Halo 4 review: Feels like the first time

New beginnings and first impressions can be daunting prospects for anyone. But when a video game developer is tasked with creating good first impressions for a new beginning of an established franchise, the odds can be overwhelming. Die-hard video game fans can be a difficult group to please, often being underwhelmed by solid games, nit-picking and actively looking to find fault with anything. Being that the newly released “Halo 4” was the first in the series from the newly created 343 Industries, I was almost positive every ‘net nerd would jump all over it – especially since it’s the first Halo game not developed by Bungie. But they didn’t – and for good reason. “Halo 4” is easily one of the most well-made, intriguing and polished Halo titles of all time.

Playing “Halo 4” for the first time was strange. The visuals, color schemes, textures, sounds and music feel incredibly familiar yet, somehow, subtly different. It was almost like playing “Halo: CE” for the first time, all over again. The visual design of enemies, weapons and items along with the music and sound design are so impressively pieced together that it was almost a form of déjà vu that I was experiencing, a sense that, “I know I’ve played this before, but never quite like this.”

Though I’m a big fan of multiplayer, the first thing I did when I got “Halo 4” was boot up the campaign. Since his inception, the Master Chief has been one of my favorite protagonists. He is the ultimate soldier, the only man who has been able to turn away rampaging alien hordes and preserve humanity’s place in the universe. Without the Chief, we’d be lost and at the end of “Halo 3,” it seemed we had lost him.  Fortunately, as the lore goes, Spartans never die – they’re just MIA.

After years spent in cryogenic sleep, Cortana, the most highly-advanced artificial intelligence ever created, awakens Master Chief as they approach what appears to be an entirely artificial planet called Requiem. As they drift closer aboard the wrecked ship Forward Unto Dawn, Cortana realizes that the Covenant too have an interest in the planet – as well as an interest in keeping intruders away. The fragile truce between humanity and the Covenant appears to be over.

Master Chief surveys the surface of the planet Requiem.

Without spoiling too much of the story, it is safe to relay that the Forerunners, an ancient species which predates humanity and the Covenant, play a major role in the story of what 343 Industries is dubbing the “Reclaimer Trilogy.” But perhaps more impressive than merely continuing Halo lore, 343 Industries has managed to tell a more personal story, that of the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana. Though Cortana has been a constant ally of the Master Chief, AIs of her kind are not designed to last forever. In fact, they are designed with a functional lifespan of only seven years. Cortana has been in service for over eight years. She suffers from a condition she calls “rampancy” where the processes which make up Cortana begin to run out of control, telling Chief that she will eventually “think herself to death.”

As the story progresses and Cortana struggles with her rampancy, we are able to see another side of Chief. He has developed a deep connection to Cortana over the series. His relationship with her has been the longest and most meaningful he has ever known. The way his character is written and the interactions between Chief and Cortana are superb. Despite the importance of their task on Requiem, Chief makes it known often that his most pressing objective is saving Cortana. Even though the chance of preserving Cortana is low, he remains resolute in his determination to save her. Their genuine interactions would be a feat for any game to convey, making the fact that a Halo title delivered such an emotionally gripping story all the more impressive.

However, Cortana and her waning sanity are not the Chief’s only concerns in “Halo 4.” A new foe waits on the planet Requiem, a vicious enemy previously unknown throughout the galaxy. The Prometheans are a synthetic race of creatures that present a new array of challenges and require different strategies to defeat than the Covenant. The usual alien antagonists have aligned themselves with the Forerunner and Promethean threat but, unfortunately, the story never really delves into why they are suddenly working together. Granted, if you follow the lore you know that the Covenant worship the Forerunners as gods though the reasons for their alliance in this story are never mentioned. 

A Promethean Knight, wielding a Lightrifle, is only one of the new enemies in Halo 4.

The Prometheans bring with them several new enemy units to battle as well as an array of new weaponry. The Prometheans present three standard unit types – Crawlers, Watchers and Knights. Crawlers are the unit you’ll see most often and are recognized by their canine appearance and pack mentality. Quick and agile, Crawlers are also capable of climbing and attacking from walls and ceilings. Watchers are flying, support units which shield friendly units, call more enemies to the field, repair Knights and even raise them from the dead. Watchers can create a great deal of hassle if not dealt with as they move swiftly across the battlefield, bolstering friendly troops. Knights are the command units and are recognized by their hulking metal, bi-pedal frames. Knights use a wide array of guns but also carry melee weapons and can even teleport across the battlefield to gain a tactical advantage. Overall, the Prometheans require you to stay mobile so as not to become overwhelmed by their speed and numbers. While much of their arsenal is basically reskinned human weapons (pistol, DMR, assault rifle, shotgun, etc), their troops are unique and offer new challenges with their ability to dynamically change the flow of combat.

But creating a new foe for Master Chief as well as a personal story with compelling characters are only some of the accomplishments of “Halo 4.” While the campaign of “Halo 4” is its own entity, complete with four-player co-op throughout, 343 Industries has also made an effort to include and explain the multiplayer portion of the title within the game’s universe. Now called Infinity Multiplayer, the competitive portion of the game is explained as training exercises called War Games, set aboard the UNSC Infinity, one of the most massive ships in the human fleet.

While multiplayer is still fundamentally the same, 343 Industries has made a considerable amount of changes to the mode to keep it fresh and distinct from the rest of the series. As in Reach, you will create a unique Spartan with the help of myriad customization options, more of which unlock as you gain levels. Some items are unlocked by attaining certain levels while others are granted once you earn certain commendations (in-game challenges). Unlocking items is now based on Spartan Points, earned by gaining levels which are used to buy new weapons and abilities for your loadouts.

Prepare to sink endless hours in Halo 4's Infinity Multiplayer.

After you’ve created your own Spartan, the next thing you’ll want to do is set your loadout. New to the series, you can customize different loadouts with a number of weapons as well as armor abilities and other new gear options. Though this addition might seem a bit too similar to the “Call of Duty” series, fear not, power weapons aren’t available to be equipped in loadouts. New gear options like faster reload times, quick shield recharge or additional ammo also augments your own personal play style.

In terms of multiplayer modes, familiar favorites like Big Team Slayer, Oddball and King of the Hill return along with new, inventive modes. Rumble Pit has been replaced by Regicide, a new twist on free-for-all Slayer. In this mode, the player in first place is the king and always appears on the map. Killing the king nets you bonus points and as the king earns kills, this bonus is increased. But the king isn’t at a complete disadvantage as he gets overshields when his bounty is maxed out. Though, my favorite new mode is Dominion, a take on the Territories game type. In this mode, there are three control points on the map for each team to fight over. When a point is taken and held by a team for a set amount of time, that point becomes reinforced with weapons, autoturrets and vehicles. Dominion adds new layers of strategy to the Territories mode by adding resources at captured points, requiring careful teamwork to press the attack while maintaining controlled areas.

Overall, the biggest change to the multiplayer of “Halo 4” is ordinance and random weapon spawns. In previous Halo titles, experienced players could memorize the spawn locations of power weapons (sniper rifle, rocket launcher, etc.) on a given map and could exploit this knowledge against more casual players who don’t know the details and layout of each map. In “Halo 4,” power weapons spawn randomly on the map throughout the course of a match and the locations of weapons is always visible on the HUD, enabling every player a fair shot at them. Ordinance is also another way for players to access new weaponry, though ordinance must be earned. After scoring enough points, you’re given the option of three random items that can either be weapons or power-ups like a Gravity Hammer, Rail Gun, Overshields, Speed Boost, etc. There’s nothing quite like being on a Sword spree and being able to equip Overshields or a Speed Boost thanks to an ordinance drop.

If you noticed above, I mentioned scoring “points” to earn ordinance, which is because in “Halo 4,” players have more ways to earn points and contribute to their team’s performance than ever before. While Halo has always awarded medals for kills, assists and other specific kills, “Halo 4” rewards players with points for all manner of actions which goes toward your team’s overall performance. Even the scoreboard keeps track of your points rather than your kill/death ratio.

However, Infinity multiplayer is more than just War Games. Spartan Ops is a cooperative mode with its own unique story, separate from Master Chief’s story, which is experienced in the form of weekly, episodic content packs. Each episode contains five missions and offer varying objectives and mission types. It’s unfortunate that it seems Spartan Ops has replaced Firefight, the enemy-attack mode from Reach, but so far Spartan Ops has proven to be challenging and offering a unique story told through missions designed around cooperative play is very interesting. The first “season” of Spartan Ops (five episodes of five missions each) is free when you buy “Halo 4” but more seasons are on the way – for a price, of course.

Forge and Theater also return and can be found in the Infinity multiplayer menu. Forge features each of the 10 on-disc multiplayer maps as well as a handful of unique templates for mapmaking. New tools like duplicating pieces and easier snapping pieces together simplify the mapmaking process. Theater seems mostly unchanged and still stores a multitude of recently played matches in the temporary files. I also found that you’re now able to save match videos from the Spartan Hub (start menu) without leaving matchmaking, making saving videos for future viewing a breeze.

Though 343 Industries hasn’t made any drastic changes to the Halo universe with “Halo 4” they have managed to create a game that is definitely Halo but also distinctly their own creation. Little tweaks and changes to the formula have only strengthened the overall product, giving the game a wider appeal and will undoubtedly create a new fanbase. Gamers who wanted to series to stay exactly the same as it was under Bungie may be disappointed. But those willing to give “Halo 4” a chance will experience that same feeling of nostalgia as I did – the feeling that we’ve seen these characters before; heard these gun noises and alien battle cries before; played these multiplayer games before but that somehow they were never quite as beautiful or mechanically sound as they are now. “Halo 4” is easily one of the best games of the year (and best Halo games in the series) and will no doubt give “Assassin’s Creed 3,” “Borderlands 2,” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” a run for their money for Game of the Year.