From the day that I saw Halo 4 was making an appearance at Eurogamer Expo 2012, I wanted to just join the queue so that I could play my most anticipated game of 2012. It took me a while to actually find the booth as more and more games grabbed my attention as i strolled around with my backpack full of goodies, (or loot as i was calling it). However once I found the booth and had a photo with Master Chief i stood in line watching others play the game. I was watching a multi-player mode where one player was randomly chosen to be the lucky bearer of a bounty where other players aim to kill the bounty for extra points. It looked extremely fun and it turns out it was!
Just in case any of you were worrying whether 343 Industries had messed with the Bungies’ original Halo formulae in the making of Halo 4, they haven’t, it still feels very much like Halo, however they have made the game their own with from including new armour abilities to showing points earned after every kill coming up in the center of the screen, which had only previously been used within Halo Reach’s Firefight mode. I found the new ability very very cool. It was basically a giant shield but when you use it, the camera goes into 3rd person, very reminiscent of when you use Grimlock’s shield in Fall of Cybertron, but it is a welcome addition to the Halo Universe.
I also tried out the new Forerunner shotgun known as the ‘Scattershot’ and let me tell you, that gun has some serious power. It literally blasted people away from me as i travelled through the map looking for the bounty. Another thing Halo 4 includes into it’s weapon roster is both the DMR and the Battle Rifle, which i am seriously pleased about as i am a big fan of the Team Swat playlist. Both maintain their original look and feel which makes me even more pleased as to what 343 are doing with the series.
The graphics of Halo 4 also are rather impressive. The details of the guns, the armours and even the menus (seriously there’s a loading screen that I thought was really impressive simply due to it’s visual), all are looking very polished and refined, the backgrounds also provide a visual delight for you to marvel at as you are fighting fellow opponents.
All in all, Halo 4 met my expectations and I still remain extremely excited to play it when it is released as 343 Industries are doing a fantastic job on the series.
