Halo 4

[kagemaru]

But it's not the same. You can't even pick up grenades from dead bodies in MP initially. You have to "unlock" that ability. Some braniac at 343 probably said "Hey! Let's make it an unlock! Unlocks are cool, right? Every other game has them!" Nevermind that it totally breaks Halo's golden triangle (weapons, grenades, and melee). It's little nuances like this show up in glaring ways to some of us.

Yeah, some of these complaints could have been solved just by adding a Classic Halo playlist but all we got is the pro slayer or whatever that playlist is. Haven't played it, so I'm not sure if it plays any closer to classic Halo.

I think I'm close to the end and I've enjoyed the campaign.
For me:

Halo: CE
Halo 3
Halo 4
Reach
Halo 2
Odst

For me I'd say it's:

Halo 3 > Halo CE > Halo 4 > Reach > ODST >>>>>>>>>>>Halo 2.

 

[SteelOak]

Yeah, some of these complaints could have been solved just by adding a Classic Halo playlist but all we got is the pro slayer or whatever that playlist is. Haven't played it, so I'm not sure if it plays any closer to classic Halo.



For me I'd say it's:

Halo 3 > Halo CE > Halo 4 > Reach > ODST >>>>>>>>>>>Halo 2.

Can I ask why ODST is so low on your list ?
Was it the HUB world, the story, the characters, mission design or something else ?
I'm asking because I really liked Halo CE and Halo 3 just like you but I would put ODST inbetween CE and 3.
Something like this: Halo CE>ODST>Halo 3>Reach>Halo 2
IMO ODST has one of the most entertaining missions with great variety of vehicular and on foot combat with amazing level design and great weapon balance.
Soundtrack is also top notch, if not the best in the entire series.
Atmosphere in the city at night was also really nice.

 

[Rangers]

Banshee is useless, destroyed the instant you take control. Weapons disappearing is still bad. It pushes you to stick with the same safe combination throughout.

I'm still not understanding this. I picked many weapons off the battlefield and never noticed any "disappearing".

I'm guessing you are referring to something like backtracking a long ways for weapons, some would be gone? (Even though I backtracked and picked up weapons at times, I wouldn't have really noticed if some were missing)

As I said one of the best balanced parts of the game imo was the weapons. It was a lot of fun to occasionally have to make do with a lowly plasma pistol cause you had nothing else, and picking up weapons off the field was both fun and a necessity, which as I said millions of games get wrong (again, one of the worst examples=COD, where every assault rifle is basically the same give or take)

Mind you, I basically trudged forward through the game and completed a normal difficulty playthrough, so I probably miss a lot of stuff you guys see.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Lowly?? The overcharge strips the shields from Elites and Knights and EMPs vehicles for several seconds. A very useful weapon, don't let the size misguide you.

Oh and when a bunch of Grunts does the same things to you... can be quite scary

 

[Rangers]

yes yes, it's actually pretty effective, but still in general it's the last thing you want to be stuck with, imo.

i think thats another one of my points, even the lowliest weapon is pretty effective, and you dont despise being "stuck" with it.

 

[warb]

I played through most of the campaign with plasma gun and light rifle, or equivalent.

Lowliest weapon is the storm rifle.

 

[Rangers]

I played through most of the campaign with plasma gun and light rifle, or equivalent.

Lowliest weapon is the storm rifle.

Yep. Close second probably that lowest powered promethean machine gun.

And a lot of the weapons that may be powerful but are low ammo arent really worth dedicating a slot too, sadly.

Light Rifle is one of the staple power weapons lol. Nothing to brag about using that.

 

[Proelite]

Playing campaign on normal / heroic with mythic, thunderstorm, and tilt on is the perfect way to enjoy the firefights of Halo games. You live long enough to soak in the joy of a pro-longed encounter with elites.

I believe most enemy modifier skulls such as catch, tilt, and mythic affects your NPC allies too.

 

[NRP]

The DMR is badass. I loved it in Reach, and I love it in H4. It's the most effective non-power weapon in the game IMO.

(I felt like saying something positive for a change)

 

[(((interference)))]

No, the grenades pretty much suck. It takes two plasmas to kill a banshee or a ghost. It only took one in previous games. It is hard enough to get one stick, but two is a bit too much to ask. It's more frustrating than fun.

That is pathetic! It has always been a single plasma to take out a light vehicle. One of the great things about Halo MP is that vehicles don't reign supreme over infantry like they do in BF and you have multiple methods of taking them out single handedly.

I was quite concerned about 343s approach to multiplayer, especially since I didn't like the multiplayer tweaking they did for Reach.

But it's not the same. You can't even pick up grenades from dead bodies in MP initially. You have to "unlock" that ability. Some braniac at 343 probably said "Hey! Let's make it an unlock! Unlocks are cool, right? Every other game has them!" Nevermind that it totally breaks Halo's golden triangle (weapons, grenades, and melee). It's little nuances like this show up in glaring ways to some of us.

Really? I thought that perk meant that if you walk over any body you resupply your grenades (regardless of whether the dead player had any grenades left on him - similar to the Scavenger ammo perk in COD), but I assumed you'd still be able to pick up grenades lying around without the perk (i.e. say if you kill an opponent with two grenades, when he dies those two grenades drop to the floor along with his weapons, for you to pick up - like in all previous Halos)

So this isn't possible in Halo Reach? If so, that is a huge change, given how important grenades have always been in Halo.

Yeah, I mean everyone dies in Halo 1 except Chief. Even Johnson's survival was a retcon.

Yeah, even how Keyes was incorporated into the Flood mini-gravemind thing which you had to 'retrieve' his neural implants from was quite grim.

...

I've finished my exams today so will finally pick up H4 and see 343's handiwork for myself. I am frankly quite concerned with these reports of them tampering with fundamentals of the series gameplay though.

 

[N_B]

I've finished my exams today so will finally pick up H4 and see 343's handiwork for myself. I am frankly quite concerned with these reports of them tampering with fundamentals of the series gameplay though.

The fundamentals are what they've done well.

Also, vehicles in this games are still fairly easy to take out. They are well balanced.

 

[RudeCurve]

Regarding MP grenades, personally I found what 343 allowed/not allowed to be perfect in terms of balance and flexibility....regardless whether or not previous Halos did it/didn't do it.

In MP you start out with 2 grenades but have the ability carry 3 types of grenades if you pick up other types from ammo beacons during a match. In other words you could carry 6 total...and if you equip your player with the Grenadier tactical package that increases it to 9?...which from a balance POV is already plenty. That means there is no need to horde grenades if you manage your loadout properly.

Now if you're the type of guy to use a lot of grenades for whatever reason and can't have enough of them then it makes sense that you'll complain that you start out with only 2 and can't scavenge them initially on the battlefield. This means you need to work your way up to be able to carry more or scavenge them using the Resupply tactical package. Also the fact that there's a trade-off in effect when equipping certain items means there's more strategy/tactics involved. Finally there's the Explosives support upgrade which increases blast radius of grenades while decreasing damage from grenades. I think that is more than enough options for any grenade whore.

As for not automatically being knocked out when hit while scoping, that to me is actually better and makes scoped aiming much more useful as it gives YOU the player the option of continuing to scope to get that perfect shot and risk death or retreating to regain health. Auto knockout is extremely annoying for more experienced players.

Lowly?? The overcharge strips the shields from Elites and Knights and EMPs vehicles for several seconds. A very useful weapon, don't let the size misguide you.

Yeah it does have advantages when used correctly. If you're expecting it to function like a Magnum then you're not getting it.

 

[(((interference)))]

The problem with the change to grenades is that unless you have either of the grenade perks, you'll be disadvantaged if you're a person who manages to survive for any amount of time (ie you don't just spawn, get a kill and then die).

Since players get a few kills before dying will only be able to use grenades against in the first combat encounters and not later once they've depleted their grenades.

 

[N_B]

There are grenade spawns around maps and from ordinances.

 

[NRP]

I mostly play vehicle-based gametypes, so grenades (as well as plasma pistol secondary)are a necessity for survival. Especially if there's a Gauss hog on the map.

And there is something wrong with 343's netcode. At first, I thought the lag was due to the game cyclicing through players to generate host records, but BTB games still have ridiculous lag at times. Even when players aren't warping all over the place, shots still don't hit where they're aimed. I've seen this enough to think maybe 343 tried to roll their own netcode instead of just using Reach's netcode, which was pretty good.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

The only real issue I have with mp is the fact that grenades feel a bit underpowered which I'm hoping 343i gives them a power buff of 15%.Also, the game has been out for almost 2 weeks and I've already encountered people who were glitching, lag switching or using aimbot.On my fileshare, I have about 12 videos showing the players that we're cheating.Other than those two annoyances, mp is absolutely fantastic.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

Just got done playing the mammoth level again. Towards the start I died trying to drive through the first river in a warthog. So next time I got back on the mammoth, then watched 2 marine NPCs drive a hog through that same river completely and utterly unharmed. So I jumped off the mammoth and tried to claim the warthog - but the AIs drove off back through the river and I died trying to chase them on foot.

Next time I just stayed on the mammoth. At the set of 3 generators creating a shield blocking the mammoth's path (before the second AA gun), after killing everything I took a ghost and drove it along the road ahead of the mammoth to the second AA gun. At the second AA gun I climbed out of the ghost to use the targeting device, did not move at all, used the targeting device, then tried to climb back into the ghost I was stood next to but it had disappeared. After 3 seconds, while moving a distance of NOTHING the ghost had disappeared.

I continued, with tears of lamentation in my eyes for the fanchise once known as 'Halo'.

After taking out the second AA gun I took a warthog and tried to drive on to the control centre ahead of the mammoth. I died a couple of times trying to pass through the next couple of rivers. With some trial and error I managed to find a path through the first couple of rivers without dying (I forded them on the right where it's rocky - try it). Then on a stretch of safe road shortly afterwards the game took control away from me and made the Master Chief climb out of the Warthog, at which point the Warthog exploded for no reason.

This shit - and it is shit - would never have passed with Bungie.

You're taking a sandbox engine and retrofitting it for better graphics, then trying to pretend you still have the sandbox gameplay until someone tries to do something you haven't scripted for (how can you *not* expect someone to drive a Warthog down a fucking road?) at which point things disappear or some horribly, crudely enforced event (based on a bastardised rule from the original Bungie games) fingers you.

This is not Halo.This is not a game that is intended to be played to destruction in whatever manner you as a gamer (who enjoys the gameplay mechanics) deems enjoyable. This is a developer taking all the resources that allow a game to be made fun to replay 20 (or more) times over and instead allocating them into graphics that will only ever be most appreciated on the first play through.

This is a conscious decision. Whoever made these choices did so deliberately and with a calculator and is a most definitely a tech and not a gameplay person. Unless the power structure within 343 changes we will probably see more of this shit in the next Halo.



Yeah, I think it's a memory thing too. And after tonight's Mammoth Disappointment my Impotent Rage meter has just gone up from Grunt to Jackal!



Yeah, it not only plays badly (and suffers from all the usual 3D into the screen shooter issues) but then it turns into a really bad version of Rouge Squadron. I also had a couple of glitches where my ship would turn hard to the side and asplode into the wall, with nothing I could do to stop it. For some reason the variable covering pitch and/or yaw just went maximum to the right or down. Hands down it is the least enjoyable and most worthless level in the game.

The more I play Halo 4 the more I realise it's not really a Halo game as you know it. Kind of like, you're expecting a wolf, but it just turns out to be Pug wearing a nice looking wolf hat. Not that there's anything wrong with Pugs, it's just that they tend to derp where wolves would howl.

Campaign might not be like the previous Halo's but the mp still feels but more importantly plays like Halo which makes me happy.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I think he means the darker overtones in the story compared to the previous 'space cowboy saves world' simplicity. On the other hand, we already had 3 Halo games like that...

Yes, the darker/morally ambigous overtones. Trying to be too "clever" with the story. The undertone of trying to get people to wonder if Master Chief is just a psychopathic killing machine, etc. Then making the chain of command more ambigous, etc.

Hence, comparisons to Uncharted, COD, etc. where either the protagonist, his supporting characters, or whatever are morally ambigous.

I thought Halo 1 was quite dark, I felt it was more serious than Halo 3 actually, which was too melodramatic for me.

I like the sense of wonder and mystery you got from the minimalism of Halo 1.

Yes, I mentioned the story being dark. But they put in humor and other things to lighten it up so it didn't become oppressive.

Colorful enemies that not only serve to prevent the game from becoming too oppressive, but also served as important first glance enemy ID indicators. Which was important considering how good the AI was (and I stress WAS, as the AI is absolutely horrible in Halo 4) and how many enemies could be on screen or on the battlefield at any given time. Especially as you got into the higher difficulties

Grunts that were comedic. I really miss those, and the amusing things they said. Something to make you laugh in the face of the dark situation and story you were in. But through it all, no matter how dark and oppressive the story may have been. You were always set to play the Hero with a supporting cast who were all unambiuously working towards the same goal. Even when you joined forces with the rogue elites in Halo 3, it was still "Us" against "Them."

Halo 4 introduced some of the crappy "Us" against "Us"

Spoiler

with the needlessly antgonistic ship commander. As well with the intro trying to establish a setting of uncertainty.

Overall there just seemed to be a much greater focus on balancing the dark story with light hearted elements that also served a purpose in past Halo games. And a greater attention to detail in the levels, enemies, vehicles, and weapons. Again, a great first effort by 343i, but I wish Bungie had been in charge.

I certainly have nothing against 343i. I have the highest regard for Corrinne Yu, who I think is genuinely brilliant. Although perhaps not so much love for the guy that came over from iD.

I'm still not understanding this. I picked many weapons off the battlefield and never noticed any "disappearing".

I'm guessing you are referring to something like backtracking a long ways for weapons, some would be gone? (Even though I backtracked and picked up weapons at times, I wouldn't have really noticed if some were missing)

Everytime I passed through a "checkpoint" or other invisible line, all weapons behind me disappeared. That didn't happen so much in previous Halo games. So if you were fighting near one of those invisible lines. After the fight was over, and you cross over it. Suddenly there would be no weapons on the ground to replenish your ammo.

It gets far far worse in Spartan Ops. Where dropped weapons from enemies can disappear in a matter of seconds, although I've sometimes had them last up to 30-45 seconds before disappearing.

yes yes, it's actually pretty effective, but still in general it's the last thing you want to be stuck with, imo.

i think thats another one of my points, even the lowliest weapon is pretty effective, and you dont despise being "stuck" with it.

Plasma pistol is often one of my "preferred" weapons. Take out a shield, switch weapons, waste enemy. Saves a ton of ammo. Also makes it easier to melee some enemies.

Alternatively, use it on a vehicle, then hijack said vehicle while it is a sitting duck.

Regards,
SB

 

[BoardBonobo]

Finally finished. Which is something I never did with Halo 3. It's left me feeling a bit puzzled but I'd quite happily consume another episode. It did feel a bit rushed in places and the vehicle based sections were a bit pointless IMO. At one point it was almost like I'd stepped into Prey and,

Spoiler

the giant truck section made me come over all Haze!

Overall I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Better than 3 worse than Reach but a very fitting beginning for a new studio starting on its own epic journey. I get a feeling that they'll definitely have to invest in some word smiths for the next instalment,

 

[Acert93]

But it's not the same. You can't even pick up grenades from dead bodies in MP initially. You have to "unlock" that ability. Some braniac at 343 probably said "Hey! Let's make it an unlock! Unlocks are cool, right? Every other game has them!" Nevermind that it totally breaks Halo's golden triangle (weapons, grenades, and melee). It's little nuances like this show up in glaring ways to some of us.

I don't totally agree from where I am standing and how I play.

Yes, Halo has moved away for the slow motion Quake-arena game where every weapon is aimed to be balanced in terms of map placement and gun power/range/clip, etc value tweaked to the nth degree (Bungie did a good job but I still think they had problems here, see below). They have traded that in for letting players have a little more say in how they play, what their player looks like, etc. Right or wrong games have moved toward fewer "Quake arena" games fighting over spawning power weapons to allowing players more control over what weapons they use. Love the AR? Use it. Love the BR? Use it. That choice right there was certain to make some Halo gamers (and other FPS gamers) very, very, very happy and more pure Halo/arena gamers very, very, very mad.

Since I am very, very, very happy with that choice but I can understand the opposing angst I will leave that part as it is. It is a BIG change for a Halo game (although Bungie already was nudging that direction in Reach with load outs for AA ... but then again it is Bungie's game, they can do that stuff) and I am sure it ruffled feathers, just like AA did (re: many long threads in how the 4th pillar destroyed the golden triangle).

I was a little worried the perks and load outs would make it very much a CoD clone but, surprisingly and very happily it isn't. Things unlock FAST. The perks really are, to me, a way to say, "Look, we cannot give every player every "power weapon" or "power skill" and keep the game balanced. So our offering is we will let each user decide what will make their Spartan awesome." This to me is inline with the Haloverse where each Spartan was not the same. I was also happy to see that you can play fine without the perks and stock load outs are all Halo classics and work. I like faster regenning shields and the quick hands but would not have minded picking up nades and faster AA refuel. I like the variety it adds and the ability to change up your approach. Heck, I know someone in love with the better Motion Tracker. 343i didn't go crazy with the perks or guns or gun adjustment but I thought did an intelligent job of giving players the core 4 pillars and then allowing them to "Tweak the Power Armor" and essentially give their Spartan some unique skills to fit their gameplay.

I like it and so far have no complaints. None of them seem overpowered and all have a use.

As for the nades specifically. We will have to agree to disagree and I can appreciate where you are coming from and how the change to scavenging AND their blast size changes the game (especially in terms of nade spamming was a problem in Halo 3 but really not there in Halo 4). Some of my feelings: First off you get to start with 2 grenades -- after a couple levels of your choosing (frag, plasma, or promethian). That right there is a big step in making grenades more relevant as you can choose them based on your style, the map, or situation. 2 grenades may not sound like a lot but considering most people are 1:1 kdr at best the main issue it comes down to is spamming and picking them up. Limiting pick up reduces spam. For those who live long enough where 2+ nades is important there are options (a) use the perk or (b) go find them on the maps. And yes, contrary to what some posters keep saying (had this argument on ARS with someone who obviously didn't play more than a couple minutes) every map/mode I have played (which is not all of them) has weapon stashes at the beginning of maps and some modes even drop them in. Nade spam in Halo 3 on the indoor levels could get really bad. Making them more valuable -- and more usable by load outs -- is a plus for gameplay.

I can see where someone who loves to toss grenades around every corner, likes to scavenge, and uses nades as a basic part of their approach (nades to weaken shields, then take them down) and yes, that does mean the scavenger perk would be pretty important to this approach until someone mastered all the nade drop spots.

On the other hand I am overjoyed getting plasma nades out of the shoot. I am getting a lot more nade kills and I am able to defend against vehicles much better. The only time I run low is when I am on a long run but more times than not I have scavenged the drop spot. I die too often still with nades at my disposal.

In general the ammo counts, I feel, are good. Best for a Halo IMO. The guns for me don't feel like they have small counts but you use them and need to move on or find more. Needlers are powerful but you might only get 3 kills on one before it is totally empty. The BR and DMR are well ammo'd unless you are pinging away too long with no success, and then you run out.

And for all the nostalgia I think 343i being "fresh" fixed some things, e.g. Human weapons are the most balanced I have seen. Gone are the crap things like the SMG and nerfed AR. Instead there is a good progression of distanced weapons:

Shotgun <> AR <> BR / DMR <> Sniping Rifle.

In each of their "ideal" ranges said weapon wins. A shotgun up close is going to detroy the BR/DMR. The AR in close/medium range will take down a BR, etc.

Sorry Bungie, the AR (and other useless guns like the SMG) were constantly, "Got to get ride of this gun!" weapons in Halo 3/Reach. The AR feels dangerous now--which makes sense, seeing as it is the stock weapon. Yeah, let's have a super soldier with super tech armor and give him a pea shooter. The fact I can go into match making in close quarters and feel confident with an AR over a BR is a BIG improvement over how Bungie balanced the weapons. The other thing is the AR is powerful enough that you can get the drop on 2 players and feel like you can win instead of, "Killed one guy, but it is such a bullet sponge weapon the other guy got me." Heck, how I remember Halo 3: AR right up to someone and then finish with melee because the @#$@# weapon was so bad the key was spacing your attack so when you closed you would get the melee kill.

Oh, and Halo 3 was the KING of the "double death" melee. I have not seen one yet in Halo 4.

I wouldn't say everything in Halo 4 is better -- a lot has changed -- but I personally like a lot of changes. It does require some adjustment and whenever you make ANY changes to a game with such a rabid audience some people are going to be very mad.

So while some are mad at the lack of sprint in past games others hate it now. From a gameplay perspective I think it makes absolute sense (big open areas) and I cannot believe it took until 2012 -- and a new developer -- for a Halo game to have sprint as a standard load out. Yeah, the dude can jump 20 feet in the air but runs the speed of a turtle. Which made sense in 2001 for a lot of reason (one being a slower moving player is easier to control) but since 2004? Not so much.

As for the sandbox stuff: replayed some Halo 3 and Reach recently. Halo 3 did a nice job of linear bits connecting "sandbox arenas" I will call them where the arena is really open.

Reach has a lot of linear bits on "wide freeways" I would call it. I don't care if the "view scape" looks large if the actual gameplay zone is not. Reach does NOT have a ton of huge play zones. It is quite "linear". The game has a couple (e.g. the spire before you get on the pelicans) but those are pretty far an inbetween.

Halo 4 is in between. I lacks any

Spoiler

scarab

battles but it has a number of "drop ship" areas that are quite open (see: Spartan Ops). I have played the entire game coop and what Halo 4 has that Reach lacked is you will enter an "arena" with X objectives and you and a bud can go completely different routes. The areas are quite large and you can approach it however you want. Oddly Reach had Fire Fight which feels on par size wise with Halo 4 Spartan Ops and the Halo 4 larger areas but Reach, the SP game, doesn't have a lot of "busy" wide battlefields as you see in Fire Fight. Instead Reach was always urging you on a path--which worked for the game.

I know some are not liking Spartan Ops but I like the story development so far, I like the missions (I was a fan of MW2 spec ops fwiw), scoring, etc. I wish there were more permenant scores/boards as well as awards for each level and "death = level over" settings. But I am enjoying it a lot as the levels are nice and large and can be hard. I love Hoard mode on Gears, specifacally how it ramps up 1-10, 11-20, etc where the waves are similar (1=11=21=31=41) but scale in difficulty.

Reach should have done this as Bungie did a FANTASTIC job with the character design with "Ranks" and looks that relate to such. Instead they got fairly unstructured waves. So where in Hoard you were always pressing to get to the next x1 level and you know the x0 levels would be VERY hard there was this eb and flow to the gameplay and achievement. FF really lacked that. You could say "Got to level 39 on Heroic on that map -- lets do it again and see if we can get to 50!" and when you did that "Let's do it on Legendary next!" "Oh man, that map is WAY too hard, let's do a different one" and so forth. FF lacked that intensity and draw -- which is sad because Reach would have been PERFECT for that with the classes. Level 1x could be your low end grunts and ghosts and level 4x would be your spec ops class and wraiths and so forth.

I wish Halo 4 had done that. It would have been epic to have a FF like that and on round 50 some huge scarab coming over and general-class elites, brutes, etc all come pouring out.

Alas 343i ditched FF and went with a story mode Spartan Ops. I like the levels and gameplay better than FF for my tastes and it is adding depth to the Halo word. It plays well 1 player or 4 player and it is like replaying some of the bigger campaign bits I enjoyed. So I am happy with it. I would have preferred my FF vision above, but I will take Spartan Ops over what Bungie gave us in their water downed Hoard mode.

I really like Halo 4. I like the faster paced MP, the better balanced weapons, load outs to adjust to the gameplay (once I got plasma nades BTS vehicles became very balanced where good players could dominate but if I play smart a vehicle won't bother me unless they wish to do or are very good and catch me unprepared) and even the sounds are better in many cases (e.g. the BR/DMR sound meaty now). Not everything is perfect and I wish there was no QTE in key scenes, some larger boss levels (more scarabs, major drop ships, some beefed up general class coveys, etc), I think the covey design took a HUGE step back with the colors/helmets/ranks, and so forth. But most of it is pure joy. Even little things like the menus are better IMO and I am digging how some of the AA, like the shield, can turn the game into almost a "cover shooter" if people work together. In SP we used the shields a lot to move forward to new cover -- one person shield and 2 people fire, and then swap who does shields.

What I do hope 343i does is go back to Halo 3 SP and take a look at some of the arenas and some of the more epic battles. Brute choppers wizzing around, large vehicle battles with Hornets and tanks, scarab battles, etc. Halo 3 for me really stands out there, above ODST and Reach (both Bungie submissions) and Halo 4. That said I like the Promethians and the story/enemy development it opens up I think 343i played it pretty safe (e.g. I though the new big MP mode in Reach was poorly designed) and picked up well where Halo 3 left off, fixed some of the more glaring long standing issues, and tried a couple new things (which Bungie always did, and not everyone liked all of them, either).