Not sure what having "dubstep" in a videogame trailer has to do with the quality of the game itself. in the soundtrack either. An from what i have seen of the gameplay as well as Halo fest of last year hearing what people from 343i had to say about how they are incorporating the expanded fiction into the game in a way that Bungie never did makes me think that Halo is in good hands now.

Seems like people are just trying to be negative for the sake of being negative as is the norm unfortunately on game forums. Also claiming the game won't look as good as screen shots is pretty useless at this point where people are seeing direct feeds of the game being played as well as press who got to play it going on about how great it looks. To be expected a game will always look much better in motion than in a still image.

It sounds to me that you're implying that people who have negative things to say about Halo 4 are somehow not villains? How else could such heathens possibly be classified?

on a more serious note, maybe I can take it a bit more personally sometimes than I need to, but then far too often, your criticisms appear to be much less about the game, and the fact that people are so excited, and instead more about who is excited, like some awkwardly malicious and concerted effort to bully specific individuals, and I've always been rather stubborn and highly resistant to backing down from a bullying attempt. But maybe I'm reading too much into it. Phaethon and others have certainly played devil's advocate more than once in this thread, and offered up their own criticisms to try and dial down the hype, but it rarely, if ever, comes off as anything personal or malicious towards any particular individual. Although, there was that one time Phaethon pm'd me a weird picture of a cat that seemed rather unamused, which could, for all intents and purposes, be a threat of impending physical harm, but there are, of course, many ways to interpret the meaning of that picture, and close to half of them end with Phaethon in a straightjacket and padded rubber room, so there's that little bit of comfort :)

Still, with that said, Halo as to evolve with the times, and if it doesn't, they risk getting left behind. I'm speaking purely of SP, not MP.

343 aren't just shamefully ripping from other titles. They are doing things that, even if these other games didn't exist, would just seem like common sense for a game such as Halo. When you have as awesome a universe as Halo, you do everything in your power to put what makes it so unique, and that gives it such a huge advantage over a lot of other shooters, on a pedestal. Yes, a gigantic part of that is Halo's awesome gameplay, but the other side of that is the rich sci-fi universe and the characters in that universe, characters that people really do care about. And while the way things were done in Halo: CE and Halo 2 may have been fine for a time on the original Xbox, that same formula really began to show its age on the 360 once other shooters, specifically Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2, started to lace their games with so many incredibly immersive, first person pov elements.

I mean, the unbelievable looking end chase scene in COD4, the nuclear explosion and the ensuing scene where you literally control a soldier in the last moments of his life, the amazing opening scene where you are in the body of a person about to be executed, the end of COD4 when the guy tosses you the gun and you finish that guy off, cool touches like jumping from the sinking ship and onto the helicopter, and nearly slipping off (which really shocked the shit out of me when I first saw it, because I really thought I was about to fall off, because I screwed up in some way.) You get the point. As one of the best shooters out there, and with such a great universe, Halo cannot afford to be ceding ground to other shooters in the area of immersive first person spectacle.

And if for a second people think that this is something that 343 started bringing to Halo, I have plenty of proof to backup my firm belief that this evolution had already started under Bungie before they ever handed the franchise off. The COD influences were present even in Reach. These first person immersion tricks were a major part of what made that initial Killzone trailer that had everybody going nuts look so incredible. It had a very lively, visceral feel that was so attractive. And there is a place for scripted elements in our games. If a dev can script a story and script out a battle scenario, then there's nothing wrong with a dev scripting out events that take place during a battle, or on our way towards a battle. Just whatever can be done to enhance the sci-fi that so heavily identifies what Halo is about.

The moment Halo starts becoming just a shooter with awesome gameplay where we care less and less about the character holding the gun and the universe that he's apart of, that's when Halo as we know it is officially dead and just another average shooter. Things like what 343 is doing with Halo aren't just useless fluff. They are necessary to keep the franchise alive and strong, and even Bungie took notice of this. There are many examples in Reach where you saw that they were trying to move in this direction.

I'm pretty sure that "dubstep" is from the remix soundtrack. Whatever. It's done by marketing and has nothing to do with the game. I'd look more to the ViDocs where there is no "dubstep"....

Yea, there is no dubstep in the game. It's just a remix on the official soundtrack, but it doesn't actually show up in the game. Even 343 seems to take notice of what I've said about the need to evolve Halo in specific ways. They nailed it when they pointed out that there were so many games that could have been big, and could have been so much more, but they didn't have the luxury of time, marketing or mass awareness in the way that a game like Halo 4 has and is benefiting from.

I always draw a comparison to NBA 2K and Fifa with Halo. NBA 2K and Fifa are both games people thought were just fine as they were without any radical changes, and then new animation systems were introduced to those two games that drastically changed how they were played and how they felt to be played, and a lot of people were angry and didn't agree with the decision, and now we know that those decisions saved and made those franchises better than ever. I feel what 343 is doing with Halo's SP campaign experience will, in time, be seen as a move that elevated Halo to new heights.

All the new, direct feed halo 4 campaign footage that has been shown more recently in all the various previews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...

Looks damn good, and loving the sound.

I always thought that ODST was a shameful cash in, but a lot of people say it's pretty good. I won't lie. A huge part of me DOES almost wish that this game, as amazing as it looks on the 360, were a next gen Xbox launch title. Can you imagine how insane this thing would probably look? The things they could accomplish that they didn't dare try on the 360? It gets me excited just thinking about it, but what ultimately makes me feel better about the whole thing is that the tech don't make the game, and if they can't make a damn amazing Halo 4 on the 360, then it isn't worth seeing what they can do with more powerful hardware, as far as I'm concerned.

I have even more confidence that this franchise is in good hands, because they accomplished this on the 360, as opposed to benefitting from significantly more powerful hardware, which would always call into question no matter how good it looked, "Just how good is this team, really?" I support the decision. Reach wasn't made by these guys. In fact, their involvement was rather small, and neither was Anniversary made by these guys, although they oversaw its development and, no doubt, directly made the cutscene terminals. I think 343 has been hard at work on this one for about 3 years now. I know what you're saying though, about franchise fatigue. But I'm of the belief where this game, unlike one or more previous Halo games, has most definitely not been rushed out, even if it could have been a next gen launch title. And as long as they're pushing the envelope from a overall fiction standpoint, and really appear to be going all out on this thing, basically giving us Halo mixed in with a bit of Metroid Prime and a healthy dose of the kinds of things you generally only read about in the books, then I won't feel as if they are mailing this one in. This feels like a proper, major sequel, the kind of game we deserve. I mean, Didact, Composer, Cortana rampancy (for real this time), the Chief being back, humanity finding out he isn't dead, seeing how that all plays out, finally having a real nemesis for the Chief this time, and I still get the feeling that we haven't seen the "ancient evil" yet. I don't think the ancient evil is the didact. It could instead be the Precursors. Either way, I feel what you're saying, though. This not being a next gen launch title does feel like a major missed opportunity, but I also feel 343 had to prove themselves on the 360 first. Now we know what they're capable of, and that they aren't being helped by some new hardware. The new gears game did surprise me, but then so did Gears 3 on the 360.

Very true.

@volvicstraw: That last page was the funniest I've read in a while lol ;)

Man the sound effects are awesome!, gameplay looks like so much fun also.. and the graphics.... 343 are wizards.

i think its cute you class odst ani and halo wars as major parts of the franchise.

only reason ODST was full game was because Bungie had a contract to fill before it could leave.

Except that ODST was good, and did a lot of cool things. I don't get the fatigue thing here. Each game isn't a rehash (ie COD) and the Cheif hasn't been touched in years. The Halo universe could support many, many more games. Hell, one of those was an RTS game, and another was a re-release. ODST was supposed to be a downloadable title but ended up growing too big for it. I'm actually much more worn out on GEARS, as it isn't as strong in it's fiction. . Halo games usually have some addition that alters the combat dynamic without sacrificing the core gameplay too.

The Halo Universe may have been Bungies, but they obviously didn't care that much, or they would have tied it together better. As much as I love REACH, the disregard for the established fiction threated to upset the time and interest people like me had in the overall story. Made it cheap. I'm not sure how much more of that I would have put up with. A big reason I love halo is the awesome Universe it exists in. It takes it beyond the game more than any franchise that I can think of.

I was frustrated with Bungie's disregard for their own extended fiction as well-and that is precisely why I am excited to see what 343 does with H4. Everything Frankie has said makes it look like they are finally trying to make the Universe relevant to itself in a more meaningful way. They even went as far as to justify the Multiplayer, which is unnecessary and the best place to really play around( which they do, thankfully. I may actually play griftball this time!). That means something to me.

I was actually initially disappointed when I heard H4 was a Next-Gen launch title, but after seeing what 343 has done with the 360, I am very hopeful. I really want a new console generation( and No, WiiU doesn't count)...

I enjoyed ODST too, and your correct ODST and Reach were very different beast to Halo 3, Halo 4 is a direct continuation from 3 and we have not seen the Cheif in 5 long bloody years!!, def no fatigue here, i cant wait to play as the Cheif again.

In that same time we've had double the number of COD titles. I like how you add in an RTS and a HD remake into them to support your argument. Fact is the last time we had a mainline Halo game in it with the Master Chief was in 07. MS aren't "forcing" anything, if you don't want to by those games , buy something else. There are plenty of alternatives games released. Halo 4 was clearly meant to be the 360's swan song and it's looking like it will be a great one at that. It's just unfortunate to see people here trying to downplay 343i's work.Here you are just reaching that much harder. Not sure why you would "expect" the new trilogy to have some "kinect" titles in it when there have been no Halo Kinect games thus far. "Kart racing" funny you mention that with MS considering Nintendo and Sony have done Kart Racers with their characters and MS has yet to do one so can't imagine why you would "expect" it. Hell the only non Halo game MC even appeared in was Dead or Alive 4. Lets compare this to the amount of non mainline titles that Kratos and Mario have appeared in.

You are trying way to hard with these posts but you don't have any real argument.

Because Halo Wars is an RTS while the rest are first person shooters. The fact that COD games come out every year while the time between Halo 3 and ODST was a 2 year period then yes we have more COD games than Halos.

But i feel the need to put things into perspective here, even if we count every Halo game made no matter the play style or genre it's still dwarfed by the amount of COD games made by a huge margin. As for classic playlists, if the classic playlists in Reach are anything to go by armor abilities will likely be removed as well since they had playlists in in Reach without them. ( the anniversary playlist for example)

Nope. There won't be any new Halo game coming in 2013. even if they were to do an anniversary Halo 2, they would still have to wait until 2014, seeing as how Halo 2 came out in 2004.

Gotta link to where he said this? The only news i heard about future Halos recently is MS trademarking Halo 5,6, and 7. I heard nothing about any "yearly release schedule from Spencer's mouth.

Halo 3 Reach and ODST plus Wars are all different experiences, atleast there trying to keep it fresh with new gametypes and ideas, not like COD with the same fracking thing every bloody year.
Devs are agoing to milk there cash cows, thats just the industry at the moment, frequent COD'S / Assassin Creeds / BF / Halos / Gears all the mega sellers are going to get frequent releases.

Of course Reach was a Halo game, Grift, but by the very fact that you don't seem to think it matters in the slightest bit that Master Chief was absent, is stunning evidence of exactly what I've been saying from the get go. You would basically wholeheartedly embrace Halo becoming just another generic and shitty shooter with little to no significant identity in the same vein as Crysis. You really think that Halo can continue to be a game that does the same tired crap year in and year out without attempting to freshen things up a bit, whether it be through new enemies and gameplay scenarios, or major, new story elements and new methods (new to Halo) for telling that story?

I personally think that Halo Reach, when all is said and done, is probably the best, most all around consistently strong Halo game that Bungie has made this entire generation, but it matters a whole hell of a lot that the Master Chief wasn't involved, just as it matters that it wasn't the Chief in ODST. It does a great deal to modify Phaethon's core point, and for anyone who thinks it doesn't, then you're missing a significant part of what has helped to make Halo so unbelievably popular. Are people really naïve enough to think the Master Chief character is meaningless? That Cortana is meaningless? Get real. Any story arcs that involve the Master Chief and Cortana matters big time.

Yes, the gameplay is awesome, but it isn't JUST about the gameplay, and never has been. As 343 now states, and has Bungie vets have continued to point out over the years, more people play Halo for the Campaign than those that play it for the Multiplayer, no matter how much people may want to think otherwise. People just keep saying it, "people only buy Halo for the MP." That's wildly inaccurate. The majority of people buy it for the SP. You split up Halo MP and Halo SP, making them separate games, and the Halo MP would fall flat on its face in terms of overall sales by comparison to the SP portion, and then people would really know which of the two is the biggest draw. People like to talk about all the games played in Halo MP, and the billions of games, and the number of years worth of playtime that it translates into, but maybe what they should actually focus on is the number of people who are NOT playing Halo MP online, it's a far cry from the number of people who actually own the game. In fact, the numbers are, last I saw, around 400-600k people in a 24 hour period, and in some cases, as low as 100,000. I don't know, are we even talking 20-25% of Reach owners with those kinds of numbers? I doubt it. People care about the story developments in the Halo universe. People care about what's going on with the Master Chief and Cortana.

And, believe me, it matters not what Phaethon says behind my back; he is entitled to say whatever he wants. But if you think that it's somehow the better route or a 'courtesy' that you, on such a consistent basis, expose the very heights of your personal bitterness towards specific individuals about their justifiable right to like and be excited about whichever aspects of a game they choose, then you are more naïve than I thought. It just comes off as rather sad. Going a step further, it borders on pathetic. Phaethon could be calling me a cross dressing pedophile behind my back for all I care, (he isn't right?) and the way he has opted to conduct himself would still be the more honorable route. I think I've said this before, but just in case I haven't, I will now. Say what you will about someone who is genuinely excited about a game, call them fanboys, call it fan jizz, come up with all sorts of words or phrases with which to make fun of them for thinking they have a right to showcase their full, unrestrained excitement about a game they're looking forward to. And on the flip side, yes, people do also have every right to come in and try to rain on the parade, and go out of their way to be dicks towards and mock those same people, but ask yourself this: Who would you rather be: The people who are going about their business and just showcasing their honest to goodness excitement about a game, or those who make it their personal business to mock and insult the excitement of those individuals simply because they can't find it within themselves to agree?