DuckThor Evil
Legend
I thought the single player was fine if nothing too special.
Halo 4
- Thread starter Rangers
- Start date
Maybe, but I LOVE Halo. Or I used to. Personally I either want another Red Dead or Batman Arkham game. I loved those. I think open-world spoiled me.
Tommy McClain
You love the Halo that Bungie created. 
To be honest, a huge part of Halo to me was the music, and the tones just resonated with me. It was also unique.
H4's music can be bold and powerful (at times mimicking Star Wars or Star Trek 2009 or say Enemy of the State), but it does not really.... feel Halo when all of the tracks are trying to be like that. I don't feel the depression considering the events.
It's a bit of a trick, the somber mood of the track at the beginning of Midnight, but it doesn't go far enough. There's a bit of majesty as it plays while you're flying down the corridor. Maybe that's the point, but I don't feel it conveys enough the awfulness of failure or what just happened at the end of the previous mission.
That there is a complete lack of the original Halo theme is just another point of disconnection. Halo is more than just a suit of power armour.
FWIW, I thought Halo Wars had a great set of tracks. It was despair impersonated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGLWnV6Oq2s
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It's hard to describe. I'd probably have to do a running commentary really.
To be honest, a huge part of Halo to me was the music, and the tones just resonated with me. It was also unique.
H4's music can be bold and powerful (at times mimicking Star Wars or Star Trek 2009 or say Enemy of the State), but it does not really.... feel Halo when all of the tracks are trying to be like that. I don't feel the depression considering the events.
It's a bit of a trick, the somber mood of the track at the beginning of Midnight, but it doesn't go far enough. There's a bit of majesty as it plays while you're flying down the corridor. Maybe that's the point, but I don't feel it conveys enough the awfulness of failure or what just happened at the end of the previous mission.
That there is a complete lack of the original Halo theme is just another point of disconnection. Halo is more than just a suit of power armour.
FWIW, I thought Halo Wars had a great set of tracks. It was despair impersonated. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGLWnV6Oq2s
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It's hard to describe. I'd probably have to do a running commentary really.
Revival, Nemesis,117, Green and Blue, Arrival, To Galaxy...
I dunno AI, but these were all quite memorable to me. Then again they're not as strong in the game, it was listening to the soundtrack that got the tracks in my head.
Have you watched the documentary about the making of the music by the way?
The raw recording of the strings in To Galaxy is perhaps even more powerful than the final mix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1NoPJT8HgGo#t=1577s
And Green and Blue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1NoPJT8HgGo#t=2347s
I dunno AI, but these were all quite memorable to me. Then again they're not as strong in the game, it was listening to the soundtrack that got the tracks in my head.
Have you watched the documentary about the making of the music by the way?
The raw recording of the strings in To Galaxy is perhaps even more powerful than the final mix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1NoPJT8HgGo#t=1577s
And Green and Blue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1NoPJT8HgGo#t=2347s
I dunno, maybe it's simply style. When I listen to the first link there, it just seems... too blunt. Too obvious. There's too much reliance upon the instrumentation rather than the notes themselves. That in itself affects the notes. There are huge contrasts from one note to the next, but... that itself does not feel right. And this is the track that feels like Enemy of the State.
Something about it just feels too general, or something I've heard in movies. It doesn't feel close enough.
It's quite possible I'm expecting something similar to the established Cortana-MC theme that anything else is a departure, regardless of how well produced it is. It's another identity, and I don't think it needed to be that way. i.e. change for the sake of change. There's nothing inherently bad about the piece, but the series is what it is.
The second link is surely a sense of loss, but it mellows out and feels like it's trying to be assuring, encouraging. But it is still within the constraint of... something.
Something about it just feels too general, or something I've heard in movies. It doesn't feel close enough.
It's quite possible I'm expecting something similar to the established Cortana-MC theme that anything else is a departure, regardless of how well produced it is. It's another identity, and I don't think it needed to be that way. i.e. change for the sake of change. There's nothing inherently bad about the piece, but the series is what it is.
The second link is surely a sense of loss, but it mellows out and feels like it's trying to be assuring, encouraging. But it is still within the constraint of... something.
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Al, I think you're right somewhat about Bungie Halo. However, 343 Halo felt a lot like Bungie to me. You are completely correct about the music though. I liked it, but it had too much disconnect from Bungie's score. Maybe it just didn't put me in the mood? Maybe somebody should re-score the game using Halo 3 music & then I could just play it in the background?
Tommy McClain
Tommy McClain
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Speaking of music. I still think Halo 3: ODST had the best soundtrack of any Halo game. Halo 4 probably has the worst soundtrack of the Halo games. Although worst doesn't mean bad. Just that it didn't connect with the me and the game. Perhaps standalone I'd like it better. But while playing the game, I just kept waiting for "Halo" like music to start playing and it never did.
Also, replayed Halo 3. I forgot how epic it was. I have to say after playing it again. Halo, Halo 3, and Halo Reach are the best Halo games in my mind. And I dare say I'd probably put ODST above Halo 4 in terms of gameplay. On the graphics front, I slightly prefer Reach over Halo 4, although Halo 4 does some nice thigns.
Regards,
SB
Also, replayed Halo 3. I forgot how epic it was. I have to say after playing it again. Halo, Halo 3, and Halo Reach are the best Halo games in my mind. And I dare say I'd probably put ODST above Halo 4 in terms of gameplay. On the graphics front, I slightly prefer Reach over Halo 4, although Halo 4 does some nice thigns.
Regards,
SB
ShadowWolf64
Regular
Keep hating on Halo 4 all you want but it is a good game with a nice campaign and fantastic multiplayer component as well.
ShadowWolf64
Regular
ODST had an amazing soundtrack and would love to see 343i do a sequel to it for the next Xbox.Halo 3 campaign definitely is more epic than H4's sp is but mp wise, its the best since H2.
I get the desire, but I'm not sure what you'd really do with it. ODST is very narratively self-contained, and it's very good at being ODST.
Halo 4's graphics are very impressive and refined in what they're doing up front, but they noticeably lack certain sorts of integrity, and I'm not a huge fan of either the art style or most of the compromises.
The ground detail shadows give a sense of much more shading being pushed, but they look blotchy and have comical de-LOD behaviour. Tons of polys being pushed, but even large environment objects frequently turn into clay blobs or disappear from large distances. Some spots of water that react to explosions and such like Halo 3/Reach water, but have an unnerving look because the waves are normal mapping tricks and not actual waves. Very clean dynamic shadow edges, but they move unnervingly on account of being interpolated and they dissapear when you walk a few yards away. Detailed environment shadows, including on dynamic objects in forge, but the shadows edges are clearly dithered. A powerful lighting method, but the careful brushstrokes certainly aren't using Halo 3's crazy high dynamic range paint. Detailed skies and backgrounds, but very heavily composed from low-quality textures.
Interestingly, the campaign still performs well, at least in single player. It's in a bit of a Halo 2 situation, with respect to console-pushing.
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None of my friends wanted to finish H4's SP campaign cooperatively with me. It seems one taste was more than they could stand.
343i has done something I never thought was possible. They've made me uninterested in Halo. Given that the original Halo got me back into gaming in 2001, that really is a sad thing for me.
343i has done something I never thought was possible. They've made me uninterested in Halo. Given that the original Halo got me back into gaming in 2001, that really is a sad thing for me.
With more time under my belt my opinion of Halo 4 has continued to shift downwards.
I haven't been able to make myself finish Legendary in co-op or single player. I've given up on Spartan ops - it's so tedious and pointless and the story (outside of the CGI on Infinity) is tedious and pointless.
Multiplayer is a mess. It's so broken that the breaks merge (map design, weapons characteristics, weapon drops, anti-balance, pay-to-win, Promethean vision, matchmaking, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaag) into a boiling soup of brokenness.
It's like putting twenty turds through a blender together then being asked to point to then one that smells the most.
I haven't been able to make myself finish Legendary in co-op or single player. I've given up on Spartan ops - it's so tedious and pointless and the story (outside of the CGI on Infinity) is tedious and pointless.
Multiplayer is a mess. It's so broken that the breaks merge (map design, weapons characteristics, weapon drops, anti-balance, pay-to-win, Promethean vision, matchmaking, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaag) into a boiling soup of brokenness.
It's like putting twenty turds through a blender together then being asked to point to then one that smells the most.
I rate Halo 4 higher than I do Halo 3 but it is lacking in comparison to Reach. It just didn't seem to deliver the right kind of atmosphere that Bungie were so good at. Graphically it had a few stand out moments but overall it wasn't the ground breaker it was supposed to be.
But they've got plenty more chances at getting the fish in the barrel.
But they've got plenty more chances at getting the fish in the barrel.
I am with Al on this one. I love Halo's music so much. Infact, the soundtrack of any game I really like a usually very memorable to me. Halo 1,2,3, and Reach? love the soundtrack, Alan Wake exposed me to Poets of the Fall, Castlevania LoS? I love almost every single track in the album. Halo 4? hmmm...its definitely Halo, plays like one, feels like one....but I just can't connect to it. Enjoyed it alot but it seems to me that some of the changes were simply for the sake of it. Chief and Cortana, rambling up and down, the music was...off. And it just didn't give me the epic vibe I usually get from the mainline Halos, the whole game just didn't seem epic at all. Anyway I hope they learn from their mistake and hopefully produce a much better sequel. Either way I will be there day one for Halo 5.
ShadowWolf64
Regular
MP gameplay is actually very good and PV isn't nowhere near as OP as some people are lead to believe.Map design is far better than Reach and a little bit above Halo 3 which is nice.The only real issue I have with Halo 4 mp is the fact that it is consistently laggy which is something previous Halo's never suffered from.Also,some weapons such as the Covenant Carbine definitely need a power boost as it takes 8 to 9 shots to bring someone down which is stupid.Hopefully, when 343i rolls out the new title update, those issues get fixed and provide us with a much smoother multiplayer experience.
On a sidenote, I believe Halo mp would greatly benefit from dedicated servers.
Halo 4 will be quite large at GDC, there's gonna be five talks (including one on the FUD series):
http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=38508
http://halo.bungie.org/news.html?item=38508
