Halo 4 - Pre E3 Update

Microsoft's 343 Industries is taking Halo to the next level but have been very vocal about keeping the experience as true to the core series as possible. The trailer from E3 last year started where Halo 3 left off as Master Chief wakes up drifting aboard the wreckage of the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn with Cortana.

Basically Halo 4 is looking like it will provide fans of the series with everything they’ve loved before as well as a whole lot more. Frank O’Connor announced that the HUD has changed as well as well as several tweaks to the gameplay – you can now hear John’s voice as he breathes inside his helmet. The sound, the visuals and the music have all be updated and the weapons have been improved but still feel very familiar.

Of course, that balance between improving the features of the game while still keeping that Halo feel has extended beyond the single-player experience. The competitive multiplayer game has new modes, new features and even more customisation than before. In fact 343 even went so far as to say they have found a legitimate reason for the reds and blues ‘war’.

During the development of Halo 4 they noticed within the archive of statistics that many players don’t really experience the competitive multiplayer portions. Basically many people find the competitive environment intimidating and hard to get good at.

Step up the Spartan Ops mode – a new Startan trainee character that can be created, improved and customised while playing co-operative online. This new feature has been compared to the co-op portion of Portal 2 that actually has it’s own in built story to progress. This will actually feature it’s own set of levels specifically designed for co-operative gameplay. People will be able to come together to complete objectives and rack up high scores in order to purchase upgrades and unlockables.

The mode itself is something a little different to the previous outings firefight mode and looks to offer those less competitive players a chance to hook up with others online to vanquish their favourite enemies.

The Spartan Ops story will stretch out for several weeks, but not months, according to O'Connor - "Season one comes free with the game. If we did another season we would be building that from scratch. Maybe that will be DLC; maybe it goes in the next game. We are still tinkering with that."

As outlined several times by 343 Industries the game is already pretty much completed and they are now working on getting as many nice tweeks and issues as possible ironed out before the game ships this November. As a fan of the series I’m more than a little excited about getting my fans on the finished article.