This came to the front of my mind as 3N3MY and I were messaging back and forth a couple of days ago. He told me he saw screenshots of some of the new enemies in the game, and that they looked like "shit." While I respectfully disagree, that's not the point. The point is, the hype machine is kicking into top gear now as we're less than two months away from the next chapter in what is undoubtedly Microsoft's biggest franchise.
This video was released about a week ago by 343i, the developers of the game. Give it a look and make sure to bump the video quality up to HD and listen with some good speakers or headphones.
The game screams, "I'm really polished!!!" As it should. A new composer has been hired and from what I've heard, is giving Halo a brand new sound. Sound effects have been completely overhauled. MoCap and facial recognition have been implemented. In the video at the 5:10 mark, note the improvement in the faces and how they no longer look like they're carved out of silly putty or a potato sack. Seemingly, 343i will overlook nothing, as they've even left off the little armor plates on Chief's trigger fingers for increased "tactile sense." I just thought that was a cool little touch. They also talk quite a lot about deepening the relationship between Chief and Cortana and making Chief more relatable. I sincerely HOPE that they can accomplish it but I will only believe it when I see it for myself.
Anyway, all of this is to say.....what is it we frequently complain about in certain other games? Thoughts like "the engine is exactly the same" and "there's no improvement in any area over x or y." This game just looks to be leaps and bounds ahead of any of the prior games in the series (and most other games) just from a production standpoint. I haven't even gone into the gameplay aspect. It's just a feeling that I NEVER got from watching anything that Bungie did on any of the other games. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they just didn't publicize it as much. We frequently joke that Bungie basically screwed around for about two and a half years and then started working on their next game for release six months later. I don't get that feeling at all with this one, and I hope it turns out to be as awesome as it looks.
This will be my first/last/only post on Halo 4 as I'm going to attempt to "go dark" on it in the next two months, not watching any more videos or any of the hype. I want to go into it knowing no more than I do at this time. Peace out.
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I should explain myself. The enemies don't necessarily look bad as the design is interesting, but I just don't think they'll be good enemies that are fun to shoot at. I know we spoke about it a bit, but I think Gears of War and Resistance 3 have some of the best "non-human" enemies of all time. They're very squishy and fun to shoot and do instill some small amount of horror as they are a bit scary looking.
ReplyDeleteThe HALO 4 guys just look....I dunno....like a geometry experiment? They look more mechanical than organic and I'm sure it's just armor, but still I just don't care for them.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in the game, but I will wait to hear your opinion on it.
I do agree that 343 has really ratcheted it up about 23 notches over Bungie. New engine and sounds and scope and music and weapons. Overall the game just looks "crunchier" and I'm a fan. It looks more serious and brooding as well.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is the best HALO yet because while I do think Bungie is talented I think that they were stuck in a cycle of ineptitude with the series. Same looks and an old school design that just wasn't fun anymore. How the hell can Spartans not run super fast for long periods of time all the time? They're fucking Spartans!
So yeah, I agree that 343 could really smash it out of the park, but I'll wait to hear from friends that I trust before I rush out and get it.
I'm going to try and avoid the hype machine as well, but more because I'm a little bit worried about it all. The videos that I have seen give me a little bit anxiety that Halo is selling out to COD. I've had this discussion with a few people, and some agree and some disagree, but I like some of the elements in Halo that sort of, "slow it down". It encourages team play, "forces" the player to think about the objective (if there is one) for a win, etc.
ReplyDeleteThings I've noticed - Ordinance drops look very similar to kill streaks. Running and shooting with the flag seems very close to CODs take on objective play. Overall it just seems... faster, and that gives me nerves.
I don't think by any standard, that Halo 4 looks poor at all. On the contrary, I think it looks amazing and I'm looking forward to this campaign quite a bit. I like Halo though... even through it's troubles, it was consistent and provided an excellent fallback experience when the newest hottest title wasn't quite up to snuff.