@hp2110 @ponic3 Yes I will agree with you they could've picked some better voice actors for characters such as Spartan Miller for example. I think they want to focus on whatever they are doing now rather than the next season, but I would not be against another Spartan Ops season. At the very least if they address the events in the next game and tell us what happens to Infinity, Fireteam Crimson/Majestic, Jul and Halsey I would be satisfied. Like I said, another Spartan Ops season I would not be against

I'm looking forward to it. Halo 4 had a solid story when new character development and explored areas previously unexplored in the series. Cortana dieing was inevitable, everything dies eventually, and it was a chance to make some character development which is essential to good plot points (the Chief felt the same [the same epic killing machine], most of it was directed at Cortana) Course she was my favourite character so I'll miss her, though I'm betting she'll pop up again in some capacity.

One thing I hope is that they make the Didact more involved rather than just talking. Like Bungie could get away with it because Truth was chair bound and clearly frail and unable to function, and the Gravemind was too massive to move. The Didact isn't, so they could definitely have him more present in the gameplay. Plus the new enemies, fighting AI's, it was an interesting twist, but enjoyable nonetheless. Their ability to respawn was kind of like robotic flood or something, it was different, which makes it good. All in all I'm looking forward to this next game (which is clearly Halo 5, why Microsoft is playing a caging I don't know).

Akso hoping for another long campaign, and I do hope that Halo 4 support isn't dropped right this instant. A few more map packs and added stuff would be appreciated. I would also hope that we see what happens to the Infinity crew, and Dr. Halsey now that she works for Jul (if not in another Spartan Ops season, then through the next game at the least.)

I saw the dog and I instantly thought, "Yup, he's screwed..." BUT HE BETTER NOT BE! Darn it I like the dog more than the characters! Riley better live, or that game is getting tossed out the window!

@BlueTurtz @ponic3 I know it's not as many as it used to be but I don't have issues going into matchmaking and finding players. I think it also varies between seasons, as I said, it's the summer now, most people are probably spending time outdoors (at least I tend to). Also depending on the time when the player logs on will dictate the number of players available (logging on during lunch or work hours will yield few players, logging on after dinner will probably give many more results). Sometimes I look at my xbox friends list and I see almost everyone on it playing Halo 4 at once.

I don't want to retype my post, but my very 1st post illustrates what my point was based off of the chart.

@H4num4n I'D KICK YOUR BEHIND ON HALO! I kid, I kid :). So I gathered it wasn't your first language :P. Have no fear I read it all anyways.

For the MP I can see how you would dislike the loadouts, that being said I suppose I prefer them over having to hunt down weapons that keep popping up because it does minimize camping. The reason why it worked better in Halo I think it because there are only certain weapons you can put into your loadout and certain weapons are off limits you must get them ingame (e.g the shotgun). In my opinion that equalled the footing more because then no one can come who is an amazing player that has a load out of say a SAW and a Sniper rifle (just an example). Any good weapons are then awarded to the player via your skill level in the particular game. Difference between that reward system and the God forsaken one of COD was they weren't utter game changers. I've taken down plenty of players that are armed with SAWs because they go wild with that gun and don't notice my sniper sights trained on them from a ways away. For vehicles it depends on your team I find. Players that hop in vehicles and keep moving and harassing can score some decent kills but if vehicles were game changers then it would make it unbalanced. They can be taken down which is quite helpful, especially when someone has dove into a Banshee or Scorpian and is going on a rampage, then you down them with an overcharged Plasma Pistol. As for the maps I believe the size may have not so much been 343's fault but more an issue that came form using up to date graphics and the limitations of the xbox 360 as a console that stopped them from making very large maps. I prefer to play Big team Slayer myself so I didn't usually encounter issues of enemies that were too close, on the contrary I tended to go for ranged weapons.

Spartan Ops as I said was 343's way of making something different so it wasn't the same as previous games. It wasn't a new game, just more of an addon campaign that was given for free (personally I enjoyed it). I admit I was a bit confused when I realized I was replaying the same maps over and over but when I kept that caveat in mind I enjoyed Spartan Ops for what it is. Mostly because of the story, which is what I always loved about the Halo series. I'd also point out it was really nice to have a bigger reason to play online. Most games I have, I play the campaign, then replay the campaign, and then replay the campaign, and then occasionally go on the multiplayer. Just because I value story over some of the (how shall I say this...) "not nice" or immature people one can occasionally encounter on the internet, especially on FPS's. Spartan Ops gave me more story once I finished the campaign, and got me playing multiplayer more. Was easily worth it for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it because of that!

For the chief being more human. What I am saying it, it was a necessary development. Halo is known for its good story. Chief did not become emo, he just got unhappy that one of his closest comrades was killed, as Lasky said at the end "soldiers aren't machines". As I said, if you want to make a good story then it can't be constantly working around the exact same theme of exploding stuff. Some form of character development was necessary. Since most to all of the previous characters are dead in the Halo series that carried between its entirety that really only left the Chief and Cortana. So 343 took the story of their relationship as comrades (I emphasize comrades, not a couple. Cortana cared for him, something Bungie showed throughout Halo 1-3 as well but it wasn't romantic. I didn't see anything in Halo 4 that suggested romantic, so don't misinterpret what I meant by relationship). Thus it was a good story development, I appreciate that myself. Chief was still the gunslinging enemy eating person he always was. If anything I found Halo 4 had more enemies in it than usual games.

As for the enemy's game mechanics, the knights would vanish when their shield was down so they could recharge, just like how we do. At least I do that so I don't die.then they would come back and attack. Plus they had that slip space thing that let them get better angles on you and the ones armed with scattershot would get closer to you and take you out. I still maintain they had more soul to them than previous enemeis in the game, citing my previous post. I would point out your concept of fighting with the elites as allies did not happen until Halo 3 (Halo 1 and 2 was still the standard humans against aliens). You have to keep in mind Halo 4 is like a new series almost. 343 is making a new story, so any former enemies now turned friends won't happen until down the road. Halo 4 was kind of like the bridge that closed down Bungie and started 343 on it's own (a necessary thing otherwise 343's sudden story would be a little to tacked on). Beyond that, I really can't see what more you would want from them, especially in terms of physics. When you shot a knight with an explosion it would fall over and then desintegrate, since it is a futureistic there is a lot of adaptability.

The mech sections, especially the flying portions. I play Ace combat myself so I enjoyed fighter games. That being said Halo is an FPS first, they placed those mech sections in as extra and something different during the levels, not as a new game, thus the comparison with it and other games made for flying is inaccurate. Which brings me to the openness of levels. The Pelican seemed plenty open, and I point out to you that Halo 1 was very closed in its level's layout, most glaring examples being the assault on the control room level as well as the Cartogropher. I'm certain of this because I was replaying my Halo games very recently. Halo 2 was a bit more open, but only a bit, and Halo 3 is when they opened the maps more. 343 was focusing more on story over easter eggss, that was their priority but it's not as if the easter eggs were nonexistent. I played the campaign for its story, so rarely did I go venturing off into nowhere's ville on the map to get whatever easter eggs. Hutning down the Halo 3 terminals was all I did, and I didn't even enjoy how much you had to go off course to get them sometimes. It's a play style I suppose.

Playing Halo 4 again right now, I have to say I still feel the music was well tailored to the environment of mysterious they were setting up. If they were making a game as actiony as Halo 3 was, then there'd be a mismatch. The only thing is music has to be made to emphasize the atmosphere, tossing in a rock song out of no where will hinder the game more than help it.

For the Didact, as I said previously, yes it was a lame way to take him out. Still, it's more than I got to do for Truth. The only memorable boss battle in the whole series was actually killing Regret and Guilty Spark. That being said, I do prefer that Halo does not have too many bosses, I hate fighting bosses. Sometimes there is only 1 way to kill them, thus they are a major pain in the behind to eliminate! The most glaring example from recent gaming for me was the Alpha Ceph in Crysis 3 (I raged quit that one, never raged quit a Halo game).

Anyways that's pretty much it. Personally I can't see out little tete a tete going anywhere now, so that's my piece. No real point in contrinuing beyond here anyways. Personally I like this new direction, it's new, but still pays homage to the old. I trust 343 with one of my favourite series after playing Halo 4.

@H4num4n Very well then, you dodged the question about MP and gave me the very phrase I told you not to use. It's been CODified is not an argument. No aiming down the weapons sights, similar game types to previous titles (not identical because that would've been lazy), customizing of armour was from Halo Reach, it played the exact same as any other Halo MP I've ever played. Random weapons spawn also made players less likely to camp (something COD was famous for). The only COD similarities were the ordnance drop (which wasn't a game changer like COD's are) and that you had to buy your weapons (which I will grant you, was the only annoying part).

For the SP point by point
-How was it dumbed down? I found the enemy AI's to be even more blood thirsty than on previous games. On older games they would wait to kill you until you jumped out from behind cover, in Halo 4 most of the time they ran after you, giving you less chances to recharge your shields. As for graphics, cutscenes were beautiful and gameplay certainly looked better than previous titles. The hunters didn't look much different to me compared to Halo Reach. Elites looked different but Glasslands explains that the men that Jul found looked somewhat physically different from the Sangehelei (sp?) on Sangehelios. As for armour configuration, they were rebels, yes they would look at least somewhat different.Dropships looked fine to me, only parts I would consider a redesign in would be the Pelican dropships and the Banshee's that shorter canard look that was made in Halo Reach looks uglier than previous versions.

-It was no less linear and scripted than any other Halo game mission where you were given a target and told to get to it. Halo 4 only seemed more scripted because it gave you more chances to use the various vehicles they had placed in such as the Longsowrd, and the Pelican levels. Just finished playing a few levels right now and I didn't feel I was being forced to do anything any differently than previous Halo games (something I enjoyed actually. Other games such as Crysis, and COD have such randomly large levels I have to die about 4 times before I figure out what is going on, not a problem I ever encountered playing the Halo games). An example for you, Halo 1 finding the Cartogropher was full of intermediary points you had to satisfy before getting to your final objective. Enemy diversity was more or less the same, durable hunters and elites, cannon fodder Jackals and grunts, same thing went for the Prometheans. If anything they had more diversity because when a Watcher was present they would typically alter how the fight was going on.

-Promethean soullessness. Actually they had more souls than the Flood certainly did. Like the flood they attacked in numbers and could resurrect themselves, also when the Librarian told you they were ancient humans that only made them all the more 'soulful' as soulful as you can be for enemies. You're fighting aliens in Halo, never in the series did they go out of their way to make you reconsider what you were doing from an ethical point of you (except in ONLY Halo 2. E.g. The flood certainly were souless just set on consuming [don't get me wrong, I liked the flood], the Brutes were only loyal to the Prophets to a fault they were by definition without much character. If you meant you wanted more personality when fighting enemies which would only translate to their taunts, ok that is a fair point though a small one in and of itself.

-story ending was not anticlimactic in the least. Cortana saved the chief. The story for Halo 4 was not ONLY action, this is what set it apart from its predecessors to give it a human aspect and to make it different from previous installations. As an author I found that to be refreshing, not that I disliked previous Halo games [it is one of my favourite series], I felt it was just a nice change. It allowed for character development in a different aspect from previous Halo games. The Chief and Cortana are heroes used to fighting under impossible conditions against hordes of enemies. Cortana's rampancy was a new curve ball neither of them were ready to save. Cortana saved the Chief from a nuke, and I was pretty sure he was about to die, that's pretty climactic in itself. I will say though, Cortana was my favourite character so to see her die did piss me off a bit. The only thing they could've made better would've been the final battle with the Didact, still, it's more than I got to do with Truth on Halo 3.

-Not sure what more you could want in the Pelican, Broadsword, and Mech sections. You got to use them, what else could 343 do? It certainly beat the run of the mill banshee portions of Halo 1 and 2 (2 in particular I didn't enjoy hopping in the Banshee as the arbiter because I found the new controls annoying and bothersome). Banshee flying was already done in Halo 1, 2, and ODST, it was time for a change. Reach let you fly a Falcon, 3 let you fly a Hornet, and 4 let you fly a Pelican (which was cool cause you always saw them but interacted with them very little in the series) and a Broadsword, how you could want more from those points, I'm not sure I'm afraid.

-Music not as epic. It was a different style, music is a very subjective subject, because I am electic in my tastes of music I liked it, but I like almost all types of music. I can see how you wouldn't have liked it as much, but I would point out to you in Halo 1 and 2 there weren't many points of music. The games that had more music in them was 3, ODST, and Reach.

-Mission design is boring? In regards to the switches of environment that is definitely more than we usually got. In fact that's more than most FPS's ever do. You got to see different environments instead of overall exact same features with each level. It made the levels longer (which was good, I like long campaigns), and it made them more diverse. As I said before, 3 switches between levels is easily more than we got in previous games. I would point to you the only levels I can think of out of the series that did not have an overall 'same look' to them were the final 2 levels of Halo Reach, finding the Huragok on ODST, the Ark level on Halo 3, and the library level of Halo 2 as the Arbiter. Most to all of Halo 4's levels had different designs to them as you went on, as I said before is more than we usually get.

-No campaign films and scorings? I've never used the films so I can't comment, but as for scoring, fair enough. Another point for you.

-No firefight? Was replaced by Spartan Ops. Before you say how bad it was let me beat you to that. 1 Spartan Ops was more of an addon campaign streamed for free over the internet, not a brand new game. Of course the maps would be used more than once and smaller, it wasn't a new game, that was to be expected. I impressed that they took the time to put well animated cutscenes there at all along with characters. Halsey, Palmer, and Lasky got to grow as characters, and the gameplay was harder on Spartan Ops than campaign versions. By that I mean playing on Harder or Legendary on Spartan Ops was different when playing on Harder or Legendary on campaign, and enemies also appeared in greater numbers. Adding firefight would've been lazy on 343's part because they would've been copying previous titles. They made Halo 4 to set themselves apart from other Halo installations, not to copy Halo 3 or Halo Reach from the ground up. That's really all I can think of, mon amis, I hope this at least illuminates a different point of view to consider.

@H4num4n @ponic3 Alright then, I'd be interested in hearing it since we clearly known enough about the game to make an informed decision. What do you dislike about it? And please give me a legit reason not "they made it into call of duty" because that is a matter of subjective opinion

This graph is irrelevant and the people complaining are to be frank incorrect. By the chart itself the game had a much higher fanbase, also it's a well consented to fact that Halo 4 had a great story (google search says so, reviews say so, and the graph supports Halo 4 was liked more). Also this graph is taking into account only a single point at which Halo 4 is JUST under Halo Reach's play level (a very small scientifically irrelevant sample). Next it is the summer, thus more people are outside rather than playing indoors on their video game consoles. Thirdly for the remainder of the graph Halo 4 was above, and at the start WELL above Halo Reach. 343 could've given to charity and some of the silly commenters would've complained anyways.

Frankly Halo 4 was great, and I love it's online even more than the other games (coming from a player that has played Halo for years, owns all the games, and pretty much all of the books). The majority of commenters are only reading part of the article and taking it as a chance to troll and flame as usual. Also as usual the ones who dislike are more vocal than the ones who enjoyed the game, as is the case with all games. Sorry your position is moot

Halo 4 was a grand game with great story development and gameplay, I admit I'm a bit skeptical about a TV series. I know fans say they want it but rarely do fans know what they actually want (sorry it's a fact). And movies or TV series made off of games tend to be lackluster, but we will see I suppose. Halo has not disappointing me yet, hopefully it can stay on that streak!

I thought it was really well done. Cortana was always a calm and well reasoned AI, so to see her going through something that despite all her intellect was going to leave her undone in the end was a refreshing character development. The chief even had to 'step out of his comfort zone' a little bit. When fighting the covenant it was easy, "If it's not human=kill it". Now there was a new element that he had to go into as a result. I imagine Halo 4 was more "settig the stage" for the other games, and I doubt the Didact is gone for good there will probably be some form of a return, I mean the Chief was unable to defeat him without Cortana's assistance so I doubt he could be taken out that quickly, and it all came to a head with Cortana and the Chief. Could've been worse they could've been doing an "I love you"sort of thing that would've gotten old.

Anyways this is just my take on it, being an newly published author I look for that in stories, character development and what not. It seems the ones who disliked the story are the players who don't seem to fully grasp the effort it takes to deliver a story, a lot of the people I met online actually expressed likeing to the story. It's why I enjoyed all the Halo games, including number 4. Besides if 343 just went and redelievered an action story only then everyone would've groaned it being too similiar to Halo 3.