StickSkills said, "Halo 4 succeeds in its developer transition, and in many ways, is the most enjoyable entry in the franchise. The multiplayer is an addictive mix of both old and new shooter tropes, and the progression system in place should satisfy players until a new numbered Halo appears. It’s also a massive step up in terms of presentation, with both the art and technology taking tangible strides since our tour of Reach. But the campaign, which only lasts around six hours, is just a little too analogous to what we’ve played many times before. The return of the Master Chief is worth seeing, and there are some truly special narrative moments that help to build pivotal characters. Yet, things start to look and feel all too familiar before the credits roll. Halo 4 is a safe return to one of gaming’s most recognizable protagonists, but I can’t help feeling like something more interesting could have been accomplished by this new development studio."
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.
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.
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.
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.
Halo 4 and infinite have a 87 on metacritic and five a 84🤣. 343i need contents and everything else will play it self out.
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
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 ?
Bogus score. Do the math from their individual scoring of the game's components, and it averages out to 4.3, not a 4. This is why I don't pay attention to review sites/mags that use this scheme; their final score is often not reflective of the comments/criticisms throughout the review...just an arbitrary number pulled from the air. Some may say "It's just .3, not a big deal". Well it is, if you consider 4.3= 86%, and 4.0= 80% ; that's the difference between a B and a B+, with an 80 being a mere 1 pt. above a C+ score.