series; Halo 4.
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| Step 1. Make poster epic. Step 2. Scrap original poster because it's not epic enough and replace it with this image. Step 3. Release to interwebs and let fanboys (and fangirls) go crazy. |
So, a little bit about me and my love of this franchise: I own all of the Halo games and have completed all of the campaigns on Legendary aside form Halo Wars which I have yet to actually play much of (can you blame me?). I also own, have read, and greatly enjoyed all of the Halo universe books with the exception of the Forerunner Trilogy (I own the two that are out and I am currently reading them), I have bought a few of the comics as well as the overall poor quality Halo: Legends DVD which is essentially the 'Animatrix' or 'Batman: Gotham Knight'. However, I thought some of the shorts were quite good but was left feeling a little disappointed. I should note that at the time that I am writing this review, I have only played through the campaign of Halo 4 once on Heroic difficulty and have only played the Infinity and the Multiplayer sections a few times so the majority of my review will be based on the Story Mode. With my cred thus established, let's get to it...
To start let me say that this game is fantastic, stunning, jaw-dropping, better than I thought possible... Graphically. The graphics in this game are the best I have seen in any game and they are right up there with some of the best that I have seen in animated films. I had to watch the opening cinematic twice to make sure they weren't using real life actors in a few shots. In the game itself there are only a couple of places that I spotted that looked less that fantastic (like how some of the human faces in the in-game cinematics seemed a little off to me, but overall the face animations were on the same level as those in Mass Effect 3). The backgrounds are beautiful art in their own right and my first play through was slowed down by a good hour because I was just walking around admiring the scenery. Side note: This game requires a HD television to fully appreciate it.
STORY
The story is well thought out and provides you with reasons to accomplish other objectives to keep moving towards your ultimate goal, and I can honestly say that I did not see the ending coming. But here is where the cracks begin to show. While the overall story is fairly straight forward and the missions are for the most part interesting and engaging, it felt as though you had to have read the first two Greg Bear Forerunner books and first two Karin Traviss books (which I really enjoyed by the way) that have been released thus far to fully enjoy the campaign. Now I do like the idea of having books to fill the cracks in the game and give the player a more complete immersion into the world and the story, but I don't think that it should feel like you're missing out on something during the game if you choose not to go deeper with additional material. This is a little detrimental to the experience of the players who have not yet read the preceding books and takes away from the enjoyment of the game. While I'm at it, there were a few parts where I was left wondering how Cortana or another couple of characters (though it was mostly with Cortana) had the information on a previously unknown place or being that was only recently introduced. The in-game dialogue that Cortana provides is reminiscent of the little fairy that hangs around Link ("Hey, Listen!"). It doesn't add much to the game-play, and is annoying at times with how off it felt, like it was just jammed in there and left as "good enough" in a game where everything else is polished.
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| "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!" |
The game-play is crisp and smooth and left me feeling in almost complete control of Master Chief (the less than perfect control is more likely a reflection of my skill rather than a fault of the game's design), and I couldn't be happier with it. Except for the auto-aim which is pretty heavy handed throughout the game and kind of ruins the multiplayer aspect of the game for me (more on that later). Though it certainly does makes you feel like a badass when you pull off that quick headshot that saves your life until you realize that it probably wasn't your skill that saved you and then you're left feeling a little cheated and dirty. The only defense that I can come up with for this control hijacking is that you are supposed to be a Spartan; better than the best. But in actuality, I'm guessing that it's more so that the less skilled players feel better than they really are and will want to continue playing more. Who needs to practice and get better, right? I don't know about you, but if I'm good at a game, I want it to be because I'm actually good at it, not because the game is designed for me to be good at it. And *Spoilers* there were a few parts around missions 3-5 where it becomes a little boring to just hop in the provided tank or Mech and roll around blowing stuff up, but it would be all but impossible to finish the level without them. Cool idea there, but the novelty wore off quickly.
MUSIC
The music is wonderful and I could happily just sit and listen to it, but it did not have a singular stand out song like the original theme (Dun-dun-dun-da, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-daa) to add to the mix. It sure felt like they were trying to create another iconic sound for the series with one song (if/when you play the campaign just listen to the sad music that is just about in every cut scene) but, it just didn't stick for me. I'm a sucker for the epic orchestral instrumentals and found these to be both noticeable when the action on the screen was slow and a good mood setting tone in the background when there was more to focus on, and really, what more do you want from a video game soundtrack?
MULTIPLAYER
The multiplayer is... interesting. They seem to have taken the Reach multiplayer system (which wasn't bad but boy-oh-boy did it piss off the Halo 3 players), tweaked it to make it easier for people with less developed hand/eye coordination and added the loadout options and the unlockable weapons. On the topic of the loadouts, the game received a lot of flack for having directly ripped off the loadout system from Black Ops. To that I say, 'So what?'. Not being a Black Ops player myself, it's all new to me, and the loadout setup has existed in one form of another for years now. Not to mention that you could choose your weapons in the multiplayer setup menu of the last three Halo games. But yes, only recently do you have the more modifiable version where you can setup, in advance, your own individual loadouts from the weapons that you unlocked by playing the game. But before all of that, you could choose from the original class system in which you had different loadouts based on the different classes and you could change classes between deaths! (Thank you Team Fortress 2, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Monday Night Combat, etc. etc. etc). It's all just variations on a theme. To me the bigger rip-off comes from the original Call of Duty. When you die in multiplayer, the screen flashes to the view of the person that killed you a few seconds before your death. I really like this feature because it shows you just how bullshit the auto-aim is. Hell, half of the times I died in the multiplayer games I wasn't even in the sights of the person who had the final shot. I was in the peripheral scope that outlined where you might hit if you were lucky. I'm not saying that the kills were impossible to make, but they happened too frequently for them all to be 'lucky' shots. Good thing I didn't buy this game for the multiplayer.
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| "None of us is as bullshit as all of us." |
The weekly updates are pretty cool and a neat idea. I am a fan of the side missions that bring you more of the story not touched upon by the viewpoint in the main campaign and parallel the main story. The weekly mission packs are free and play like multiplayer objective games where you work to complete the given objective, either solo, or with a team of friends or strangers. Not to mention that each mission set comes with another amazing five or so minute cinematic intro to help further the story. And these shorts are all things of beauty.
THE END
The end of the game (or really anything) can be the most important part of the experience to me because it's the last thing you experience and the part of the game that stays with you the longest. If handled poorly, the end can absolutely ruin an otherwise wonderful adventure (Mass Effect 3). The end gameplay of Halo 4 annoyed me at first because I thought that it was a simple cop-out to let the player control the ending actions since there really was no choice in what you could do. You had one thing that you could do and no other options but to do it, so why even give us the option at all? But after a few hours of reflection I realized that I had hesitated to "pull the trigger" so to speak because I didn't know what was going to happen. I suspected, sure, but I hesitated because I had created an emotional connection with the characters over the last 11 years and the possible ramifications were painful to think about. To have it be me who was the one to make the final move instead of simply watching it happen was a bit of brilliance and made me realize that these characters were more than just characters in a game, they have the same soul that any good characters from film or print do. The end of the story, shown in the final cinematic, has left me eagerly anticipating the next game, but wary of what could go wrong.
In summary, I am very pleased with the game and plan to have many hours of enjoyment replaying the campaign and playing the weekly missions. The multiplayer? Not so much, I'll give it a go again but am not expecting much more out of it. I think the men and women of 343 Industries will continue to do right by the fans and the franchise because they are fans as well.
The Breakdown
STORY: 8 of 10 (Solid story, but it loses a point for the required reading and another one because it felt like there was room for a bit more.)
GAME-PLAY: 8 of 10 (two points off for the damned auto-aim.)
MUSIC: 8 of 10 (Solid and enjoyable but nothing terribly outstanding.)
MULTIPLAYER: 5 of 10 (Interesting options and a solid format, but ruined by the nerfing (auto-aim) that is meant to create a more level playing field.)
WEEKLY UPDATES (Infinity): 9 of 10 (I haven't seen this idea before and I dig the originality and the fact that it helps fill in some of the gaps left by in the main campaign.)
OVERALL: A solid 8 out of 10. The fanboy in me was not disappointed, but a large portion of the game, the multiplayer bit, was disappointing. A solid showing and a promising start to a new trilogy... or is it a sextuplet? ...An ennealogy? Or even a decology if you count the Anniversary edition of Combat Evolved? Whatever you call it, I'm ready and waiting.
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