Halo 4 – 343 Industries Reveals 5 Key Changes To Multiplayer

As huge Halo fans we’ve been waiting with baited breath for any details on Halo 4 as a whole but we’re particularly invested in it’s multiplayer. After all we’ve been Halo multiplayer fanatics since Halo CE, when we lugged weighty Xbox’s for miles just so we could battle each other in LAN Parties – the only way to play with more than four players on a split screen. Halo has come a long way since then, but 343 Industries is promising even more innovation in Halo 4, and has just revealed a few details. Here are five of the most important changes so far 343 is bringing to Halo’s multiplayer in Halo 4 and why they matter.

5. Instant respawns

If you’re a long term Halo player you’ll know all about the pain of spawn camping, which is mainly caused by players learning the locations that players spawn in and using the brief delay before they spawn to get there and kill them- usually with long range weapons. That’ll no longer be possible as players in Halo 4 will be able to instantly respawn (in deathmatch, not objective games) by pressing the X button. It might not seem important and it’s a change that most won’t notice, but a side effect could be that the pace of Halo matches might really speed up and it’ll be easier for new players.

4. A reason for battles

We’ll be honest, this one isn’t really all that important to us but now there’s a back story as to why all the Red armoured guys are shooting up the Blue armoured guys in multiplayer. 343 Industries is explaining multiplayer as a Holo Deck style virtual reality simulator training exercise inside huge space ship called the UNSC Infinity. Sadly that means you won’t be able to play as Elites here anymore, which will no doubt annoy some Sanghelli loving players.

3. More random weapon placement

Successfully playing most Halo maps in the past has been about weapon and map control- getting hold of the power weapons like the rocket launcher, sniper rifle or plasma sword. A minor problem has always been that it was easy to learn the respawn timings and dominate games by weapons camping. You could argue that knowing these details was what separated the great players from the good, but in Halo 4 weapons will drop far more randomly onto map locations via drop pods. It should not only eliminate camping and close the gap between veteran and inexperienced players, but could add a fun wild card element.

2. More armour options and Spartan Points

While 343 isn’t ready to reveal just how Halo 4’s new multiplayer player progression system will work, we do know you’ll earn Spartan Points playing Halo 4 and they’ll have several functions. First they’ll be used to buy armour and Reach style armour abilities –like Jetpack and Hologram which are returning, joined by new powers like Forerunner vision, which will let you briefly see through walls to spot campers. Sprint is now a universal ability. Spartan points will also apparently be used to unlock missions in a brand new addition to the series Spartan Op’s.

1. Spartan Op’s

We were fans of Fire Fight mode, first introduced in Halo ODST and really refined in Halo Reach, but it’s hard to be to disappointed when its being replaced by something with the potential of Spartan Op’s. Spartan Op’s will be a co-op mode similar to Call of Duty’s Spec OP’S but 343 is adding several interesting wrinkles. It’ll be packaged as an episodic storyline over several months worth of TV show season style DLC. We’d normally raise our eyebrows at that kind of DLC approach but 343 is staying this will allow an overall size and scope comparable to the games main campaign – and that makes it both more interesting and exciting.