Halo 4 is the first major release in the Halo series since Reach, and the first to be developed by the new helm of the series; 343 Industries, just getting that out of the way. Halo 4 picks up a few years after the end of Halo 3, and starts with one hell of a bang when the wreckage of the Forward Unto Dawn is boarded by an army of Covenant, an army that Chief has to repel alone, in that the game does a great job of setting the mood, a mood of insurmountable odds. After a 100% badass first mission, and in a move very reminiscent of CE, you are dropped onto Requiem, a planet that will grab you with it's awe inspiring and haunting beauty the instant you lay eyes on it, seriously, it's a feeling very similar to the moment in Halo CE when you first step out onto the Halo ring, it's brilliantly done. But the brilliance doesn't stop there, in fact if you ask me, in terms of the single player, the brilliance never stops. I'll start with the characters, and this is easily the most emotionally heavy story in the Halo series, taking centre stage and stealing the show here is Cortana, who is beginning to deteriorate into rampancy, and she has a few really emotional moments as she is forced to come to terms with the fact she is going insane. Master Chief is also forced into some rough emotional scenes as the only person he ever cared about dies slowly in front of him, the 2 are a great pair here, and it really makes for some heavy scenes. Another character is arguably the series' first proper villain, the Didact is also completely badass, he's menacing, intelligent, but he's also a very grounded villain, with a hatred for humanity that's surprisingly believable, plus he's quotable, and I love me someone who's quotable. Del Rio, Palmer and Lasky are pretty much your supporting characters, and they're fine, albeit hollow compared to Chief, Cortana and Didact, the Librarian also makes an appearance in this game, a very brief one, but still a cool one, there really isn't a character here I don't like, even with Palmer and Del Rio, who I'm admittedly largely indifferent to. The story is still a space hopping, baddy killing adventure, however with the more emotional tone, it's a much more personal story, one that leads to a pretty sorrowful ending, movies and video games don't make me cry, but that doesn't mean I'm made of stone, and this game got to me, I'll admit that.
The gameplay in Halo 4 is, in my opinion, a lot more fun than Halo 3's, the biggest change is of course the ability to sprint, an ability that I'm personally fine with, but that's just me, I don't mind being able to move a little faster, and at least in the single player it hardly breaks the game. Another change is the return of armour abilities from Halo Reach, however I personally didn't really use them much, though some of them are really cool, like a portable Hardlight shield, an autosentry, and Promethean vision, by far the coolest, which allows you, at least briefly, to see through walls, and that shit is cool. Something very new and exciting is an entirely new enemy type; the Prometheans, who I personally really like. We'll start with the smallest, the Crawler, a fast, small class that usually carries smaller weapons, but can crawl on pretty much any surface, and usually attack in large groups. then we have the Watchers, a slightly more annoying flying class that, while not much of a threat on their own, can provide support for the bigger Promethean class, and can be spawned by the bigger class. that bigger Promethean class is the Knight, a brutish enemy that's big, fast, and can teleport, which is really annoying, that said they are a lot of fun to fight, and I never really got wound up by their teleporting. along with the new enemy type comes a collection of funky new guns, as well as a few new UNSC guns which are pretty cool, including the SAW, which is awesome, and the Railgun, which is a fucking Railgun, need I say more. among the new Forerunner weapons is the Light Rifle, a nifty new rifle with an alt fire mode, and a vicious Scattershot, which at a close enough range, literally blasts enemies into pretty orange pixels. all of the new guns, as well as the returning ones sound incredible, which is a vast improvement from the nerf guns from Halo 3, the UNSC guns in particular are just great to listen to, in fact this game in general is great to listen to, from the subtle things like the thumps and clunks of Chief's armour, to the huge and epic musical score, which is easily on par with O'Donnell's and Salvatori's score from previous Halos. Speaking of incredible, this game looks stunning, it genuinely looks beautiful graphically, both in the game and in cutscenes. The game also has a wide variety of levels, ranging from desert, to dense jungle, again, to cramped cave systems and intricate and striking Forerunner structures and UNSC ships and bases, there are a few too many missions where you must hit x number of switches, but for each of them is a big vehicle mission where you drive a tank or escort the monstrous UNSC Mammoth or go nuts with the new Mantis mech, all of which are, as ever, huge fun.
I really like Halo 4, in fact, no, I love Halo 4, it's gorgeous to look at, gorgeous to listen to, it's huge fun to play, and to play around with the new guns and new enemies. But what I love more is the story and characters, with a heavy story that puts it's characters in fascinating and emotional places, it's a superb story with a hard hitting ending. It's brilliant, easily up there with Halo 2, and like Halo 2, it's an absolute must play.
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