Top 5 Reasons Why HALO 4 Could Be Awesome Or Could Disappoint

September 8, 2012 By Davi 6 comments

Halo is known as one of the biggest franchises in gaming at the moment. Halo 3  set records for highest gross of an entertainment product within 24 hours of it’s release with first-day sales of reaching $170 million in the U.S. in 2007 (Soon to be obliterated by Call of Duty). There have been seven Halo games, three numbered games in the core series, one HD remake, one expansion, one prequel and one RTS spin off.

Bungie, the team that created the franchise, have since left to work on new projects. Microsoft has put arguably it’s biggest, and most important, exclusive franchise in the hands of 343 Industries. A new trilogy has been announced, following the story of the iconic Master Chief. There is a certain amount of trepidation amongst fans, hesitant about whether they should be excited or not. Here’s 5 reasons why you should be, but also why to be wary.

5) The Soundtrack

If you’ve played a Halo game before, you know that theme. Everyone knows that theme. You know why? Because it’s awesome! Which is why it’s concerning that Marty O’Donnel is no longer doing the music, he will be sorely missed. On the up side, we’ve got Neil Davidge as lead composer, the guy who co-wrote and produced 3 Massive Attack albums and has scored films in the past. It’s not classic Halo, he says he wants to add more ‘romance’ to the score while keeping the electronic sounds to ground it in that universe.

4) Grunts

It’s been announced that the Covenant will feature, along with an ancient race called the Prometheans (Ridley Scott eat your heart out). As any Halo fan knows Covenant = Arbit- No, it means grunts. Lots and lots of grunts. Some of the stupidest and most annoying enemies in video games. With this fresh start we could have finally been rid of them. But then again, it’s so satisfying popping one off with a pistol headshot that I think in the end I’d miss the little buggers.

3) Cortana

She was kind of annoying in 3, popping up all over the place but she remains one of the integral characters to the Halo story. She takes a far more central role in this one, as she devolves into Rampancy, one of the final stages of an AI’s life. If they nail her relationship with Master Chief, it could be amazing. If they screw up her character, no flame shields will be thick enough to protect 343 against the fanboys.

2) Multiplayer

The multiplayer for Halo 4 sounds interesting, especially with this new Specialization system they’ve implemented. It provides extra levels with unlocks for cosmetic armor to change how you look, but it will also change how you play the game. Two specializations will be available at launch, unless you preorder the limited edition where you get all 8. Other than that, they’ve added Grifball! As in space football with gravity hammers (or Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Halo – if you get this reference I love you). The only downside from what I’ve seen is the omission of Firefight. The wave based Horde style multiplayer mode was popular, especially after it’s overhaul with Halo Reach so it’s sad to see it being left out.

1) The Team

Obviously Halo was created by Bungie. This new trilogy will be helmed by 343 Industries. Whether fans will respond well is yet to be seen, or whether they will resent them as that step father kind of figure. There are obvious concerns about a conflict in vision, if they will take Halo in the direction that Bungie intended, and fans want. Is it such a bad thing if they don’t though? Perhaps a fresh take is exactly what the franchise needs to reinvigorate it. 343 are made up of quite a lot of the talent from Bungie which is resassuring, not to mention some of the lead designers of the Metroid Prime trilogy have made their way over from Retro Studios, Prime was one of the greatest achievements of the last generation so this should give you some confidence (Not to mention those Promethean Knights are looking quite Space Piratey…)

 

These are just 5 reasons why it could be incredible or it could disappoint, but while writing this article I have to say the positive far outweigh the negative in my mind and I’m truly excited to see where 343 take this franchise. Microsoft are running low on exclusives these days so they need the ones they have to be very strong. There’s been no question of that in the past, and in my mind there’s no question going forward. What do you think?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/sara.hawk.90 Sara Hawk

    All the “disappointments”, lol, just comes up out of nowhere, tried to come up with something. Lol. And yeah, Spartan Ops, the secondary, extremely long, campaign replaced Firefight, so what.

    • http://twitter.com/DaviLancett Davi Lancett

      In all fairness, I say in the last paragraph I have complete faith in this. I had just seen a lot of mixed feelings around the internet so tried to represent those here as well :)

  • Erik Mathews

    Many people would probably kill me for saying this, but I think 343 industries are making what will most likely be the best Halo game to date. After seeing how beautiful the game looks, and the gameplay from both campaign and multiplayer, I’ve come to the conclusion that this game will feel like Halo, but be absolutely fresh and extremely addicting. Plus, Spartan Ops looks great. I didn’t hesitate for a minute when I spent $100 on the limited edition. I can;t wait for this game!

    • joe

      I PO’d limited edition only after I heard of new types of enemies and multiplayer. I realy didnt want to fight the covenent (again) and only play to see 2 new weapons and 1 new enemy (again). I would have bought it regardless, but im not paying $100 for halo 3 déja vu. I think 343 will do a great job.

  • the astronomer

    the grunts look awesome
    thier mouths look badass and creepy at the same time

  • Cody Cooper

    Erik’s statement was exactly how I looked at the construction and progression into creating this game. Bungie is and always be the masters, but they milked the story and didn’t know or want to continue something that was in their eyes, finished. 343 has the basic core concept of the halo story and the universe from what has been seen, while offering the game the prestigious perspective and direction that seems capable of further prolonging the story of Halo. Not to mention as 343 released more and more detail and content about halo 4 more and more halo fans come to accept the possibilities of what fresh integrative ways that can be approached to better understand and create a more background history and depth of the story. Even though it remains to be seen, what has been seen has shown the potential the new minds behind Halo. And who knows maybe 343 will quit making halo after the 2nd trilogy and a new team will produce another halo trilogy, might go through another cycle of creators to keep halo fresh and moving forward in the years to come.