So, this November another Halo game, and the start of a new
Halo Trilogy, comes out- Halo 4.
If some of you don’t know what Halo is, then what have you been doing for the last 10 Years? Halo is one of the definitive science fiction game series of our time, created by Bungie in 2001 and bought by Microsoft to launch with their new Xbox console. Halo: Combat Evolved was the first game, and arguably the best. It had a brilliant campaign and a New console-to-console gaming experience. This was the beginning of what we call today Xbox Live.
After the unpredicted success of Halo: CE, Halo 2 was released, Heralding a new Multiplayer Experience, which we see as the normal Multiplayer ‘Lobby’ system that everyone uses today. The campaign somewhat lacked, Bungie having to cut several levels out to get Halo 2 out in time. But who are we kidding? It was fucking awesome! You could be an Elite for Christ’s sake!
Another fantastic game by Bungie meant that another surely would come. And that was Halo 3. It was released in 2007, being one of the major games for Microsoft’s new console- the Xbox 360. Halo 3 was fantastic, truly, and even though it had a short campaign, in my opinion it was the best Halo there has ever been. The multiplayer was fantastic as was the new mode- Forge. Fun could be had forever with people making new maps and new custom modes, whilst Bungie’s weekly Double Exp playlists kept the Multiplayer fresh and exciting. Halo 3 was the longest lived Halo (The only Halo coming out in its life span being Halo 3: ODST, which came with a disk holding all the Halo 3 Multiplayer Maps). 2010 ended Halo 3’s reign and brought Halo Reach to the stage. Having a new Campaign with Spartan III’s (Master Chief, the main character of the Halo Trilogy, was a Spartan II) set before Halo Combat Evolved. It brought new things to Multiplayer and made Forge the best it could be. Yet somehow it felt lacking.
If some of you don’t know what Halo is, then what have you been doing for the last 10 Years? Halo is one of the definitive science fiction game series of our time, created by Bungie in 2001 and bought by Microsoft to launch with their new Xbox console. Halo: Combat Evolved was the first game, and arguably the best. It had a brilliant campaign and a New console-to-console gaming experience. This was the beginning of what we call today Xbox Live.
After the unpredicted success of Halo: CE, Halo 2 was released, Heralding a new Multiplayer Experience, which we see as the normal Multiplayer ‘Lobby’ system that everyone uses today. The campaign somewhat lacked, Bungie having to cut several levels out to get Halo 2 out in time. But who are we kidding? It was fucking awesome! You could be an Elite for Christ’s sake!
Another fantastic game by Bungie meant that another surely would come. And that was Halo 3. It was released in 2007, being one of the major games for Microsoft’s new console- the Xbox 360. Halo 3 was fantastic, truly, and even though it had a short campaign, in my opinion it was the best Halo there has ever been. The multiplayer was fantastic as was the new mode- Forge. Fun could be had forever with people making new maps and new custom modes, whilst Bungie’s weekly Double Exp playlists kept the Multiplayer fresh and exciting. Halo 3 was the longest lived Halo (The only Halo coming out in its life span being Halo 3: ODST, which came with a disk holding all the Halo 3 Multiplayer Maps). 2010 ended Halo 3’s reign and brought Halo Reach to the stage. Having a new Campaign with Spartan III’s (Master Chief, the main character of the Halo Trilogy, was a Spartan II) set before Halo Combat Evolved. It brought new things to Multiplayer and made Forge the best it could be. Yet somehow it felt lacking.
And one of the main reasons for that was that Bungie had
announced that they would leave Halo, and send it away to 343 Industries- a new
division in Microsoft dedicated to Halo. It was sad when Bungie said that Reach
was their swansong to Halo, and that after 10 years it would be goodbye, like
someone laying there most treasured pet to rest.
So 343 had a lot to live up to- and still do. They released Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary in 2011, which was a remake of Halo CE, but with updated graphics. You could switch between the new and old graphics too, in game. Probably the best thing though was that they brought a new map pack to Reach, in which the Original Halo CE Pistol made it back to the big time. Apart from that and the graphics (along with some new Easter eggs <wow>) there was no difference, and they still made you pay thirty quid for it. Robbing bastards.
So we come to Halo 4. As I said earlier, it is the start of a new trilogy of Halo games. 343 have already released that they will be changing many things, including the Master Chiefs armour, which now looks a lot more bulky and- in my opinion- better. They are also bringing a new enemy to the game, which many reckon will be the Precursors or Forerunners. This is because of a recent novel called Halo: Cryptum, in which much more about the unknown Forerunners where told. This includes that the Forerunners (who made the Halo’s) kill the Precursors, apart from one, which is a prisoner. It is quite possible that it could be an enemy or a main character (more likely the second) whilst the Forerunners will be the enemy. Along with this new hopefully compelling campaign (which looks like its adds a Crysis style movement/ cinematic part) there is a new Multiplayer, and two new modes called Spartan Op’s and Halo Infinity.
The new additions to multiplayer (and the game as a whole) include Graphical and Sound updates, and also returns the Battle Rifle! Also loadouts are being introduced, like Call of Duty, which allows different weapons and attachments, armour abilities and armour colours. One of the said Armour Abilities includes a Forerunner Technology Armour Ability which allows you to look through walls- Pretty awesome unless it’s too powerful.
Halo Infinity links into this, providing a back story to the Multiplayer experience. You take the role of a Spartan IV and are on a high-tech secret UNSC ship, The Infinity. It is thought that inside this High-Tech ship there are Augmented Reality machines, in which the Spartan IV’s train.
And last, but most certainly not least, there is Spartan Op’s. An online four player multiplayer Campaign which will provide different missions to ‘Keep the game fresh and playable’. It will be sort of like Battlefield 3’s Co-Op campaign, but 343 say that they will keep releasing one mission per week for months after the game is released. Ok, even if this game isn’t up to par that it bloody fantastic.
So 343 had a lot to live up to- and still do. They released Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary in 2011, which was a remake of Halo CE, but with updated graphics. You could switch between the new and old graphics too, in game. Probably the best thing though was that they brought a new map pack to Reach, in which the Original Halo CE Pistol made it back to the big time. Apart from that and the graphics (along with some new Easter eggs <wow>) there was no difference, and they still made you pay thirty quid for it. Robbing bastards.
So we come to Halo 4. As I said earlier, it is the start of a new trilogy of Halo games. 343 have already released that they will be changing many things, including the Master Chiefs armour, which now looks a lot more bulky and- in my opinion- better. They are also bringing a new enemy to the game, which many reckon will be the Precursors or Forerunners. This is because of a recent novel called Halo: Cryptum, in which much more about the unknown Forerunners where told. This includes that the Forerunners (who made the Halo’s) kill the Precursors, apart from one, which is a prisoner. It is quite possible that it could be an enemy or a main character (more likely the second) whilst the Forerunners will be the enemy. Along with this new hopefully compelling campaign (which looks like its adds a Crysis style movement/ cinematic part) there is a new Multiplayer, and two new modes called Spartan Op’s and Halo Infinity.
The new additions to multiplayer (and the game as a whole) include Graphical and Sound updates, and also returns the Battle Rifle! Also loadouts are being introduced, like Call of Duty, which allows different weapons and attachments, armour abilities and armour colours. One of the said Armour Abilities includes a Forerunner Technology Armour Ability which allows you to look through walls- Pretty awesome unless it’s too powerful.
Halo Infinity links into this, providing a back story to the Multiplayer experience. You take the role of a Spartan IV and are on a high-tech secret UNSC ship, The Infinity. It is thought that inside this High-Tech ship there are Augmented Reality machines, in which the Spartan IV’s train.
And last, but most certainly not least, there is Spartan Op’s. An online four player multiplayer Campaign which will provide different missions to ‘Keep the game fresh and playable’. It will be sort of like Battlefield 3’s Co-Op campaign, but 343 say that they will keep releasing one mission per week for months after the game is released. Ok, even if this game isn’t up to par that it bloody fantastic.
And that is the whole though, really. Will Halo 4 be up to
par? Some think it is time for Halo to go out gracefully, while it is loved. As
a die-hard Halo fan I would rather see it be put to sleep peacefully than be
forced into retirement because people get bored with it.
Lets just say that 343 is in the middle of a trampoline jump. If Halo 4 is successful -and a fan pleaser- then 343 will hit the trampoline just right and get a huge boost for the rest of their games. If it fails, then they’ll fall off and it will be harder to get the rest of their games bought and liked. Let’s all hope that Halo 4 is good, and that 343 don’t suddenly decide to take the ‘COD’ route and release one game per year, because all they want to do is to sponge their customers dry.
We think more of you 343.
Lets just say that 343 is in the middle of a trampoline jump. If Halo 4 is successful -and a fan pleaser- then 343 will hit the trampoline just right and get a huge boost for the rest of their games. If it fails, then they’ll fall off and it will be harder to get the rest of their games bought and liked. Let’s all hope that Halo 4 is good, and that 343 don’t suddenly decide to take the ‘COD’ route and release one game per year, because all they want to do is to sponge their customers dry.
We think more of you 343.
By Conor Broughton
No comments:
Post a Comment