Atomic: What motivates you to play online?
"Halo 4 is due out later this year and, to remind you of this, Microsoft has seen fit to release a pretty standard behind-the-scenes look at the latest entry in the long-running franchise. While not a whole lot is revealed in terms of juicy information, there was one particular explanation of how 343 Industries is approaching multiplayer that caught my attention."
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.
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, 5, and Infinite reviews are good examples of the pressure on review sites to score everything between 8-10 out of 10.
As if reviews scores are any indication of a franchises health.
Halo has been in shambles for YEARS
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 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.
no, all disney star wars sucks also disney marvel and everything godamn disney touches
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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 ?
Halo 4 campaign great, multi bad.
Halo 5 campaign trash, multi good.
Best Cortana halo 4.
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
All they need to do is expand on the Invasion mode of Halo Reach.
When you are looking for a gaming revolution, it always comes from these yearly franchises. Great job.
This article has been sponsored by Microsoft.
I'm unhappy with the changes made in Halo's multiplayer in Reach thus far.
I really thought Halo 2 and Halo 3 individually raised the bar on what console multiplayer games were all about.
And then Reach came along and muddied everything up with the loadouts. The thing about Reach that bothered me was the weapon loadouts gave each player a choice, and I know that sounds good but it's actually counter to what Halo MP is all about.
In Halo MP, certain powerful weapons are strategically placed throughout the map and attract players from opposing sides, creating an initial conflict. Afterwards, the team who captures that first power weapons, whether it be a shotgun or a sword or hammer, that team now has the offensive advantage and the other team must regroup and work with what they have. Usually there is more than one power weapon on the map, such as a combination of shotgun and sniper.
In Halo Reach, weapon loadouts and Armor ability loadouts add more variables to the game and make the match unbalanced.
The philosophy behind Halo should always be KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). The maps should change both in artistic style and size, but the overall strategy usually remains the same: seize the power weapon, hold down a good vantage point or secure a perimeter.
Halo Reach lacked that. Plus, the maps in Reach suck for the most part, and some of the best maps are graphically and artistically lacking, such as "The Cage." In their haste to show off the flexibility of Forge World, Bungie forgot that we're more interested in what they can do with THEIR unique resources and assets than what they can do with OUR unique resources and assets.
And they removed some awesome weapons because it didn't "fit" with the story. As if anyone who plays MP gives a damn about that. I loved the spike grenades and the maulers and the brute shot and the spikers in Halo 3; there was no good reason why they were removed from Reach.
They even got rid of some of the greater vehicles. The tanks were better in 3 than in Reach. The vehicles the Brutes drove in 3 were pretty cool.
So, in conclusion, Halo 4, for me, will only get back to the top of the multiplayer mountain when it brings back my favorite maps, weapons, and vehicles from 2 and 3, and tones down the impact of loadouts.
The game looks great from what little I've seen, and graphically the texture renders are closer to Halo 3's style than in Reach's, which was crappy.
Brink attempted to do something like that an I say they did a good job for a first try. The game seamlessly blended in multiplayer and campaign into one total game.