Additions to the UNSC demonstrate humanity’s upswing after Halo 3, with advanced power weapons like the SAW machine gun and remote detonator flourishing as they offer new tactical options.
The Covenant has its most pronounced and varied arsenal ever, feeling like a fully specialized army with its array of explosive, mid-range, and long-range armaments. The armory selection is a solid spread of weapons from every era of Halo. They’re not as overt as Halo 5: Guardians’ parkour mechanics, layering onto the existing Halo framework rather than throwing a good chunk of it out the window. The armor mod system where you could carry an extra ability is more refined this time, trimming out problematic mods like Armor Lock for dodge bursts and hard light shields that dramatically improve the flow of combat. Halo 4 had the benefit of releasing with all the input from Bungie’s own experiments with ODST and Reach. When the Forerunner extremist known as the Didact arises from his prison, eager to digitize humanity and rebuild Forerunner dominance throughout the known universe, our heroes are working on borrowed time and scarce resources. Cortana’s facing rampancy, thinking herself to death like all AIs do in the Halo universe. Chief’s not really prepared to stop being the hero of humanity, let alone faced with commanding officers who don’t care to grant him the freedom he’s used to. What happened to our lost heroes, and who were these ancient beings?Īnd you know, despite some plot contrivances, Halo 4 does a pretty solid job of explaining things: The Forerunners weren’t these perfect beings pushed to the brink like they’d been portrayed, but were instead a divided people with old demons best left buried. 343 Industries took it upon themselves to tie up Bungie’s loose ends. All we had to go on - if you finished Halo 3 on Legendary difficulty - was an extra few seconds teasing a mysterious artificial planet in the distance. All other UNSC personnel we cared about died finishing that fight. The Covenant remains but is scattered to the wind and beaten by the Arbiter. Out of every narrative thread in the original Halo trilogy and extended canon, Chief, Cortana, and the mystery of the Forerunners who built the titular Halos were all that remained. They’re both weathered, tired, and being outmoded by a world that’s blazed ahead while Chief was stuck in a cryopod during Halo 3’s last minutes. Spartan John 117 and his AI partner Cortana’s final journey together. Oh, you’re waiting for the hot take? Well, put simply, it should have been the end of the series, not the beginning of a new one. While the game has increasingly been retconned and overshadowed (for the wrong reasons) by Halo 5’s ambitions or Spartan Ops’ aims at longevity, Halo 4 is good, actually. For the last two weeks we’ve dug into two of their biggest failures, but for our final week on the studio’s in-progress trilogy, I want to recognize their strongest success: Halo 4. 343 Industries hasn’t exactly had a smooth go of it, picking up where Bungie left off with the Halo series.
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