In November 2011, the first ten years of Halo drew to a close. With that close, the next ten years of Halo had already been set in motion. What started out as an FPS with story in 2001 has grown into a detailed universe spanning hundreds of thousands of years through books, graphic novels, shorts, and of course, the video games.
Halo 4 kicks off the next ten years with great ambition and confident words. From this point out, everything in the Halo universe is canon, even the multiplayer. The lines between multiplayer, co-op missions, and standard campaign have been erased, and are instead all one complete package. Innovation, something the Halo franchise has been known for, is driving Halo 4 to be unlike any console game on the market.
Multiplayer
The UNSC Infinity is the biggest, most advance ship in the UNSC fleet. Taking two decades to build, this ship was surly built to kill Covies during the Human-Coveneant War. Now, nearly five years after the events of Halo 3, the UNSC Infinity houses an untold amount of Spartan IV’s.
In the game’s story, Master Chief comes into direct contact with the UNSC Infinity, as it is seen in the E3 2012 stage demo. In multiplayer, your spartan is a Spartan IV onboard the Infinity. As far as the multiplayer is concerned, each gametype, such as capture the flag, team slayer, king of the hill, are all training simulations between two groups of Spartans.
As you progress through multiplayer, you will build up credits, unlock weapons, armor, and new “toys” to better your playing experience. Your choices and progress through the game will affect your arsenal and appearance.
Spartan Ops
It is here in Spartan Ops where Infinity’s story intertwines with Halo 4’s campaign. After you’ve completed Halo 4’s standard campaign, you will be able to continue events through missions provided in the Spartan Ops game mode. Gamers will be provided with an episode with 5 missions per each Op. Episodes will be available weekly and span months after Halo 4’s release.
In Spartan Ops, you may also earn credits to build your Spartan IV up to use in multiplayer also. With each episode, we can expect cinematic storytelling, a blend of enemies, objective-based gameplay and the ability to play cooperatively with up to four players. Before each op, players will be able to choose their loadout and customize it before they actually start the operation. Think of it as the lobby of Mass Effect 3 or being able to customize weapons and gadgets before each mission of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
Frank O’ Conner (Franchise Development Director) and Kiki Wolfkill (Executive Producer) demoed a chapter of Spartan Ops for me in which they fought both Covenant, Promethean Knights, and Crawlers. The mission was to obtain a Forerunner artifact while repelling waves of both Covies and Forerunner defenses at separate times. At one point, groups of crawlers were being spawned. While crawlers aren’t hard to kill by themselves, their strength is in numbers. Still, Frank O’ Conner said it it best:
[Killing a Crawler] is like popping bubble wrap…until there’s a thousand of them. Then it’s deadly bubble wrap.
It was clear that Spartan Ops would blend a mixture of Objective type gameplay and variations of completing each mission while advancing Halo’s story. Each map used in Spartan Ops is built specifically for the op itself. There will be no recycled maps here.
Hands-on Gameplay
I was able to play on one of Halo 4’s larger maps titled, Longbow. The map features all three types of combat, as well as vehicle use. Before the match, we were able to customize our loadouts and equipment. Players should no longer have to worry about using sprint, as all spartans have the ability to sprint. Many will say choosing loadouts in Halo 4 is too similar to games like Call of Duty or Battlefield. While the idea is similar, Call of Duty never crossed my mind while choosing my primary weapon. Instead, I was able to go to directly what I wanted in what was a fluid transition to being “Ready.”
My first weapon of choice was the Battle Rifle. At the start of the match, I fired my rifle into the air just to hear how it sounded. I must say, I was impressed with the game’s audio. Your footsteps, the Warthog’s engine, and weapon use sound different, distinct, and authentic.
Fans of the Battle Rifle will be happy to know there’s no learning curve. I was able to go on a Killing Frenzy in my first spawn using the Battle Rifle. It was during that initial spawn I knew I would use the Battle Rifle for my entire Halo 4 career.
My second choice of primary weapon was the Covenant Carbine. The Carbine was relatively easy to use if you have a fast trigger finger. In fact, you can think of the Carbine being like the Needle Rifle in Halo: Reach.
The third weapon I used was the DMR. I liked the attention to detail when scoped in on an enemy. The DMR’s scope is unique to every other scope in Halo’s arsenal in that it displays how far an enemy is. You’ll probably hear this a lot between now and the time Halo 4 launches, but many will keep asking: “Why use the DMR if you could have a Battle Rifle?” Well, if you’re an accurate shooter, you’ll be able to take someone down a lot faster than someone who is spraying their shots using the Battle Rifle. The DMR is definitely a weapon to fear.
I briefly drove a Warthog, which hasn’t changed much. I was also able to use the M363 Remote Projectile Detonator as part of Halo 4’s new weapon drop system. In hopes of cutting out power-weapon spawn campers, players must earn points for a power weapon drop to their location, one being the Remote Projectile Detonator. This snazzy, and smaller form of a grenade launcher, launches a grenade at a location. If you hold the trigger down, a screen displaying a motion tracker of sorts around the grenade you shot. Obviously, you want to let the trigger go and detonate the grenade when one or more enemies are on or close to the grenade.
Halo 4’s multiplayer is a little fast paced mixed with a little familiarity and new toys. It’s important to recognize that Halo 4 has its own voice and style. Yes, it does borrow from past Halo titles, but that doesn’t mean the fine folks at 343 Industries are remaking the same title. As a Halo fan since Combat Evolved, I admit I was skeptic of how 343 Industries’ handling of the franchise would be after Bungie’s departure. After playing and previewing what 343 Industries has to come, I can safely say I am no longer a skeptic.
In the coming weeks, I will go into detail regarding Halo 4’s gameplay, gadgets, modes, power-ups, and what it means for you!