Publisher: Microsoft Developer: 343 Industries Platform: Xbox 360 Release: 2012 Players: 1-4 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.0 \ 10.0: Excellent
Above is Master Chief battling Prometheans with an assault rifle.\
The five-year wait for
Halo 4 was made less boring by the first ever Halo strategy game
Halo Wars, a look at life as an ODST
in
Halo 3: ODST, series prequel
Halo: Reach (the first Halo game I played, and still the best), and a remake of
Halo: Combat Evolved (the latter of which was developed by
343 Industries,). In 2012, that wait was put to an end. Many fans were relieved, but some were skeptical because of the new developer. However,
343 Industries did a great, but not perfect job of crafting a massively-anticipated sequel.
The story leaves off exactly four years, seven months, and 10 days after
Halo 3, with Master Chief in cryo-sleep onboard the UNSC vessel
Forward Unto Dawn. He is awakened by his AI companion, Cortana, when she discovers a that Covenant fleet has boarded the ship. Minor spoiler alert, the first foe you encounter is an Elite. Yes, a treaty
was made with the Covenant in
Halo 3 after the destruction of the Ark, and a truce with the elites was formed months before that, but this is the Covenant Remnant which cares not for the Arbiter's leadership. Near the end of the mission, it seems that Cortana malfunctions. After this, you must battle the Covenant Remnant in low gravity on the outside of the ship. During this sequence, the beloved battle rifle, which has returned, floats through space for you to snatch. You are then sucked into a gravity well and stranded on the Forerunner planet, Requiem.
Upon landing, Cortana reveals that she has attained rampancy, which causes AIs that have been active for over seven years (she has been active eight) to quite literally think themselves to death. It would be like a human thinking with so much of their brain that they would forget other crucial bodily functions, such as breathing. Master Chief than makes it his mission to get Cortana back to Dr. Halsey, but the Covenant aren't the only ones in his way. Now, he must battle the Prometheans, beings constructed by the Forerunners. He must also defeat the Ur-Didact, one of the last living Forerunners. The Didact is planning to use a super-weapon called the Composer to wipe out Earth's population. He sees them as the largest threat in the galaxy because of the Human-Forerunner War from long ago. the missions that follow this make up what is among the best campaigns in the series, and its conclusion will shock you.
The graphics are gorgeous, but the game doesn't offer many truly beautiful sights as
Halo: Reach did. However, the attention to detail in the objects you interact with is astounding in campaign; from the dents and scratches on the Chief's armor, to the scaly skin of the Covenant, the visual features were a treat fro my eyes, as were the and nearly photorealistic CGI cut-scenes. However, the
Wii is capable of more impressive explosion effects, and the Spartan models in multiplayer look a little plasticky because of the slightly cartoonish visual style and lack the fantastiv armor detail presented by
Reach. As a huge fan of platformers, a have no problem with cartoonish aesthetics in general, but it feels out of place in a shooter where this look isn't intentional such as Borderlands.
If you're bored with campaign, you can play three other modes in Infinity. Here, you can battle online or with friends in War Games (this has nothing to do with the classic movie of the same name-- it's Matchmaking renamed); make your own maps in Forge; or engage in the fun Spartan Ops mode, a secondary campaign of sorts in which you engage in brief ops as your customized Spartan. In Spartan Ops, your Spartan is referred to by his / her primary armor color (I'm called Crimson). However, Firefight mode, which hold some of my greatest Halo memories, has been scrapped in favor of Spartan Ops.
Reach solved the problems faced by the lack of co-op matchmaking, but Infinity does not allow you to play co-op matches for the campaign or Spartan Ops. Additionally, you can only gain experience playing Infinity modes, while
Reach allowed you to rank up by playing the campaign. You can only unlock armor through leveling up, rather than purchasing it with cR. You can now customize your own weapon / ability loadouts to use in War Games, which is a nice touch. However, rather than putting all of the A great new feature is the arsenal of new Forerunner weapons. My two favorite of these weapons are the binary rifle, a rifle with incredible sniping capability that can instantly incinerate nearly any opponent (a laser sight does give away your location when using the scope); and the incineration cannon, a heavy piece or artillery that fires a massive long-range projectile that explodes upon impact, dealing incinerating those nearby and and showering more high-damage sparks. If you're not careful, you can incinerate
yourself with the weapon! Speaking of weapons, the sound design in this game is incredible. The rattle of the battle rifle, the boom of the shotgun, and that awesome
shoom you hear when you fire a rocket, and everything all sound intimidating. The game also introduces many Armor Abilities, including Hardlight Shield and Promethean Vision. On the downside,
343 has scrapped nearly every feature added in
Reach, most noticeably game types. The new Dominion mode, which is essentially intense slayer with base-building, is very fun, but it doesn't make up for the loss of Invasion (which this has replaced), Headhunter, and a co-op playlist. You may also notice that a few features of the multiplayer are borrowed from
Call of Duty, such as some of the perks and ordinance drops. All of the Covenant foes have been remodeled, and the new forms are significantly uglier. This is meant to up the fear factor, but I don't like it. I truly don't understand these changes, as nearly 70% of
343's employees previously worked for
Bungie. Although the flaws are mainly due to the fact that
343 Industries doesn't fully agree with
Bungie's ideas, they've done an excellent job of making a Halo game, and a new developer is nothing to be skeptical about. Fans definitely should not skip by
Halo 4 for that reason.
UpsOne of the best campaigns yet
Gorgeous (but sorta cartoonish) graphics
Spartan Ops mode
Customizable loadouts
Forerunner weapons and new Armor Abilities
DownsNot as many beautiful vistas
Nearly all content introduced in
Reach is gone
Disc 2 requires a large amount memory to download
Covenant foes have been remodeled
ESRB:
M (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content:
Blood, Language, and Violence Price:
$19.99 (Retail) 
