Skippy's Halo 4 Review

So. Halo 4. I imagine theres a lot of you that want to hear about it. I got about 20 games in over the weekend, even walking away with a Halo 4 Lanyard and a Halo 4 Limited Edition Wireless Controller for winning an FFA. I had a lot of fun and i've a lot to talk about. So listen closely.

I'm going to start with the maps. We played Adrift, Haven, Solace, Exile and Longbow.

Haven, Adrift and Solace are amazing maps. The visuals are stunning and action is always constant. They're balanced, fast paced and exciting. Add in 12 people and you've got an amazing few games. Longbow and Exile are more aimed at the Casual player, hence the use of vehicles. But, regardless of that, there is no exception to the previous statements. With Sprint being passive, it was always easy to get to the heart of the fight quickly. even on the bigger maps like Longbow and Exile.

Next i'll talk Gametypes.

Slayer

I mostly got to play Slayer, which always felt good. The games were quick (most lasted about 6 minutes) and the fight was pretty much constant through. Infinity Slayer provides a base 500 limit for Team Slayer, and with points being earned for assists, distractions and headshots, that limit is quickly achieved by the best team.

Oddball

I managed to sneak in one game of Oddball and to be honest. It felt good. There wasn't much more strategy to it than run around and hope your team covers you, because we had no communication, but it was smooth and fast paced. (Our game lasted 8 minutes.) Picking the ball up could get a little annoying since if you ran over the ball, it was auto pickup. That eliminates any chance of strafing on top of the ball to keep it covered and allows for dick moves like them throwing the ball at you so you get forced to pick it up and then shooting you when you're defenceless. That was about my only issue with it though.

Capture the Flag

CTF was a huge let down. The run over flag to pickup was a terrible mechanic to implement as it caused a lot of accidental pickups by people that shouldn't have picked it up. The equipped pistol has so much bloom that it's practically useless unless you're hugging your opponent and there's a constant marker over the flag carriers head so he becomes the biggest target on the map, causing most people to not even bother with the flag because it would only get them killed. Overall, this was a terrible gametype and probably my worst gripe with Halo 4.

Weapons.

Starting Weapons

The BR and DMR were my main weapons. The sound of the DMR is amazing and these two weapons are so perfectly balanced, it's unbelievable. It literally comes down to personal choice. The DMR has to compensate for bloom at long range, and the BR for recoil at long range. These weapons are perfect along with the Carbine and the Light Rifle. With these weapons being hitscan, shots and such were so much better. The entire experience felt so much smoother and fairer for everyone. The pistol was a let down. While it fires quickly, the reticule and the bloom is so large that it makes the pistol almost useless.

Ordanance/Random Drop Weapons

The SAW is over powered, even at longer ranges. It's killtimes and accuracy were so high that anyone wielding one would easily get a good 5 kills out of it. Another OP weapon worth mentioning is the Incinerator Cannon, although this is balanced by it's much longer reload time. The Sticky Detonator took a LOT of skill to use effectively, but was a very smooth and well balanced weapon. The Scattershot took me by surprise as it was quite underpowered. Bearing one less shot than the shotgun, it's effective range was also reduced. It only ever killed if you were touching the opponent whereas the shotgun had quite a distance on it. The sword was fast and had a much smaller range than Halo:Reach, which balanced it out quite well. A combination of Sprint/Sword could get a experienced player quite a few kills, but skilled players could easily counter it too. The Sniper Rifle felt "light". It swung around too easily and it was far too difficult to line up shots quickly with it. The Binary Rifle was also majorly Over powered, providing a one shot kill anywhere on the body regardless of shields/health. It was quick to fire and reload, and really created a problem on maps like Exile where it could annihilate anyone in vehicles in seconds.

Armour Abilities

Active Camo was almost useless. Even stood still, a player using it could be easily seen by anyone passing by and the radar jammer effect was more harmful than useful. Overall, worse than Reach's camo system.

Jetpack was good. It felt much like Reach and played the same. Not much to say about it, as i'm sure we all understand what this is like.

Thrusterpack was almost useless too. It's range of thrust was too short and it was too slow to be used as a dodging tool either.

Hologram was much the same as Reach. Again, nothing new to say here.

Hard Light Shield. I saw some creative use of this and some creative counters too. Overall, i can see this being great for games like Dominion and Oddball. It never seemed too strong and was only ever really effective if you had a team mate to back you up, allowing for balance.

Regenerative Bubble was almost like Reach's Drop Shield but provided no cover at all. It seemed fair as both teams could use it and both could take down anyone inside of it. It was good for Oddball carriers to get shields back after a tough team fight and i can see some good use of this in many objective games.

Sentry Drone was barely used in the games i played but the few times i did see it, it was shot down before it could really put any work in. It seems more of a distraction tool or something to cover your back if you're retreating, rather than something to be used for an intense fight.

Promethean Vision was balanced and brilliant. Mainly used to check corners before you go around them, i saw a few people using it to check positions before throwing grenades there to flush them out. It's fair as it's quite a short time, and anyone trying to shoot in Promethean Vision has increased Recoil for ALL weapons.

Overall

Overall, my opinion of Halo 4 has changed. It feels smooth and right. It's balanced, exciting and fast paced. There are a few problems, but i expect 343 to patch them pretty quickly. even with random teams and no communication, the best players always win and that's what Halo is about.

It looks amazing

It plays amazing.

If you haven't pre-ordered it. Go and do so now because you will NOT regret a single moment of it.

Cool. Looking forward to reading a first impression.

Just to be clear here, you're doing this review?

Yes

Review is now up

Nice review skip. I am glad you enjoyed it, although the auto pickup does sound like a problem. Did you get to see any assassinations?

Saw loads of assassinations, didn't get any myself though. The animations were much quicker than Reach's and were quite interesting too. But you'll have to wait for the game to see more ;D

Also, I'm taking any questions people have about it.

I had a feeling you'd change. Only question: From what you've heard and seen, do you think you will like the other maps, gamemodes, weapons etc that you didn't get to use or play on?

1. Did you get to see how the progression system worked? If you did what do you think?

2. Do you think bloom has been fixed in a sense? Like the dmr spam.

3. if you drove any vehicles how did they perform?

4.So you won teh tourny?

Well, we got to play the majority of the maps anyway, but if the rest are as well balanced as these, i can see no problem with them. The visuals are stunning for all of them, even something as grey as Haven was.

The only gamemodes we didn't get time on was Dominion and Infection, and with Dominion being a KotH/Territories crossover i can see it being enjoyable. Infection is always enjoyable anyway.

I got a hand on almost every weapon in the game, although there were a lot i didn't mention in the review just because i don't want to spoil everything yet. I think, if there was a weapon or two that i didn't get to use, i'll still really enjoy it. The pallet was very well balanced and thought-out and 343 have done a great job.

For the weapons you found OP, such as the SAW and Binary Rifle, any thoughts on how to better balance them?

Mr. J wrote:

1. Did you get to see how the progression system worked? If you did what do you think?

2. Do you think bloom has been fixed in a sense? Like the dmr spam.

3. if you drove any vehicles how did they perform?

4.So you won teh tourny?

The progression system is pretty much the same as Reach's system and i don't have a problem with that at all. TruSkill is there in number form, but only visible to YOU personally.

Bloom is pretty much non existent on the DMR in close/mid range and it's definitely better for it. I would say that yes, it has been fixed and improved so much.

I got some time in the ghost and banshee and both were very smooth and reacted quickly to your controls. Vehicles are improved, and they aren't made of paper anymore either. It became a challenge to bring down the banshee again.

and yes. i won teh tourny.

Razgriz wrote:

For the weapons you found OP, such as the SAW and Binary Rifle, any thoughts on how to better balance them?

The SAW needs either a drop in damage or a drop in accuracy for sure. As for the Binary Rifle I would say a kind of "charge" time before the shot is fired, almost like the Spartan Laser.

Did you get a chance to try out the Rail Gun weapon, and if so how did it handle?

Razgriz wrote:

Did you get a chance to try out the Rail Gun weapon, and if so how did it handle?

Very, very briefly and I can't really tell you much about it. I called it in for Ordinance and then had to go for two no scopes before i died with it. Didn't see it be used all weekend apart from that, so I can't tell you much on that side. I imagine it performs very much like the Sniper Rifle though, as it's a similar weapon.

on the subject of ordinance, how did that work?

Speaking of ordinance, what's your opinion on the random weapon drops or calling in ordinance?

haha nice alex

A kill would earn you progression on a little circular bar on your screen. The more kills per life/ multi kills, the more the increase was per kill. So many kills would earn you ordinance and then you look where you want it and press on the d-pad whichever you wanted. It appeared about two seconds later and you could grab it.

Also worth mentioning was the fact that the more valuable kills you got on your progression bar, the better the ordinance would be. i.e

If you got a double kill and earned ordinance and i got an overkill and earned ordinance, my ordinance selection would be a better selection than yours.



As far as my opinion on it, it worked for random team slayer games perfectly fine. Both Random drops and ordinance were just rare enough to make them especially valuable but for stuff like MLG, it just won't work.

For CTF games, what should be changed to make the gametype.....I don't know if fun is the right word. More balanced maybe? Whatever the existing problems are, how would they need to be corrected?

Stuff like allowing the flag to be dropped, no pistol, no marker above head. Just keeping flag as it is now would be perfectly fine.

They've broken what didn't need to be fixed.

any vehicle info u got?

Try reading the replies already in here Zeru....

Question.

How did the Armour actually look? And if there were any variants on show (not default), what were they like?

We had access to all Armour Perms but very little time to look between games. I managed to sneak about three minutes in total across the weekend at armour. Most of it looks good once you playing and Skins on both armour and weapons weren't noticeable really.

Is there any indication of like an elite playlist...like invasion

Not a slight whiff of a single elite anywhere on Multiplayer on what we played.

And purely because everyone loves Aesthetics, how did Emblems look? And or Variants ect.

Emblems i didn't see any of and Varients looked nice. Looking at just images of them, they look awful but in game, they really fit the aesthetic of the game.

Before I start this, I need to say a few things. First off, I find this game fun. I enjoy it, I enjoy the way it handles and the story it's telling. It's really fun and enjoyable. Secondly, I'm basing this off of what I have personally experienced, which is not everything. I've gone through maybe four levels in the campaign, and I haven't been trying to look for any easter eggs or terminals. Thirdly, and finally, this is INCOMPLETE. I can't stress that enough. If you start saying "you find this more often in later levels." or "this is really useful in later levels," I will slap you.

Now, since skippy did the multiplayer, and I haven't played MP at all, I'm not going to cover that. This is SP only. Now, into the nitty gritty.


Weapons (you know, this things you hold in your hand and beat people with? Yeah, I'm going over those now):

UNSC weapons are what you would think, they fire bullets and they deal damage when they hit something soft and squishy. You have the AR, BR, DMR, Magnum, Shotgun, Rocket Lawn Chair, Sniper rifle, Sticky detonator, SAW, Railgun, and frag grenade. Most of these behave like you've come to know. The only ones that don't are the new ones. Now, the Sticky detonator, the Rocket Launcher, shotgun, and the Sniper rifle I have not seen yet. So, with that, let's go over the ones that I have. The AR does not sound like an AR. It sounds like an LMG. It just seems like too deep of a sound, like it's trying to fire .50 cal bullets. It has the same effects of the AR from previous games, it just doesn't sound like one. It confuses me when I hear people playing. The Magnum has the same issue, it just sounds much more powerful than it actually is. The BR I've only used maybe once? It was alright, nothing really special. The sound of it...I dunno. It sounded nothing like a Br. Okay, hold on. Lemme just say something here, blanket statement. NOTHING, except for Promethean stuff, sounds like it should. At least weapon wise.

Covenant weapons are okay. You'll probably find them similar to old games. As in, the Storm Rifle is a plasma repeater in disguise, without the option to vent it. Everything else, just like what you would expect. But, there are a few things. The Plasma Pistol drains waaaayy too quickly in overcharge and the needler is overshadowed by almost everything. Like, I see no point in using it over something else. I think that's because it runs out of ammo so quickly. The sword is good, although the sounds are a bit more annoying as they play when it turns on AND off, as opposed to just on. The Carbine is fun, although it's really just a DMR with no bloom and a slightly worse overall accuracy, and, well, it's a lot more common than a DMR. Everything else is a okay. I haven't played with the fuel rod or conc rifle yet. When I do I'll update this.

Forerunner weapons are fun as hell to use, I have to say that. The way they look and feel and sound is just awesome. But, there is a complaint, and that is the majority of them feel very niche. The Suppressor seems to only work in close range, and the Scattershot even less. So far, only the Light rifle seems to be all around useful, with the boltshot being a close second. I haven't used the Incineration Cannon yet, but it looks alright. A bit too much with the cluster grenade effect after the shots hit, but I have yet to use it and see for myself, so iunno what i'm talking about there, I guess.


Vehicles (those things that are bigger than you and explode nice):

So far, I've only used the Warthog and Ghost. The warthog is just...urg. It looks and sounds like a bumper car. A go-cart. Those little vehicles that have the full bumper around them that you race in a small track. It has a ring around it, and handhold, I guess, that just makes it looks wider and shorter, while the engine sound is so high pitched I wonder what animal it's torturing to keep it moving. While, the Ghost...the ghost itself is fine, but the plasma cannons...they sound like slug throwers, not fireball launchers. It handles alright, and it has the speed needed to cover your ass that it's armor doesn't, but still. It just sounds off.


Armor Abilities:

Pointless. So completely pointless....so far only one has been of use to me, and that was the Auto Sentry. The Hardlight, Camo, and Promethian vision are just so useless. The camo i had for maybe three rooms, or one level, then got rid of it for the Hardlight, which lasted a bit longer, but then I dropped it for Sentry. The shield just doesn't do anything useful, other than protect you if you get caught in a hairy moment. But really, if you're good enough, you won't need it. So far, I've used it only for the odd epic moment, where I had to fight off Hunters, or take down Promethian Turrets etc. But not in a real firefiight. I forgot I had it for the most part. Same for Sentry, although I will admit I used that a lot more. It's a second gun, who wouldn't want to use it? But it makes you sit still for a few seconds while I comes into being during which I actually got shot a lot, even when I was backing away. Enemies would rush at me while I was putting it down and I just couldn't react in time. It makes me wonder why they are even in campaign if they are just useless so much.


Now, anything I haven't mentioned in here, I may mention later on, when I get to try it out. But for now, these are my opinions on everything I've seen. Remember, this game is fun, and I enjoy the hell out of it, but just like any game, there are issues or things I think are wrong or done poorly.


I was going to update this, but it seems people wanted to fill my opinion in for me, about things i didn't get to. Ohwell

You want to make a review, make your own topic. Don't bring it into mine.

Saves space. After all the topic does say Halo 4 Review, not Halo 4 Review by Skippy

Besides, can't remove it now, you posted after it.