Amish Love Machine

Has anyone tried 343i's dip into the Halo universe? What are your thoughts?

I finished the campaign last night and, for the most part, was pleased with it. The first thing that stuck out to me was how nice the game looked. The biggest graphic upgrade from the previous Halo games of this generation is the faces during the cut scenes. The upgrade look and animation is quite substantial. The detail and lighting were top notch, too.

Sound-wise, it was pretty good most of the time, though I do have one beef. I didn't see anywhere where I could fiddle with the volume of the SFX, voice, and music, which was a shame because there were a number of times there was a voice part coming through I would've liked to have heard but it was drowned out by the music and SFX.

The music wasn't bad. Martin O'Donnell's soundtracks for the Bungie games were excellent, in my opinion. Halo 4's soundtrack seems more subdued this time around (most of the time) and there's even a spot where we hear the Halo "chant".

Regarding the story (I've not tried the multiplayer yet), it was pretty decent. It takes place four years after the events of Halo 3. The Chief and Cortana are aboard a section of Forward Unto Dawn above a Forerunner planet named Requiem. Stuff happens, the Chief wakes up, and he and Cortana find themselves on the planet fighting both the Covenant and a group known as the Prometheans. Through the course of the game you learn what the Prometheans are (I thought that bit was kind of silly), see Cortana freak out some, and see the Chief be a little bit more human.

I liked the gameplay, too, most of the time. I'm awful at driving games and, like other Halo games, 343i had a few parts that pretty much forces you to drive or fly a vehicle. Those bits drove me bonkers because, as I mentioned, I suck at those kind of games (not that I'm awesome at FPS games, because I'm not ). It is a nice change of pace to throw vehicles in there, though. I played it through on Normal and found it somewhat challenging, though some of my deaths were due to me not paying attention and walking off a cliff, getting pinned by various pieces of geography such as a stack of crates, or not realizing a door opened up until after the third time an elite charged at me with a plasma sword after I thought I cleared out the area in question.

All in all, I liked the game. It's easily one the of the best looking game on the 360. It's definitely a game that fits in the Halo universe, not just a game with Halo tacked on. 343i want to great lengths to give it the look and feel of what Halo fans expect in a game while improving the overall presentation. If you like shooters but aren't into Halo all that much, I'd recommend at least renting it and trying it out. If you are a Halo fan, I think chances are good you'll like it.

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tlpn99

I have got it and started the Cmapiagn. At first I was like this is just like the 1st episode with the Chief waking up etc. However the more I got into it the better I liked it.

Idiot here though thought it auto saved however for some reason it did not. So I have got to do my last hours gameplay again. What I seen of it at first it was great and took me sometime to get used to driving the Warthog again.

I agree it fits in with Halo series very well.