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A First Word from Louis Santiago:
Time was I didn’t get Halo at all. The first one I played was Halo 2, which I thought was awesome until I reached the first Arbiter stage and realized I had no idea what was going on. I went back and tried Combat Evolved, but I never finished it. Soon after that, 3 was released and I had a good time doing the campaign and a terrible time with the multiplayer (it was my very first online multiplayer experience and it was honestly full of idiots shouting racial slurs at me whether or not I was winning).
So where the hell did I jump on?
To put it simply, I am ODST. And despite the fact that Reach was a way, waaaay more lasting gaming experience for me, ODST and all of the hours I spent with my friends in Firefight will always be one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had. I think back to when I and my best friends / co-authors of this post set up a bot and rigged the Endure achievement and I always smile at the full dictionary of stupid lingo we made up to get the job done (and the tons of nonsense lingo and jokes that came with it).
There's a great chance I was shouting, "TANK DUTAAAAAAY!" in a British accent right here.
So all of that is to say that I care a lot about Halo now. Enough, at least, that I had a… reaction to the footage 343 released for the upcoming Halo 4. Now, of course, there’s no way Halo 4 isn’t a touchy topic because 343 is finally giving us their own vision of Halo and the Master Chief; Bungie isn’t going to have their say in it at all, and that (honestly—after the changes I saw them make to Reach) immediately turned me off. While I didn’t expect the preview footage released about a week ago to make me excited for the Halo 4 project… I also didn’t expect to get even more turned off.
I believe my buddies are in the same boat.
Darth Healthcare:
They seem a little too excited that they’re bringing the Battle Rifle back. To quote myself, “::groaaaaaaaaaan::”, and might I further add, “::fucking sigh::”. I understand that there’s something of a continuity issue there, so since the BR was the gun in Halo 3 it needed to be the gun in Halo 4. But come on! The DMR from Reach was so much more intuitive and effective than the BR ever was in Halo 2 or 3. Just something about firing one high powered shot felt better compared to throwing out three rounds that may or may not all hit where you’re aiming at the time you pull the trigger. If they can tell us that Master Chief remajiggered his armor while he was all alone floating through space then surely he could do the same thing to his BR to make it a DMR.
Secondly, I didn’t like at all how Mr. Frank O’Connor was shitting all over Reach’s multiplayer maps while trying to promote the new ones, talking about how they’re all built from scratch as opposed to being sections pulled from the campaigns. Bungie designed those parts he refers to specifically to be multiplayer maps first and foremost. Then they went and worked those maps into the campaign’s landscape seamlessly (in my opinion, anyway) so that when you’re going through the game you don’t even think about how, hey, we have multiplayer here! So great, Halo 4′s maps won’t be pulled from the campaign. Congratulations. That mech in the middle your unique map is still completely out of place.
Yes, Powerhouse did appear in the campaign. For five minutes. Any moron with eyeballs can tell it wasn't made this complex for a five minute appearance in the campaign and THEN dumped in multi-player. That's just... I mean, no.
Things I enjoyed: I definitely think it’s a good idea to actually delve more into the character of the Master Chief in the game. One of the best parts of the books (aside from the incredible space battles) was actually getting some background on the guy beneath all that armor and finding out that he was just a regular (abnormally lucky) kid at one point. It was so fun reading about all of the things that happened to John that made him the badass that you see in the game, and absolutely none of that story has translated through to this point. So kudos to them for attacking this angle. Also the new song is amazing. I doubt they’ll ditch the traditional Halo theme entirely but if the song in the video is any indication of where the soundtrack is headed then I’m already excited. I’m also warily excited of all this talk of facing a new threat. It’ll be nice to not have to shoot Covenant all the time.
Chaosrayne:
I found this interview with Frank O’Connor.
Seriously, if we lose the DMR and the Magnum and have to go back to AR + Blind Charge + Melee bore-fests again, I'm done.
The key part of this interview for me was, it seems like they’re fucking changing the pistol AGAIN. Unless they’re making exactly the same as the pistol from 1 I just don’t want to fucking hear it. It finally got back to being a weapon I enjoy and now that might go away.
Also, stop trying to make me like the BR. It’s not like I wasn’t there for the BR. I didn’t like it. I’ve never liked it. Give me the DMR back. Please?
I’m pretty excited to see some of the expanded Halo universe stuff come into play in 4. I hope it doesn’t suck. I really like many of the Halo books and the backstory they provide, but trying to put that type of thing in a game can go oh so wrong.
Also, I’m holding my breath until I actually see what the enemy for this game is going to be. As Darth said, it’ll be good to fight something other than the covenant, but only if it doesn’t suck. If I’m fighting the shit from Gears of Wars, I’m done.
Oh, and lastly, they mentioned that this Halo experience would be faster and more visceral than other Halo multi-player. Granted I’ve come to realize that I want Halo to be a little bit faster with the multiplayer, but there are games that are too fast for me out there. If they’re going to mimic that style, despite my long history with the Halo franchise, they’ll have lost me.
Louis Santiago:
Ultimately, I don’t know if there are more pros than cons here… Well, no, I do know which there are more of, but I’ve watched the ViDoc a few times and find myself wanting to be… hopeful.
I mean, 4 looks prettier than Reach (although it still dismays me that they refuse to compare this game to that one). It has much more dynamic lighting (from what I’ve seen) and a high level of cyber polish without completely throwing out Reach’s battle worn Spartans approach.
Also, as Darth said, the new theme does sound really awesome; it was honestly stuck in my head after I saw the “Spring Showcase ViDoc”.
MARVEL as ODST perform what I'd totally assumed were feats of Spartan strength!
And, of course, I’m really stoked to finally feel like a super soldier wearing a super suit; while having Samus VS Master Chief arguments, people have always resorted to, “He’s super strong though! AND super fast! And he weighs a ton! And stuff!” all of which was never evident in the games (which fans quickly pointed out was because it was all “in the books!” [which always made it extra silly that it wasn't ever in the games]). In the end, despite how much I enjoy Halo–and I say this without meaning any disrespect–I always felt that Bungie really just made a game where you just play a guy. A guy who’s also a good soldier. And who wears a suit of armor that allow him to regenerate health but doesn’t protect him from harm anymore than, say, the space suit that the guy from Doom wears. Or… well… the camou fatigues that any soldier wears in any war FPS. And I want to say, “Well, the weapons of the Covenant do way more damage!” to justify it, but I’ve watched a UNSC trooper take as many hits as I have. And for all the times I’ve seen one get knocked off of a cliff with one swat from a Brute, I’ve seen myself suffer the same fate as many times. I’m excited to see that change–to see that fabled strength expressed in-game and possibly even affect gameplay; I imagine meleeing a vehicle into an opponent and sending them flying off of a cliff with the flaming wreckage and getting a Demolition Kill (or something) for it. I imagine that and I salivate.
But that’s where the excitement ends. I’ve seen what 343 did to Reach (it’s why I don’t play Reach anymore, all with their “The sword should have FULL PRIORITY again!” and all of that). And it’s that kind of dogged attention to detail that may make things go awry with 4; 343 already seems to be giving way, way too much thought to things that I can’t help thinking they should’ve just left alone. First thing that comes to mind with this is all the talk of how the multi-player maps in this game aren’t in the campaign–I know Darth already mentioned it, but it’s worth looking back on just now, with a somber shake of my head. There’s also that whole “We’ve created a compelling reason why red Spartans can be fighting blue Spartans!” bit… Because, really, I draw the line at them rationalizing a basic, necessary element of multiplayer. It’s like a firm taking over Super Mario Bros. and triumphantly exclaiming, “We’ve created a compelling reason why you have to press the Start button at the title screen! And we’ve tied that into the story of our game so that it all finally makes sense!” Really… that’s terrifying.
And that terror bleeds through to their emphasis on how loud the new sound effects are. I found myself wondering if they were going to be balanced or if I’d become a major source of noise pollution in my neighborhood. And that ultimately bleeds out into things unseen and unmentoned–is the new threat going to be something silly? Something incredibly over-thought? Are the new vehicles going to be stupid somehow? Are the new weapons going to be totally off, like the new Spartan 4′s, who (complete with their cyber wings) look much, much more like anime mechs than UNSC tech?
I suppose, it’s easiest to just say that I’m scared. Scared that the fun co-op / multi-player experience I was waiting for is going to get buried under a ton of good intentions.
Chaosrayne:
Largely, you can boil my reaction down to “not even cautiously optimistic. Just cautious.” Although, one of the interviews I watched contained the phrase “the choices you will have to make as the Chief,” making me wonder if this game will actually give the player some options in regards to the plot. It would be interesting. It’s definitely not in the Halo franchise’s history, but it could be a welcomed addition to the game, if done well.
Louis Santiago:
In the Frank O’Connor interview, he threw the phrase “sandbox” around a bit as, which also totally makes me wonder. Are we going to see a return to an ODST styled, sandbox overworld? Caaaause I would honestly love that.
Chaosrayne:
That would be awesome. The open world of ODST made the co-op a blast. Just driving around on a Mongoose was half the fun.
Louis Santiago:
Indeed. But, really, there’s no way of knowing for sure. In the end, we’ll all just have to wait for the next ViDoc. Wait and keep our fingers crossed that what comes next wins us over and doesn’t (for the love of God) hit tear-jerking levels of “No… Just… no.”
