It's interesting how divided people are over Halo 4, maybe the topic should be branched off into another thread? It is a bit OT.
I wonder if people who think Halo 4 has the best graphics have ever played Halo 3 or Halo: Reach. Even technically, Halo: Reach manages to do more without sacrificing the Halo sandbox. I posted screenshots of Reach's campaign a while back in an arguement regarding Reach's graphics:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45271880&postcount=2133
Look at the textures, the skyboxes the sense of scale. I can't tell if the skyboxes in Reach are images or not, they might be, but they don't look compressed.
The lighting in Halo: Reach is pretty mute though, but I actually liked that and fitted in the setting/story.
They all make different trade-offs. I actually think Halo 4's scale is close to Reach, if not comparable, while both are scaled back from Halo 3. Also while I think all the Halo games look great in their own way, I don't think a graphical check list is what makes a game look good graphically. The omission of motion blur is probably the biggest let down, but the AO used in Reach never really added much to any given scene IMO.
There are things every Halo does better than the other games in the series, but I still don't think it's hard to see how Halo 4 could be argued as the best looking game. Every game has flaws when you go looking for them.
Halo4 is he reason I am going PS4 only next gen. I found it the most boring game I've played all year and the online is awful. I feel that it's a story and universe that's been pushed and stretched too far.
Personally I find Sonys first party games head and shoulders above MS. I know MS are investing in first party studios but I really do think MS will go for more of an App Store invested box next gen.
Judging by this post, the next xbox was hardly a consideration for you to begin with.
HiredN00bs makes consistently great posts.
If you liked the things that made previous Halos stand out, you probably won't like Halo 4. If you don't have great attention to detail, you haven't dove deep into the lore, and never learned the finer points of what made the multiplayer so balanced, you might miss Halo 4's flaws. That doesn't make you not a Halo fan.
I'm a pretty huge Halo fan, and while I do recognize many of the flaws in Halo 4's design, that doesn't stop me from recognizing what the game still is: a good shooter.
The scale and technical aspects of Halo 4 don't make me concerned for Halo 5....yet. My hopes is that with more resources in the 720, they'll be able to retain some of the qualities that were lacking or lost in Halo 4 while still producing awesome graphics.
My bigger concern are design choices that aren't really effected by technical limitations. I think the Prometheans are good enemies based on their abilities, but the visual designs and what's communicated to the player needs serious work. In prior Halos, you easily knew what rank of enemy you were against and what weapon they were holding. Now with the Prometheans, understanding their rank/class is not easily understood. There are also many times where you also don't realize what weapon they are using until you're being shot at. IMO Halo has always been about one part reflex/skill, one part strategy, and when you can't easily tell what weapon the Knights are holding, that removes some of the strategy, which goes against one of the key pillars in Halo's design.
There's much more I can go into, and have discussed with friends many times, but again I consider this all OT.
