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Halo is arguably the game that made the Xbox, leading to a hugely successful, not to mention popular, series of games. You can imagine the trepidation, then, when the game’s original developers, Bungie, split from Microsoft, leaving Halo 4 to be developed by newcomers 343 Industries. To let us see what the 343 Industries has done, Microsoft unleashed us on the game, letting us play through two campaign maps, as well as having a burst of multi-player mayhem.
The first thing to note is that Halo 4 is sympathetic to the original, while managing to take the franchise in a different direction. In case you can’t remember the end of Halo 3, the new game picks up four years later with Cortana, the AI, waking Master Chief from his cryo-sleep to find their ship, Forward Unto Dawn, under attack.
It’s great to see Master Chief back, with 343 Industries capturing the heart and spirit of the original
For this first level, 343 Industries wanted to invoke memories of the first Halo game. With the dark corridors of the ship, it certainly has the feel of the original. This first level serves as a kind of training mission to get you back into the spirit of the game, as you fight the Covenant and try and escape from your attackers.
As you play through this fast-paced mission it becomes clear that it’s not the Covenant that are threat, but the brand-new Prometheans. These aliens are the Forerunners, the aliens that built and deployed the Halo weapons.
We then got chance to see the new threat full-on, as we played the game’s third level: Forerunner. This puts you on the alien’s planet and introduces you to the worst the Prometheans have to throw at you. It’s brilliant idea to mix the action up, as even the most hardened Halo player will have to learn new tactics, as the Prometheans fight in a completely different way.
At the bottom of the chain are the Crawlers, which look like cybernetic dogs, only ones that can climb walls and can shoot from the guns mounted on their faces. Their job is simply to quickly swarm you from all angles, attacking you relentlessly. They’re fast all-terrain movements, means it’s harder to find a rock to hide behind while you recharge your shields. They’re also hard to kill and generally need a few well-placed shots to wipe them out.
Promethean Knights are bloody hard to kill
Then, there are the Promethean Knights, which are full-on double-hard killers that will have you screaming in annoyance as you work out how to wipe them out. As well as being incredibly tough with the most dangerous weapons, Knights can also teleport out of danger or, annoyingly, close enough to finish you off.
Their real trick, and the tactic you have to deal with first, is that they work with Watchers. These look like gyro-copters and can either be already present on a map or spawned from a Knight’s back. The Watcher’s job is to support the other Prometheans, by projecting shields, healing them, spawning crawlers and even resurrecting dead Knights.
Watchers can heal, shield and even resurrect dead enemies – kill them immediately!
It’s crucial to wipe out the Watchers before you even consider taking on anything else. Even when they’re all dead, the Knights are a real pain with shields you have to take out before you can kill them. As the Knights will duck behind cover when you start shooting, it’s really a matter of getting up-close and personal.
NEW WEAPONS
Fortunately, with new aliens comes a new range of weapons. There’s a great mix in there, with most of them having dual fire-modes, giving you plenty to learn about. First is the Boltshot. This fires a powerful bolt at your enemies, but its fire rate is only limited by how quickly you can pull the trigger. Like the Plasma Pistol you can hold the trigger down to create a more powerful shot.
The Scattershot is like a shotgun and is great for getting up-close-and-personal with anyone in your way. A neat trick is that its shots can bounce of surfaces, giving you a way to take shots without putting yourself in harm’s way.
The Suppressor is a your good old-fashioned rapid-fire assault rifle appearance. It fires deadly bolts at high speed and is perfect for taking down those annoying knights.
The Light Rifle was the final gun that we had chance to play with. At range it’s like a more powerful Carbine, letting you pick your targets off from a distance. However, if you fire from the hip it quickly shoots a less-powerful three-round-burst.
NEW GRAPHICS
Although the Xbox might be getting on a bit, you certainly wouldn’t know it from playing Halo 4. 343 Industries has boosted the texture quality, made some incredibly lighting effects and built huge and detailed maps. Every last bit of power is squeezed out of the Xbox and the game looks absolutely fantastic.
While 343 Studios had access to Bungie’s engine and graphics for the early levels, arguably giving it the easy job of continuing what went before, all of the Promethean and Forerunner work is its own , and the game still looks amazing.
343 Industries has pushed the Xbox to its limits and Halo 4 looks amazing
A TASTE FOR MORE
Moving the Halo action to a different world against a brand-new enemy is a great move. Halo 4 still looks and feels like a proper Halo game, but there’s enough new here to make us want more. We’re excited to find out more about the Prometheans and really get into the game.
MULTIPLAYER
No first-person shooter would be complete without a proper multi-player mode, and Halo 4 has a range of different games to keep people busy long after the single-player game has been completed. First, we got to play two Spartan Ops missions. These will be released as DLC once a week, with 343 Industries describing them as being like a weekly TV show.
Each one features a multi-player map, which you co-operatively move through to complete the mission. They take some getting used to and the maps are generally huge. It’s easy to get continuously wiped out, requiring close team work to complete your objectives. This is no bad thing, as co-operative games work best when you’re forced to work together.
There are tons of multiplayer modes and maps to keep you busy after you’ve finished the single-player mode
Next up we played Slayer, the traditional death-match. It’s just as much fun as you’ll remember, plus there’s an amazing new vehicle to play with, although we’re not allowed to tell you what it is yet.
Capture the flag has been overhauled, so that you move slowly when you capture the enemy’s. It means you’ll need teamwork and support if your team is to triumph – again, no bad thing. Finally, there’s a Dominion mode, where your team scores points for holding onto a map’s bases – the same, as CoD’s Domination mode.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A Halo game without Bungie sounded like absolute madness and a project doomed to failure, but 343 Industries has done a fantastic job. With Halo 4 is has kept the Halo look and feel, but injected something new and fresh into the mix. It’s got us excited to play more and if the rest of the game lives up to the early levels we played, Halo 4 is going to be amazing.
