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[Star Falcon]

Its not the best in the series but people saying its 'terrible' are overreacting/bandwagoning. It has some flaws for sure but i still think its a decent game.

 

[twobear]

I haven't played Halo 4 but as seems to often be the case, all these people saying how it's SO BAD LIKE THE WORST GAME EVER makes me suspect that it's actually pretty great.

 

[FYC]

Excellent news, Duke Nukem Forever was my favorite Duke Nukem game since 1 (and yes, that includes multiplayer).

Everyone has different tastes, I enjoyed some of the enemy changes and new weapons.

I don't think Halo 4 is as bad as Duke Nukem Forever to be fair

I mean yeah I can see why you'd think Halo 4 is shit but Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever is like the shit buried underneath that shit

#hirejuices

 

[The Librarian]

I generally don't mind fighting cannon fodder; but it's always been an annoyance in Halo. All the cannon fodder enemies in Halo feel simply like bullet sponges taken to the extreme, like they are there to significantly slow down your progress just because. This is true for most games, but it only bothers me in Halo. Maybe it has something to do with the challenge - it takes a long time to take down the cannon fodder enemies, and no real challenge. I've only played on Normal I think, and maybe it'd be more enjoyable on a higher difficulty.

I disagree with your basic premise. Aside from the Brutes in Halo 2, the Prometheans in Halo 4, and to a certain extent, the Covenant in Halo 4, none of Halo's enemies are bullet sponges. Bullet sponges describe enemies that simply "absorb" bullets with no noticeable damage until they drop dead. This doesn't apply to enemies in Halo, who have distinct and often exaggerated – to an almost hilarious extent – visual and audio feedback. Elites' shields flare brighter and brighter the closer they are to popping. The pop is noticeable, and they'll sometimes roar in frustration. Grunts squeal every time you shoot them and bleed conspicuously. Jackals cry similarly to Grunts, and their shields "explode" whenever you kill them. They also flinch if you shoot them in the hole of their shields that allows them to aim their weapon. And, depending on how the battle unfolds, both Grunts and Jackals may react by breaking formation and running away and hide. Brutes, in Halo 3 and ODST, have armor that flares up then falls off, causing the Brute to either maintain composure or charge at you. Hunters' armor, in Halo 3 and ODST, breaks off as you get closer to killing them. Finally, Drones cry out whenever you shoot them, and their death animation is greatly exaggerated.

Additionally, "cannon fodder" enemies – Grunts and Jackals – don't take much damage to die. Grunts are killed with a simple headshot, and Jackals can be taken care of with a grenade or two. And if you don't have grenades, make them flinch by shooting them in the hand. Then go for the headshot.

Edit:

Halo's enemies – through broken English in Halo 1 and English in Halo 2 and 3 – audibly react to how the battle unfolds. In Halo 3, Brutes will cry out commands and conditions of battle, like "He's hiding!" and "There he is!".

 

[Kopite]

Halo 4 was quite a disappointment for me. Disliked the new weapons and enemies and the plot outside of Chief-Cortana.The levels are far too repetitive and small as well. Those grey corridors filled with the boring Prothean enemies nearly bored me to death. Nothing like the encounter system in 3.

 

[emalord]

Halo 4 sucks.
I am a huge Halo fan, on my website of gaming photography I have a whole section devoted to Bungie but the fourth installment was a great delusion.
No Theater mode to start with, but most disappointing thing was indoor.
All previous Halos were open-space shooters linked by indoor sections. This one is uninspired corridors from the beginning to the end. Linked by some small open-space sections.
Such a disappointment.

 

[Dastardly Jerks]

This game is fantastic, and it's easy to see why. Gamers everywhere love and enjoy the Halo series.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Why don't a lot of series fans like Reach? I thought it was great; overall probably the most consistent and best-paced instalment, with a focus on the good stuff (Elites are your enemies again, Brutes are toned down so they're not such bullet sponges, most environments are really wide open with lots of tactical options, Noble 6 is not as overpowered as Chief) and the weak parts left aside (the Flood, fewer thin 'corridor' levels). I liked the hopelessness of the premise (whereas Chief always succeeds against impossible odds), and I liked seeing more of the military side of the UNSC and the fabled Reach.

I thought it was brilliant; Combat Evolved is probably my favourite still, but objectively I think Reach is probably a better game overall.

 

[Via Purifico]

There's so much hyperbole in this thread. It feels like we had this discussion before, with every damn halo game released.

 

[Caayn]

Holy crapola, they showed his face?! Despite Halo 1-3 being some of my all time favorite games I've barely even read about Halo 4 let alone play it. Intense.

Jup, 343i showed Master Chief's face. If you beated the game solo on legendary. You'll get an slightly longer ending. In this ending, instead of the screen fading to black when his helmet is removed, the chiefs looks directly into the camera.

Spoiler free video.

Why don't a lot of series fans like Reach? I thought it was great; overall probably the most consistent and best-paced instalment, with a focus on the good stuff (Elites are your enemies again, Brutes are toned down so they're not such bullet sponges, most environments are really wide open with lots of tactical options, Noble 6 is not as overpowered as Chief) and the weak parts left aside (the Flood, fewer thin 'corridor' levels). I liked the hopelessness of the premise (whereas Chief always succeeds against impossible odds), and I liked seeing more of the military side of the UNSC and the fabled Reach.

I thought it was brilliant; Combat Evolved is probably my favourite still, but objectively I think Reach is probably a better game overall.

Most people hated the AAs and bloom in Halo: Reach. I'm against AAs, but I don't really mind bloom.

There's so much hyperbole in this thread. It feels like we had this discussion before, with every damn halo game released.

There's only one itsy pitsy tiny difference. All previous Halos had high player retention. It started to go down with Reach, but alteast Reach kept decent numbers of players online. Halo 4 proved that you can be the best selling game and still lose more than 95% of your player base within months after release. So it's not just the minority this time, that thinks that newest Halo is bad.

 

[catstronaut]

Halo 4 isn't the best Halo, but it's far from being garbage. Halo 3 is easily the worst. Then again, I only play multiplayer.

 

[def sim]

Not my favorite Halo, but it was fun enough for the time I spent on it. Hopefully they take some of what the community is saying in consideration.

 

[Jac_Solar]

I disagree with your basic premise. Aside from the Brutes in Halo 2, the Prometheans in Halo 4, and to a certain extent, the Covenant in Halo 4, none of Halo's enemies are bullet sponges. Bullet sponges describe enemies that simply "absorb" bullets with no noticeable damage until they drop dead. This doesn't apply to enemies in Halo, who have distinct and often exaggerated – to an almost hilarious extent – visual and audio feedback. Elites' shields flare brighter and brighter the closer they are to popping. The pop is noticeable, and they'll sometimes roar in frustration. Grunts squeal every time you shoot them and bleed conspicuously. Jackals cry similarly to Grunts, and their shields "explode" whenever you kill them. They also flinch if you shoot them in the hole of their shields that allows them to aim their weapon. And, depending on how the battle unfolds, both Grunts and Jackals may react by breaking formation and running away and hide. Brutes, in Halo 3 and ODST, have armor that flares up then falls off, causing the Brute to either maintain composure or charge at you. Hunters' armor, in Halo 3 and ODST, breaks off as you get closer to killing them. Finally, Drones cry out whenever you shoot them, and their death animation is greatly exaggerated.

Additionally, "cannon fodder" enemies – Grunts and Jackals – don't take much damage to die. Grunts are killed with a simple headshot, and Jackals can be taken care of with a grenade or two. And if you don't have grenades, make them flinch by shooting them in the hand. Then go for the headshot.

Edit:

Halo's enemies – through broken English in Halo 1 and English in Halo 2 and 3 – audibly react to how the battle unfolds. In Halo 3, Brutes will cry out commands and conditions of battle, like "He's hiding!" and "There he is!".

I wasn't trying to say that it's like that, I was saying that's how I feel. And I meant that they take a lot of damage.

 

[farisr]

The campaign is still solid.

But, Halo multiplayer has gone really downhill, and that started with Reach. The series is no longer a system seller for me.

If we were at the same position as last generation transition, or heck if they had only released Halo 3/ODST this generation. I would've lost it/been hyped as hell when they showed off that Halo trailer at the MS conference, especially since it's only a year away supposedly.

But yeah, multiplayer is a big part of the Halo appeal to me. Despite enjoying/giving a lot of weight to the campaign aspect of the game (unlike other people), the campaigns of Halo aren't strong enough though for the game to be a system seller to me.

 

[EvB]

Jup, 343i showed Master Chief's face. If you beated the game solo on legendary. You'll get an slightly longer ending. In this ending, instead of the screen fading to black when his helmet is removed, the chiefs looks directly into the camera.

When you say face do you mean a small bit of flesh surrounding some sunken eyes of which you can't even discern eye colour?

 

[AndrewDean84xX]

It's funny to see the hate/love that Halo 4 gets.

I say kudos to 343i. I can't wait for the next Halo game! Halo 4 is the second bst Halo game in the series, imo.

 

[Monocle]

I don't play multiplayer but I went through the Halo Anniversary, Reach and 4 campaigns in a span of two weeks very recently.
Had a lot fun with Anniversary although a lot of the levels were too samey.
I LOVED Reach. Everything looked so detailed and there was a lot of level and enemy variety.
I struggled to finish Halo 4. Didn't like the new enemy type, levels were boring and it just didn't feel right. Graphics and sound were awesome though.
So while it's far from a terrible game, for me it didn't stack up to its predecessors.
I also saw some people praising ODST. Is it worth playing through the campaign?

Yes x1000. ODST is easily one of the brightest highlights of the series. It's well paced and everything about it feels fresh. The campaign is a pattern of contrasting moods and gameplay types that's like a Best of Halo tour. So much variety. So much atmosphere. Play it to experience the soundtrack in its natural context, if nothing else. It's some of Marty's very best work.

Such a great game.

It's funny to see the hate/love that Halo 4 gets.

I say kudos to 343i. I can't wait for the next Halo game! Halo 4 is the second bst Halo game in the series, imo.

With those awful Prometheans? How?

I was reading the earlier discussion about bullet sponges, and that's exactly what Promethean Knights are. They are insanely durable and have none of the obvious weaknesses of Covenant enemies.

It's like a master class in terrible enemy design. They're not just unpredictable, but erratic in their charging and teleporting. They're heavily shielded, but also heavily armored. Their classes have minor cosmetic differences but the same color scheme, so it's hard to tell how they're armed until you're in danger. They spawn the most annoying enemy type in the history of the series, Watchers. Promethean Knights are like Elites, except designed with no consideration for the player's experience.

 

[Advance_Alarm]

Halo CE Anniversary was the best Halo campaign I have played, despite some of the levels being A-B and then replayed B-A. I still hold out hope for Halo 2 Anniversary. Even Halo 3 campaign was awesome and replayable with the scoring system and skulls. But Halo 4 and Reach were terrible, one had multiplayer levels shoe-horned into campaign and both had the campaign artificially lengthened by having dropships come in to every fight because they didn't feel like making new environments. Especially in Halo 4, the enemies were not even fun to fight. The decline of the Halo franchise is pretty much what drove me to PC games.

 

[FyreWulff]

"Exciting news for the Halo team at 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios – critically acclaimed, “Halo 4” is now the best-selling Microsoft Studios title ever in the U.S. market*, surpassing its predecessor, “Halo 3” for sales during each respective launch year."

Divorce kid gets no acknowledgement apparently