REVIEW OF HALO 4 BY THEGEEKWIZ
Halo is to Microsoft what Mario is to Nintendo. The
original Halo was, in the simplest of terms, a game
worthy of selling an entire console platform on its own
merit. It may not have shown the ingenuity of the French or
Japanese games, nor was it revolutionary in any aspect. But
it was a veritable distillation of FPS mechanics to the casual
confines of the couch. It had a no-nonsense plot that drew from
Heinlein's power armour-equipped space marine trope from
Starship Troopers, and buffed it with excellent gameplay tweaks
that overcame its gamepad limitations.
Its fast, frenetic action, excellent weapon and enemy design,
and a stellar multiplayer mode made it a benchmark in the
console FPS genre. Much of its success can be attributed to
the irreverent geniuses at Bungie. However, since its split with
Microsoft, the Halo mantle was eventually taken over by 343
Industries after Halo: Reach. The developer had already shown
competence with the 10th Anniversary remake of the original
game. Halo 4, however, marks the first instalment of the series
continuation that's been dubbed the Reclaimer Trilogy.
The game takes place right after the events of the last proper
series outing; Halo 3. The Flood menace has been routed from
the planet and the Covenant armada has fled. However, Master
Chief and his AI sidekick Cortana have been taken for dead
and have been adrift in space for the past four years. Cortana
awakens him after the ship is caught in the gravity well of a
Forerunner planet called Requiem, and is under siege from
Covenant warships.
The Covenants and Master Chief aren’t the only ones on the planet. This conveniently sets the pace for yet another threat to humanity in the form of the energy-themed Promethean
race, which are replete with unique fighting tactics and cool
Tron-esque weapons. Interestingly, the series gets its first
recognisable villain with Halo 4. You will find more conventional
Hollywood themes in the form of a decidedly more sexed up
Cortana, and a healthy dose of pathos.
The shapely AI sidekick is nearing the end of her life span,
which brings upon a behavioural phenomenon called rampancy.
In simple terms, that’s the AI equivalent of post-menopausal
mood swings. This also means Cortana will perish unless she’s
taken back to Earth. While John (AKA Master Chief) may play
the stereotypical faceless marine hidden behind a flak helmet,
Cortana and the rest of the cast are painstakingly animated.
Don’t expect a Heavy Rain or an LA Noire, but the tragic
chemistry between the main leads is done well, without being
too cringe-inducing and mawkish (that’s you, Gears of War 3).
At any rate, one doesn’t exactly prefer Halo games for
their narrative. What really draws in gamers is its fine tuned
gameplay. The franchise’s gamepad-friendliness may prevent
enemies from being agile and quick on the draw, but the solid AI
proves challenging. Enemies charge, retreat, and duck in and out
of cover to keep you on your toes. Different classes of enemies
team up and work to balance each other’s strengths and
weaknesses. The new Promethean enemies, for example, come
in cannon fodder (Crawlers), support (Watchers), and heavy
(Knights) flavours. The weaker Crawlers draw your fire while the
fearsome Knights teleport in and out of cover to harass you with
heavy ordnance. The watchers, who clearly seem to be inspired
from Quake 2’s Daedalus/Icarus, maintain tension by shielding
or reviving fallen foes. These enemy tactics keep the action from
deteriorating into a mindless run-and-gun affair.
Countering this manner of guerrilla warfare isn’t exactly a
daunting task thanks to a multi-faceted offensive capability that
lets players choose between an assortment of guns, grenades,
melee, and armour abilities. You have the standard human
array of short and long-range, fast/weak and slow/strong, and
explosive weapons that deliver splash damage. The Covenant
and Promethean arms are essentially the same weapon classes,
but with cooler Tron-esque animations and shiny energy
projectiles. Armour abilities range from the Hard Light Shield to
ones packing cloaking capabilities and sentry bots.
Although there are a wide variety of weapons at your disposal,
this diversity tends to cause balance issues. Certain rapid-fire
submachine gun class weapons prove too weak, while some of
the Promethean sniper rifles are rendered useless due to the
opposing camp's better alternatives. The fact that quite a few
weapons make no case for themselves points towards either
poor balancing or the developers shoving in extra firepower just
for the heck of it
The multiplayer component compares favourably to the
competition, but fans of the original Halo may have a few
complaints. The overall pace of the multiplayer gameplay
is faster, which does remind one of Call of Duty’s brand of
multiplayer. Hardcore Halo players have been complaining
of excessive bloom (inaccuracy due to automatic fire) on
certain weapons, and other weapons, such as the DMR, being
preponderant upon favourites such as the Battle Rifle.
The new aspect of Loadouts can be perceived as
modernisation of the multiplayer component or a nod to Call
of Duty’s Perk system. This Loadout business grants players
with a pre-set number of slots to equip
primary/secondary weapons, grenades,
and armour abilities, in addition to a pair
of extra skill-buffing bonuses. Just like
perks, players who do well level up and
get more of these slots. Old schoolers
have already started making noises
about how this COD-esque system
doesn’t encourage a level playing field.
If you can embrace the changes with
a more open mind, you’ll realise that
they aren’t as bad for weekend gamers
as the hardcore ones make it out to be.
Yes, the new multiplayer component
drops a few popular modes, but it does
replace them with interesting new ones.
The Firefight mode from the previous
games is replaced with Spartan Ops,
which are episodic missions padded with
painstakingly crafted FMV sequences. Like the main campaign,
this mode can be played in either split-screen or online co-op
with up to three other friends. However, unlike the campaign
mode, the first episodic content that I tried out wasn’t nearly as
satisfying and felt disjointed.
Invasion mode too has been replaced by Dominion, which
is a team-based push to control bases. Successful teams are
rewarded with cool vehicles and weapon drops. Flood is the new
moniker for the Infected mode of the previous games, where you
face off with superfast Flood-infected humans eager to impale
you with their mutated arms. The competitive multiplayer
mode dubbed as Wargames is a lot faster and a bit like COD as
mentioned earlier, thanks to Loadouts and abilities dynamically
changing the course of battle.
To sum it up, Halo 4 sports a modernised multiplayer
component that’s faster and incorporates some cues from
contemporary games. It may not please hardcore competitive
gamers, but on the other hand, that just might get it more
mainstream fans. The single player campaign is beautiful to
behold, but it’s too short and can get a bit scripted and repetitive
at times. The segment with the huge Mammoth truck is a prime
example of unimaginative fetch quests
and wasted potential.
As a consolation, the vehicle segments
incorporating the Scorpion tank, a really
cool Mech, and the iconic Warthog,
Scarab, and Banshee assault vehicles
keep things interesting; especially in
the co-op mode where friends can
pitch in and handle turrets. The game’s
inherent weapons balance flaws too are
tempered by great enemy AI and combat
tactics. Make no mistake, Halo 4 is a
very good game by itself. However, its
lack of innovation, linear gameplay, short
campaign, a standard multiplayer mode,
and its propensity to force the unwieldy
Waypoint system to get the complete
Halo experience prevents it from
replicating the greatness of Halo 3.
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