Halo 4 is my personal game of show for E3 2012. While the core of the game is the same, 343 Industries has changed so much of the game it feels like playing Halo for the first time. At the show we were able to get hands on the redesigned competitive multiplayer called War Games.
The the first thing that struck me when playing the Infinity Slayer multiplayer mode was how everything sounds. The guns sound much more intimidating. The alien weapons especially. The covenant needler sounds like metal being ripped apart in the meanest garbage disposal. While things may sound different, the gameplay feels just like a Halo game should, with a couple of tweaks to help keep things moving.
Sprint was introduced into the Halo universe in Bungie’s last Halo game as an armor ability, but 343 took it to a new level by giving all Spartans the ability to sprint. Having players sprinting around changes the pace of combat, and makes encounters on smaller maps occur on a much quicker basis.
In the game type shown, respawn times were also changed. Instead of having to wait a set amount of time, players can spawn instantly, or spend time selecting their loadout, which are now fully customizable.
Similar to how classes are handled in the Call of Duty games, players can select what weapons and armor abilities are equipped at the start of each life.
Another aspect that feels borrowed is the new ordinance drop reward. After a predetermined amount of kills players can call for a drop, which can consist of different weapons or grenades.
On the map shown, one of these ordinance drops is the new Promethean weapon, the Skattershot. This shotgun style weapon fires bullets that will bounce off surfaces and disintegrates enemies into a fiery ash that is beautiful to watch.
Even with all of these pages from the COD playbook, the game still feels like Halo.
No hands-on for any of the other modes were given, but the team at 343 Industries showed off the same campaign demo from the Microsoft press conference and talked about their plans for their new cooperative mode called Spartan Ops.
Spartan Ops is a continuation of the Halo 4 campaign, complete with episodic cinematic content. Every week after game is released, five cooperative (up to four players) missions will be released which average at 15 minutes a piece. The DLC will be free of charge and will go on for an undetermined amount of time.
Playing Halo 4, standing up, after waiting for hours in a line of sweaty nerds, left me pumped with adrenaline. November 6, 2012 cannot come soon enough.
