Halo 4 Review

[PunkRex]

Prometheans...bahahahaha. Stay uninspired video games.

My first thought to. Gawd damn fantasy/sci-fi genre, try a little... oh whats the word... imagination.

 

[Mikeyfell]

It's funny that this review came out a week early, when it has absolutely zero chance of swaying anyone's opinion on whether or not Halo 4 will be worth buying.

But other games that might actually get more day 1 sales from a good review get reviewed on the day or a couple days late.

It's amazing how warped the system is.

Back to the point, you said the only thing I care about in the Halo series, Cortana is "Well Written" (What ever that means in the terms of a Halo game) so I guess it's worth a look

 

[Lionsfan]

The story is actually pretty damn excellent if you've read the books from what I've heard.
I'm happy they're rewarding people for reading the books, especially after the massive Fuck You that was Halo: Reach.

If I read the plot summaries of the books will that do? Also I liked Reach, so if people thought that Reach was bad and 4 was good, then hopefully 4 will blow me out of the park

Umm, summaries would help I guess, but you'd be better off reading them.

Also, the reason I and many like myself hate Reach is because it violated the canon established in the book in like 8 different ways for no good reason. Stuff like how Spartan 3s work and the fall of Reach happened in the books were tossed out the window and replaced with stuff that was no way near as good.

As far as I'm concerned Reach is non-canon, and so long as Halo 4 doesn't follow on from how things were handled in Reach that is actually possible.

Wait...I'm confused here. How can something that the original creators created be non-canon? I mean I get you like the books better, but if Bungie wrote it that way, and it's their series then doesn't that mean what they say goes?

 

[LostintheWick]

I love Escapists reviews. They always seem legit. They can say that this game is great, but still point out that there is room for improvement.

This review confirms that my pre-order was not a waste. Thanks!

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

This review seems to have proven my assumptions correct. Unfortunately, I still don't know if it's worth paying full price for. If anything, I'd b getting it because the warsim I'm in is gong to require it, but I don't think I'll be happy spending my $60 on Halo 4 rather than Dishonored or Assassin's Creed 3.

 

[Sylveria]

And if we are only in it for the singleplayer story?

Then you get Call of Duty: Halo quality single player content.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

This game sees perfectly fine, but what's up with the prometheans opening their masks and having a flaming skull come out and scream at you? That seems really dumb IMO.

 

[Slycne]

This game sees perfectly fine, but what's up with the prometheans opening their masks and having a flaming skull come out and scream at you? That seems really dumb IMO.

It's spoilers, but it is explained during the game.

 

[Griffolion]

Typical of the escapist to hate Halo and attack every little flaw in the game. Your getting payed by Activision to say cod is better. You guys give dishonored and assassins creed better scores and every other review site gives Halo is better than both.

The Escapist reviews are crap, and the only thing that runs this site is zero and jim the rest of you guys should resign.

Oh boy... Here we go...

Also how is 4/5 bad?

I'm sure Jim did a Jimquisition about how a lot of people froth at the mouth if their games aren't given 10/10 (or full marks relative to the scoring system used). As if full marks is a common resource in reviewing to just be bandied about.

Anyway, I've never been big into Halo, but if it's good, it's good. It's going to beat sales records and will be played for many months regardless.

 

[SnowBurst]

how the fuck is better graphics anything less then better... the logic -_-

 

[Tamrin]

This game sees perfectly fine, but what's up with the prometheans opening their masks and having a flaming skull come out and scream at you? That seems really dumb IMO.

It's spoilers, but it is explained during the game.

As long as there is a reasonable explanation then I'm cool with it.

Do they do this during combat as well or just those in-your-face moments? If so, does this create an advantageous opening, OHK?

It's only when creatures do that and there is no point other than than V this V that annoys me as a gamer.

Spoiler

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Ok, so it doesn't live up to the hype, nor the benchmark set by Bungee, but still a solid game.

Can't say I'm very surprised. Guess I'll give it a try. It's been a while since my 360 saw any exclusives coming its way.

 

[Slycne]

Do they do this during combat as well or just those in-your-face moments? If so, does this create an advantageous opening, OHK?

The Knights, what the creatures are called, will sometimes do it when you knock out their shields. If you shoot them in the face then it's a kill, otherwise it's a few more shots to the body depending on the weapon.

 

[Tamrin]

Do they do this during combat as well or just those in-your-face moments? If so, does this create an advantageous opening, OHK?

The Knights, what the creatures are called, will sometimes do it when you knock out their shields. If you shoot them in the face then it's a kill, otherwise it's a few more shots to the body depending on the weapon.

Thank you for answering my question.

+ Nice Review

 

[Zetatrain]

The story is actually pretty damn excellent if you've read the books from what I've heard.
I'm happy they're rewarding people for reading the books, especially after the massive Fuck You that was Halo: Reach.

Finally, all those years of reading the Halo novels will finally pay off. Though unfortunately this makes me regret not picking up the forerunner novels yet and now I have to quickly finish up "Glasslands". Glad that their giving more focus to Master Chief and Cortanna as well.

Overall nice balanced review and based on all the other reviews I've read it seems like it'll be a solid 9/10 for me.

 

[Zetatrain]

The story is actually pretty damn excellent if you've read the books from what I've heard.
I'm happy they're rewarding people for reading the books, especially after the massive Fuck You that was Halo: Reach.

People keep saying "Oh it's a great story....If you read the books that is..." Uh sorry I kinda gave up Game based reading material a long time ago. So does that mean I am pretty much screwed out of the narrative because I decided to read Tom Clancy's 'Rainbow Six,' or David Baldacci's 'The Innocent' instead of a book based off a video game? (Note: Rainbow Six the book came out way before the games even existed.)


And Reach was a 'Fuck You' to you? I thought it was an excellent game compared to Halo 3. It had a simple story about a small unit of SPARTAN's fighting a war they all knew they were losing instead of some over thought wannabe epic about ancient alien artifacts that spell the word "DOOM" everywhere you look. Don't get me wrong, I love Halo 1 and 2, but sometimes you need to cut back on the scifi a little.

Speaking as a Halo fan, I would say that Reach was pretty good in its own right. However the problem with Reach is that it retconned some things that were established in the "Fall of Reach" novel that came out years before Reach (simply having Spartan IIIs on Reach raises a lot of continuity issues). This why Reach was a kick in the teeth for some Halo fans.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Well, since this is 343's first game, I can forgive them not making the campaign some super badass thing. While yes, the studio is comprised of many old faces that have worked on previous Halos, they do also have some newbies on their team. From what I've seen so far of this game and for it being the studio's first game, I really think they did a good job. How much of a good job however, we won't see for another 5 days.

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Speaking as a Halo fan, I would say that Reach was pretty good in its own right. However the problem with Reach is that it retconned some things that were established in the "Fall of Reach" novel that came out years before Reach (simply having Spartan IIIs on Reach raises a lot of continuity issues). This why Reach was a kick in the teeth for some Halo fans.

I didn't have a problem with it. They were Spartan 2's+1. Big deal. Maybe the writer made a typo. Plus I don't believe they ever said that they were Spartan III's and if they did, I missed it. Oh well.

 

[Shocksplicer]

The story is actually pretty damn excellent if you've read the books from what I've heard.
I'm happy they're rewarding people for reading the books, especially after the massive Fuck You that was Halo: Reach.

If I read the plot summaries of the books will that do? Also I liked Reach, so if people thought that Reach was bad and 4 was good, then hopefully 4 will blow me out of the park

Umm, summaries would help I guess, but you'd be better off reading them.

Also, the reason I and many like myself hate Reach is because it violated the canon established in the book in like 8 different ways for no good reason. Stuff like how Spartan 3s work and the fall of Reach happened in the books were tossed out the window and replaced with stuff that was no way near as good.

As far as I'm concerned Reach is non-canon, and so long as Halo 4 doesn't follow on from how things were handled in Reach that is actually possible.

Wait...I'm confused here. How can something that the original creators created be non-canon? I mean I get you like the books better, but if Bungie wrote it that way, and it's their series then doesn't that mean what they say goes?

Basically I want it to be non-canon, because the original version of the canon from before Reach was just better. Also, if Reach is non-canon that just effects Reach. If Reach is Canon, that fucks up about half a dozen books and counting, and Halo 4. You can see why things would be better off if Reach was non-canon.