Microsoft's more desirable games were being demonstrated behind closed doors with very short presentations giving mere morsels of information.
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 ?
Time to ditch Star Wars by the looks of it, fortunately there's Steel Battalion then coming as the potential big killer “app” for Kinect. Here's hoping that one turns out more fruitful, as hopes were also high for Star Wars, but I think it looks like that's gone to the dogs now.
I'll dabble in some Halo 4 as well, rather miffed at the omission of 3D though seeing as it was well implemented in Halo Anniversary.
I'm always a bit skeptical of Kinect stuff, but if Steel Battalion is as good as it sounds I may have to give it a shot.
Star Wars doesn't look that bad, but not near as fun as Steel Battalion. I still think that PS3 has the best line up for 2012. I want an IP that is going to knock my socks off like Gears did when it came out. Halo 4 will shape up nicely and I think that 343 will breathe some life into a franchise that was starting to feel stale in terms of direction. I thought that the XBLA had a strong showing with some pretty sweet titles coming.
Two years ago there was a lie at E3: "this is Kinect and you core gamers will like it".
A year ago there was a lie at E3: "this is Kinect again and you'll see core games coming soon, it needs to mature".
Now I don't listen to MS anymore.
imo pc has the best line up this year but 360 is gaining some ground just be nice if ms announced a new ip.