Halo 4 - It's the one before Halo 5

[T Pot]

Resources: Official Website Interactive Halo 4 Guide

Discs: 2 | Install MP from Disc 2, launch from Disc 1

Required HDD Space: 8 GB for War Games disc and Spartan Ops Season 1

Achievements. For additional details, head to http://www.xbox360ac...4/achievements/

War Games Map Pass

A bundle of the first (only?) three map packs for Halo 4 for 2000MSP, and some digital avatar and in-game weapon and armour skin items.

New Multiplayer Stuff:

Load Outs

Introduced in Reach, load outs play an even more important role in Halo 4's combat. Now fully player customizable, a load out consists of:

• Primary Weapon | Rifles such as the BR, DMR, Carbine and Light Rifle.
• Secondary Weapon | Support weapons such as Plasma Pistol and Magnum.
• Grenade Type | Frag or Plasma. The Promethean grenade type is considered heavy ordnance.
• Armour Ability | One recharging ability, similar to Reach's implementation.
• Tactical Package | One of the new classes of perks armour mods.
• Support Upgrade | The other class of armour mod.

As players accumulate XP and progress through ranks, content unlocks for use in a number of custom load outs players can create, name, and save. The options players have to customize their load outs are determined by what content they have have unlocked, and what playlist they are in. You won't be picking DMRs when playing Grifball, for instance.

Each matchmaking playlist will provide a number of default load outs, suitable to that playlist, so you don't have to unlock content to have access to suitable weapons. (For example, BTB will include default load outs with BRs and DMRs.)

Universal Sprint

Sprint is now a base trait, and metered very similar to Reach.

Armour Abilities

Similar to the implementation in Reach, armour abilities are a "fourth leg" to the combat sandbox, a reusable ability controlled by a recharging meter. Halo 4's set strives to correct the balance issues presented by some of Reach's, through removals, replacements, or rebalancing.

Armour Mods

Armour mods are perks which boost or add different passive abilities to players, selected as part of a load out. Divided into two categories, players can have one from each category active at a time. Armour mods are unlocked for use in custom load outs as players progress through the ranks.

Note that the list below includes Specializations, some of which are locked away until 343 unlocks them.

Player Progression:

Halo 4's progression is a major departure for the series, making many of the items unlocked affect gameplay, rather than pure cosmetics (though there are plenty of those as well). In most other ways, it builds on ideas introduced in Reach. For a detailed review of the progression system, head here.

Rank

Players progress through ranks, dubbed Spartan Ranks, 1-50 through Spartan XP earned during War Games, Spartan Ops and Forge. Spartan points are awarded at each rank, which can be spent unlocking items in the armoury. Custom load out items are joined by cosmetic armour, decals and such to customize your Spartan IV with.

XP is also earned by completing commendations and challenges.

Specializations

Once SR-50 is reached, players next choose one of eight paths, each of which consists of 10 additional ranks, and which unlock their own set of armor, decals, weapon skins and armor mods. Only one Specialization can be worked on at a time, and must be completed before moving to the next.

At launch two are available, with the rest to be unlocked down the road by 343, unless you have early access via marketing promotions (namely the LE edition of the game or playing prior to November 20). For more on Specializations, head here.

Spartan Ops:

Spartan Ops four player cooperative, episodic campaign where players take their Spartan IV into a series of missions set six months after the Halo 4 Campaign ends. A replacement for Firefight in the sense that it's gone and this replaces it, Spartan Ops is more akin to a second Campaign, broken into smaller, more focuses pieces.

Features

Players: 2-player split screen, 4-players online co-op

Theater: Alas, also removed from Spartan Ops.

Episodes

Spartan Ops Season 1 is broken into ten episodes, but only one ships on-disc. The remaining episodes are delivered episodically, once per week, for the nine weeks after launch. Each episode begins with a CG cinematic, and consists of five missions, for a total of 50 missions (!!!).

Customization & Progression

Games of Spartan Ops reward XP just as War Games do, and contribute to the same progression through the ranks. Content unlocked in one mode can be used in the other, including custom load outs. Weapons unlocked via Spartan Ops are available in War Games, and earlier missions can be replayed with more advanced ordnance after doing so.

War Games:

War Games is Halo multiplayer, renamed and rebooted by 343. While Halo's core gameplay is very much intact, game types are pruned and redesigned, game systems are updated or added and the overall flavor of the game is quite different than what came before.

Global Ordnance

The new system used to spawn heavy weapons onto the map. Whereas past Halo games spawned in weapons at specific points and times, only the initial spawn at the start of a match if fixed in Halo 4. After, ordnance spawns in at various, per-determined points on the map, with the game system rotating both the locations and weapons selected from those the designers made available on that map and game type. Spawned ordnance carries a waypoint, so all players in the game knows it has appeared.

Personal Ordnance

Used in Infinity Slayer (and available in other game modes via custom options) is an additional ordnance delivery method, initiated by individual players. Medals earned and their associated points contribute to filling an ordnance meter, which when filled prompts players to select from one of three randomly selected options. These options can include power ups, weapons and grenades. Once chose, the ordnance will spawn in near the player.

Power Ups

Deployed as part of Personal Ordnance, they include Speed Boost, Shield Boost, and Damage boost, and do pretty much what you might think from those names.

Kill cams

Featured in specific game types, kill cams show a free camera replay of your untimely demise.

Instant Respawn

Featured in certain fast paced game types (think Slayer and Flood), players can choose to tinker with their load out between spawns, or hit a button to spawn in instantly. Objective focused games like CTF still feature timed respawns.

Scoring

Multiplayer now features personal scoring, with medals and actions accumulating XP and conveying each increment on-screen. Headshot +10 pic

Forge:

Halo 4's Forge is very much an iteration on Reach's version, for better or worse. Co-developed by Certain Affinity and 343, it remains an object editor for spawns, weapons and pre-built geometry for use in customizing, or creating custom, maps. Still allowing up to eight players to romp on a map in construction, it has a handful of improvements, among them:

• A "magnet" system to snap Forge pieces together neatly and quickly. Think Legos.
• The lighting system applies to Forge objects, improving the visuals of custom maps.
• Controls to rapidly duplicate or delete objects, to speed up the building process.
• Gravity zones, so that sections of maps can have altered gravity traits. Trampolines!
• Defined player trait zones, enabling players who enter them to take on defined abilities.

Rather than the one giant "Forge World", Certain Affinity has built three smaller spaces for the construction of custom maps. The object list builds upon that of a modified Forge World set, with unique objects provided for each of the three themed spaces.

Scores:

Destructoid - 10

Machinima - 10

MondoXbox - 10

Game Revolution - 10

NZGamer - 10

Britbox - 10

Gaming Examiner - 10

Gaming Age - A

Joystiq - 5/5 Stars

IGN - 9.8

Xbox Addict - 9.8

Gaming Trend - 9.6

Polygon- 9.5

OXM - 9.5

Game Informer - 9.3

Canadian Online Gamers - 9.3

Gamespot - 9

Games Radar - 9

Xbox 360 Achievements - 9

GameReactor Sweden - 9

GameReactor Denmark - 9

Halo Council - 9

Eurogamer Italy - 9

MMGN.com - 9

Gamer.No - 9

GamesBeat - 9

1UP - A-

G4TV - 4.5/5 Stars

Edge - 8

Eurogamer - 8

The Sixth Axis - 8

Metro Game Central - 8

CVG - 8

Giant Bomb - 4/5 Stars

EGM - 7

Kotaku - Play This Game

Rev3 Games - Buy it

Ars Technica - "Jumping head first without a Bungie (and loving it)"

Penny Arcade - "This isnt Bungies Halo anymore its better"

Old Info:

http://kotaku.com/58...halo-4-and-more

Microsoft's E3 2011 briefing isn't until 9:30 AM Pacific. Someone forgot to tell the Xbox.com guys that, because for a brief moment around 9:30AM Eastern, fans caught a glimpse of Halo 4.

Dance Central 2, Halo 4, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Kinect Star Wars, and more appeared in name only this morning, the links attached to the name leading to error pages. After a quick refresh the page reverted to its original teasing state, but not before I managed to snap a screenshot.

For more news on these games and more, be sure to stay tuned for Microsoft's proper E3 2011 reveal later this morning.

And it is official!! Continuing from where halo 3 ended.

New Info 5th March 2012

Making Of Interview, contains in game footage and comparisons to Halo 3:

Screenshots!

Campaign:

The story will be the most cinematic Halo experience to date, that will set the stage for the next decade of the franchise.

• • Master Chief is back, and a new ancient and dark threat is going to be thrown at him that will not only test his abilities, but will give players an understanding just who he really is, all while introducing some new gameplay mechanics.
  • Cortana will play a huge part in the story.
  • Master Chief's armor design has been upgraded to provide the functionality needed to convey his power.
  • Story will be darker and more sophisticated than past games.

Multiplayer

- Story wraps around the multiplayer experience for the first time in the franchise.

- Players now control Spartan IV's, which promise to be just as powerful as Master Chief.

- There is a reason why red and blue soldiers are killing each other.

- Beyond the typical cosmetic customization options, players will be able to augment their Spartan IV's abilities and weapon loadouts, altering their gameplay styles for the first time.

A lot of focus has gone into giving players a better sense of weight.

- Audio design has been much improved and really gives a player a sense of where shots are coming from.

- Maps have been built from the ground-up.

- Two maps have been announced so far: War House and Wrap Around.

- War House takes place in a civilian manufacturing plant that is travelling in a near space orbit above a gas giant.

- Wrap Around is a small slayer style arena, set in a Forerunner facility, that contains catwalks, ramps, and plenty of man-cannons to keep the action fast and frantic.

EuroGamer Interview:

Halo 4's newly unveiled multiplayer perks - which, for the first time in a Halo game will have an impact on the gameplay - aren't a result of 343 Industries chasing Call of Duty and Battlefield, the studio has said.

As part of a slim first look at Halo 4, 343 Industries' first game proper since Bungie departed the series, it's been revealed that you can change every aspect of your Spartan's appearance - and that doing so would influence the way that the game plays.

"I've never worked for Infinity Ward, or Respawn - for years I bet they were asked similar questions about how it's like the multiplayer system in Halo 2 or something like that," franchise director Frank O'Connor told Eurogamer when asked about the new system's similarity to Call of Duty. "We're not chasing anybody else's tail - all the pressure comes from inside."

"What we do take very seriously is changing player habits. So rather than chasing Call of Duty or Battlefield and trying to do their thing and doing it poorly and doing injustice to it, we're trying to do our own thing, and do something fairly original but still something that's completely compatible with the Halo universe."

"Halo's not Call of Duty," O'Connor continued, "Halo's a sandbox game about really emergent things. A lot of things that worked great about Call of Duty - and don't get me wrong, I was addicted Black Ops all of last year - they do player rewards really well. We're not trying to do the same thing, it's as simple as that. We're trying to do something else, and to push our game forwards and not theirs."

Both O'Connor and creative director Josh Holmes acknowledged that the change could prove controversial amongst Halo's community. "I expect a variety of different reactions," Holmes told Eurogamer, "One of the great things about Halo is we have the ability to support a variety of different play styles and play lists, create experiences that cater to different player types and community desires."

"We've a tremendous amount of respect for Bungie and for the universe that they created, and yet we do want to take our own unique view on Halo and on where we want to take the franchise is in the future. It's about finding the balance so it's still Halo yet still feels fresh."

Frank O'Connor also warned that what's been shown of Halo 4 to date - which, at Microsoft's Spring Showcase, amounted to a run-through of two multiplayer maps alongside a handful of snippets of the game in action - is the more conventional face of 343's take on the franchise.

"What we showed today is in some ways really traditional," O'Connor told Eurogamer. "Some of the more revolutionary stuff that we're going to be doing is going to create more fuss, and I think it's going to be mostly positive fuss, as it's all been carefully thought out and considered."

E3 FOOTAGE:

I'm not going to lie, a lot of this info was lifted from Neogaf and Neowin. Mainly to get a good base of covering stuff. Link & Most credit here: http://www.neogaf.co...ad.php?t=497808

[Nicky]

you better keep this updated King A, you be stealing Sarge's thunder

[Epcotman]

No BUNGIE, no Halo.

[Moz]

Reach was a great bookend to the series. I'll be sad to see them keep plugging away at it if it gets worse over time.

Still, no loss if it doesn't live up to expectation.

[Guest]

-1

Too obvious a post, let Sarge do it

[SeanR]

No BUNGIE, no Halo.

/tries hard to think of another game we said that sort of thing about

um, tomb raider?

[FamicomFist]

halo 4 but no bungie

[Ferine]

I can't see us getting anything more than a short CGI trailer with zero gameplay details; I doubt they even have a vertical slice to show, this is just a, "Hey guys, we're making this."

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

As I said in the other thread, I'd be more excited about this if it wasn't the third Halo game in three years. Unless they'll really raise the bar and/or try something genuinely new. I don't care about multiplayer and I do wonder if they can come up with a campaign that's truly fresh, new and exciting. FWIW, I think the Halo franchise, at least in singleplayer, has reached (lol) its saturation point.

[T Pot]

I think it will be like that Reach Trailer we got a while ago.

I wonder if we will get any footage from Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition...

[Bojangle]

It'll be interesting to see another developer take a stab at the series, as bad as it could end up, it could also be a really nice surprise once it's done. It can't be worse than 3 at any rate.

[Okotta]

Halo 4?

Reach wasn't even a real Halo game, so I don't need another one. Just let me have fond memories of Halo CE and Halo 3.

[Timmo]

3 was my favourite.

@Bojangle

[Mr. Gerbik]

I'm more excited about the Halo:CE remake tbh

[dayte]

I thought Halo 3... Reach... was the finale!!!111

I suppose in 10 years' time we'd be saying the same with Halo 13.

[exwhyzed]

[T Pot]

Just hopefully it isn't announced before 6:15 or after 7 then

[scottcr]

they're turning Halo into futuristic space CoD then? How many Halo games do we need in such a short period of time?

(I still haven't placed Reach and gave up on ODST but I loved Halo 3)

[Kevvy Metal]

Halo : CE Anniversary is all I care about.

I would be pleasantly surprised if Halo 4 turned out well but I don't have much hope.

I'm praying that Halo: CE A is not redone in the reach engine or something funny like that.

I want this to be a simple HD update of the original game. Just "remaster" it in HD and leave everything else alone, except the mutliplayer.

Online Halo : CE multiplayer plz

[rumblecat]

I'm quite looking forward to a Bungie-free Halo. Loved CE and am pretty excited about a new version of that, but the rest of the series fell a bit flat for me. Haven't played Reach though. Personally I'd love them to scale back on the plotiness of the whole thing, quite liked the relatively simple story of CE but it kind of lost me as they got more and more into the extended universe of it all. When things were a bit mysterious and unexplained it was far more interesting for me. Ideally I'd like to see a whole new world with a whole new bunch of enemies to fight at first, before the Covenant crash the party.

[T Pot]

Halo : CE Anniversary is all I care about.

I would be pleasantly surprised if Halo 4 turned out well but I don't have much hope.

I'm praying that Halo: CE A is not redone in the reach engine or something funny like that.

I want this to be a simple HD update of the original game. Just "remaster" it in HD and leave everything else alone, except the mutliplayer.

Online Halo : CE multiplayer plz

I cant remember where (probably kotaku) but there was somewhere saying it is in a completely new engine. Not the original with a lick of paint or the reach engine.

[The Sarge]

I'm more excited about the Halo:CE remake tbh

Agreed.

There's very little possibility of it disappointing in comparison to Halo 4, which I'm sure will be great in its own right, but as others have mentioned, Halo 3 pretty much tied up all the story threads re: The covenant, Halo Rings, etc.

As for Halo: CE remake, I really hope they've gone back and made the Library a lot less infuriating and added MP, co-op, new enemy types, haven't messed up the AI, no Brutes, etc.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Maybe they'll put in THE LIBRARY: UNCUT - 4 times longer than the original.

[Meh]

Halo 4?

Reach wasn't even a real Halo game, so I don't need another one. Just let me have fond memories of Halo CE and Halo 3.

Massive troll fail.

[Guest]

I'm going to post the Halo 5 thread asap, so I can get in there first. Yeah!

[Fletch]

I'm going to post the Halo 5 thread asap, so I can get in there first. Yeah!

Go for it dude, you won't look at all silly doing that and I imagine the pos votes will come flooding in.

On the other hand I'm looking forward to any Halo 4 info we get today as I like many others on here are excited about a new Halo game.

[Epcotman]

I do think Halo 4 will lose a chunk of following due to the BUNGIE faithful. If BUNGIE's new game can fill the hole that Halo leaves then it's game over.

[Snowman]

I'm praying that Halo: CE A is not redone in the reach engine or something funny like that.

Uh oh...

Edit: TBH, I'll be fine with it just as long as they make a few tweaks, like stopping the Elites from rolling all the time and making the Warthogs indestructible.

That's so not gonna happen.

[Epcotman]

That trailer just looked wrong. I feel sick. BUUUUUUUNGIIIIEEEEEEE!

[Kryptonian]

He looked well plastic. And it was a bit fast. And where did he get a jet pack?