Another HALO game. An easy passing statement. When you’re accustomed to something being of quality you tend to give it certain level of disregard. The ‘oh another’ feeling’s almost nail in the coffin to many a long term series, some buckle under the stress (Silent Hill, Metal of Honor, Tomb Raider) and others live up to the expectation and prove themselves worthy of praise (Call of Duty, Metal Gear, Grand Theft Auto). So where does HALO 4 stand?, is it a worthy entry to the series, a good effort, or the best HALO game yet?
First of all, let me get this out of the way. This is the best looking console game I’ve ever seen, better than Uncharted, Gears of War, Killzone, Resident Evil 6 or God of War; HALO 4 looks and at time runs better than ALL OF THEM. And when the cut screens start the game looks even better, how this game’s running on an Xbox 360 I’ll never know, but damn does it look awesome.
More impressive is how the game plays, the AI isn’t stupid, the combat scenarios aren’t just tunnel vision shootouts and the pace of the action is consistent and fluid. Don’t get me wrong I love the frantic near chaotic pace of a Call of Duty, but for a game to take it’s time and not just giving you a swarm of bad guys to take out is a nice change from the norm. But when the action starts HALO 4 feels intense, fierce and joyfully exciting at times, the action is incredibly engrossing, this game’s encounters are nothing less than unbelievable, the sense of action’s better than any shooter/action game I’ve played in five years.
As fars as story goes, like most ‘trilogies’ it’s nothing more than a series of false starts and unanswered questions, the narrative here is a cipher for bringing back a universe and characters we care for, but as passive as the narrative may be it’s well told and seeing Master Chief and Cortana as fulling realized characters is a nice treat.
This the 6th HALO game, it’s being produced by a new studio and is coming out just as this generation of technology is at its end. Another HALO game, after years of Call of Duty and tons of other shooters that have stolen from it’s gameplay foundations. Another HALO… damn right, it IS another HALO game. 10/10