Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

I recently got the chance to pickup Halo 4, and boy, was my mind BLOWN.

Let's start with the visuals. These are by FAR the best graphics Halo, or any recent shooter on the 360, has ever seen. The opening cutscene looked lifelike, as if it were real actors. The weapons have been redesigned, and the new additions look mysterious, powerful, and all-in-all awesome.

Now for the sound quality. This usually isn't a topic I would consider when doing a review, but I fell that it really needs to be mentioned. The music, as in the previous installments, is astounding. Even the weapons, more on that later, sound great. 343 has really changed the way the guns FEEL. I was happily surprised to feel genuinely satisfied to pump bullets into Covenant-and the new Promethean's, heads.

Speaking about weapons, there are multiple new additions. As well as the fan-favorite Battle Rifle, the DMR from Reach has returned. New weapons include the railgun, a crossover between a Spartan Laser and a DMR, the Sticky Launcher, which basically shoots C4, and all the new Promethean weapons such as the Boltrifle, Scattergun, and Lightrifle.

The multiplayer, (now called War Games) is as fun as ever. New modes, such as Regicide, a game where kills award you skulls, are fantastic. Slayer, Big Team Battle, and all our other favorites return unchanged. I was hoping for a bit of change with the older game modes, but I'm still glad they're there. A lot of the new features such as sprinting and loadouts worried most people i spoke too, saying it was becoming "sci-fi Call of Duty". I actually enjoyed these changes tremendously. It makes the multiplayer more fast-paced, more intense. Nothing satisfied me more then high-jacking a ghost, jumping out just before a rocket hit me and blasting some poor fool in the face with my SAW.

The campaign opens up right where we left off in Halo 3. Master Chief is in cryo-stasis, and Cortana awakens him, warning him of a threat approaching the ship. I dont want to go into too much detail, so as not to spoil anything, but i will say that so far, its great. My only problem with it, and this is just a minor thing, is that there are STILL the same skulls from Halo 3. Don't get me wrong, I love each and every one of them, but I feel that 343 could have added just a few to spice things up.


In conclusion, Halo 4, with just a few minor things, is definitely a game that any Xbox user should own.