Omnimaga

General Discussion => Technology and Development => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Scipi on November 06, 2012, 10:23:29 am

Title: Halo 4
Post by: Scipi on November 06, 2012, 10:23:29 am
So if you are like me, you greatly anticipated Halo 4, and if you are like me you stayed up all night last night when it released playing campaign/multiplayer/forge/whatever.

I'd like to know what you all think of Halo 4, was it good/bad/stunning/$#!%? Please share your opinion here :D

I managed to play most of the campaign last night before I left for classes, but I here's what I think of the campaign in general

Spoiler For Warning Spoilers:
Ultimately, I think the campaign was great. There were a lot of issues in it though that hindered the experience a little, but the overall effect of the gameplay and missions made the campaign stunning for me.

Beyond that though, I feel it was very rushed. there was a lot they tried to cram in and it loses impact on the player. For instance, they pretty much tell you right off the bat that Cortana was going rampant, they made it an issue to the player immediately. Though because it happens at the beginning, there isn't much to make the player care yet. Instead, had she tried to keep quiet about it and you start to see the effects before she finally reveals it in the midgame, it would have been a solid dramatic moment, and would have carried a lot of weight. I truly felt that content and missions they were showing in the beginning (wakening the Protheans) really belonged in a midgame setting.

Another issue I see quite a bit is the plot hole. How does Cortana know all this? How do they know that's the Didact, even though it only says so in subtitles and he never specifically states it? How does Cortana know deactivating these objects will clear up comms? I know there are valid reasons for why they know these things, such as data over feeds, but the source of all this info is never specified, the info is just stated as fact.

The last issue that I personally find is that you seem to run out of ammo, a lot. In a single firefight I could easily end up going from full clips to no ammo in either weapon. I can't tell if enemies take more ammo to take down, of if weapons fire faster, or just lack of ambient ammo, but it disrupts the pacing when you are constantly looking for another weapon because both of your current weapons are out of ammo.

Now, as far as pro's go for the campaign, I loved what they did with Master Chief as a character. before he was a silent individual, but now they really show that he has humanity, they there is a person under the helmet. I also like how they leak information about the Forerunners and ancient Humans. Ultimately the story they told, I enjoyed. Even if it had flaws, and its presentation was rushed, I found it exciting.

Another pro I found, was how smooth the controls were. Everything felt right. You felt like you were a super soldier in a half ton suit of armor, yet were incredibly mobile. There was a certain grace and fluidity in the movements that felt perfect.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: shmibs on November 06, 2012, 11:06:36 am
when i first started seeing things talking about this, all i could think was:
"HALO 4: This time, the number is bigger than 3!" :P
it just seemed like another repeat of the same old game. i'll probably end up playing it at some point on a friend's old, discarded console, or something like that, but am not particularly eager to rush into it.

Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: TIfanx1999 on November 06, 2012, 11:09:02 am
I didn't even know there was a fourth one coming out. XD I haven't seen any commercials or heard anything about it at all. It seems like they didn't do much promoting for this one.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 06, 2012, 01:12:59 pm
I got it and it is kinda nice so far. However I got stuck at the part with the elite that has a sword (he literally 1-hit-kills me even in medium difficulty D:). I also indeed noticed how often we run out of ammo. I don't remember that happening this much in Halo 1, 2 and 3, and when I mention Halo 3 it tells a lot because I was playing with a friend in Legendary mode. The difficulty overall seems much higher in general. I have considered scrapping my campaing progress then restarting in easy mode. >.<
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: Juju on November 06, 2012, 05:57:53 pm
I'm not much of a fan of Halo (my bro is tho), might consider getting for Christmas it if he shows enough fanboyism.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 07, 2012, 01:53:56 am
BY the way, some other people have told me as well that the campaing seemed much harder than in previous games.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: Scipi on November 07, 2012, 02:07:41 am
BY the way, some other people have told me as well that the campaing seemed much harder than in previous games.

It seemed more difficult for me. I played Heroic settings and it felt like Legendary in previous games.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 07, 2012, 02:09:44 am
In my case I remember that early missions in Halo 1 in medium settings were almost a joke, while in Halo 2 and 3 they seemed more like normal, with sometimes barely taking much damage, but now it almost seems like Halo 3 heroic mode.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: Eeems on November 07, 2012, 12:47:07 pm
From what I understand, the campaign is harder because you run out of ammo a lot faster.
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: Levak on November 07, 2012, 01:32:44 pm
+1 if you're still playing Halo CE waiting for the next Halo to be on PC ...
Title: Re: Halo 4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on November 07, 2012, 01:40:25 pm
True, but I noticed that even when you don't, certains areas are ridiculously challenging. An example is that Elite with a sword in the Requiem mission, who kills you in one single hit. The only way I found out to kill him was using the secret sniper or that fast chaingun located somewhere at the beginning of the mission and/or stick him a plasma grenade while shooting him. In my case, it took about 7 tries until I can kill him.

And I tend to die far more often than in previous games in some other areas too even if I still have plenty of ammo left. Of course running out of ammo makes things even harder, though. In order to keep decent guns (non-covenant ones that you don't deplete entirely on a single elite), when I get the Warthog during the Requiem mission and arrive at the first area filled with monsters, I just rush through it without killing any monster on my path until I am blocked and have to leave the vehicle behind.

You really gotta be careful at plasma grenades because when enemies throw them they tend to be less noticeable sometimes (lower noise before explosion?) and that pink gun thing seems even more annoying than before.

What I think is that the new campaing might have been done more for coop mode than solo. In Halo 2 or 3, I remember that when you started, there were other guys with you and if you use a warthog some guys remained aboard to shoot stuff while you drive. Now you're pretty much left alone with no way to shoot while driving the truck. (UNless that change later in the campaing?)

+1 if you're still playing Halo CE waiting for the next Halo to be on PC ...

Have you tried Halo 2 PC? I heard it was kinda good, but it requires Vista if I remember and it has steep system requirements for its release year. I can't wait for an Halo 3 or Halo Reach PC, though. I liked Halo CE PC as well, except for the fact that I had troubles connecting to the same online games as my friends and that in one occasion my old computer stopped being able to run the game at all for absolute no reason.

Maybe the new company that is developing Halo series will start releasing more (and earlier) PC versions of Halo?