It's more of the same, more of what I love!
Now It's going to be hard but I'm going to try and write this review in a most unbiased view i can muster, but I'm just laying this out there from the off I am a massive Halo fan, well pretty big anyway I haven't quite reached the fanaticism of dressing in full Mark IV Mjolnir armour to take the dog for a walk, but I am fully invested in the Halo fiction I've read man a Halo novel both graphic and fiction and I've followed all web-series both live action and animated that expand upon the halo universe (the best of which In my opinion has to be Forward Unto Dawn, seriously It's fantastic check it out!) and of course I've put endless hours into every title in the Halo series (with the exception of Halo Wars, but then we all have that dark secret who lives in the attic and every now and again we throw it a few fish heads) since the days of Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox.
I'm also writing this review what is a good 4 months after Halo 4's initial release in the UK, why I've left it so late? Well I wanted to give the game all the time it deserved to fully experience the entire multiplayer and to see how Spartan Ops and Forge improved. But now to the game!
The Campaign
For those of you fearing whether Bungie left the Halo franchise in good hands when they passed the torch on to 343 industries need worry no more, this game is defiantly the Halo we know and love from the prior games in the series and yet this is Halo quite as we've never seen it before, this is Halo with personality. Now I'm not saying that previous games in the serious have lacked any personality far from it but prior to Halo 4 it could never be said that the narratives were the strongest element of a Halo title. However this time round were treated to what is easily the most moving narrative tale of any Halo title, It would appear that 343 have taken on some elements found in most Hollywood narratives in developing this Halo game, we have bad guys and damsels in distress and the Chief now has a personality beyond that of a faceless space marine.
So the story Halo 4 opens as Halo 3 closed, with the chief fast asleep in cryo-stais adrift in deep space. However your slumber is quickly broken by the arrival of the Covenant, wait didn't we make it good with those guys? Well appears not all the covenant were happy to agree with this, although never fully explained in-game this is a branch of 'pirate' covenant who are more than happy to once again try and splatter your cyborg guts across deep space lovely. The chief is also quick to notice that things aren't all hunky-dory with Cortana, It would appear the years you spent drifting in deep space aboard the broken wreckage of the UNSC Forward unto Dawn have not been kind to Cortana. She has started to develop 'Rampency' a condition that comes about when 'Smart AI's like Cortana have been in active commission for over 7 years and well all of your frolics through the previous Halo trilogy and the many years Cortana spent alone 'thinking', means she is now running on borrowed time. Thus creating the main narrative arc that will carry you through Halo 4 as the chief tries to get Cortana back Dr. Halsey the creator of smart AI's in order to try an save Cortana (he knew he cared after all this time). It's quite an emotional tale and at points really pulls on your heart strings as Cortana's condition worsens through the course of the campaign and has to fall back on the chief to defend her against characters less sympathetic to her plight. It's nice to see an emotional connection develop between the two characters that dominate so much of the screen time, something that I'm sure 343 will carry on into the other two promised titles in the series. There is also now a villain for the first time in the Halo story, one big bad guy who the Chief will inevitably have to go toe to toe with, however his existence is poorly explained and for those of you who aren't fully brushed up in the Halo-verse the introduction of the Didact as the central villain will mean nothing.
In terms of the game-play, It's very much the Halo formula we're all very used to the combat is still focused around the three tier set up of ranged, melee and grenade based combat and the AI is just and challenging even on the normal difficulty as ever, forcing you to mix up all three available combat routes in order to tack the various opponents, the level design often very varied offering vast open arenas in order to do battle in the many different vehicles (some of the better set-pieces of the game take place during these sections) Halo has to offer and also shrinking down to tight often quite frustrating corridors were all that grenade spamming can be somewhat of a nuisance. There isn't a whole lot new on offer here that we haven't seen in the previous games, you kinda' get the feeling 343 may have been playing it safe. Except for of course the introduction of the Prometheans the new alien race you encounter shortly after crash landing on the surface of Requiem the mysterious planet the Forward Unto Dawn has spent the last 4 years drifting toward. The Prometheans offer a nice variation from the often frustrating 'Flood' from the previous games. You're going to have to keep all your wits about you when tackling these foes as the Promethean Knights will goad you into charging forward before teleporting to another part of the battlefield to pick you off from afar whilst having their own shields boosted by the ever present 'Watchers' you'd do well to take out these guys first before tackling the bigger foes and then there is the 'Crawler' similar in some respects to the locust swarms found in the covenant these guys present little challenge on their own but can quickly outflank you and bring you down in swarms. There is also a new range of Promethean weaponry on offer, most weapons offer simply a Promethean variation o weapons found in the UNSC and Covenant arsenals the 'Scattershot' is simply a slight change on the shotgun and the 'Suppressor' Is simply an assault rifle, however new additions the Incendiary Cannon and Boltshot do offer a new way to gun down your foes. But apart from these new additions there is little in the realm of the new to be found in this latest Halo 4 campaign, this of course has meant that I wasn't left disappointed It wasn't quite the big statement I expected 343 to make with their first game in the series.
Aesthetics
Graphically Halo has never looked better; I'd even go as far as to say It's the best looking game currently available on the Xbox (sorry Gears 3) but then of course that is saying It's the best looking game on a console that is now 8 years old and those 8 years are really starting to show, up close textures can become bland and flat and there are at times frame-rate issues when the action on screen becomes too much. These things aside however the lighting is fantastic and with the introduction of the promethean weaponry you're often accompanied by a soft neon glow throughout really adding to the futuristic appeal , there were also moments when I genuinely stopped playing simply to take in the gorgeous vista on display (I'm sure you'll do the same at these moments) and the animation in the CGI is scarily realistic I was unsure at times as to whether I was watching animation or in-fact live action. Having also revamped the game graphically 343 have also taken steps to make their on stamp on the Halo universe through the sound, every weapon, armour ability and vehicle has had new sound recorded to great effect, each weapon fires with a very satisfying sound the new D.M.R and S.A.W being some of my personal favourites. I did at first miss the memorable soundtrack of heavy guitar rift accompanied by a choir of angles that had accompanied you throughout the previous Halo games, but the new sound track from composer Neil Davidge quickly fills the void well with a massively fresh and enjoyable soundtrack. Overall there's very little to complain about where the game is concerned both graphically and sound wise 343 have done a fantastic job at making Halo look and sound better than it ever has.
Infinity
The multiplayer side of Halo has now been folded under the wing of a new section called 'Infinity' this is to incorporate the idea that all multiplayer battles, Spartan-Ops missions take place as a training exercise aboard the UNSC Infinity. I have to say from the off here that Halo 4's multiplayer or 'War Games' as Its been re-branded is possibly the best most addictive multiplayer Halo has had since the days of Halo 3, borrowing much from the world of other online multiplayer shooters such as CoD to its benefit, War games now incorporates kill-streak rewards in It's 'Ordanace Drops' which will give you a random shield ability or weapon to give you the advantage, there's also an in-depth levelling up system and as you level up you unlock skill points which you can spend on new weapons and amour abilities which can be swapped in and out through the 5 equipment set ups you have available to you, although not as vast in Its armoury as CoD Its a re-think on the Halo multiplayer that I found kept me coming back for more, all the amour abilities from Reach make a return along with a few underwhelming additions in the form of 'Promethean Vision' and other Promethean based abilities. All of the familiar playlists are there from Team Slayer to Grifball (which now gets its own exclusive playlist) and it would appear that 343 are intent on keeping you coming back for more by adding new play lists after Halo's initial release, most recently of which being 'Extraction' which was included in the Majestic Map pack. The initial launch maps added a different flavour I believe to Halo multiplayer. They were mostly large maps favouring long range battle over close and personal, however there were choke points where the action really did get fast and furious. The latest map pack the 'Majestic Map pack' however seems to be aimed at bringing back the more classic flavour of the original Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer maps favouring closer quarters, either style of map you find yourself playing on, the multitude of weaponry and armour abilities on offer makes for a compelling and addictive multiplayer experience that I'm still very much addicted to months after launch.
Firefight has made way for Spartan-Ops, an attempt from 343 to give us added value for money with the promise of releasing more content episodically for free after launch, this content comes in the form of Spartan-Ops missions which get released in seasons alongside a series of short animations. The missions themselves are somewhat disappointing being little more than maps taken from the campaign and the filled with enemies and objectives that you can choose to tackle either co-op or solo, It's rather uninspired and despite attempts from 343 to change up the formula as more and more episodes are released It never quite lives up to the rest of what Halo 4 has to offer and is probably not worth the time needed to complete the marathon of episodes now available. Although the animations are pretty and quite enjoyable to follow and the completion of some episodes is necessary in order to get that 100% achievement completion so you may find it worth some of your time, I however did not and after completing a few episodes in the series I haven't returned to it. Apart from this Infinity will keep you coming back to Halo long after you slain your last Elite in the campaign.
In Conclusion...
Halo 4 really is a magnificent gaming achievement, 343 Industries have done a fantastic job of picking up the mantle left to by Bungie, although Halo 4 doesn't change up the series greatly rather it reminds us of what we loved most about Bungie's games from the fantastic multiplayer and we experience something new In a story filled with enjoyable characters and heart wrenching plot twists. Some may argue that this Halo 4 is little more than a fan service making not attempt to change the series and only continue it and they may be right, but being the avid Halo fan myself I'm more than ready to play some more Halo and Halo 4 only reminded me of this fact. If we can expect more of the top notch quality on display here mixed in with more narrative innovation and whatever innovation we can expect from the next generation of consoles then a new trilogy of Halo titles is a very exciting prospect indeed.
9/10
-RedManGaming