Destructoid - Did 343 Industries step comfortably into Bungie's big shoes? Was the story all you'd hoped for? Does the multiplayer still hold up? Does it actually matter that they didn't include iron-sights for the guns? Conversely, does it feel like it's too predictable? More of the same? Was it perhaps not quite the shining beacon of perfection you wanted?
Original Destiny artist Darren Bacon recalls how Bungie reacted to the art style change of Halo 4 by 343 Industries.
Bungie at that time became the most wonderful bunch of hypocrites in the gaming industry. Knowing this now, gosh the entitlement they felt was out of this world.
Nothing like buying yourself from Microsoft because you don't want to be the Halo Studio anymore, and the FIRST THING you do is sign your next IP over to Activision, for a DECADE, while they are in the middle of ousting the heads of Infinity Ward so they can exert even more control over COD while screwing out the devs at IW...
Should've come as no surprise then that Activision gutted the content of Destiny 1 before launch and was a horrible partner through Destiny 2, until history repeated itself and Bungie had to split from Activision only to wind up in the arms of another major conglomerate that also doesn't know how to handle these unmanageable devs.
Tti their credit they praised the technical abilities of 343 and I remember at the time thinking halo 4 was a huge graphical leap above reach everything else was rubbish when I actually got to play it but there was no doubt it looked good for the 360 and is probably the best looking game on the system.
But ultimately I think bungie has always had a leadership problem and going independent ultimately proved this it's only getting worse with studio heads being outed by Sony for abuse allegations seems like all bungies past success has been in spite of management not because of it.
But really I think the bungie we have today is not the same one we had in that Xbox era of Bungie
I liked the artstyle change. For the most part. Something looked worse but most of everything else looked better. Weapons and vehicles for sure. The wraith come to my mind instantly.
And how can they get mad when the bungie changed it with Halo Reach?
I know a lot of people dislike Halo 4’s arts style, but there’s thing about it I like and dislike. Personally, the Halo 4 design of Master Chief’s armour is my favourite depiction of the character’s armour.
In Halo 4, 5, and Infinite, Master Chief became a more nuanced, human character.
In spite of the Halo series’ struggles, 343 deserves praise for adding nuance and characterisation to the ever-beating heart of Halo - The Master Chief. Playing through Infinite, it's abundantly clear that the events of the current and previous trilogies have irrevocably changed the iconic hero. He’s no longer the ‘blank slate’ that was previously presented by Bungie. He’s a fatigued, damaged and fallible protagonist, and one who is meandering through currents of grief, while reveling in his newfound agency. Giving the Chief a compelling and meaningful voice was no small feat, and 343 should be proud of that victory.
This article completely misses part of the appeal of the original iteration of character in the original game trilogy. It was the Chief and Cortana vs an entire alien collective. The blank slate Bungie displayed in their games was genius, he was an mysterious hero a wide audience could identify with because he wasn't as clearly defined as most characters.
The books added a lot of lore and backstory but most Halo players just want a fun game with exposition that doesn't get in the way of gameplay, it's why the Cortana level in Halo 3 was derided.
Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty.
A lot of people give the 343 version of Master Chief a lot of slack.
But Fundamentally he is still the same character, he just has a couple more dialogues. He has not changed in terms of attitude.
"Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty."
And that's what he has done at the end of the day, he did his duty. Watch his partner die, and was ready to destroy the weapon in Halo infinite....he is still the same soilder that everyone remembers
Halo Infintes one was a nice balance between both.
The 343i Master Chief has is based on the books. However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion.
"However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion."
Which is awesome! I love how Master Chief become more John and less soldier.
It’s a law of nature that eventually, every long-running game franchise will have a particular entry that gets dinged for straying too far from what made it so fun in the first place. Your Super Mario Sunshine, your Dragon Age II, Assassin’s Creed III, and so on. Whether or not that opinion changes more favorably over time, the initial specter of negativity will forever hover it. Microsoft’s Halo is no exception, except that negative specter hasn’t hovered over one particular game, but one whole studio.
It absolutely is
After playing through some of the single player experience, and extended up all nighter infinity multiplayer battles. It is safe to say that Halo 4 not only lives up to the hype, but has greatly surpassed my expectation with graphics, performance, great level design, and how fluid a shooter sporting all those traits can be. Even the voice acting turned out top notch, and brought to the table a higher quality of voice work, and emotion than past Halo experiences.
Outside of graphics, the greatest leap in successful implementation that I witnessed right away was the quality of sound. Everything from weapons, music, to the engines in the speeding vehicles has had a massive tune up. Anyone that hops into a ghost in single or multiplayer will likely notice the quality increase right away.
I salute 343 for doing a spectacular job in their first true outing into the gaming spectrum. Delivering what I believe is the greatest looking and playing first person shooter of this generation on console. Looking forward to what their next experience brings to the table.
Rated E For Everyone
It depends on how you view it and what your tastes are, I like it, I think it's amazing, especialy to be playing Chief again but the thing is it's still Halo at the end of the day. I mean it's not like that first time when you played on the very firt Halo and you were like "Oh my god, this...is...revolutionary" ; with your jaw basicaly on the floor.
What really bugs me about the game though in the campaign that there was a lot of talk about the relationship of the two characters and how since they've done motion capturing they would be more engaged with each other but with the voices recorded sepertely (maybe it's just Cortanas) they seem like their just reading their lines, like one has to fully finish untill the next line starts, it's hard for Chief and Cortana to be more emotional, especialy with her going through rampancy.
Yes it is.
If you we're expecting a Halo game. then it's probably one of the best in the series.
If you were expecting something else, you should have known better. Halo 4 is part of a larger narrative of a new studio who has been given the keys to one of the biggest franchises in any media, with a community as venomous and stubborn as a barrel of kobra's in a bull parade.
I would compare Halo 4 to Street Fighter IV, it keeps the core intact but makes wise iterations. Both of these games are so mechanically pure yet nuanced, that one wrong step can kill their identities. That's one thing I feel some reviewers have failed to realize.
This is why COD needs a change, because at its core, it's a shallow shell of quake's nuance. Cod's dynamics boil down to a meat grinding "I saw you first, you die".