130°

Halo 4 Crimson Map Pack detailed with screenshots and trailer

XMNR: Microsoft officially dated the first Halo 4 DLC, the Crimson Map Pack, on Thursday. We also received a load of screenshots and a trailer for the new maps plus details on the new Extraction multiplayer mode coming to the Xbox 360 shooter.

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examiner.com
lastofgen4163d ago

These maps look pretty great and alienish.

Queasy4163d ago

I'm not feeling Harvest. Maybe its because I just got finished reading the book for a second time (yes, I'm a nerd) but it doesn't scream "agricultural" to me.

Otherwise, yes these look pretty good.

jimbobwahey4163d ago

They look good but I wish they put in a smaller map for Team Slayer. It's getting a little old playing on Haven and Complex all the time since they seem to be the only maps that people ever vote for. Then again, Big Team Battle has the same problem I guess since people only ever vote for Ragnarok and Exile.

It's pretty frustrating since the other maps are good, but you just rarely get a chance to freakin' play on them. Since I'm a fan of smaller deathmatch environments, it's a bit of a bummer to see these three new maps that favour larger battles in open spaces.

Hopefully the second or third map packs cater to fans of Team Slayer.

SixZeroFour4163d ago

you may not have to wait for the 2nd or 3rd map packs depending on when 343 will start allowing community maps into rotation

camel_toad4163d ago

Any idea if any of these maps will feature the ability to use structures with Forge?

Erosion, Impact and Ravine can only let you do so much creativity-wise with Forge until you run out of ideas. I'm really hoping they allow more maps, existing or new, to use structures.

4163d ago
4163d ago Replies(1)
pompombrum4163d ago

The second map they revealed looks decent but the other two I'm not so sure about. This isn't going to offer a solution for Slayer fans though as only one of those maps really looks 4v4 viable.. 6 maps still feels kind of limited considering you'll end up playing the same maps very frequently.

SJPFTL4163d ago

Halo map packs always have been good but not worth it considering those maps rarely get voted in rotation because some people have them and some do not. That is why I am probably not going to buy them, even though I want to.

GuruStarr784163d ago

Well, if you buy them, you'll typically be put in a 'roatation' with others that have bought them....

I, for one am looking forward to anything new... Ragnarok, Exile, Haven and complex are getting OLD!

Queasy4163d ago

Yeah, the Crimson Map Pack maps will be in their own playlist along with some of the other maps. So, you'll see the new ones frequently but there's still a chance for Haven, Ragnarok, etc.

50°

Master Chief Became More Than A Machine In 343's Halo

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.

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thegamer.com
kingnick406d ago

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.

BandarHub405d ago

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.

slate91405d ago

Chief and the halo franchise became a joke under 343

Sciurus_vulgaris405d ago

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.

Obscure_Observer405d ago

"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.

Sciurus_vulgaris405d ago

I didn’t even notice my typos,lol

50°

Halo's Identity Problem Began With an Admirable Mess

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.

The3faces525d ago

True Halo 4 was a sign of 343i's incompetence and the decline of Halo.

180°

10 Years Later, Halo 4 Proves Itself a Disappointing Omen for Halo Infinite

Halo 4 released 10 years ago today, and its disappointing reception was just an omen of things to come with 343 Industries at the helm.

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gamerant.com
Sonyslave3534d ago (Edited 534d ago )

Halo 4 and infinite have a 87 on metacritic and five a 84🤣. 343i need contents and everything else will play it self out.

ChasterMies533d ago

Halo 4, 5, and Infinite reviews are good examples of the pressure on review sites to score everything between 8-10 out of 10.

ChubbyBlade533d ago

As if reviews scores are any indication of a franchises health.

Halo has been in shambles for YEARS

-Foxtrot534d ago

Halo 4-6 are like the Star Wars sequel trilogy

They all just seem like a brand new games with small connections to the last one but no solid arc connecting them, you’re just told stuff that happened off screen in between the games and nothing makes sense

It’s like they didn’t plan a new trilogy out

CoNn3rB533d ago

That's actually a pretty good way to sum it up

LucasRuinedChildhood533d ago (Edited 533d ago )

I would argue that the new Star Wars trilogy is still better. lol

Most Halo fans would kill for the equivalent of The Force Awakens at this stage (a competent rehash of what came before it). Halo Infinite tried to be that but was undercooked and failed. Halo 4 wasn't that either - they started messing with the formula straight away although the story was okay.

There was nothing particularly compelling about Halo 5's story besides the fake plot they advertised. The Last Jedi is a divisive movie but as RedLetterMedia would say, it was "sporadically interesting" because it tried some new things and set up things that could have been great (like Kylo teaming up with Rey after backstabbing Snoke). That conversation with Yoda is great and it felt like the real Yoda, not that CGI thing in the prequels.
- "Skywalker, still looking to the horizon. Never here, now, hmm? The need in front of your nose."
- "The greatest teacher, failure is ... Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters."
- "That library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess." (because she already took them, haha).

The Rise Of Skywalker is the only one where loads of stuff happens off screen ("Palpatine has returned") in between and nothing makes sense because ... they just needed a main villain and 100 star destroyers to blow up. They could have done something much better.

MrChow666533d ago

no, all disney star wars sucks also disney marvel and everything godamn disney touches

534d ago Replies(3)
Yui_Suzumiya533d ago

Um, didn't Halo 4 have the best campaign out of the new Trilogy? Lol

ChubbyBlade533d ago

Yep and even then it wasn’t very good.

Levii_92533d ago

I'm getting a good gaming laptop soon and i'm finally going to play through the Halo franchise again plus Infinite but i never played Halo 4 before .. can anyone tell me how's the campaign in comparison to the games before it and compared to Halo 5 ?

Stanjara533d ago

Halo 4 campaign great, multi bad.
Halo 5 campaign trash, multi good.

Best Cortana halo 4.

ChubbyBlade533d ago (Edited 533d ago )

Halo 4 was when they started turning it into a “modern” game. Aka taking tips from CoD.

The older titles were sandbox based with weapons that all filled a niche and vehicles that did the same. Open levels with multiple ways to approach in different spots with different weapons etc.

Halo 4/5 doesn’t have that. It’s a linear shooter and nothing else. The story is alright but that’s about it. If it wasn’t a halo game, it would be ok but because it is a halo game, it’s outshone by the previous games.

It’s a hell of a lot better than 5 though. I found infinite pretty meh

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