Halo 4 Is Almost Finished
Halo 4 is in the final stretches of development according to creative director at 343 Industries, Josh Holmes, but how’s everything looking?
A brave new world
“I think we were all aware of the challenge going in and that was one of the things that attracted us to Halo 4,” explains 343’s creative director Josh Holmes.
“It’s just not something you can dwell on as a creative team, you can’t keep thinking about all the potential ways it could go wrong.”
“You have to find, what you think is the right vision for the game and stick to your guns.”
“The teams been really excited about having this opportunity to take on a franchise that they love and try to bring a new set of eyes and a new creative vision to Halo. We’re in that final stretch and you can see it all now coming together after years of labour and it feels really good.”
It’s not just about ‘30 seconds of fun’ any more. For 343, it’s become about understanding the eclectic multitude of reasons gamers love Bungie’s creation and working out a way of retaining them for its sequel while simultaneously delivering something new.
An unenviable task if ever there were one, Halo 4 has shown its focus and visual design are walking a tight line between innovation and creativity.
Frank O’Connor, 343’s franchise director, has already stated he believes Halo 4 will be one of the most visually arresting games the 360 has ever seen.
Though it looks pretty, it’s a statement we’ll reserve judgement on until this autumn. What we’re more interested in are the minute hints 343 has given to Halo 4’s gameplay and story. The further you delve into Halo’s lore, the more likely it becomes that the Forerunners are the central foe.
As a species, they’ve already engaged humanity in a war long before the firing of the rings, which originally wiped out the Flood’s first attempt at assimilating life. It was this event that destroyed the Forerunners and saw the Ark re-release life back into the universe.
They would certainly make an engaging enemy, but there is another species that predates even them, the Precursors. As if to confuse matters further, the Precursors were an advanced civilisation knocking around long before the Forerunners and are, surprisingly, under-explored in Halo’s fiction.
343 has spoken about returning to Halo 2’s recharging shield system (minus the health pack setup) and the Cyclops Mark II mech, seen in the new multiplayer map Warhouse, will form some part of the gameplay.
There’s so much that can go wrong with Halo 4, but witnessing 343’s genuinely intelligent changes and new direction seems to show that it will deliver on all fronts. It would confirm 343 as a new industry talent worthy of Bungie’s heritage and hopefully convince fans of the series that the Master Chief is in safe hands.
Red Vs Blue: The Game?
When Frank O’Connor explained that Halo 4’s multiplayer will contain a narrative and a justifiable reason the red and blue Spartans were fighting, we could almost hear the hands slapping fan’s foreheads. It’s yet another risky move 343 is taking (along with the COD-like customisation).
Related Articles
- Halo 4: Meet The New Enemy
- 343 Industries Is ‘past playing it safe’ With Halo
- 343 Industries: There’s No Halo Movie
- Has Bungie’s Bubble Burst?
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Halo 4 is not copying Call of Duty (I like how people think COD invented everything)
“but witnessing 343’s genuinely intelligent changes and new direction seems to show that it will deliver on all fronts. It would confirm 343 as a new industry talent worthy of Bungie’s heritage”…..sorry? intelligent changes? it will deliver on on all fronts? new industry talent? not to bring on the hate….but 343i seems to do exactly the opposite of what they should do. i am talking mp here. they are basicly spitting in the face of longterm halo fans. The nonsense gameplay from reach seems to continue with even more non-halo stuff. the sad thing is that they don’t even admit that. “we should trust them”, “it plays like halo” they say right before we get some more news that proves the opposite. come on…don’t be so kind to a company that is about to destroy the greatest mp ever. sorry for the negative vibe but can’t say it any other way.
Where did you get the source for this information? Did one of your guys actually interview them? Just curious because i haven’t seen any other news about 343 saying it was in the final stretch of completing Halo 4.
@Tom: I bet your a COD fan that hates Halo. Would you prefer that every game that came out was exactly the same as the last? If you’re a COD fan I bet you would because COD never changes when it comes to multiplayer. And, where is the news that says it doesn’t play like Halo? So far they have brought back the Halo 2 shielding, they have brought back the BR, they have brought back Halo 3 (and 2 and 1) jumping, strafing, and running speed, and they have brought back Master Chief. They have only made a few changes, and I think they are all great.
Ok, I am sorry for ranting like that; I don’t think that COD people are bad, I just hate it when people say Halo 4 will be unsuccessful.
@ Tim: thanks for reacting but where did you get the idea from that i am a COD fan? just because i want a game to stay the same? very strange conclusion. I ain’t no COD fan at all….to say it nicely (if you read closely it is easy to understand that i dislike COD). I am a big halo fan and and can’t stand the crap (COD a like stuff) that is being put in halo which started with already with reach. “THEY ONLY MADE A FEW CHANGES”…..are you serious??? they are making BIG changes that touch the core of halo MP. AA’s, bloom, no bleed through, ranks based on time played system and a few more……you can’t seriously say that those changes are few/ small.
yes they brought the br back and some other familiar stuff….very nice…but that stuff won’t matter if the CORE of halo MP gameplay changes. do you get were i am coming from? otherwise check the halo waypoint forums for news on halo 4……it seems like you are missing a lot of information.
i don’t want halo 4 to be unsuccesful, but they are heading over there very fast with the stuff they are doing with halo 4.
@ Tom: I figured that only a COD fan would enjoy playing the same game OVER AND OVER and get angry when changes are made (like Black Ops 2). Ok, I know you aren’t a COD fan, it’s just that so far I LIKE THE CHANGES. Plus, they haven’t announced anything official about the ranking system, the armor abilities they have announced sound great and it is likely they won’t be bringing armor lock back, and I could care less about bleed through. I think that the changes they have made sound great.
Wait who said Halo 4 doesn’t have bleedthrough???
I like the Halo 4 changes, and guess how long I’ve been playing Halo.
8 YEARS STARTING WITH HALO 2!
And the only thing I HATE about Halo 4 is bloom is back, Battle Rifle is 4 shot, chance of NO Halo 2 Melee System, chance of no 1-50 ranking system, chance of NO bleedthrough, NO firefight, Elites are out of Multiplayer.
No Elite Ops.
Err I mean Halo 4 Battle Rifle is 5 shot, NOT 4 shot.
Well I beta tested it so O know loads of things like the, Assault Carbine replaced the Plasma Repeater.
Well there loads of info I know so much.
@Err I mean Halo 4 Battle Rifle is 5 shot, NOT 4 shot.
It most likely fells like 3 to me.