Halo 4

[Iceglow]

Ok so we know someone had to make this thread. Let's get your jokes out of the way now Paul, Dan, Huxley, Quin's Mother. Honestly they're boring me it's gotten old.

So who other than the ones such as myself, Paul and Dan (who will most certainly wind up with it) is going to get it?

What do you think of the things seen so far? I think the changes to CTF, Griffball and oddball will be welcome. For those who don't know about the changes 343 industries have brought to these game types here's a summary:

Flag carriers may now wield a magnum alongside the flag.
Flag carriers can now achieve a "Flagsassination" assassination move which involves impaling the enemies skull with the flag and giving it a brain destroying wiggle.
Oddball game type allows players to get an assassination with the bomb, this disintegrates players enemies.
Oddball also allows the use of a magnum side arm when holding the bomb. No word as yet as to if this will be in other game types where a bomb is used.
Oddball allows the bomb to be passed between players by throwing it much like a grenade, these passes can be intercepted by a well placed opponent allowing the game to flow faster and encouraging more team work in such game types.
Griffball also allows passing of the bomb same as in Oddball. You can also intercept a pass or control a pass by hitting it with the gravity hammer
Griffball rewards a steal of the ball with the sword with immediate control of the bomb by the sword bearer. If the player utilizes the gravity hammer to kill the ball carrier the ball becomes free on the floor and they will have to scoop it up


I think the changes so far seem to be for the best. There's several other changes to loadouts and the like where players will be able to set their own weapon pairings so no more having to choose between starting with a DMR and pistol but crap ability or a good ability but crap weapons as was often a problem in Halo Reach (though of course being set after Halo 3, Halo 4 is set to feature a return of the 3 round burst firing Battle Rifle rather than the individual shot of the DMR. I wouldn't mind seeing both though to be honest)

[CimminyCricket]

I totally forgot you guys are addicted to this online Halo stuff. I've been playing Reach a lot recently, are you all destroying toddlers on that or are you a part of the Halo X forever group?

I'm excited for the story of Halo 4 more than anything, I read the books and the fact that I was left hanging at the end of I think it was Ghost Protocol or something upset me. I want to know what happens!

[Iceglow]

None of us really have played a Halo in ages. I can't recall but I doubt any of us have actually brought Halo CE though I was tempted to do so (actually own the first two as original xbox titles. Maybe the CE would be fun because Halo Reach level graphics but I'd have been happier if there was the Halo Reach mechanics involved too)

[Psychotic]

It's going to be an utterly terrible and worthless game without merit that I will devote a thousand hours of my life to.

[escobert]

Are they gonna say no more Halo games after this one too?

[CimminyCricket]

I think this is the start of a new trilogy and I am hoping they are good.

[Goldenboko]

Let's face it, I'm going to buy this game, dedicate a stupid amount of hours to it, then bitch about it in that order.

[Iceglow]

Lets face it we all know I'm going to dedicate some stupid amount of time getting the legendary solo playthrough achievement whilst being ridiculed over an xbl party for even bothering myself with it.

[Madonna]

I am over Halo ten million ways from Sunday. For a science-fiction game, there sure is a lot of repetition in terms of fantastic alien architecture, weapons, and planets. Halo 4 will be worth playing multiplayer because everyone and their mother will have a copy, but otherwise it may as well be as redundant as a new Madden or Call of Duty title.

[I Took the Red Pill]

If it is similar to Halo 3, I will probably get it. Reach was a steaming pile of trout (imho), and my friends and I still play 3. It's really sad to see a population of like 90 on Team Doubles these dayz. :(

[Psychotic]

If it is similar to Halo 3, I will probably get it. Reach was a steaming pile of trout (imho), and my friends and I still play 3. It's really sad to see a population of like 90 on Team Doubles these dayz. :(

Bungie.net : Halo 3 Game Details (http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStatsHalo3.aspx?gameid=1599539278&player=Scratch%20J)

perfection

[NorthernChaosGod]

I was totally over Halo because of Bungie's lack of involvement, but some of those changes sounds intriguing enough to consider it.

[Madame Adequate]

I do like the notion of using my magnum while carrying a flag!

I have CE but I've tried it online and I dunno if something changed with my network or it's badly coded or what but it's unplayably laggy for me so :monster:

[Pike]

I have CE but I've tried it online and I dunno if something changed with my network or it's badly coded or what but it's unplayably laggy for me so :monster:

Maybe it's cause the person you were playing it with is several thousand miles away :shifty:

[Iceglow]

Noticed some pre-order information today, seems for the UK Amazon and Game have the strongest pre-order bonuses. HMV has a relatively poor showing and supermarkets you might as well not bother with since I don't see any offering anything on this.

[Quindiana Jones]

Let's face it, I'm going to buy this game, dedicate a stupid amount of hours to it, then bitch about it in that order.

I'm going to bitch about it, buy it, bitch about it, play a bit, bitch about it, play the campaign obsessively, bitch about it, play the multiplayer obsessively, then bitch about it some more.

Fucking Halo, man.

[Psychotic]

Cortana is literally the worst character in the history of video games and why the fuck does an AI have a god damn gaptooth? Seriously, fix the fucking teeth you silly blue twat.

[Jiro]

I just haven't even considered it tbh. The fact that I haven't been able to get decent internet since that fateful 1v1 match with Psychotic in Halo3 just pisses me off. Also hilariously I have gotten Halo3 and Reach at release; Halo 4 is up in the air despite hearing some very positive things about it. I just can't get excited.

[Psychotic]

Yeah, it's been out for nearly a week and I just made the first post on it. Seems most people, myself included, are not exactly enthused. I got it as more of a "Oh, go on then. What else am I gonna do?" than a "OH MY FUCKING GOD NEW HALO GAME COME ON COME ON" thing.

[Jiro]

One of my mates was playing it today. It looked alright. I really hate the customisation from what I saw; the spartans all look like they were starved and several bones removed to create this ill proportioned freaks. Online is the only thing that would attract me - Chief and I finished the fight already, I can't get excited about "a lot can happen in four years" because that is an absolute cop out by 343 Industries to not try and design a full set of new enemies. Probably because it would change the mechanics that make Halo a best seller. It seems way too obvious a cash grab.

[Psychotic]

Yeah they added a new set of enemies to complement the Covenant and they're all a bunch of dicks who aren't particularly fun to fight.

[Aerith's Knight]

I'm enjoying the game. But two things bother me.

1. It automatically reverts the language of the game to .. blegh.. Dutch, because of my region settings of my gamertag. That means I have to use a different account to play the campaign, or be bothered by the stupid dutch language.

2. You need 8 gigs to play online? Duuuuude, my 360 is from 2005. I have a 15 gig hard drive. With the stupid windows 8 crap that is now called a homescreen, I'm not even sure I'd have the space if I left just my savegames.

Meh, still good though. Maybe I'll try and play with you guys again when I get my harddrive cleared up.


Yeah they added a new set of enemies to complement the Covenant and they're all a bunch of dicks who aren't particularly fun to fight.

I know, right? Seems waay too cyberpunk for me. I like being able to fly a pelican though. :)


Cortana is literally the worst character in the history of video games and why the smurf does an AI have a god damn gaptooth? Seriously, fix the smurfing teeth you silly blue twat.

I noticed it too. They completely changed her face. Trying to make her seem more like the girl around the block. She's an AI. Fix your image.

[DK]

Oh yes, me and Paul are playing multiplayer now. and we're back with a vengeance. Our second match, big teams slayer on valhalla, I went 22-0, got a perfection. Have. Some. Of. That.

[Loony BoB]

Is there enough co-op in this game to make it worth me buying? :p Multiplayer vs. matches were never a major thing for me.

[Aerith's Knight]

Is there enough co-op in this game to make it worth me buying? :p Multiplayer vs. matches were never a major thing for me.

Halo games have always had decent co-op integration. This is no exception.

You should have someone to play it with you though. Also, I'm not sure, but I think I finished the game in 6 or 7 hours.

[Iceglow]

My copy arrived today as promised, however unlike previously advertised on msn, I will not likely be on it tonight, I have a date. However if I get through my date quicker than expected this may change.

[Old Manus]

I've never played a Halo game in my life, nor have watched any gameplay of it. A friend of mine got the game the other day and I played a few rounds with him, and my only thought was 'this is Call of Duty with different textures'. I didn't even need to ask what the buttons were.

[Aerith's Knight]

I've never played a Halo game in my life, nor have watched any gameplay of it. A friend of mine got the game the other day and I played a few rounds with him, and my only thought was 'this is Call of Duty with different textures'. I didn't even need to ask what the buttons were.

Buzz! Wrong. Halo: Combat evolved came out in 2001. Call of Duty was released in 2003. So it's the other way around. CoD is Halo, but with Nazi's. :)

[Jiro]

My friend described this as Call of Duty: Halo Edition though. Halo has surrendered a lot of its uniqueness to appeal to the mass audience.

[CimminyCricket]

Does that mean my days running around as though bullets harm me are over?

[Aerith's Knight]

Does that mean my days running around as though bullets harm me are over?

I kinda miss the health system of Halo 1. You had shields AND a life bar. Made legendary such a hard game.

[Quindiana Jones]

Indeed. Rechargeable shields and a non-recharging health bar is the only acceptable way for an FPS to deal with health. :colbert:

[MTKO]

I was trying to post a reply, but my laptop is a piece of shit and froze on me... so I'll try to retype this haha.

If the 3 round burst is to return, I hope this means similar weapon mechanics to 2 or 3 (at least 3, 2 would be best though).
The reason I stopped playing Reach was due to the closing of the skill gap between more experienced players and novice players in competitive play that made learning more about the game feel less rewarding. This was clearly not the only factor the contributed to the decline of competitive play in reach, but was one of the more obvious ones. Hopefully Halo 4 returns to the weapon mechanics and battle experience of 2 with the teamwork focus of 3. I have seen much aside from the ads here and there for 4, so I really don't have much else to say about it, other than the above.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Just got it, didn't know I had to install my second disc to make the game playable. That's kind of bullshit. Will come back once I've actually played some matches.

[Iceglow]

Yeah the whole "lets not include a note saying "installation disc" was a bit dumb by 343 I'd have expected more. I've played some Halo 4 now and control wise it's pretty similar to CoD; left analogue stick pressed in = sprint, crouch is now the b button (hell I keep holding it wanting to go prone!), melee is on the RB button and grenades on the left trigger. Pretty much once I got the idea to play like it was CoD my skill level went up a fair bit on the multiplayer games we did which was disappointing because I prefer playing halo to mean playing halo.

I noticed a few things removed from the game:

Hornets and/or Falcons (seriously the UNSC seems to have forgone any form of air power in 4 why I don't know)
Dual wielding (not such a major loss but there were times and weapons where dual wield became useful like when needlers and plasma assaults were dual wield weapons)

Some of the changes I'm unsure about, things like the new Warthog look or the sound of it's engines they've gone for an added touch of realism the hog now sports jerry cans bouncing over the rear, firing it's cannon is now accompanied with a tinkling sound of shells hitting the deck of the hog, they've also made it so it can overheat it's cannon meaning you're unable to simply drive constantly throwing down bullets (done the same with static turrets too) though the hog and the mongoose appear to have had some pretty beefy armour moulded in to them as a direct hit from a rocket launcher won't always kill a mongoose but it will kill the rider of the vehicle.

Whilst yes, the Hog now sounds meatier, and more raw it's a fundamental break from the Hog we know and love from Halo (if we go chronologically of storyline - Wars, Reach, CE, 2 & ODST, 3) which I'm not so sure I agree with since if you look at when these games are set: Wars is 20 years prior to CE (don't get me started on the idea of introducing flood in this game), Reach is just before CE, 2 is I believe a year or two after CE, ODST is during 2 and 3 directly after 2 with Halo 4 set 4 years 10 months 7 days and 16 hours (or whatever it was Cortana said) after the events of 3 (to give it a better sense of scale, the difference in terms of time passed between Reach and 3 is under 4 years as Cortana is the AI transported to the Pillar of Autumn by Noble Team on Reach in 4 she states she was created 8 years ago) the idea of nerfing the warthogs trademark constant stream of bullets or placing jerry cans on it seems to be wrong in some sense.

Another change is that the Ghost when damaged no longer sparks blue plasma energy everywhere it smokes as if it was a UNSC vehicle. I've also noticed that the Halo Reach Banshee is the Banshee that makes a return to service in 4, this doesn't fit with the idea that the Banshee in 3 was different due to upgrades in Covenant war tech, the Storm Rifle is another issue, the gun works and looks more like the plasma repeater from Halo Reach too. Plasma Repeaters were pre-cursors to the Plasma Assault Rifle and Heavy Plasma Assault Rifles of 1 - 3. I'm not sure where 343 thought they were going here I feel like the stuff they/Bungie announced to explain the changes between technology between 3 and Reach are being ignored in favour of not having to re-model the underlying mesh models created for Reach.

Overall I've enjoyed what I've played so far on Halo 4 but at the same point I'm disappointed with some of the things I've noticed. I'm up for progression but some of the "progression" is retconning the absolute shit of the predecessor games.

[Aerith's Knight]

I have 8 gig total on my hard drive. And that's including used space. I'm not even sure I CAN play multiplayer.

[NorthernChaosGod]

I've had fun with multiplayer, but it plays way too much like COD for my liking. I was completely fine with more highly skilled players have better looking armor than I do, but it's pretty shitty to give them access to better loadouts and stick them with people just starting. I don't even really like the idea of custom loadouts to begin with. It goes against what I always liked about Halo over CoD.

That being said, the campaign is pretty cool. I've completed six of the missions and I'm excited to see where it goes.

[Aerith's Knight]

Can't we just play REACH or Halo 3 again? That was fun. Remember the elephant? I want to sing again, guys.

[Iceglow]

lol I want to know if Julian misses the old Halo fun past-time of abusive xbl messages?

[Quindiana Jones]

I still have your abusive messages saved somewhere, Steve. xD

[Jiro]

I played some multiplayer with a mate yesterday.

I'm... unimpressed. There are some cool things, like I do actually enjoy the addition of some weapons and the "kill streak" things. I hate that there are all these perks and abilities now; it makes things too busy and removes the idea that I can just win by being a better player. Now I have to win by grinding levels so I can unlock shit and then make sure I build the best loadout and etc etc.

I want the standard Reach controls back too; B to crouch and making it a toggle is fucking annoying, but LS in kind of needs to be sprint. It just feels like a bit of a mess. The maps I played on were pretty neat though.

Oh. The Mantis. What the fuck. That thing is OP as fuck. A tank can be destroyed; this thing just ducks out into cover for a couple seconds and regains all its shields, making it all but invincible. Not a fan at all.

I might go and buy a copy of Halo 4 and head into the city so I can play a few rounds with you lot though. With friends it seems bearable.

[Iceglow]

I still have your abusive messages saved somewhere, Steve. xD

You missed a cracker to Julian where I told him I'd dipped my balls in refried beans to make them easier for him to suck.

Edit: The Mantis can be overpowered but it can also be wrecked by a Ghost in a one on one fight as I have proven by doing so. My Ghost took a pounding but was still operational after ramming straight in to it for the kill after destroying shielding and the like from gun fire.

[NorthernChaosGod]

lol I want to know if Julian misses the old Halo fun past-time of abusive xbl messages?
Yes, of course I do. <3


I hate that there are all these perks and abilities now; it makes things too busy and removes the idea that I can just win by being a better player. Now I have to win by grinding levels so I can unlock shit and then make sure I build the best loadout and etc etc.

Yeah, it removes skill being pretty much the only deciding factor.



Oh. The Mantis. What the fuck. That thing is OP as fuck. A tank can be destroyed; this thing just ducks out into cover for a couple seconds and regains all its shields, making it all but invincible. Not a fan at all.
It's not that OP unless you know how to use it really well. You can take it down with concentrated fire or a single person using a plasma pistol to get in close.

[noshowmillk]

The game looks interesting and I'm considering it. I already downloaded Waypoint when it came out. I like Waypoint for all the fan-made posts like the Pokemon creations.

[Iceglow]

How much do you want to bet those two guys gave us neg rep for that Paul?

[Psychotic]

37p.

Also re: the Mantis, I am the Mantis hunter. You just need a Plasma Pistol and then sneak round from the side or back. EMP it, ride it like a rodeo and the job's a good 'un.

But, yes, it is inferior to Reach which was inferior to 3.

[Aerith's Knight]

Which is why we should play Halo 3 again.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Am I the only one here who bought Halo 4 exclusively for the Campaign mode?

Not sure why, but I've never bothered with Xbox Live. The only Halo game that I play multi-player is the first one for the PC.

[Aerith's Knight]

I bought it for the campaign. Which turned out meh, because the new enemies were so annoying.

[Iceglow]

Well the ending wasn't quite what I expected for Halo.

Though the final mission I can already tell is going to be a complete bitch when it comes to legendary solo. Mostly because there'll be so many knights and ick. Yeah new enemies are not fun to fight, at least with Covenant even Covenant with Engineers once they're dead, they're dead. The Watchers revive ability cheapens Halo's campaign to something akin to Call of Duty games made by Treyarch (Black Ops and you're infinitely spawning troops at Khe San, looking right at you 3 seconds to move and then kill the same 3 guys over again)

Somehow though I expect I'll sit there frustrated to fuck grinding that bastard out at some point which doesn't inspire me to be joyful at all which even by my standards is something unusual I normally soak those challenges up.

[Aerith's Knight]

Yeah, the respawning from those freaking flying machines pisses me off the most. I've ground through halo 1 legendary, where at one point my buddy and I took turns assaulting Wraiths, elites, and ghosts with plasma pistols because we ran out of ammo. But we did it, because when elites are dead.. they remain DEAD.

You run out of ammo so fast with the new enemies, and you have to take their shitty guns. Also, worst guns ever. The assault rifle of theirs is just utter shit, no impact. The light rifle runs out of ammo in a second, and the scatter gun is useless at the range you want to be in heroic and legendary games.

To conclude, the new enemies and weapons are the poo that comes from bulls. The story is fine, it's okay, nothing wrong with it. But for the love of, I never want to see those enemies again.

[Iceglow]

Going to spoiler tag because not everyone will have done the story yet.

Another point of contention for me was this: The Forerunners we have evidence of, their existence is confirmed by the huge number of things they left behind. The Halo Arrays, The Ark, The Shield Worlds. We have evidence of their war with The Flood (Halo arrays being filled with them for example) The story element that the Librarian shares with the Master Chief that "Well actually the reason The Forerunners got their asses kicked by The Flood was they were spent after a brutal and terrible war against Humanity." Didn't really have much in the way of grounding in the Halo universe. Where then are the ruins of this old Human Civilization and how did the Forerunner Librarian when she selected humanity for re-seeding the universe manage to gene code us to produce The Spartans and also looking at the video she show's the Chief, the same sort of technology?

I don't necessarily mind too much about being made to use the Supressor, in a pinch (read when you have no other option because you're out of ammo for the Saw/Assault Rifle) it does relatively well. It's still better than the Storm Rifle, which I will only use in the direst of circumstances, a spiritual successor to the Plasma Assault or even the Plasma Repeater it is not!

The DMR and Battle Rifle both chew ammo in 4 like no tomorrow as does the Carbine and the Light Rifle. It's a shame because it feels like they're trying to force you in to a run and gun style game play exactly like you'd find on CoD again, Halo taking points from Treyarch built games. In Modern Warfare like Halo 1 - Reach they have finite enemies so I can't really blame Infinity Ward for that hence the singling out of Treyarch.

The Bolt Pistol almost amuses me, despite sharing the name of one of the greatest pistols ever designed in any sci-fi ever (seriously if you don't think Warhammer 40,000 Bolt Pistols are badass, just look them up I'll even provide a link for you!) (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Bolt_Pistol) The "shotgun" charge feature of it is pretty much rendered useless by the pathetic range they grant it (I'd rather rake a Surpressor over a knight than try to take it with a Bolt Pistol) And the pistol itself is left sorely lacking in any stopping power (almost like a plasma pistol) even less useful considering 343 decided dual wielding wasn't worth including in this game (I could understand and allow the lack of dual wield on magnums)

However the rarer but insanely overpowered support weapons of the Prothean Knights are ridiculous. The Incendiary Launcher forexample will regularly destroy you. In fact in multiplayer this is so overpowered that it replaces the Spartan Laser from Halo 3 for ridiculous. At least the laser has a charge (though it could still shoot through about 13 vehicles in a row destroying them all as we once tested) The Incendiary Launcher basically has less firing - impact lag than a rocket launcher and to boot has a secondary impact after the initial impact. I cannot begin to describe how overpowered this is.

The same can be said of the Binary Rifle, I laughed at how ridiculous this is. Quicker rate of fire from trigger to impact even over extreme range than the sniper rifle of the UNSC it's only saving grace is that like the UNSC rifle it packs a lower ammo count than the Beam Rifle of the Covenant. Though a rifle what can instantly kill a fully shielded spartan with a single hit to the kneecap (I wish I was kidding on this we, that is Psy, DK and myself tested it) is a little over the top for open multiplayer combat. Another point with sniper rifles is that it's now possible to shoot the hatch off a Wraith or Scorpion to attack the driver directly. To give an idea of how many shots this takes: UNSC to remove the hatch on a Scorpion? 2, to kill the driver? 1 headshot, 2 if you don't make the first shot. Binary Rifle? 1 to remove the hatch and 1 anywhere to kill the driver. The Beam Rifle comes 3rd on this competition taking both more shots to clear the hatch and 1/2 for the driver (though packing an extra 2 shots compared to either the basic Binary Rifle or UNSC Sniper Rifle but no option to rebuild charge/collect ammo)

Unfortunately I doubt this is going to be either the last we will see of the Diatracht (spelling?) Or his Prothean Allies in this trilogy. Though how they'll have the Chief survive the next encounter without Cortana to save him will be perhaps the most interesting thing. Though looking at the ending FMV's it seems clear to me that Chief is set to get a new suit of Mjolnir Spartan IV armour which I don't believe for one second I'm happy about it's bad enough they emancipated his armour for the 4th game already.

I think it's also worth noting that Lasky despite being saved by Chief at the Corbulo Academy doesn't feel fit to mention it to the Chief he speaks about reading up on the Chief but he doesn't say "Well sir actually when I was nothing more than an idiot cadet who couldn't take my shots for cryo sleep you saved my bacon" Or even to speak up when Del Rio is bitching at Palmer to try and arrest the Chief (like she could... bitch please!)

[NorthernChaosGod]

The Didact? Just turn on subtitles, bro.

[Iceglow]

Yeah I couldn't be arsed with loading up my game and playing a mission through with subtitles.