Halo 4: Why Were Fans Split?

[Mido]

With Halo 5 just around the bend, I've been thinking. Halo 4 was a spectacle of a game, but somewhere along the line, not everyone seemed to be on board with the direction established in the game for the franchise. Sadly, I consider myself in that category. Don't get me wrong, I never hated the game, but for some reason, something didn't click within me. I never felt like I truly immersed myself in what the game had to offer. Granted, I admit that I am more of a casual fan of the series, despite playing most of the games. This potentially has an effect on my own viewpoint; however, I have seen others offer similar opinions.

Halo 4, while a great game in many respects, had a small minority split on whether the game's merits held up to the efforts of its predecessors. What do you think about this?

 

[Dio]

There were obviously new enemies in the prometheans and of course the Forerunner, who have been alluded to throughout the first 3 games. Fans were used to just the flood and covenant so that could be a factor.

There was also the new studio and composer working on the game, so naturally there were some with the mentality that only Bungie can make halo. These individuals found fault with Halo 4 for not having the bungie logo and also in the fact that Marty O Donnell was not doing the music.

Storywise, Graphicswise and Gameplaywise I consider Halo 4 to be the best entry in the halo series. It did feel a bit different to the other big 3 but I knew it would from the start. However despite the differences it still felt like Halo. I think a minority decided to focus on the change too much and forgot to enjoy themselves.

 

[Mido]

There were obviously new enemies in the prometheans and of course the Forerunner, who have been alluded to throughout the first 3 games. Fans were used to just the flood and covenant so that could be a factor.

I never considered that, to be honest. At least in my experience, I found the prometheans to be rather intriguing in the long run as they presented a new challenge in combat. The guns the enemies had were also neat.

There was also the new studio and composer working on the game, so naturally there were some with the mentality that only Bungie can make halo. These individuals found fault with Halo 4 for not having the bungie logo and also in the fact that Marty O Donnell was not doing the music.

From what I recall, the music was decent, despite the lack of iconic tunes. I definitely see how people would get upset over this, however. Then again, I only heard a few note this potential complaint.

Storywise, Graphicswise and Gameplaywise I consider Halo 4 to be the best entry in the halo series. It did feel a bit different to the other big 3 but I knew it would from the start. However despite the differences it still felt like Halo. I think a minority decided to focus on the change too much and forgot to enjoy themselves.

The fact that 343 made changes, whether subtle or not, definitely seemed to earn Halo 4 the ire of some fans. In my perspective, I agree that the graphics were astoundingly impressive; the gameplay provided the same thrills that the series has always offered; however, I think I might be of the line of thinking that thought the story, while intriguing, did not hook me. Like I mentioned before, I lean towards the side of a casual fan of the series, so I may have gotten lost in the sense of how the lore was directing itself. I also was not a fan of the mulitplayer, but at the same time, I never deemed it terrible. Halo 4 is most certainly a great game; I guess it just never accomplished much for me at the time.

 

[A Link In Time]

Halo 4 was the first Halo game with the Master Chief as its primary protagonist that was willing to give some depth to the Chief and Cortana. The relationship between them as Cortana's AI goes rampant adds a new emotional layer that was largely absent in Bungie's Halo games. The multiplayer also continued to build on what Halo:Reach started while including some nods to older fans.

Most of the complaints I've seen have been pertaining to multiplayer, but I'll address some of the issues I've seen people have with Halo 4's campaign. Some people claim that the Prometheans lack the depth and personality that characterized the Covenant and the Flood. I myself will concede that their story is much less interesting than a union of various groups of aliens lead on a grand religious mission by several delusional leaders. A few people have also noted that at times Halo 4 feels archaic with its requiring players to press several switches to advance to the next area.

The bigger area where some people were left unsatisfied is the multiplayer. Halo 3 released in a pre-CoD 4 world. As much as people like to hate on Call of Duty for its lack of ambition and staleness nowadays, Call of Duty 4 remains a standard for first-person shooters on consoles that many games try to emulate. The Bungie Halo games had a very distinct feel to them in terms of multiplayer, while Halo 4's was a lot more streamlined, which can be better or worse depending on how you view them. If you liked Halo: Reach's multiplayer, Halo 4's is more likely to appeal to you. Weapons and perks aren't for everyone, and they can create a sense of an unlevel playing field.

Lastly, I think it's important to mention Spartan Ops. It wasn't a particularly sizeable addition to the franchise, but it managed to flesh out the core Halo 4 experience a bit more. Some people were undoubtedly upset that it replaced Firefight from Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach, however.

Halo 4 is a great game, but it had extremely high expectations after the original Halo trilogy, some of the most acclaimed and revered first person shooters of all time. Halo 4 also had the unenviable task of adapting to a new multiplayer shooter landscape while remaining faithful to why people fell in love with energy swords and teabagging in their first Slayer matches.

 

[Viral Maze]

I totally agree with what's been said.
Also Halo 4 dug deeper into the expanded universe. For casual fans this may have caused the enemies or story to feel somewhat contrived, or pulled out of a hat, but the Didact was referred to since Halo 3, Cortana's 7 year life was noted in the novel Fall of Reach (which came out before Halo: CE).

I enjoyed Halo 4. The original trilogy was definitely a lot of 'save the universe' type story, but Halo 4 had a bit more of a human aspect to it. Even if the Chief was more robot than his AI companion, we as the player could feel for Cortana and that motivation for Chief's character bled into the real world and it was a motivation for me to continue playing. I wanted to save Cortana too. A lot of people that may have picked up the series during Halo 3's reign may not have had that same connection to the characters as someone who was playing the game since 2001. There is a chance they just wanted a less human story and more CoD/Michael Bay type action.

 

[Mido]

I totally agree with what's been said.
Also Halo 4 dug deeper into the expanded universe. For casual fans this may have caused the enemies or story to feel somewhat contrived, or pulled out of a hat, but the Didact was referred to since Halo 3, Cortana's 7 year life was noted in the novel Fall of Reach (which came out before Halo: CE).

I enjoyed Halo 4. The original trilogy was definitely a lot of 'save the universe' type story, but Halo 4 had a bit more of a human aspect to it. Even if the Chief was more robot than his AI companion, we as the player could feel for Cortana and that motivation for Chief's character bled into the real world and it was a motivation for me to continue playing. I wanted to save Cortana too. A lot of people that may have picked up the series during Halo 3's reign may not have had that same connection to the characters as someone who was playing the game since 2001. There is a chance they just wanted a less human story and more CoD/Michael Bay type action.

You make a very good point, especially in the your first paragraph. In my experience, while I knew about some elements of the expanded universe, I never forayed into them. I admit that I may have felt alienated by the notion that I did not harbor the proper knowledge of the lore; and therefore, found it difficult to follow the story. (Quite logical on my part to think this way.... ) Still, for the time I played the game, I found Cortana and Chief's chemistry to indeed be quite engaging despite my earlier thoughts.