Halo 4: First Impressions

martomcg · 15-11-2012 1:13pm

Its become the norm now for games to with-hold maps from game release so they can release DLC and cash in further.

The fact that the legendary game edition came with 3 "future" map packs included in the price shows this. Pretty sick considering the money these companies already make out of game releases.

Korvanica · 15-11-2012 1:24pm

Here Come The Pretzels wrote: »

I seem to remember a much greater variation in the map selection in team slayer in that game.
Its a common complaint, but goddamn those maps are getting repetitive in Halo 4.
It could do with a smaller "Guardian" type map too I think. All the maps seem quite spread out at the moment...

Haven is the New Guardian. Its a brilliantly designed map. A classic symmetrical Halo map with loads of sight lines and jumps/routes.

Here Come The Pretzels wrote: »

As a matter of interest how many maps did Halo 3 ship with?

martomcg wrote: »

Its become the norm now for games to with-hold maps from game release so they can release DLC and cash in further.

The fact that the legendary game edition came with 3 "future" map packs included in the price shows this. Pretty sick considering the money these companies already make out of game releases.

Halo 2 shipped with 12 maps
Halo 3 shipped with 11 maps
Halo 4 shipped with 13 maps

So there are more maps with 4 than any other halo (Except CE , 13 also) so quit your whining. Also, it has Forge mode so expect some user created maps added to some playlists in the coming months.

Maps I would like to see again: Sanctuary, Midship, Narrows, The Pit all classic symmetrical maps.... Also: Lockout and Construct

15-11-2012 1:39pm

Here Come The Pretzels wrote: »

Its a common complaint, but goddamn those maps are getting repetitive in Halo 4.
It could do with a smaller "Guardian" type map too I think. All the maps seem quite spread out at the moment...

I would have to agree. There are a couple of very good maps, but a lot of them are not suited to the game types being played on them, and a better variety of smaller FFA type maps would be good. I like adrift best so far. I was playing king of the hill on complex last night, it was a waste of time. Too much trotting about trying to get to the hill, not enough time actually spent fighting over it.

I also came across my first couple of instances of annoying spawning last night. In general i seem to be spawning way too far away from the action when i die in team games, so it's a big trek to get back into it and rejoin my team. If i wanted to spend all my gaming time running, i would have played track and field on the NES. Also, i came very close to getting spawn killed on one map, abandon, where the guy who killed me from up close in the centre nearly killed me again long distance as i respawned towards the back of the map.

I came to life right into a long distance hand grenade he chucked as soon as he killed me and was immediately down half a shield, and then came under another hail of fire from his battle rifle and had to leg it behind a tree.

Halo 3 got this so right. How can the 343 guys not have paid attention? Spawning should be safe and within reasonable range of where the action is going on.

Here Come The Pretzels · 15-11-2012 1:40pm

Korvanica wrote: »

Haven is the New Guardian. Its a brilliantly designed map. A classic symmetrical Halo map with loads of sight lines and jumps/routes.

Halo 3 shipped with 11 maps.
Halo 4 has 13

Maps I would like to see again: Sanctuary, Midship, Narrows, The Pit all classic symmetrical maps.... Also: Lockout and Construct

Maybe because it was all new to me at the time, but Halo 3 still seemed to have a greater variation (not a greater number) of maps in Team slayer and Lone wolves.
In Halo 4 I only Im only getting a choice of four/five same maps in Team Slayer and Regicide. I havent played much of the other playlists yet.
Even a few more forge maps,ala reach, will do...

maximoose · 15-11-2012 2:26pm

I'd love to see Zanzibar back. Awesome CTF map.

-=al=- · 15-11-2012 6:55pm

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

What where they thinking, I am so pissed at the company. My internet was down yesterday so I pulled the ethernet cable out of the back of xbox, and started playing Halo 4 proper as my last save was at the very start of the game, Played a good 4 hours and
meet up with the humans
then went to bed. Internet was back so I plugged in my cable and went to resume my campaign only to find that it must have downloaded a synced save file from the internet and over written my save file without asking so I am back at the start of the game.........:mad:

This is the kind of bull that puts me off ever playing it again. Be warned, dont play offline.

pretty ****ty!

I remeber one time i was doing 3 on legendary took about three hours to do a level battery went on the controller so i leant over the console to get a new battery and accidently opened the new touch sensitive button on the new xbox at the time i didn'yt play it for weeks after

Patsy fyre · 15-11-2012 7:28pm

Would love to see snowbound and the pit brought back.

15-11-2012 8:06pm

All the best maps will be getting remade in the forge. It's just a case of whether you've got enough online friends to play custom games on them :-)

Slugs · 16-11-2012 2:10am

Deleted User wrote: »

Halo 3 got this so right. How can the 343 guys not have paid attention? Spawning should be safe and within reasonable range of where the action is going on.

You clearly never played Narrows or Sandtrap against a good team. Each game had their issues with spawning. It wasn't until it became a recurring complaint on the forums that Bungie did something about it, so I strongly suggest you take it there if you wish to be productive [I sound rather ****, but I mean it in a constructive way]

Although it does get a little repetitive playing the same maps over and over again, that's always been the Halo way, I just feel that they decided to put more expansive maps in this game, and therefore these are too big to be played in IS. If I'm to be perfectly honest, I've only played 5 of the 13 maps as I only player IS and my connection isn't consistent enough to hold a BTB game. Oh how I dream though...

opinion guy · 16-11-2012 4:13am

Not sure about the ending

Surviving a nuke you are holding ??? Come on like

Here Come The Pretzels · 16-11-2012 11:22am

Sorry if this sounds like moaning buuutt...
I played some Team Slayer,Regicide,Flood and Teams Slayer pro last night and still same choice of 5 maps (only 4 of which were picked).
Genuine question,what are the other maps like - Longbow,Meltdown etc?
Are they too big for team slayer?
If Ragnarok is a remake of Valhalla, and Valhalla was in TS in Halo3, then
why not have it in TS in Halo 4?
Are 343 trying to encourage people to play all game types?
Some of the maps in Halo 3 were shared between objective games and Team Slayer eg The Pit,Construct etc and all was ok there in my opinion.
Again not trying to labour the point, Im genuinely curious.
I think because 343 got alot of things right ,that this map choice issue a bit annoying...

16-11-2012 12:04pm

Slugs wrote: »

You clearly never played Narrows or Sandtrap against a good team. Each game had their issues with spawning...

You're correct of course, well pointed out. Narrows was an annoying map, i rarely played on it, but sandtrap did have some issues with spawn killing. being sniped by some b**t*rd from miles away just as you spawn was very annoying.

Santrap was still a great map though. I had some great team objective games on it. Sniping across the full map from the top of the big sand dune was great fun, or taking out a whole warthog full of the opposing team with a splazer

What maps do people remember fondly from the last few games? I love the pit, lockout, valhalla, standoff, last resort/zanzibar, avalanche/sidewinder, ascension/pinnacle, beaver creek/battle creek, and ivory tower.

martomcg · 16-11-2012 12:16pm

Deleted User wrote: »

You're correct of course, well pointed out. Narrows was an annoying map, i rarely played on it, but sandtrap did have some issues with spawn killing. being sniped by some b**t*rd from miles away just as you spawn was very annoying.

Santrap was still a great map though. I had some great team objective games on it. Sniping across the full map from the top of the big sand dune was great fun, or taking out a whole warthog full of the opposing team with a splazer

What maps do people remember fondly from the last few games? I love the pit, lockout, valhalla, standoff, last resort/zanzibar, avalanche/sidewinder, ascension/pinnacle, beaver creek/battle creek, and ivory tower.

Avalanche and Sidewinder were 2 very different maps!

Much preferred Sidewinder!

Mickeroo · 16-11-2012 1:05pm

Threads Merged. (Apologies if it seems a bit all over the place)

maximoose wrote: »

As always, the biggest problem with the AI is the marines on your side :pac:

You can't rely on them to drive a warthog while you gun, cuz they'll drive off a f*cking cliff or park right infront of a wraith. You can't rely on them to gun while you drive cuz they won't shoot at anything and just get you killed. It made the mammoth level a lot more drawn out than it should have been.

That goddamn bit where the Mammoth stops

and there's like 4 waves of Wraiths & Ghosts and the only way to survive is use the cannon on the Warthog! I was screaming at the TV for the AI soldier to just go away and let me do it on my own. In the end I had to just drive in big circles around the mountain until the AI had destroyed everything, took ages.

That Bros to the Close achievment in misiion 4 sounds IMPOSSIBLE too.

martomcg · 16-11-2012 1:10pm

opinion guy wrote: »

Not sure about the ending
Surviving a nuke you are holding ??? Come on like

My understanding was

that Cortana manipulated the light bridge around Master Chief to protect him in the same way she used it to restrain Didact!

opinion guy · 16-11-2012 1:43pm

martomcg wrote: »

My understanding was
that Cortana manipulated the light bridge around Master Chief to protect him in the same way she used it to restrain Didact!

Yeah but

he was holding the nuke in his hand when it went off

. Come on ffs

16-11-2012 3:28pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

That goddamn bit where the Mammoth stops
and there's like 4 waves of Wraiths & Ghosts and the only way to survive is use the cannon on the Warthog!

Balls to that. Never EVER rely on the AI in halo. I used the

tail end of the mammoth (where the ramp is) for cover from the wraith's mortar fire (which comes in from above). I parked behind it so i could still use the gauss gun, killed the first couple of tanks and hijacked a ghost and killed everybody else with it, then when i got to the bit around the corner with the power shield, i emptied out the first bubble, and stickied the first wraith to death from behind rocks, then i took out the elites and grunts in the next bubble, robbed their needlers and plasma grenades, and mopped up the rest.

Then i robbed the turret off the sniper tower over the other side and used it to kill the ghost, and used plasma pistols and plasma grenades to grenade the last tank to bits by killing it's power and chucking stickies at it from behind a rock. Then into the last bubble, couple of grenades, and a needler for the last elite, and bob's your uncle.

You know there are

sniper rifles inside the mammoth too

right? Very handy for that section, you can

take out a lot of the major threats from miles away, like tank gunners, ghosts, and snipers for example, if you've avoided the temptation to waste all your ammo on the earlier sections.

martomcg wrote: »

Avalanche and Sidewinder were 2 very different maps....Much preferred Sidewinder!

yeah, i agree, but i liked them both. The hornets in avalanche made team games very fun in a new way, and the splazer worked really well on it. Controlling it's respawn area often meant winning the game, because you could use it to harass the other side's birds. Air superiority FTW!!

opinion guy wrote: »

Yeah but
he was holding the nuke in his hand when it went off
. Come on ffs

I think there's a point being missed here.

Whatever the librarian did to the chief to protect him against didact seems to have elevated him to some other level somehow

. Remember how

he survived the promethean ray that didact fired at the space station, vaporising everyone aboard but the chief was fine, and didact was like "wait...dafook?"

There are a lot of unanswered questions still, but i'm betting that that's got something to do with it. I mean you just don't

survive a nuke

....chief or not....unless something odd is happening

-=al=- · 16-11-2012 5:49pm

Sniper riffes and AI on the gun is the key pn that level with the mammoth

,

I thoght it was the end for chief with the nuke

,

Story seemed a teeny bit all over the place at times

Soundtrack wasn't as good as the previous and ordnance is slightly too cod like and so was the use LS stick to crawl to stuff and the not getting zoomed out after being hit BUT the joining mid games was nice...

few niggles that i was like NO that's not the halo way but they have to add something new I guess... 343 done a good job but it didn't feel 100% like Halo... It was excellent but didn't quite nail the halo vibe

opinion guy · 16-11-2012 6:21pm

Another question......the Gauss cannon is freaking awesome.....why do humans apaprently only have one and why is ont he back of some random warthog and some random mammoth on some random spaceship......:pac:

opinion guy · 16-11-2012 6:22pm

-=al=- wrote: »

Soundtrack wasn't as good as the previous a

In all honesty I can't remember the previous sound track but I thought it was awesome in this game and got better as you progressed

-=al=- · 16-11-2012 6:57pm

It wasn't bad but compared to 2 or 3 it wasn't as epicballs

I remember playing 2 and hearing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EXPJv-cVHQ

I died on purpose to go back and hear it and immediately learned it!

Patsy fyre · 16-11-2012 7:14pm

Must say it's definitely the best halo game ever.

multiplayer wise at least

16-11-2012 9:50pm

-=al=- wrote: »

Soundtrack wasn't as good as the previous...

Have to agree here. Marty O'Donnell left with bungie when they handed things over to 343, and although I only found that out when I googled it after I finished the game, I could tell it wasn't his score while I was playing through it. It just didn't have the same "feel to it". It wasn't bad at all and some of the atmospheric stuff it created was nice, but the music in 2 and 3 in particular was some of the best orchestral music in any game.

There's a point late on in Halo 2, where you're armed to the teeth and basically about to go declare all out war on the covenant, and an orchestral version of a breaking benjamin song called "blow me away" comes in on the soundtrack. The heavy guitar riff hit and I was like "ok, now I'm gonna kick some f**k*ng ASS!". It was a particularly visceral moment when the music matched what was going on in the game perfectly.

I didn't feel anything like that all through halo 4 :-(

Mickeroo · 16-11-2012 10:24pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Balls to that. Never EVER rely on the AI in halo. I used the
tail end of the mammoth (where the ramp is) for cover from the wraith's mortar fire (which comes in from above). I parked behind it so i could still use the gauss gun, killed the first couple of tanks and hijacked a ghost and killed everybody else with it, then when i got to the bit around the corner with the power shield, i emptied out the first bubble, and stickied the first wraith to death from behind rocks, then i took out the elites and grunts in the next bubble, robbed their needlers and plasma grenades, and mopped up the rest.

Then i robbed the turret off the sniper tower over the other side and used it to kill the ghost, and used plasma pistols and plasma grenades to grenade the last tank to bits by killing it's power and chucking stickies at it from behind a rock. Then into the last bubble, couple of grenades, and a needler for the last elite, and bob's your uncle.

You know there are
sniper rifles inside the mammoth too
right? Very handy for that section, you can
take out a lot of the major threats from miles away, like tank gunners, ghosts, and snipers for example, if you've avoided the temptation to waste all your ammo on the earlier sections.

Had used up Sniper rifle by that point

That's a hell of a strategy though!

Agree about the music, the score to Halo 3 was one of the most epic I've ever heard for a game. I still watch the trailers now and then because of it and often hum it to myself whilst carrying out mundane tasks about the house

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXrYSEOg3Ro

The bit where the Chief walks out still gives me goosebumps!

Patsy fyre · 18-11-2012 2:43pm

Loving the SWAT games, Got overkill earlier on and headcase

loved it!

Finding that the old sticky grenades are not as sticky as before which I loved using them. Also Ive yet to see a kill from the grave which I was especially good at in HALO 3 with aforementioned sticky grenades.

Definitely needs to be more maps in the slayer matches, no reason why Valhalla is not included along with some of the bigger maps.
Also needs to be more maps for use with SWAT game mode, seems the same maps keep reappearing over and over.

Haven't even tried the Campaign, prefer to do it in CO OP mode, much more fun.

18-11-2012 8:47pm

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Finding that the old sticky grenades are not as sticky as before which I loved using them. Also Ive yet to see a kill from the grave which I was especially good at in HALO 3...

I get a few. Generally when im outnumbered or someone gets the drop on me, and i know i'm going to lose, i give up shooting and offload all my grenades in the guys direction. I die, as expected, but i often take someone with me

-=al=- · 18-11-2012 9:36pm

Finding it's not happening as regularly as it used to though! ^^^

maximoose · 19-11-2012 10:06am

Yeah I don't think they are as "sticky" as previous games, does seem a little harder to stick players. Vehicles are a gift though.

I got an awesome Hail Mary stick yesterday from one side of Exile to the other which I'm very proud of :pac:

Patsy fyre · 19-11-2012 6:54pm

Team snipers....!

Mickeroo · 20-11-2012 3:25pm

There's been a few bits on Campaign where the level design has allowed for some short cuts, like for example, towards the end of mission 6 there's a section of platforms with loads of

covenant, turrets and 2 or 3 banshees flying around. There's two empty banshees near the start, all I did was hop in fly under the platforms to the end of the cavern, swoop up, ditch the banshee mid flight and leg it through the door into the next section.

This was on Legendary too.

opinion guy · 20-11-2012 3:28pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

There's been a few bits on Campaign where the level design has allowed for some short cuts, like for example, towards the end of mission 6 there's a section of platforms with loads of
covenant, turrets and 2 or 3 banshees flying around. There's two empty banshees near the start, all I did was hop in fly under the platforms to the end of the cavern, swoop up, ditch the banshee mid flight and leg it through the door into the next section.
This was on Legendary too.

Wish I'd have thought of that was stuck on that part for ages :rolleyes:

Mickeroo · 20-11-2012 3:36pm

opinion guy wrote: »

Wish I'd have thought of that was stuck on that part for ages :rolleyes:

Yeah, I was pretty much like "Screw this!" after fighting through the other section with the

hunters

at the end. Maybe I just have no honour

There's been a few times in campaign where I've been thinking enough already, I want to see what happens next! Maybe I should do a play through on a lower difficulty first anymore. Still most of missions 7 and 8 to go yet.

opinion guy · 20-11-2012 3:57pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Yeah, I was pretty much like "Screw this!" after fighting through the other section with the
hunters
at the end. Maybe I just have no honour

There's been a few times in campaign where I've been thinking enough already, I want to see what happens next! Maybe I should do a play through on a lower difficulty first anymore. Still most of missions 7 and 8 to go yet.

Honestly I've decided if I get Halo 5 I'm playing it on easy :P

Mickeroo · 20-11-2012 4:16pm

opinion guy wrote: »

Honestly I've decided if I get Halo 5 I'm playing it on easy :P

I played through reach on a lower difficulty (probably normal) after finishing it to get some achievements. Highly recommended, it actually feels like MC is a super soldier. You can just jump in all gung-ho, no more sniping from a safe distance.

martomcg · 20-11-2012 4:31pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

I played through reach on a lower difficulty (probably normal) after finishing it to get some achievements. Highly recommended, it actually feels like MC is a super soldier. You can just jump in all gung-ho, no more sniping from a safe distance.

I've done this from Halo 1! I tend to do it on nearly all games I buy too. Play it once to enjoy it and absorb the storyline and then amp up the difficulty to get achievements and also helps prepare for multiplayer.

Played Halo 4 through on Heroic 1st time round and have started Legendary campaign now. Moved house and have no internet so have yet to sample the online yet. :mad:

TerrorFirmer · 21-11-2012 10:47am

I think Halo 4 is definitely much easier than Reach, played through on Heroic and there wasn't any overly difficult spots, unlike Reach which has some very frustrating sections, particularly near the end.

maximoose · 21-11-2012 10:50am

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I think Halo 4 is definitely much easier than Reach, played through on Heroic and there wasn't any overly difficult spots, unlike Reach which has some very frustrating sections, particularly near the end.

Definitely. I think 3>>Reach>4 in terms of difficulty.

RobbieTheRobber · 21-11-2012 2:44pm

I just bought this second hand in hmv.
Does it need an activation code ala EA games to play online?

Captain Chaos · 21-11-2012 2:49pm

maximoose wrote: »

Definitely. I think 3>>Reach>4 in terms of difficulty.

3 was the easiest by far. Reach was a little harder but 4 is the hardest. Even on normal I have to stay back and snipe, there is very little ammo and weapons around so it's all about picking shots and shot placement. Halo 2 and 4 are the hardest of the series.

Halo CE and 3 are the only games that you feel like a super soldier.

Mr Blobby · 21-11-2012 2:50pm

RobbieTheRobber wrote: »

I just bought this second hand in hmv.
Does it need an activation code ala EA games to play online?

Nope.

TerrorFirmer · 21-11-2012 2:56pm

Halo 2 is indisputably very difficult, but I honestly found Halo 4 relatively easy on Heroic. Surprised you're finding H4 more of a challenge than Reach, which for me personally had several sections in which I died countless times, don't think there was a simple spot like that in 4 for me. The ending wasn't as challenging as I expected - but I remember for sure the frustration of the last level in Reach on Heroic and Legendary.

maximoose · 21-11-2012 3:12pm

I found 4 to be a gift on Legendary to be honest..

Reach was mostly ok, tough in places. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong as it's been a while but I remember 3 being pretty damn hard on legendary, especially that bloody Flood dropship level!

super_furry · 21-11-2012 3:14pm

Captain Chaos wrote: »

3 was the easiest by far. Reach was a little harder but 4 is the hardest. Even on normal I have to stay back and snipe, there is very little ammo and weapons around so it's all about picking shots and shot placement. Halo 2 and 4 are the hardest of the series.

Halo CE and 3 are the only games that you feel like a super soldier.

Agree with this. Am almost tempted to lower it down from Heroic to Normal just get that 'overpowered super-soldier feeling'. Too many bullet sponges force you to sit back and just snipe.

21-11-2012 3:44pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

There's been a few bits on Campaign where the level design has allowed for some short cuts, like for example, towards the end of mission 6 there's a section of platforms with loads of
covenant, turrets and 2 or 3 banshees flying around. There's two empty banshees near the start, all I did was hop in fly under the platforms to the end of the cavern, swoop up, ditch the banshee mid flight and leg it through the door into the next section.
This was on Legendary too.

I tried doing that a few times. Got smashed to bits by all the turrets, until I figured out that there were binary rifles (snipers) around the place, and took out all the gunners and elites first.

In fairness, that bit is very fun to do on foot too. Just take out the banshees first with a plasma pistol and stickies or a fuel rod gun. The man cannons are great craic!

Browning2010 · 21-11-2012 7:45pm

Just finished the campaign on heroic today(1st time) found a few bits tricky but mainly taught it was handy enough. Didn't find myself engrossed in the story at all tho just saundered my way through it.

Where will the story go from here I wonder?

Loving regicide online and enjoying the spartan ops missions as well.

martomcg · 22-11-2012 10:51am

Anyone else find it a bit of a jip that you cant play spartan ops offline?

I'm currently without internet and the only thing i can play is the campaign.

Got all excited installing the 2nd disk for nothing :mad:

Korvanica · 22-11-2012 11:07am

Mickeroo wrote: »

There's been a few bits on Campaign where the level design has allowed for some short cuts, like for example, towards the end of mission 6 there's a section of platforms with loads of
covenant, turrets and 2 or 3 banshees flying around. There's two empty banshees near the start, all I did was hop in fly under the platforms to the end of the cavern, swoop up, ditch the banshee mid flight and leg it through the door into the next section.
This was on Legendary too.

That's narrows from Halo 3.

New Spartan Ops are deadly ! Loads of vehicles and hunters !

22-11-2012 11:30am

martomcg wrote: »

Anyone else find it a bit of a jip that you cant play spartan ops offline?

I haven't even tried that mode yet, i'm planning to give it a go over the weekend. Couple of questions:

Does anyone know whether Spartan ops episodes are on-disc content that's unlocked weekly, or an actual download that you can keep and replay, and if so what size are they each? My HDD is a crappy 20gb launch model and it's fuller than a fat kid in a smartie factory, so more DLC is not a good thing for me.

Also, can the spartan ops episodes be played whenever you want, or are they only around for the week they are launched? It would seem silly not to have them available permanently, but just wondering. i don't want to miss out on them.

maximoose · 22-11-2012 11:37am

Korvanica wrote: »

New Spartan Ops are deadly ! Loads of vehicles and hunters !

This weeks chapter is definitely much harder (on your own anyway) than the previous two! Better story too, enjoying it

DeSelby83 · 22-11-2012 4:09pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Also, can the spartan ops episodes be played whenever you want, or are they only around for the week they are launched? It would seem silly not to have them available permanently, but just wondering. i don't want to miss out on them.

also been wondering this, realistically i wont get around to playing this properly until christmas so i hope i dont miss out on them just because i didnt get it at launch

Halo 4: First Impressions

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