The release of Halo 3 back in 2007 marked the end of the
collaboration between Bungie and Microsoft. The publisher had to relay its
production to a newly founded in-house studio, 343 Industries. E3 2012 was a
logical opportunity to show off what they have accomplished and take a peak at
one of the most competitive games of the year: Halo 4.
To mark this new stage in the life of the franchise, the
developers at 343 industries have sought to reinvent the concept of what
remains one of the most famous console first person shooter. In addition to the
inevitable singleplayer campaign –which we saw a glimpse at the Xbox 360 Media
Briefing – Halo 4 will feature and extended multiplayer and cooperative modes.
With competitive gaming at heart, 343 Industries is bringing us Wargames and
Spartan Ops.
Spartan Ops is 343 Industries’ way of entering the modern
day first person shooter modes, a response to Call of Duty’s everlasting
popularity. By base, Spartan Ops is clearly a good way to boost the longevity of
Halo 4’s multiplayer mode, by publishing five episodic missions each week so
that players can enjoy an ever-changing content and the storyline that evolves
the same way as a television series, one that takes place in the flagship of
the Halo fleet, the UNSC Infinity.
What about the gameplay? Well, Halo 4 will introduce all new
armor abilities, assassinations, tactical packages (don’t you dare call them
perks) and support upgrades in all multiplayer modes.
The armor abilities will see the comeback of the Hologram, as
well as all-new ones: the Hardlight Shield, which is a sort of energy-powered
riot shield, putting you into third-person view to cover your friends. The
Thruster Pack is a sort of horizontal jetpack, to quickly move across the map.
Finally the Promethean vision is the same concept as a holographic visor,
pointing out your enemies in red.
Character loadouts are also highly customizable, adding a
whole new level of personalized touch into your very own Spartan, with both
gameplay and external add-ons. Tactical packages will give you extra boost
effects (like perks) at the beginning of the game, which you can also assign
per loadouts, switching between them when you need to change strategies.
Halo 4 will also mark the start of killstreak-based award
concept. These are called Ordinance, Spartan or alien based super weapons you
can request from your HQ. The beautiful part about it, is that on the contrary
of Call of Duty’s killstreak rewards, these are balanced and harder to get, and
you can also lose them if your enemy snatched the prize.
Halo 4 is looking good, and has the potential to achieve
what Halo Reach couldn’t do in terms of Online Multiplayer, but with the switch
to a mainstream template, one could call “a la Call of Duty”, will the Halo
veterans enjoy this new opus? I think they will, as it’s time for a change, so let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
Ozimandus has been reviewing games and gadgets since 2003. He's not afraid of speaking his mind, and loves to share his love of everything geeky.