Halo 4 Xbox 360
User Score
6.9 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2267 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,547 out of 2267
  2. Mixed: 148 out of 2267
  3. Negative: 572 out of 2267

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  1. Chromium
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Halo 4 is a sad, sorry sequel to a good series. From start to finish, the game underperforms dramatically; the level design is insipid and repetitive, the enemy design ridiculous, the gamefeel vague or even absent. Major plot points and characters pass by without comment from the Chief or Cortana, critical events go unnoticed, there is no air of mystery or wonder. Halo has always been about being pitted against incredible odds in a high-stakes gamble for the fate of the galaxy; this time it feels like a hissy fight between Cortana and a monkey in a ball.

    Overall, the game is forgettable and bland, lacking any flair or polish. I regret paying $60 for this game; hell, I'd regret paying $30.    … Expand
  2. lilkillpappy
    Dec 4, 2012
    2
    doesn't matter what we say on here, they sold millions and made millions, they could give a **** less if they create **** games, as long as they make money. The Xbox 360 is extremely under powered, and has been showing its age for a very long time now. The art in this game was the only reason it looked good, otherwise the low res textures, jagged lines, and horrible fade distance just destroyed the graphics on this game. If you like games for combat and no other reason then this game will be perfect for you. If you like depth to the gameplay, and a story that is not serialized, and actually makes sense then this game will be VERY boring. And thats what this game is. Despite the things that it does well with the combat, sound effects, and art, the game in the end lacks an interesting story that makes sense, and has very shallow gameplay. Plus the main story is extremely short. This game can be beaten in a day. Why do they keep making this crap? And now that it has become serialized, its just going to get worse and worse.… Expand
  3. ghola
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    Same old Halo. Just a teaser for Halo 5 on Xbox720.
    PROS:
    -It´s an OK Halo.
    CONS:
    -You have to read the (great) Halo books (kilo-five and forerunner trilogies) to grasp the plot of this game.
    -Multiplayer has been "CODified".
  4. cobra872
    Nov 9, 2012
    0
    I never thought I'd review this game here. But man I am so angry with it... I had to.

    Is it a bad game in general? Not exactly. But what makes me angry about this game is the fact that they implemented so many things from Call of Duty. It's unreal. Instant respawn times, the COD kill cam, everyone has sprint (makes the game seriously fast along with the respawn time), ordinance drops (l    ike the care package from COD, in Infinity Slayer), the scoring system and even perks! It's crazy. They did absolutely nothing innovative, and rather added features from a successful game just because they were scared that COD would be at the top on xbox live over Halo. What made Halo was that it was different from Call of Duty. It was balanced and it was competitive. Now it is not balanced. You will have to play a bit before you get all your loadouts stacked. The loadouts include your weapon setup, amor abilities and perks (tactical packages and support upgrades). I was talking about multiplayer of course. I haven't finished the single player, but from what I heard it is only a few hours. I can see that, because the missions I had to do were short. But why in the world could it be that short? It's been years since a Master Chief campaign, and they give you something that isn't lasting? This is the Master Chief! He is the face of the Xbox. There is absolutely no reason for it to be short.

    The only positives are the sound and the artistic design. Coming from someone who studied sound design, the sound is really amazing (excluding music, it's nothing spectacular compared to the Halos of the past). Just fantastic. Also the artistic design is beautiful. There's great scenery and there are some pretty gorgeous cinematics.

    Other than that, I am extremely disappointed. 343 Industries says they didn't copy Call of Duty. They absolutely did. I would think Bungie would be pretty sad at the outcome of this game. Their whole objective was to not copy things like Call of Duty. They were innovators, not copiers. I am going to give this a 0. I am not a professional reviewer and the scores shouldn't mean much to anyone anyways. But that's honestly how I felt with the game. I'm getting rid of it.    … Expand
  5. Coeco
    Feb 3, 2013
    0
    Doggy-chew for the fanboys. Don't expect any originality or new content for that matter here. Don't believe me? Look at the 10's. Save your money and go buy a quality FPS, like Half Life. Anything beat this turd of a game, really.
  6. BabuYagu
    Nov 8, 2012
    2
    The single player campaign is entertaining up to a point but then you reach a level where you are stuck using the lame Promethean weapons, which look cool at first but feel just like hi-tech versions of the human weapons. 343 are really lazy with level design and there aren't many classic Halo moments of jaw dropping scenery. Lots of the later levels look similar and the final third of the game is just a slog. I could forgive most of this if it wasn't for the Call of Duty style multiplayer mode. 3 games online and my friends and I went straight back to playing Halo Reach. Massive disappointment.… Expand
  7. jbelote
    Jan 25, 2013
    0
    Same game, slightly better graphics. The multi-player is almost not even worth playing anymore. Please just stop, it's about as bad as a new COD every year.
  8. JDK04281980
    Nov 10, 2012
    2
    This game was.....ok. Not as good as the other ones. The quality of the series keeps going down and down. As great as HALO2 was, 3 then 4 continue the downward spiral of the once great series. I suggest if you wanna play a great shooter, try Black Ops 2.
  9. RidleayRomero
    Dec 13, 2012
    2
    After about 2 Minutes into the single player game, it was obvious that 343 completely forgot what happened at the end of Halo 3. Why would you still be fighting the same enemies that were in the first game when it moved on in the previous two installments? Not to mention it's starting to look like Call of Duty with the quick time boss cutscene. Anyway the only playable part of it seems to be Multiplayer and Spartan Ops. There isn't much hope for a sequel.… Expand
  10. ThanatosXR
    Nov 7, 2012
    2
    Well Halo 4 is finally upon us, with a new studio in charged but does it live up to being called a Halo.
    Halo know for its addicted favor of multiplayer and it's open ended campgain and awesome soundtrack but to get right to the point Halo 4 doesnt live up to any of this. 343 musta been broke when hiring writers and the story is written like a hobo high on meth wrote it in 10 mins, every     line is the a random rush to get to the next scene, the main characters come off on unlikable, the script seems to be written by the cheeziest writter in Hollywood with random "drama" in them. The plot makes zero sence at all! Cortana randomly feels forced thoughout the entire game, Why would an A.I. die after 7 years? lolwtf shes a computer data never dies as long as you copy and paste the files, it make not logically sence at all. Another question is why do the covent starr attacking humans again? The story never says why everything in it is "just because". The compaign is riddled with "walk down a hallway get to the main room then fight some guys push 3 buttons move on" repeat for the next 4 hours. Every area feels and looks the same with a lens flare thrown all over it for no reason other then to hide the low textures, if you look everywhere the games graphics are alll simple bright colors with blocky designs everywhere, Why u ask? Because they can spit a game out every year with simple graphics and weith the blue lens flair nobody can see underneth a terrible cheap why of hidding the poor work the art designers did. Nobody in the game has any personally at all not even the good ol' MC. Every scene feels repackaged from CoD. Press "X" to prie the door open, Press "X" to win the final boss. The games writing makes porn seem culturalful. Well now that I finished campaign I want to go play some good ol' firefight to lets of some steam from paying $60 for a CoD compaign in a HALO game.....NOOOOOPE there is no firefight, theres the **** CoD spec ops clone well I'm thinking I'll get it a try before multiplayer....WRONG Play on LIVE on Legendary and all the mission are 10-20min pointless stories that are just a chore BORRRING you can finish them all in 40mins, they have no replay value. Alright so now I'm abit angry now and am thinking well it's Halo so multiplayer is where is usually at and then go to "WAR GAMES".......even the damn menus have generic names so I start it up first thing I noticed theres only 7 playlists? WTF no social no arena no invasion hell not even compaign multiplayer. So I go to Team slayer thinking hell yeah no bloom Halo 3 is back.....THINK again besides the menus being almost disfuncinal the playlist are right to left WTF spread out all over the screen for no reason ok so while waiting to start up my first game I'm thinking am gonna pimp up my armor like in reach......LOL NOPE all the few sets of armor all look the same but the helmets, ok so another downgrade from Reach so after awhile I noticed the games about to star 4...3....2.......1.... AND THEN I LAUGH OUT LOUD at 2am,the matches loading screen is copied right out of CoD with "UNSC Logo spinning around in a gobal digital sphere" ya you can't make this sh++ up. So the game loads up and a 100% inovative to FPS feature comes up.......a damn create class ohh yeah its innovative never done before. Ok so now its time to play first game I see a sniper rifle and get up to the highest point I can and start sniping, now I'm a average player I never have a K/D greater then 1.05 but.......I star off with a killing frinzy thats right its even easier then CoD, it makes CoD look hardcore. Everything is basically spam able all the weapons are mostly the same just reskinned. after 3 hrs of MP I make SR20, yawn all the maps are forgetable they are a decent design but "WarGames" are just a bore, its not Halo just another CoD in Halo skin, everyone takes lil skill to kill and die in a hit or 2. War Games feels like nothing I never felt like it had pushed my skill or made me learn new ones winning or losing in wargames feels the same. Hell we all hate a Cod puts out a new game every year but sadly CoD looks like a real game compared to this , I don't know how 343 pulled of an even easier CoD in space. AND that is it today at noon I sold Halo 4 back to Gamestop for $32 within less then 48 hrs first time ever. Hell despite all of Reachs problems I still it to this day and after complaining on the B.net about its flaws I have to say the worse was yet to come. Hell all the CoD's ever year even look like a million dollars compared to H4. 343 tried to make a CoD clone in Halo skin and failed epically. Well back to Reach and black ops.… Expand
  11. masonreznof
    Nov 6, 2012
    2
    Terrible. Banshee and so many vehicles that ruin the maps. Valhalla was a great map in Halo 3, but Ragnarok is plagued by the Mantis and Banshee. The flag is very stupid and the menu sucks. The perks are annoying and overpowered. The DMR is way overpowered compared to BR and Carbine. Overall Reach was a 7/10 for me, but this is even worse...much worse.
  12. movietrailerpro
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    It would be a good game if it wasn't called Halo, but I have come to expect a certain standard from Halo. Halo 3 was my favorite and although this is good it falls short of Halo 2 and 3. It is probably close to Halo 2 in terms of quality, but honestly feels like Halo 2 meets Reach. There are too many gimmics that take me out of the multiplayer. I just can't see it being the halo I wanted. Ragnarok is good, Haven is great, Solace is great, but the rest of the maps are only average.… Expand
  13. bxrHalogod
    Nov 6, 2012
    1
    Better than Halo 2 worse than Halo 3 and worse than Halo Reach. This isn't the evolution I wanted. I was expecting a properly balanced game, but the maps are huge and unbalanced.
  14. JTP709
    Nov 9, 2012
    3
    I'll cut to the chase: the graphics are top notch, best on the Xbox 360. Voice active and cut scenes were superb. The game had great pacing in the first two thirds. Changes the history of Halo in terms of what we "thought" we knew about the ancient Forerunners.

    However, there's a lot NOT to like.

    The game has no third act, no final boss fight, lame musical score (good music, but not    hing as epic as the original Halo trilogy), poor level design toward the end, and missing old features (no more dual wielding, no SMG). The game ends and you're literally like WTF, this is over already? It's easily the SHORTEST campaign (took me six hours on Heroic). You never fight the new villain except in a cut scene. Yup, heard right, you beat the villain in a cut scene. The game literally feels like Act One of a three act play, which isn't a good thing. At least Halo 1, 2, and 3 were all complete games with their own full story arch as part of a larger trilogy.

    The beginning of the game is fun, tons of fun, but the last third is lame in comparison. They introduce all of the new weapons and alien bad guys in by the second mission so later on in the game you never get any new toys, no new challenges, no new surprises. The fun "race against the clock" missions and flying missions are all in the first half, so the second half is just running through repetitive corridors to active a button, then through more corridors to hit another button, rinse and repeat.

    The musical score is good, but nothing that gets your blood pumping. If anything the whole score is just slow, sad, and depressing music. Nothing ever feels epic. Especially at one point in the game when the main bad guy (remember, the one you never get to fight) is slaughtering an entire city of humans. But you don't care. Remember in Halo 2 when the Covenant is attacking Earth? Remember when the game had cut scenes showing the death and destruction, with radio traffic of people crying out and military commanders begging for help as they're being overrun? Yup, Halo 4 has none of that. An entire city is being destroyed and it's like an afterthought in the game. There is NO urgency, no tension, no dread. You just kinda go from one place to the next.

    While I was disappointed with the single player, I was briefly hopeful that Spartan Ops would justify the money I spent on this purchase. Sadly, while the awesome cut scenes promised a lot, I was again let down. I beat the COOP Spartan Ops in under 30 minutes. Yup, all six missions, What makes it worse is each mission is nothing but five minutes of running from one button to the next. Yup, nothing more than more "get here, hit button; go there, hit button" BS that ruined the single player.

    Overall, Halo 4 felt like one big step backwards. It promised so much but delivers so little. I'm hopeful Halo 5 and 6 will deliver, but until then this game is going back to Best Buy. From now on I'll be renting any games developed by 343 Industries.    … Expand
  15. Gayfish
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    All this game is, is CoD with a Halo skin on top. If I wanted CoD I would have bought CoD but instead I got MW4. This is not the kind of gameplay you're used to getting from Halo. 343 just tried to make it like CoD so they would get more sales they basically sold out on us for a few bucks. 343 you suck.
  16. beemer127
    Nov 8, 2012
    4
    Halo 4, like its predecessors, has a great story. It has a depth and complexity that most FPS games in this generation lack. The graphics, of course, are yet another iteration on the game engine that drives the Halo franchise. Though I enjoyed the game very much, the glitz and glamor of a good story and great graphics cannot hide the glaring flaws in this game, and that is the gameplay. In a sentence, 343 simply fails to innovate its gameplay. If you have played the first Halo, you have played all of them. In essence, there is nothing new about this game, and that is disappointing. Instead of learning valuable lessons from games like Uncharted, Gears of War, Assassins Creed, or Dishonored, the developers choose to play it safe by sticking to the same old formula it has always used. The question is, is a compelling story enough to make you overlook uninventive gameplay? For some of us maybe, but not for me.… Expand
  17. lgnburris
    Nov 8, 2012
    4
    Halo 2 is probably my favorite shooter ever, I played Halo 2's multi-player for far more hours than I would ever want to count. This game does not live up to Halo's reputation, the graphics are the best they have ever been but in just about every other aspect this game comes up short. The campaign is weak but my real problem is with the multi-player. The matchmaking system is probably the worst in any game I have ever played, games regularly start with 4 or 5 players on one team and only 1 or 2 on the other. Taking a cue from Call of Duty they have decided to include kill cams. These kill cams frequently show me getting killed by people shooting 3 or 4 feet to the side of my character or getting splattered by a vehicle which quite clearly didn't touch me at all. The music which defined Halo is also gone. 343 Industries wont see any more of my money, I'm sorry to say that I am done with what was my favorite franchise growing up.… Expand
  18. usrevenge
    Nov 9, 2012
    4
    update graphics a bit, still probably the worst halo this gen, and that is saying something

    halo 4 isn't even fun. that is the problem single player story ( normally considered top notch) is mediocre at best.
    the forge mode which was normally fun in halo reach and 3 is practically non-existant in halo 4, why is it even a feature?
    the multiplayer, which is the reason anyone gets halo i    f Freaking terrible, everyone hated reach, well halo 4 is worse. it isn't fun in the slightest. I wish halo would be fun again like in halo 1 or 2, but we still get garbage with the halo tag.

    the graphics look better, but they don't feel halo, because instead of colorful worlds were get gears of war grey. none of the covenant look like they used too, its just grey on grey action. oh and master chief is grey now too, awesome.

    anyone who loved forge games in halo 3 or reach might as well not get this game at all, because forge has no freedom anymore.

    anyone giving this game a 10 needs to be ignored it's a bad game with halo one the title and it's all they see.    … Expand
  19. StoneSoldier
    Nov 11, 2012
    0
    A fine game but it's not Halo. It's more like MW dressed up, right from the stupid climbing sequence right from the start. Game looks great, and audio is fine, but it doesn't sound like Halo. None of the familiar audio queues are there everything sounds different. Even the Warthog which has been given a gasoline engine for this release. Loadouts, are straight out of MW. 343 may have wanted to put their stamp on this game, which they did, and made a MW clone rather than a Halo game. Story seems contrived, just a made up world so Cortana and the Chief have a nice backdrop for their cheesy dialog.

    Don't get me started on multiplayer. I always liked Bungie's attempt to make matchmaking balanced, I'm my opinion unlockable loadouts have broken that. Why should I be at an disadvantage in matchmaking because I have not played as much as the kid next door. He already has enough advantage with skills and map knowledge don't add weapons and perks to that as well, you're just making the multiplayer less accessible to players. I play Halo multiplayer because I don't want to play COD, now I don't have a choice.

    This is the first Halo game I haven't bought and I don't think I will be. I'll be sending my rental back as soon as I finish the campaign.    … Expand
  20. killiana1a
    Dec 24, 2012
    4
    Single player consists of a great story interspersed with more hallway levels than you would ever expect to or want to see in a Halo game. A new developer created this game and it shows with the way Cortana is treated. Needless to say, the most memorable part of Halo 4 was Cortana and her story. The new developer through their treatment of Cortana essentially told players that Halo is going in a different direction.

    More importantly, the single player gameplay went from Halo where the road splits at 4 forks whilst you are driving a warthog to Halo 4 where it is one big Gears of War duck and cover level interconnected to each other with hallway battles. If that ain't bad enough, the multiplayer from the moment you buy and turn on the game is discouraging from the get go. Halo 4 has a "season pass" ala Call of Duty. What the publisher says is a discount on DLC is in reality, a Halo club card where if you don't buy into it, then you are potentially left out of matches because you don't want to pay $10 for 3 recycled multiplayer maps. Overall, Halo is the space FPS while Call of Duty is the terrestrial FPS. Both have terrible single player campaigns, while the multiplayer is becoming more and more exclusive with each new iteration in the series.    … Collapse
  21. fu69
    Nov 14, 2012
    0
    This game is just HALO 4 trying to copy COD which equals garbage..................................................................................................
  22. MrBlack
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    The fact that this is a Halo game makes it all the more disappointing for me. The campaign was short, and extremely unmemorable. New enemies were unexciting, and the "new" weapons were simply the same weapons we all know from the previous games sporting a new paint job. The campaign was done within 4 hours, and felt both uninteresting and anticlimactic. The final boss fight devolved into a poorly executed QTE that left much to be desired to say the least. Multiplayer was similarly boring, taking multiple pieces from the Call of Duty including custom loadouts and killcams. However, this too lacks any new enticing features. While visuals are definitely beautiful in this game, they alone can not make up for the uninteresting gameplay and terrible, short story. This game is an insult to the Halo franchise, and fans will likely be disappointed.… Expand
  23. HoBro
    Nov 8, 2012
    2
    To give some background, my favorite multiplayer games of all time are Halo 2, MW2, and Black Ops. In my opinion the Halo franchise has gone steadily downhill since H2. I am not a fan of the armor perks and I feel that the game play really got sloppy. I saw another review that said Halo 2 was a sport because all players were equal, and I think that is a great point. I gave Halo 4 a shot because of the new developers and thought maybe they could save the franchise. What they did was fuse the poor play of H3 and Reach with a poor man's version of COD layouts. What you get is an abortion of a game. People are starting with plasma pistols and battle rifles. 4 v 4 team slayer has a whopping 4 maps available. If you liked H3 and Reach, you will probably like this slop too. If you didn't like them, you won't like this either.

    Bottom line I am bummed that this game isn't better. I will be listing it on eBay and will probably ruin some poor kid's Christmas. I just hope Black Ops II is better than MW3 so I have something to play.    … Expand
  24. Banshee-Friend
    Nov 25, 2012
    2
    This game was terrible. The graphics werent the worst, but they seemed to be the result of "trying too hard" to make it look good. Bad CGI comes to mind when I see the profuse use of specular. As for the story, It reminisced a generic sci-fi plot, which was entirely inconsistent with the Halo franchise. Several unending plot holes including changes such as the look of the Chief, Cortana, Forward Unto Dawn changing appearance "suddenly". I have also been unable to find a buy-able explanation on the incogitable hostility of the Covenant after all that has transpired in the Halo story from previous games. As for the multiplayer, I might as well play the new call of duty. It does not at all play like a halo game. with the addition of killstreaks(ordinance), perks, weapon unlockables, and how easy it is to kill someone makes it as far from Halo as you can get with a 'Halo' Game. This was clearly a poor attempt to 'milk the franchise' after Bungie decided to stop creating Halo games. Very disappointing for a Halo game, I would not recommend even rending this game.… Expand
  25. iloveFFC
    Feb 15, 2013
    0
    The worst installment in the series ever! A major disgrace to Halo! This game sucks! Bungie should have stayed as the developers! I hope 343 abandons the series now! They ruined Halo!
  26. CameoCream
    Nov 8, 2012
    0
    I've been playing Halo for ten years and I don't see this as Halo anymore. if you enjoyed Reach then you'll enjoy this crap, mainly because this game aims to compete with CoD by becoming CoD...... again like Reach. Which is of course a horrible decision. Every single second of the multiplayer is filled with crap, like perks, unbalanced AA's again, weapon drops, over powered vehicles, and dumbing down the game so some silly 3 year old could play it and kill a seasoned player with ease. The multiplayer is an abomination of horrible, unfair, and un-fun gameplay. I would not recommend buying this if you intend to play multiplayer.

    If you however want to play campaign, I enjoyed this funnily enough. The campaign had story, and has playability to it unlike Reach's boring linear campaign. I give the rating of the campaign roughly a 95, but because the ,multiplayer is just so horrible I can't give it anything more than a 0 overall. Do not buy this game or future Halo's until the developers come to their senses and make a 'Halo' game, not CoD on steroids.    … Expand
  27. tototototo
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    It's basically the same Halo as always, the only apparant innovation seems to be a copy of features found in CoD. If you loved Bungie's Halo, stick to the sweet memories, there is nothing here you'll like.
  28. brad3ngunn
    Dec 26, 2012
    3
    I enjoyed all the other Halo games (except for Halo Wars. I'm just not a fan of strategy games.) but found myself extremely disappointed with Halo 4, First of all the campaign needed to be much longer because me and my friend managed to play through this in just under 4 hours. That's the amount of time it should take to finish a DLC not a big budget triple A game.

    My second problem with     the game is the actual gameplay, when the first Halo released in 2001 it redefined the FPS genre, eleven years later and next to nothings changed. The gameplay is incredibly simple: Shoot enemies, walk/ drive to next area, shoot more enemies. Rinse and repeat. I think it's time for Combat to take another evolutionary step forward.

    My final major problem with Halo 4 is this is the first ever game I have ever played where I felt bored while playing. I'm sorry 343 but I was incredibly bored during Halo 4. It just did nothing to excite me.

    To be fair to the game though not everything about Halo 4 is bad though, I have to admit that the graphics are gorgeous to look at, the voice acting from Steve Downs and Mackenzie Mason is some of the best this year and the game actually has a decent story unlike most modern first person shooters (Cough COD Cough)

    Remember though this is just my opinion, maybe you'll agree with me , or maybe you will love it. If you are a fan of Halo, then I would recommend giving it a try hopefully your opinion differs from mine, otherwise give it a miss unless you see it cheap.    … Expand
  29. SuperJoystick
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    343 have done a great job. The audio and gameplay are fantastic. Best Halo yet. Also the multiplayer is better than ever. Minus 6 points as there is no local search or ping indicator in multiplayer. WTF, 343?!?!? FIX IT! I don't want to lag.
  30. kenny307
    Nov 9, 2012
    0
    I am disappointed. I was a big , fan of halo 1,2 and 3 ( over 70 days of play time on halo 3 ) but this halo is not something that fit with the quality of the trilogy. I will start with SP. The story last 4 hours in normal ( short as f*** for a 60 $ games ) and is not ''punchy''' like others halo. A very linear environment with nothing special and some really similar objective make the campaign something that do not worth it. For the MP , this game should be called DMR 4 instead of Halo 4. The dmr is the only DECENT gun in the whole multiplayer. It just feel like a halo reach V 2 , even more crappy. I will sell this waste of time and stick to halo 3 instead , who still a decent and interesting game. Halo 4 do not deserve the name HALO.… Expand
  31. HeruLuingul
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    GRAPHICS: It probably looks amazing. I bet. Somehow. If you can actually see through the oceans of overzealous bloom covering everything. Some portions of the game literally blind you. Crossing a light bridge? Can't see anything else in the room. Enemy standing in front of a light source? Good luck scoping in on him without your eyeballs catching fire. Everything just emits a radioactive aura about five times as large as is reasonable. I'm not totally against bloom, like I love Tron Legacy and that movie is chock full of it. But the bloom is just so extreme it actually prevents you from enjoying what is probably the best graphics on the 360 right now. I wouldn't know because playing is like staring into the sun.
    AUDIO: I guess I can't really complain about Cortana's voice acting, because she IS going insane, but she just sounded so casual and snarky this time around. There was always a hint of 'proper" in her voice before. Her vocabulary was more advanced. Now she sounds like an angsty teen. But where she had the body to match before, now she looks 30+. Confused.
    Sound effects in general are complete crap, I don't understand why 343 felt compelled to change so much instead of updating the old sounds. The Warthog sounds like an electric shaver from the 70's, or a crappy lawnmower with a fart can. The Mongoose sounds like the Warthog SHOULD sound. The plasma pistol sounds mechanical instead of, well, energy. The shotgun has no bass, where the Assault Rifle has way too much bass. The warthog's chain gun sounds like the glitchy noise when weapons would get stuck in the walls in Halo CE Anniversary (It's like 343 noticed that glitch and said "hey, I like this sound, let's work with it"). Everything is just way too loud, there's no balance to what sounds have priority. When you're shooting a gun from a vehicle while listening to Cortana and the Infinity talk to you at the same time, it all just cancels itself out and you can't make sense of anything.
    MUSIC: It's not BAD, but it's just so generic. I suppose I've been spoiled by Marty's genius, but Halo 4 sounds like your standard summer blockbuster action movie fare. I would compare it to Transformers by Michael Bay, but I actually remember some of the music from Transformers. This stuff is entirely forgettable, and multiple times during the campaign, my friend I was playing co-op with commented on how repetitive and boring it was, so I know it's not just me.
    GAMEPLAY: I haven't touched Multiplayer yet so this is all about Campaign. What a ridiculous glitch fest. The production value is obviously high, so there's a level of polish to it, but there's some really obvious problems I would have identified immediately if I were a playtester. So many times, I killed an enemy and walked over to his corpse, only to find the gun he was using had disappeared. If you try to get in the hovering covie sniper towers, you'll get stuck between the grav lift and the bottom of the platform.
    The enemy AI are HORRIBLE drivers. They frequently get stuck on walls or level geometry and don't do anything to attempt getting un-stuck. They just continue boosting forward into the wall, as if that will help. If you're on Legendary and playing a vehicle-heavy level, you're **** out of luck. And before you all scream "LOL YOU CASUAL YOU JUST SUCK," know that I have completed it on Legendary. When you're on the highest difficulty, it is LITERALLY impossible to drive a vehicle and avoid enemy shots. The AI tracks your motion with complete omniscience. Your banshee will be shot down the moment you leave the ground. your ghost will be blown up if you don't use boost constantly. Your warthog will be obliterated by small-arms fire if you manage to avoid the five Wraiths sniping you from a mile away. I know that legendary is supposed to be difficult, but in the previous games I could still make use of vehicles without being destroyed in seconds.
    Some of the action sequences SCREAMED Call of Duty to me, like the turbo-ghost section. It reeked of "Snowmobile level." Particularly the scripted long jumps that would be impossible to make under normal circumstances. Vehicle sections in previous Halo games always relied on the actual capabilities of the vehicle being driven, and your skill. This is pandering. I'm also incredibly mad that the game begins and ends with quick-time events. Which, BY THE WAY, do not work in Co-op at all. I was on my own xbox, playing co-op with two guys who were splitscreen on another. The first QTE switched control between the two split-screen guys every two seconds, so they were never sure who should be doing it. And the last one at the boss battle was given to me, so they never even knew it happened. Ideally the game would not have any QTEs, but if it's really necessary, just give control to the party leader and be done with it. But give me a real boss battle over this any day.

    Summing up, 343 has destroyed Halo for me and I hate them for it    … Expand
  32. p360assassin
    Feb 27, 2013
    4
    Master chief has returned and now the game has switched devs. The game is an astounding drop in quality from its predecessors and 343 should be ashamed. Story: The campaign is much shorter then its predeccesors (aside from ODST, which had the bonus of being quality over quanitity) and puts Master Chief against a new enemy. But because they couldn't be creative, the elites and co. are back with a barely explained sentence explaining why the previously turned allies are trying to kill him again. The writing has dropped off and feels like a mediocre fan fiction. It ends with a HIGHELY predictable scene that exactly 0 people were shocked by who don't have mental difficulties and was about as sad as Dom dying in Gears of War 3 (as in everyone who enjoyed the terrible sequel found it crushingly sad, but everyone who likes quality gaming found predictable and not sad at all). Story gets a 3/10 Gameplay: Sprinting has now been introduced, making the game feel less unique compared to other shooters and adding something that was never introduced (except as a armour ability in reach, but it prevented you getting another ability just so you could sprint, so it was balanced) for a reason. Elites now no longer have the absurd shields they had in Halo Reach, which I find a positive thing, as it just was not fun to spend 2 assault rifle clips on 1 enemy just to take down shields in Normal difficulty (not even an exaggeration). The multiplayer has added in killstreaks, which negativly impact the game, but not massively since they are not as OP as in CoD and are can get you killed while you drop it as it likes to ignore where you target and place it more into the open (which I assume is intended, to make it more risky, which is ALWAYS a good thing). The loadout system I was going to insult, but a recent update fixed my one gripe with the adition which allowed guests to use host players unlocked weapons to make temp loadouts (which obviously disapear once they log off). Weapons are unlocked extremely easily due ot the much faster leveling system of the multiplayer, and all the decent weapons you literally will get within 90 minutes of gameplay. Item unlock points are also quickly gained. The armour abilities are all much much worse then the perfectly balanced ones in Halo Reach. All of them are either OP or useless, especially the CLEAR Blacklight Retribution rip off Prothean Vision. Perks seem kind of OP, but as send before, you get the good ones within like 20 minutes of gameplay, so not a huge loss. Gameplay gets a 6/10. Graphics: Graphics ARE an improvement over previous games, which you would assume would be a good thing, but alas, it means heavily frame rate drops if you want to play co-op (even on just two players) and clearly shows the aging consoles wrinkles. They should of returned Halo to the PC but sadly Microsoft are the same they always have been. Graphics even then don't look that good and honestly should not lag the console as badly as they do. There is plenty of games with superior graphics on console that don't lag and this seems to be a pathetic failure in the optimization department. I would rather a steady framerate then better graphics. The art design has also been changed at some points, but nothing to radical (except grunts and jackels now look way stupider, but they were already pretty stupid). So art design isn't worse or better. 4/10 on graphics. Sound: COLLOSAL drop in quality compared to preceeding games. Name ONE halo game with a worse soundtrack then Halo 4, you simply can't do it. The guns now sound different and more realistic, but Halo had a feel to it which was part of the old gun sounds, they gave the game less realism, but had their own charm which is now completely gone in exchange for mediocre realistic sounds. 3/10 for sound. Overall, I give the game a 4/10. Seeing as I love the Halo series, I love the lore and storyline of all the predecesing games and have read multiple of the books, this game is a huge disapointment. It feels to me what others felt ODST was (which I honestly found to be a fantastic adition to the game, although it still should of had a multiplayer mode aside from firefight). A sad drop in quality and completely turns me off Halo 5 and 6.

    Oh and on a side note, multiplayer is way to noob friendly. You may be thinking "Oh, he is a just noob who thinks he is good and is he is dying too much" its actually the opposite. I am AWFUL at shooters, especially on console. If I am able to get the amount of kills I do, mainly due to the badly concieved loadout system, the skill cap has lowered massively. I simply should not be doing this well, that is not stroking my ego. This is mainly due to giving sticky grenades in loadouts, which means I can just spam them at warthogs with no danger.    … Expand
  33. Hitokiri_Ace
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    Halo 4 is so annoying to play online now. It used to be a pain when it was DMR slayer, all people would do is camp and shoot... camp and shoot... now that you can choose your layout... it's always camp slayer. Gone are the olden days of crazy combat, up close fighting, and tactical play.

    If you like CoD, you'll probably like the new halo 4... I get tired of being DMR sniped by their     whole team all the time. This is not what I wanted 343. You have lost a future customer. I did love the campaign though. As I usually do. That does not warrant me buying the next game however. Not to mention the horrid slow downs if you play co-op on the same console. Dear me... This game makes me sad.… Expand
  34. Jackthehedgy
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    I want to love this game I really do it's just ... just. Where do I begin?

    The story isn't bad don't get me wrong and playing campaign is pretty fun as well. But it feels off, it doesn't feel like a halo game yet a game that was in mid development and kinda just threw in characters from halo in there at the last second.
    So campaign: Pretty decent.
    And where my main problem is the mult    i-player. Why is it trying to be so complex? It's just multiplayer doesn't need a story. That's not even the problem though. The problem is how it feels closer to call of duty then anything. I mean instant respawns, kill streaks, and classes. I just miss the old halo feeling.
    Multiplayer: Awful.
    As a person that loved all the halo games I hate to say this but I doubt I'll be getting another halo game in the future. Never before in all of the halos I've played did the multiplayer turn me off so badly.    … Expand
  35. Nigelbillson
    Dec 15, 2012
    2
    There are very few games these days that change a genre, that provide new light and inspire everyone in the gaming industry, halo 4... ISN'T one of those games. It's sad that since halo 3 the halo series has become another generic yearly sequel, much like the previously excellent Assassins creed series and Call of Duty. I used to enjoy Xbox, this reminds me of how much I despise it now. I seriously thought this would be a change, all the reviewers were saying so. Of course not. Are we PS3 "fanboys" [I think you mean PLAYERS] envious? Of course not! I've just been down my electronic store and sold my Xbox. I used to like both, but this game proves how much money these people at microsoft get! Spoiler alert, the ending is another halo 2 ending! It's about as well made as
    Cortana: Oh no what are you gonna do chief?
    Cheif: I'll kill them all... tomorrow. Halo 5 comes out september 20th 2013 while stocks last.
    I don't understand why people would enjoy this game, especially with the convoluted canon! Also the fans are evil but it's not exactly 343's fault. Overall:

    Graphics 9.0 One of the few things this game gets right.

    Story 4.9
    Brilliant... if you read the entire wiki. Gameplay: 2.7 Generic at the best of times, downright awful at the worst.    … Expand
  36. pinktrantula
    Nov 9, 2012
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. i should preface this by saying that im a halo fan from the original halo thru halo 3, reach pushed me away and this one pretty much slammed the door in my face. the campaign is boring and frankly not the kind of story i would expect from a halo game. SPOILER! there is no boss fight at the end. now on to what everyone cares about: multiplier. my first thought is how **** disgraceful it is with the lack of map diversity. i hope you LOVE the map you play on because chances are you going to play it 6x in a row because there are only like 5 or 6 maps total and only 3 per selected game type (oddball, king of the hill, slayer, etc.) they tried to steal some tactics from call of duty but failed at it with there layouts but does it really matter what gun you start with if they all kill in 5 shots? i hope im not alone in thinking that i loved halo because it was a tactics game where everyone was on a level playing field. no tricks hidden up peoples sleeves. if i wanted that i would play COD, which i do and enjoy. i would not recommend this game for people who enjoyed the early (golden age) halo games.… Expand
  37. Ghoster
    Dec 28, 2012
    0
    What a waste of time and money! This game is nothing else than walking from room to room and killing something. Everything except good gfx for a console is just terrible!
  38. Funksatron
    May 5, 2013
    4
    I was excited to play this game. I had watched the Forward Until Dawn series and several of the other CG webisodes that had to do with special ops. It looked like they really wanted to take Halo to the next level and advance the plot. All of the marketing for this game was top notch, however the game was not. I was amazed at how little the game felt like it had evolved from the very first incarnation of Halo. The in game plot did not live up to the standard set by all the marketing. As far as I could tell there were only 3 cutscenes that were rendered at cinema quality, the rest seemed to be rendered with the in-game engine. I played the campaign co-op, and repeatedly had to deal with being respawned over empty space or in front of walls on vehicle levels. The AI was unimpressive for the current generation of FPS games. This is the Halo game that will make me stop playing Halo.… Expand
  39. VonSeux
    Dec 28, 2012
    4
    Not for a single moment I had any idea what my objectives meant or where I was. The story makes no sense at all, or at least the presentation is very broken. The game is VERY repetitive and level designs can't hold a candle for games like Metroid Prime. Graphics are good but overrated, since the levels have nothing to see. Controls work fine but the jump mechanics are still ridiculous.
  40. RoosterCogburn
    Dec 9, 2012
    3
    3/10

    The campaign is short, with a terrible fan-fiction story that is somehow bloated and rushed at the same time. The melodrama is shallow and certainly no improvement over the steel-ey but genuine Chief of old. This is not "growth" because we don't experience the change, Chief just suddenly acts differently for no reason. The new Promothean enemies are ridiculous bullet sponges wit    h poor visual cues and good ideas like teleport executed randomly and haphazardly, punishing good players for playing well. Prometheans also don't fit well into the linear sandbox style because they are not unique like all the Covenant were. Rather then being arranged in different ways to craft a scenario, Prometheans are simply placed at intervals to be bludgeoned through. The backdrops and vistas are gorgeous. The music is not on par with Halo 1-3, but we were very spoiled with wonderful music. Halo 4's music is very good compared to the competition. Cortana actually has some very good dialog in just a few places. The campaign has Quicktime events, a particularly offensive feature, and these are PARTICULARLY badly timed.

    The multiplayer is terrible. It's chock full of fluff, randomness, and nonsense. It's not bad because it has so many new elements, it's bad because those elements weren't crafted to fit into a coherent experience. The result is an absolute catastrophe. It discourages team play, discourages map movement and control, doesn't reward skill while rewarding the most asinine behaviors. It has completely abandoned Halo's structured, , team based, competitive style. There is obviously much Halo 4 ripped off from it's competitors, and they ripped it off without actually finding a coherent way to work it into the game. The most significant thing that Halo 4 ripped off from Call of Duty is probably the thing that will be the least remarked. They ripped off a style of play in which the enemy players function like single player enemies with advanced intelligence, where the real goal is to achieve personal milestones rather than accomplish team goals- the most rudimentary of which is winning the game. Everything in Halo 4 is designed to supplement that approach. What is lost is the balance based on teamwork and cooperation in the competitive spirit, the very heart and soul of Halo multiplayer.

    Spartan Ops is a waste of time. You will be outraged they replaced Firefight with Spartan Ops once you see what it actually is like. It is hardly what the fans were promised. The game also has many bugs, glitches, and broken and missing features, and the developer has been extremely slow in fixing and addressing these major problems. The lack of customization in a series which has always been lauded for it is very hard to explain and accept.

    Ultimately this is a game for people who don't care about the actual content of the Halo series. Do not buy Halo 4    … Expand
  41. GaaraDDragon
    Nov 6, 2012
    2
    The only real exciting quality of the game is that graphics evolved from Reach but they still don't surpass GoW 3's technical excellence. Other than that it's a typical by the numbers Halo game, conservative, all too familiar, boring, repetitive. 343 have managed to go from being synonymous with gaming evolution to a safe mainstream approach. Everything from the cinematics to the level design is highly polished, overly hyped mediocrity. Halo has taken the COD path.… Expand
  42. omgodslayer
    Apr 19, 2013
    4
    It is better than Reach but, what isn't better than Reach? The gameplay dynamics feel more refined than Halo Reach. The hit-scan weapons reduce multiplayer lag online. The load-outs still make the game feel like a watered down CoD rather than Halo. The lack of an in-game true skill ranking system really irks me as well. Over all I would give this a 4 out of 10 because it was a visible improvement over Reach but still nothing close to Halo 2 or Halo 3.… Expand
  43. scorched595
    Jan 7, 2013
    0
    Just terrible. There is nothing wrong with adopting elements from other games, especially competitors, but this game is just a reskinned call of duty clone. Dont see how? Let me explain. First of all, the munitions drops are very similar to care packages, or things along that line, but again, it's not just this, it's because of this and alot of things. Secondly, the spartan points, OH GOD, the spartan points. Spartan points are just the renamed credit system from halo reach. The problem with the credit system was that it killed custom games, the funnest part of the halo series. You may be asking "How did it kill custom games?", well, it's because it put a huge focus on grinding out your character in match making, leaving people who just wanted to have fun in the dust, like me. Heck, I don't ever see a single one of my friends play Halo 4 for this reason, because no one plays anything besides matchmaking, and matchmaking gets boring because it's the same ol stuff over and over. Not to mention you not only unlock armor, you also have to unlock your weapons, armor perks, and weapon drops, meaning that alot of people will absolutely spank you because you haven't unlocked the weapon your good with yet or because the guy owning you grinded out so much and has a rocket launcher from one of his sure to be many munitions drops. The single player has alot of problems, mainly that it's outright boring. The problem is that it's mainly nothing but jungles and forerunner structures, atleast the other halo games, mainly 2 and 3, had some variety, and while you may say "Your complaining about there being nothing but jungle and forerunner structures on a forerunner planet" Yeah, true, but we didn't know ANYTHING about this planet until the first trailer, so they could've done much better than this. Not to mention the story itself is convoluted and boring. The characters are boring as all hell, to the point that you can tell who's gonna eat a bullet and who isn't, and you can see the ending a mile away. The series as far as I'm concerned ended with Halo 3, where custom games were very common, and almost always fun, the singleplayer stories may have been a little lacking, but there was plenty of variety in the environment, and you didn't have to grind out for armor after you hit your second officer rank, lieutenant, after that, it was just to show off. Halo 3 will always be a masterpiece, as will every halo game before it, but stay away from every halo game after halo 3, because they suck.… Expand
  44. BeardtobeFeared
    Nov 12, 2012
    1
    Got it as a gift and it's garbage. It's Halo: Reach COD-ified. Plenty of bugs (Certain maps aren't appearing in cycle, for one), short story, boring missions abound. I would return it if I could. It stings even worse knowing how far one of my favorite game series has fallen.

    Why not instead of trying to grab fanbases of CoD and Halo, you just make an original and intuitive f*cking game?
  45. unscshredder
    Dec 28, 2012
    3
    When i got this game, i thought i was going to have a blast... Bad idea. The story would have been good, but they twisted the story, dumb downed the gameplay, and made the multiplayer like Call of Duty.

    Massive Disappointment.
  46. realdomdom
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    This game's existence is disappointing to begin with. On top of that it didn't change enough to be something new and it didn't keep enough from the old games to be a true halo game. It can't identify itself. The campaign (which should, btw, be the most important thing in the game) was heartlessly glued together. It feels short and in actuality it is. Cortana gets crazy. Everyone wants you to think she's a real person. And they try too hard. The master chief speaks a little more. Not that it makes him any more human. And then there is this forerunner who wants to destroy humanity, basically. Maybe it's not very different from what we already saw in older halo games, but it is presented in such a plain and simple way, i couldn't help but laugh through almost every cutscene. Also, i want to thank 343 for not including the campaign in theatre mode, or vice versa. You can't record singleplayer gameplay for your theatre. Oh, thank you so much. I'm sure, singleplayer is too boring anyway, eh?
    Now that's what i call a campaign. On to the multiplayer, shall we?
    Infinity slayer is probably the inevitable "evolution" from normal slayer. Or it is borrowed from some other game, which has an abbrevation, that's three letters long. Either way, it's a new addition to Halo and it's not necessarily bad. Except you don't like it. Oh, and there is also the Killcam. What a nice little thing. I wonder where i saw that before. No, not in Battlefield 3. They apparently don't need it. There's also your typical CTF, King of the Hill, some other stuff and Griffball, of course. I couldn't manage to find Action Sack or other "fun" playlists, but maybe it's just me.

    Overall, the presentation of this game tries too much to convince you of it's coolness and hipness, both visually and storywise, as if you where a little kid. Personally, i don't like the new design at all. It lacks a certain charm. There are also some bugs where, for example, a banshee flies through a tower or an enemy tries to hide itself in a wall. I hope those get ironed out soon, since apparently some people still want to play this game.

    If you like Halo 4, good for you. Let's hope you like Halo 7, too. Don't worry, it's gonna come eventually.    … Expand
  47. o_DD
    Nov 6, 2012
    4
    Campaign - It was hard to follow the story. There was a lot of jumping around and it was unclear what the purpose of the story missions were. I also played it Co-op which was the worst way to experience the game. There are near hundreds of spots where you will warp to your teammates facing different directions, and if you are in a vehicle when your teammate warps they will usually be in front of you and will die from a betrayal. Game looks nice, plays bad. War Games - Only search with a full party or you will get put into losing games more often than not. There are clear advantages to certain armor abilities and perks.… Expand
  48. watson
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    The single player campain is boring and it doesn't last long. It's the same tactical sandbox game we all played on 360 but you might want to wait for the co-op dlc's. As a Halo fan i expected much better than a multiplayer focused game, tho. I think i'll stick to bf3.
  49. TheBaio
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    If you have played since the days of Halo 1 and Halo 2, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! I honestly think Halo 4 will kill this franchise it is that bad.

    Not only is it the worst Halo I have ever played (including Reach) but it is the biggest let down I have ever experienced for a console game. Granted, Halo 2 was pretty bad until the big updates came out but when you are this far into a series,     it shouldn't be this bad on release.

    Multiplayer game types? Slayer, Slayer Pro (no "perks" or radar but still has loadouts), Infected, 5v5 CTF, 6 man FFA of weird bounty game types, Oddball, KoTH and that's it. Nothing new and no competitive game types.

    The maps are horrible in this game. They don't feel balanced or even fun to play on. There are no weapons that you can pickup besides random spawning power weapons that your HUD displays along with your map. They copied the MW series and made "layouts" which you can pick to start with Assault Rifle, BR, DMR, Carbine, or a few other weapons. There are no ammo locations on the map, once you get a certain amount of kills you can randomly spawn some if you are lucky.

    The game is basically Modern Warfare meets Halo like everyone else has said and it's a horrible creation. I have loved the Halo series since Day 1 and got my first Xbox in Christmas of 2001. I've always been a huge fan of the series and never thought I'd say it but DO NOT BUY THIS GAME! I will never buy another product from 343 after what they have done to this series. I'll hold out hope that there will be huge updates that fix the game but I'm not holding my breath....    … Expand
  50. romaeterna476
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    it is too boring, very similar to the previous. Unfortunately, it is as I feared, 343 have simply exploited the previous technologies without adding anything new. it's a shame...
  51. H1P1
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    Short but not sweet. Graphically outstanding and the soundtrack is good although sadly none of the nostalgic scores have remained. The guns are varied, useful and sound awesome. However this game is so far from amazing that you would have to slap yourself after all of the pre-release reviews. The levels are boring, uninspired and repetitive, quite literally requiring you to perform the same style of objective in every level. It is also disappointingly short considering how boring the levels are; if it's going to be short make sure the levels are awesome. The vehicles are clunky and do not handle as fluent and fast of halo games of old. Explosions are weaker and smaller. The enemy AI is also unexciting. Whilst I have only played normal difficulty, fighting an elite in past halo games was an awesome challenge. Halo 4's elites do not feel challenging or smart, as well as the other enemies, something that did not exist on the normal difficulty setting of other halo's. Multiplayer is fun, but it's not halo multiplayer - the ultimate thrill of halo multiplayer was never in a perks/ability system, but just in the fact it was halo - it depends what you want, but if I want cod i'll play cod because they do it best. Second only to the gameplay is the story which is also boring. More plot holes than swiss cheese and it's not even easy to follow. Predictable cliche's and attempts to tug your heart strings but there are so many waning questions and factors that don't add up that whilst the humanity of chief can finally be felt, it just feels silly to imply the same for cortana as an AI. The new ideas the game possesses are its most promising aspect. Going into the game all I wanted was the same old halo, but 343 in trying to do this actually made it the killer. They hit some aspects but miss many, and movel design which was the best part of halo, is its worst in this game. They are not as good at doing what bungie do best, so they need to do what they do best. The new things that worked demonstrates that the halo universe can be improved, so they need to forget about recycling bungie halo and take some bold steps to make it their own in future titles.… Expand
  52. JollySovereign
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    Whilst the game kept it's core mechanics at heart, Halo 4 is not a good game in anyway shape or form. I can stand the extremely small campaign time; the series has slowly been turning into a multiplayer focused game for years now and the graphics are incredible for a console that really should have been scrapped by now. What I cannot stand though, is the painfully embarrassing storytelling, it's police-like moderation involving "sexism", the dull and uninspiring levels that have been polished to the point I can smell the polish coming off it. Multiplayer has barely been innovated or has anything new to offer; it's essentially putting green sprinkles on the same crap that's chock-full of every sprinkle except green. But the worst part is the simple obnoxious marketing and journalistic failures that will emanate from this game. This doesn't seem like a game for people who want to enjoy playing games it's a marketing tool to advertise Mountain Dew's and Doritio's latest gunk they want to shove down your throats. I still question why anyone would need an "energy" drink for something that consumes 0 energy. Meanwhile sites such as IGN will tell you this is the "best game of the decade", a "9.8/10". The same shtick we heard with titles like "Mass Effect 3", "Diablo 3" and many others this year.

    Halo 4 is essentially an old, old dog with no new tricks; it's just been bathed in polish to make it look new. As a story, I was satisfied with it closing with Halo 3 because Bungie kept a moderate head on themselves, and prequels like Halo: Reach were perfectly fine. But Halo 4 just wants to ride on nostalgia for it's good scores. I really think it's time for Halo to be put on the shelf and find something new, Microsoft and 343 cannot let go because they likely fear taking the risk of trying anything new today.

    In closing, "Thanks for trusting us with the universe you love..." Is the message given to us by 343 Industries at the end credits. To which I retort "Did we ever have any say or choice in the matter?"    … Expand
  53. halo4isbadcryyy
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    I'll keep it short and tell you whats wrong. Jetpack, camo, all other armor abilities, loadouts, perks, tactical perks, NO VISIBLE SKILL BASED RANKING SYSTEM, ordnance drops (or killstreaks), spartan ops is just campaign levels. Online multiplayer is a horrible experience compared to the Halo's of the past (1,2, & 3). Reach failed and this will too, 343i were very stupid to go the route of Reach again.… Expand
  54. spartan117357
    Nov 6, 2012
    2
    Had high hopes for this game but the multiplayer just doesnt feel right at all, weapons spawns are terrible and it feels more like a Halo Reach than a Halo 4. The graphics are amazing, I havent tried campaign too much. Strictly multiplayer, I feel this game does not live up to the Halo standards that were set in Halo 3 I might trade in for AC3 if this game doesnt step it up soon.
  55. ikesmasher
    Nov 6, 2012
    2
    This game took the simplicity of the original Halo trilogy's core, which is what made it great, and threw it out the window. It replaced it with what was obviously their spin off of a Call of Duty style of gameplay. (Not that I like Call of Duty, actually its the other way around). It was a completely unnecessary change, as halo had very few flaws in the first place. 343 should have looked at the numbers and realized they didn't lose the top positions in xbox live in terms of top played until halo reach. Even if you don't compare it to past halo games, its still a mistake. Its incorrectly balanced, there is only one new vehicle, and people at higher levels have distinct advantages. I would rent this for campaign, as its decent. But do not depend on this for your fix of daily competitive multiplayer.… Expand
  56. oczie
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    This game has nothing interesting. It's the same old song once more, the new aliens are anything but dramatic, the gameplay is exactly the same as in the old episodes. Moreover there will be no PC version, which, from Microsoft is a shame, really. I regret have bought it already.
  57. 343blows
    Nov 6, 2012
    1
    343 you blew it! Promises that aren' t kept. With the limited edition it is promised specialzations "available launch day." That is a lie and false advertising. 343 put a cap on daily XP, thus making it impossible to access your items "launch day." Really, an XP cap? The sound is broken, DMRs are overpowered and grenades are similar to throwing a ball full of confetti.
  58. samuship
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    This could be the triumph for the series, but 343 Industries lost the opportunity. The graphics were impressive at first, but showed to be weak with strange textures, bad draw distance and some bugs. They also destroyed the gameplay, and the only good thing about the game is the online. But even the online is not that awesome as some like to say. It was a complete waste of time.
  59. Keengerm
    Nov 6, 2012
    2
    So disappointed. I've gotten used to higher quality, INNOVATIVE shooters. This might as well be Halo: run around; shoot; scavenge; do it again. Zero innovation. The AI is appaling. I can't count the number of times I've shot an enemy in the back without sneaking. Yes, the production values are high: great visuals and audio (possibly bar-setting). But, it fails on every other level.
  60. Lutallo
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    343 Industries have basically taken COD4 and put all the elements in Halo 4 that make multiplayer unbalanced and unfair. The introduction of perks and loadouts means that any online skill is practically thrown out the door because there will always be a higher level with a better suited weapon/perk. The pace at which you die is completely unsuited to Halo, where 3 headshots with an individual weapon means that once you're shot at first, there is no coming back. The storyline is similar to that of a dodgy Mass Effect 1 makeshift, introducing a main villain, also the story revolves around an AI that no one ever really cared about. On the other hand, the graphics have been improved, evident in the amazing backgrounds of the campaign. Also it must be said that the campaign itself, aside from the story, is actually pretty entertaining and easily up there with Halo 3.… Expand
  61. thomasss
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    I'd give this game 10 out of 10 if it wasn't for the spartan ops avaiable only for gold. There's goes 70 dollars on a 6 hours single player campaign i played a thousand times in better halo games. Give me back Bungie
  62. parside
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    Why use my $$ to buy a game that give me a fantastic game experience for only 6-8 hours?
    Today there are several games that give same amusement but for a lot of more time: one?
    Borderlands 2. Bye...
  63. Carnage85
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    Tje Worst Halo i ever play!! no way people...
    the campaign lasts 6 hours, graphically is disappointing,
  64. ldiovnteij
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    The campaign is too short and too plain. Should be the best part in the whole game.
    The multiplayer lacks fun playlists and Infinity Slayer is bad. Also, there is a lot of lag in multiplayer. A lot.
    The design is ugly, sound and visuals. There are a lot of bugs still waiting to be patched.
    Overall, good job on ruining Halo, 343.
  65. brightandblue
    Nov 7, 2012
    1
    I give this game 1 point, because it has the name Halo on it. Other than that, it doesn't live up to it's predecesors, let alone, makes for a good game on it's own. I hate to say this, but Halo is dead, my friends.
  66. TristanV1
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    If you're new to the Halo multiplayer franchise i advise you to pick up Halo 3 its cheaper and totally the same.its just the typical walk shoot game nothing new story ehhh nobody cares about the story multiplayer is worse then ever.
  67. man_bear_pig
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    On a visual level the game looks stunning and has the standard smooth gameplay Halo fans will be accustomed too. Very little of the tried and true formula has changed though, in essence this game from the opening feels like you're walking a path trodden countless times before, only this time it's been given a makeover and everything is more shiny and beautiful to behold. While much of the core gameplay and design of the Halo series has always been a strong point in the genre, there was always room for improvement. Halo 4 seems more content to stick to what gave the franchise success in the beginning, either 343 Industries was unwilling to change the blueprints, or they simply didn't have the courage to put their own distinctive mark on it. The result is a series that now feels a little stagnant and dated in a world where countless developers are trying new things. Halo needs a creative burst to grow, and the inspiration Bungie left behind is clearly not, judging from Halo 4, a limitless well to draw upon. For die hard fans of the series and newcomers this may well be a worthwhile purchase. However, for the gamer who has played the series before and enjoyed but never quite loved it, this new entry is unlikely to change anything.… Expand
  68. Killbill123
    Nov 7, 2012
    2
    Pro: People say it has glorious grahpics but we are at the end of 2012, where I would expect graphics to have a big wow factor. I admit the graphics are quite good but they do not blow you away (Maybe if you compare them to games like borderlands and gears of war, okay yes it is better then games of the such). Audio of the guns are quite respective and flow with the guns quite well.

    Con    s: Level design, there are no real balanced levels where the feel of halo once used to be. It seems that they only focused on multiplayer but they failed badly. feels like CoD , guns are way unbalanced. Score board doesn't show kd ratio, nor your death till after the game over. Thrust is useless. also when you get shot when you are zoomed in you really don't notice you are being hit since it doesn't affect your aiming nor does it zoom you out when you get shot.

    Give it time, that fascination will dwindle. It can go on for only so long till reality hits. It sucks, I really loved halo 2 and halo 3 (not as much as 2), and was hoping for Halo 4 to bring back that prosperous feel that only halo brought with its smooth layout, fast paced multiplayer battles, decently balance weapons (BXR, BXB, and noob combo being the exception), but alas I did not feel the aura of halo at all that it once emanated. They are supposed to improve on the blocks that built halo not change the structure of what made it a great game, CoD makes CoD an awesome game so why mix the uniqueness from others into one? It only makes the final product not unique in its own sense, and if doing so why not add in some features from Hitman, Gears of War, and Borderlands into the mix of Halo. They all have there unique goodness that make those there own games in itself.

    I just expect from a Halo game, a game that brings that warmth and that smile that halo once brought in the past, not a lets take whats good from other games and use it but lets leave master chief in it still so we can call it Halo.    … Expand
  69. Hellzera
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    It seems that Halo 4 was made so that fans of the series happy and satisfied with what Halo was always, feel at home. It's a game that does not take risks, perhaps for fear of not pleasing - that's what he tries to do more with its beautiful scenery, high production value and cinematic sequences. It's a game of unquestionable artistic and technical competence, but that, at least in the first few hours, seems to be missing something. Or perhaps it is a sign that his formula for over 10 years, virtually unchanged here, since you no longer have the same breadth of before in a single campaign.… Expand
  70. thw
    Nov 8, 2012
    3
    THIS GAME NEVER HAPPENED !!!.................. Play Halo Reach instead....
  71. T3ddyR0seKidd
    Nov 8, 2012
    4
    The game we all anticipated and had mixed feelings for excitement is finally here. Is amazing, terrible, or just ok. Well lets look at every aspect of this game before we answer that.(ps, dont own the game, pre orderd it for my fiance and played through the campaign with her and then did hours of online) Campaign, This games campaign was unsatisfyingly short. And most of the levels, are composed of doing the same thing. Hit a switch, kill waves of enemies, progress. The story was dull and had no depth and left lots of plot holes. All in all, this game is not a game that u will jump into and play for the campaign.

    Graphics- the graphics in this game were awesome, it kinda had a metroid prime look to it, i really loved the graphics for this game, it was outstanding and very nice to look it.

    Forge, I was annoyed but liked the forge in halo 3, loved the forge in reach, but what about the forge in halo 4. Its nearly the same as reaches, yet they add a bunch of cool new features, my favs being the lock the object so u cant move it or delete it on accident(happened so many times in 3 and reach) But everytime u switch from creator ball to a character, this irritating loading bar shows up and makes u wait, besides that, forge is good.

    Guns-Im probably gonna get flamed for this, but alot of the guns in this game were cool but way unbalanced. Some guns r just way too much, for instance, the alien shotgun, that thing kills in one hit from so much distance. Alot of the weapons ripped off the conduit. It just felt like they were tryin to make some type arsenal of epic weapons but they just couldnt find the balance.

    Multiplayer(offline) This game basically just said if u dont have online, screw u. Because sad to say, this games main focus was online. With this game, i had no fun with offline multiplayer, it lacked in every thing, i hate that about every halo game that there is no ai in multiplayer offline. Oh well a man can only dream.

    Multiplayer(online) Online in this game was fun. It takes reaches loadout style and makes it customizable, giving u your own choice of a load out. They also added perks and a reward system where if u rank up enough kills, you get to call in a drop that gives u a powerfull weapon or an ability. It was nice to see them expirement with these new ideas. It all felt kinda cool. But it wasnt halo. Its as if they just took the halo name and some of the style and posted it on a call of duty. Players die so fast due to a small health bar. Alot of the kills in this game now are based off of who has the stronger weapon or who sees who first. It doesnt really take skill to kill in this game. And instead of matches being based off of kills, its based off of the call of duty style score. It feels like halo is losing its identity. But it didnt make the game bad, but it didnt make it amazing either. Thats where bungie out did 343 was originality. Bungie did everything in their own innovative way and did it amazingly(especially with reach). 343 just looks at the popular titles and makes it like that so that people play it.

    In the end, i did have fun with this game, but all in all, it dissapointed me. 343 did do well on some aspects but missed 100 percent on the core halo. Plus the main games focus is all based on the online and not really on campaign or offline multiplayer.    … Expand
  72. kuroyume
    Nov 8, 2012
    0
    This was my most expected game of the year. i got the prequel book, the action figure, i went to the midnight launch, the works.

    However, i was extremely disapointed when i finally got a chance to play the game. I live in a spanish speaking country, and was dismayed to find out that the version being sold only comes with spanish dubbed audio. The dub has several problems, including the     fact that the lip syncing is horrible, but overall the most disapointing thing is the lack of choice, which, for me, renders the game unplayable, as i have played all other Halos in the original language, and refuse to submit to an inferior product.

    I'm sure the game is great, but i am forced to give it a poor score due to this decision by 343 and Microsoft.    … Expand
  73. rodineyson
    Nov 8, 2012
    0
    Well, I bought my brazilian copy of the game (i live in Brazil) and the thing that RUINED my experience was playing the game with the Portuguese audio and NOT HAVING THE OPTION TO HAVE ENGLISH DUBS. Changing the settings in my Xbox didn't give me access to the English voice actors and the multiplayer announcer, wich made me really DISAPPOINTED with the most expected game of 2012. The game had to have the sound in English. Im giving it a 0, because of the time and money WASTED and the lack of thought from the Microsoft and 343i about non-speaking english countries. THIS GAME IS TERRIBLE WITHOUT ORIGINAL ENGLISH VOICES!!! DO NOT BUY HALO 4!… Expand
  74. FoxDeamonKid
    Nov 8, 2012
    4
    Halo 4 could have had so much potential, it COULD have been the game of the year, but the changes 343 made to the system made it fall short of the god i was hoping it would be. COD and halo have always had different mechanics, but with the multiplayer changes, the line between the two is almost non-existent. Custom load outs are my biggest problem with this game, halo has always been a mix of map smarts and power weapons, but if you can spawn with more powerful weapons (like in COD), it defeats half the purpose. Then there's the perks (also found in COD), more ammo and shields, so much for being tactical to get to first place on the leader boards, oh and if you die now you can just re-spawn instantly, (oh look, more COD). and there there's special ops.. wait i mean spartan ops.
    Now on to the sounds, the guns all sound hideous, I'm not even going to go on about how annoying the warthog sounds, and the sticky grenades don't go vrrrreeeeeeeee anymore, what the hell 343 that was the most satisfying thing. Then there's the Limited edition and Halo 4 Console, so let me get this straight, I have to BUY ANOTHER XBOX to get all the in game content, thanks but no thanks. Now the main reason i gave this game a 4 was because the graphics were really good, but that doesn't make a game, and i found there were parts to the game where there were so many structures and scenery I couldn't find out where i was going. all of this considered I would suggest borrowing this from a friend for a day (the campaign is that short), because this is not what we have been waiting 5 years, and 343 dose not deserve $60 for this game.    … Expand
  75. Blaze_Viper
    Dec 8, 2012
    2
    This isn't the continuation of Halo that I had anticipated. Having played each Halo, there was a reason Halo was different from all the other FPS games available on the market, not anymore. Upon playing the first campaign level I noticed all the sounds were different and not in a good way, you don't change perfection. The physics also felt as though they were taken back by about a generation, not nearly as smooth or fluid as the Reach physics system which ironically, is the backbone of Halo 4's physics engine. How do you manage to make ideal physics.. worse than their previous state and using the same engine? Its more choppy and feels jittery.

    The campaign is short, and is a try hard. You are forced to try and have feelings for Master Chief and Cortana and this can be felt constantly throughout the entire campaign with constant scenes of Cortana resisting "rampancy" and the Chief seeming worried, you just can't feel for something that doesn't truly require it. The previous studio has always stayed very close to original halo lore yet in the beginning you seem to be wearing incorrect armor and aren't even inside the correct pod. Many of the events of Halo 4 also tend to require you to have read "Glasslands" the bridge seemingly between halo 3 and 4 in order to truly understand what and why the events are happening. There are parts in the campaign where on legendary you cannot do anything but constantly re-try as skill will not have any impact on whether you pass or fail. Enemies seem seem to use decent tactics but it can be repetitive constantly facing enemies in similar scenarios. Overall the campaign was decent through the use of some decent driving, flying and cinematic cut-scenes. They tried to keep the spirit of previous games but it doesn't seem to have gone over too well.

    Microsoft Studios claims this is their most expensive project yet, I suppose if you throw enough money at something you can make something mediocre without even trying to be clever innovative. Granted they are picking up a series that is already several games in, but Reach was a testament that you can mix up the old. Then we have the multiplayer. Oh yes, the feature this is most important of all, or wasn't it the campaign? Anyways it seems as though there have been several elements taken from other popular FPS out there something I'm sure we all love and are very original features like a "killcam" or instant re-spawning (remember when you had to wait 5 seconds before you could flail about again?) and when you get many points you get "ordinance" to help the winning team win faster, personal loadouts, pathetic armor abilities and sprinting whenever you please though I understand that they had to generalize the abilities in order to balance loadouts and game modes. They also removed TrueSkill which seems to have made stacked matches even worse, given it happened in previous titles but not as bad as it seems to be at present. Weapon balance seems to be absent as you can lose to a DMR nearly every time, yet at close range you can easily get wrecked via assault rifle resulting in a majority of players all using a DMR. In previous titles you couldn't gun down an opponent on the other side of a map, you can now with the hyper accuracy of the new weapons. In a way it's like Title Updated only worse and all the time.

    Visuals. The interface can seem very overbearing for newcomers and seems littered with unnecessary things making hard to navigate and unintuitive. The game looks great granted, but it sometimes can strain your eyes as there is just TOO much going on at the same time. The end result? Forget about your older Xbox playing this smoothly, 4-player splitscreen runs at 15 frames 22 on the slim. Overall experience can feel choppy.

    One last thing to note is customization and ranking. There used to be shiny cool looking badges for your rank, but we seem to have devolved into numbers, how exciting reaching SR20 isn't it? About 20% of the armory is locked due to per-order incentives, console bundles and limited edition exclusives along with Map Pass extras meaning if you want to have it all, better get out your wallet. nearly all of the new armor also seems to be hideous and makes to sense in terms of 'how do you even see in that' ? You can't tell armor apart except for helmets as it all seems so identical and many helmets seem to lack visors in lieu of lights on your face or just not bothering with openings. At the very least can I change my lights from white to something else? It's a similar story with emblems, locked away exclusives or requiring you to be a higher rank. Aren't emblems supposed to represent ourselves? I can't help but feel as though it's wrong. A massive lack of campaign and Spartans Ops theater doesn't help.

    Remember when you used to argue about Halo vs another FPS? How it was different? Now we talk about what features it has from other titles and how similar it can be. Fan since Halo 1.    … Expand
  76. hilly2257
    Nov 8, 2012
    1
    Great graphics. The campaign does not differ much from the previous games. The multi player levels are not very exciting and it rotates between 4-5 boards. I am somewhat board with the game already.
  77. Aeron216
    Nov 8, 2012
    0
    So disappointed it isnt multi language (audio) like previous games of halo, not even the multiplayer annoncer is in english but horrible translated to spanish and i cant change it, changing system language & location doesnt work
  78. dpb39
    Nov 8, 2012
    2
    The single player campaign is probably one of the better of the Halo series. I am rating mainly based on the multiplayer. The game consists of nothing but players using Battle Rifles and DMRs to peg each other in the head. Who's bright idea was it to put a four hit kill weapon that can strike anywhere on the map in the game?

    Many of the guns outside of the marksman rifles have no cha    nce in a firefight and most of the armor abilities are completely useless (I'm looking at you Thruster Pack). Hell, the "Covenant" and "Promethean" weapons are just direct analogs to the human counterparts, barely different in any way other than the visual portion.

    The game has so much bloom that it really hides most of the UI elements. You will constantly lose track of your ammo and grenade counts because the light blue lines are totally lost in the overwhelming bloom the game has in effect. In other words, it's too damn bright and everything just looks washed out because of it.

    Halo multiplayer has not been varied and balanced for a good long time and Halo 4 just continues this trend. If you were hoping for a varied array of useful and cool weapons and armor abilities you'll be disappointed with what halo 4 has to offer.    … Expand
  79. mrpk05
    Nov 10, 2012
    0
    LOL at the people complaining about the low scores, when they give it a perfect score. I think the 0's here are more justified since I guarantee all those people were frustrated enough with this game that they returned it, like me. Not worth buying, and a blatant ripoff, so I'll give it a zero since the franchise is ruined thanks to 343 Industries. No, I will never give a game a good rating when they blatantly rip off other games. I've played and enjoyed every Halo game, and I never thought I'd return the game after a couple days. This game isn't Halo anymore. I liked Halo because it was Halo. It's just Call of Duty Future Warfare now. How many similarities do I have to list? It's too easy and too fast. Loadouts and perks completely ruined it. Same with the lack of friendly fire and all the other similarities, like the Call of Duty scoring system, respawn time, etc. It's only a matter of time before you can aim down the sights. Man if that happens... It's really sad because I'm never going to get another Halo again. All these things they took straight from Call of Duty because they wanted sales. They wanted "everyone" to play, and not keep true to Halo standards... by adapting things from a successful COD franchise. Can't wait to see what Bungie is up to. At least they are innovative.… Expand
  80. Franky4Fingurs
    Nov 10, 2012
    2
    I've picked up every Halo game on launch and for the most part been really happy with each release. First off the Halo music is not there.. Think of Disney redoing star wars but the theme music doesn't start while the words are scrolling.. The levels are so bland and boring and your map doesn't update on where to go next unless you step into part of the level that triggers it. The forerunners look totally generic, and their AI is almost as bad. Cortana lost her charm and is just annoying now, just constantly talking with her annoying voice, it's awful. I don't understand how MasterCheif's armor has upgraded when he has literally been in a cryo-chamber the last 4 years. Lastly..... Indoctrination? Really? 343 took what Bungie left behind and poorly made the next chapter using the story of a original game, Mass Effect..… Expand
  81. BadmanFaust
    Nov 11, 2012
    2
    Best Call of Duty Game Ever! ... wait.... Halo? are you sure? I'm pretty sure that useless loadouts and button mashing 'kill the bad guy' cut-scenes are a call of duty thing. Those bastards!!! Don't get me wrong the cinematics were great, the sound quality was eerily near realistic, and the musical score made me feel warm and fuzzy. But that does not give 343 industries license to pull a George Lucas and mess with something that was perfect. So this goes into the cannon of pop culture which i will convince myself don't exist like the last three episodes of Star Wars, AC/DC's Black Ice album, the last Indiana Jones movie and Spider Man 3. Seriously if I wanted my Multi-player experience to be like Call of Duty I would have stood outside in line for two hours for the midnight release and shelled out $60 for COD.… Expand
  82. blowme343
    Nov 11, 2012
    4
    If you were expecting it to be as good as the Halo 3 or Reach, then I've got bad news for you. The campaign was enjoyable with exciting graphics, but the online play is something entirely different. 343 industries completely butchered the online play to the point where I felt the need to make an account on here and warn you. I have no idea what the were thinking, but 343 took out the traditional spawning of weapons in certain locations throughout each map. Instead they implement the use of load outs and supply drops which sounds cool, but in reality sucks major D. It's like 343 was trying to make it into a battle field game but instead turned it into a retarded and dysfunctional mutant-hybrid game.… Expand
  83. Metallic
    Nov 12, 2012
    2
    As a halo fan I was ready to give 343 industries a chance and looking back now, how wrong I was to even think about buying it. Starting off with the PROS: 1. the game looks very well polished and sleek (a bit too polished) 2. they've brought some old guns back 3. sprint is a standard ability given to everyone 4. master chief talks more That's about it... CONS: 1. the menu screen has been played with too much making it feel odd
    2. possibly the biggest problem, the music. if it's perfect don't change it
    3. boring campaign only consisting of objectives like ' hold the enemy off ' or ' destroy the shields '
    4. forge feels like its been copied and pasted added with a pile of turd stuck on top
    5. boring new maps that are no good for forge and make a bad multiplayer
    6. the mantis is a good concept but the design is terrible
    7. the forerunner weapons look cool but imo aren't good for any situation
    8. people on line are either idiots that camp or people who waste their life devoted to levelling up. It's becoming just like COD is.
    The game is just a let down. Sadly, 343 industries have ruined the halo era.    … Expand
  84. Spawnofstumpy
    Nov 12, 2012
    4
    Graphics are pretty good, best for Xbox. Alien AI is awful, they dance about from side to side & trying to aim on them is a complete joke. I expect this on legendary, NOT normal. Guns are boring & totally useless. U often get a close range gun for distant enemy's, & a meaty slow loading one for cqc. Constant running out of ammo hence dying lots. Very repetitive levels & generally boring. You will destroy a controller playing this game! Nice music tho, none of that guitar crap from previous games.
    The infuriating end to halo 2 is what this game is. Over & over & over again. Big disappointment & my last Xbox game. Had enough of shooter games now. Halo ce was the best the. Series went down the pan
    4/10    … Expand
  85. MasterOfMetroid
    Nov 12, 2012
    1
    I bought this game anticipating a great multiplayer experience, but what I got was a tired formula of a series that just isn't fun anymore. It just felt like a prettier, less fun halo game compared to the original, on xbox. Never have I ever felt so ripped off until now. If you're looking for a fresh new shooter, this isn't the place to look. Microsoft needs to do more than just Halo and Kinect if they want their next console to be a success.… Expand
  86. Azazel1911
    Nov 13, 2012
    0
    The game is completely boring. The singleplayer is simply not fun at all, the multiplayer is dull and the mechanics can be seen in pretty much any other shooter out there.
  87. Viperspider
    Nov 25, 2012
    1
    This is my second review. Unlike my first this will be quick and to the point. ||||| Halo 4 is a horrible pathetic disappointment. I have had this game for maybe 3 weeks and I've already shelved it for good. It is my brothers game so i cant return it, but i wish i could. Keep in mind that i only played the multiplayer on the weekends and i played the campaign through while i had a week off from college with a little MP here and there. So i havent even been playing this game extensively, and it still bored me to tears in just 3 weeks. |||| The campaign is horribly written, boring and theres nothing compelling you to keep playing, The ending is the worst i've ever seen, instead of a nice cut scene we get a horrible "Press LT to ***" which was the most pathetic excuse for a climax i've ever seen. The multiplayer is stale, unbalanced, laggy and the maps and playlists are horribly designed. The only good map is a Halo 3 remake. |||| The latest Halo title is just another addition to the stagnant pool of FPS genre titles that have come out in the last 3 years or so. Dont buy this game people, save your money for toilet paper because you'll only end up wiping your ass with this game anyway.… Expand
  88. alexk1682
    Nov 13, 2012
    1
    I have been a hardcore Halo fan since the beginning (except for Reach of course). I followed Halo 4 news and updates since they announced that the game would be coming out. Now that it is finally here, I am beyond disappointed. I've tried so hard to like this game but every time I play it I want to spike my controller in frustration. There is so much wrong with this game I can't even think of a decent place to begin. How about the campaign. For starters why the hell is chief suddenly so talkative, did anyone else notice this? Throughout the ENTIRE halo franchise Master Chief has been a man of few words, a mysterious, silent, badass. Now its like there is a differnt person inside the suit. Throughout the Halo 4 campaign he is unbelievably uncharacteristic asking question after question to Cortana and saying things that the REAL Chief would NEVER say. Also, his voice is different, they used the exact same voice actor (Steve Downes) but for whatever reason his pitch is off and his voice lost that serious badass tone. I could continue to go on about the campaign but this review would run out of characters so I better get on with 343's disastrous multiplayer. Well for the first week or so I enjoyed it until I realized all the bullsh*t I was being fed. Lately i've found myself changing the gametype after every game. I figure out why I was doing this so often until I came to the conclusion that I was simply bored. I was hoping to find something exciting, fair, and fun but simply could not because 343 did not deliver. When in game I should not have to stick a banshee or ghost twice to destroy it, not only does that make absolutely zero sense but it's almost impossible to do. Like all the Halo's in the past, sticking a vehicle should almost always guarantee a kill. In addition to the complete failure of the grenade's function in Halo 4, they are absolutely useless when it comes to combat. By the time I throw my grenade, I am already almost dead and if i do have a good throw it will at most take half their shield down, the grenades are nerfed beyond belief. Next would be how the power weapons disappear. Being a huge sniper fan, i'm always looking to get my hands on one, so when I do I am for once enjoying playing the game. Only problem is when I die and go back 10 seconds later to retrieve my favorite weapon it is gone. What good does setting fun weapons like the shotgun, sniper, and fuelrod with a 10 second respawn do? It's like they don't want us to use them, its already hard enough to find a good gun with the COD style load outs. Now the dreaded medals. Why the hell are there so many medals!? Getting a medal used to be for something you did that was for a unique way of killing someone like getting a headshot with a sniper or getting a perfection (may I add that both of these classic metals are completely removed from Halo 4). Now we see people getting up to 60 medals a game making a metal just another little stat instead of something that you could marvel over after a good game. There is even a medal for a "generic kill" "assist" and "distraction", honestly who cares about earning something like this? Next is the ranking system which is one of my biggest issues. The new system gives you your "rank" based off of how much experience you have or in other words how much you play. Since when does how much you play show off your skill/rank? Honestly 343, how could you create such pathetic ranking system. It's the most inaccurate representation of skill for a ranking system I have ever came across. Halo 3 had it down perfectly and no one complained so why would you mess with perfection. Speaking of perfection, Halo Reach did managed to create an excellent playlist called infection. It was fun, fair, and simple. It was one shot to the head or one close blast of a shotgun to kill an infected. In addition it was nice seeing the cool medals you could receive for sprees correlating with the classic killing spree, frenzy, and running riot (at 5, 10, 15 kills). Now in Halo 4 Flood Mode we get sprees at strange increments that don't match at 4, 6, and 10 and it takes 4 headshots to get a flood kill! On top of that they got rid of the sprees for weapons like the sniper and sword as well as splatter sprees, which I used to enjoy getting. To conclude my endless rant about the medals, it appears that they hired a 5th grade class to redesign them because apparently they didn't look good in the past and we now have bizarre and confusing designs. I didn't like the sharp, clean-cut ones in the past, thanks 343. Lastly don't bring back the battle rifle and call it the battle rifle. That thing in Halo 4 is not even close to feeling or resembling the battle rifle. How could they take one of the most symbolic weapons in Halo and change everything about it, it sounds strange, shoots too fast, and now has a rectangular scope..WHY. Wow 5,000 words, they must have really screwed up for somebody to type this much for a video game review. BAD.… Expand
  89. saucyninja007
    Nov 14, 2012
    2
    Halo used to distance itself from other shooters like COD and Battlefield. It wasn't necessarily better, just different. However, Halo 4 ruins that tradition. Halo 4 borrows too many mechanics from COD and Battlefield and loses sight of what made the previous Halo games so great. Halo 4 has a campaign that looks great but is simple, predictable, tedious, and ultimately too short. The campaign tries to create a story that the player can get emotionally invested in, but it just doesn't work. That being said, most people play Halo for the multiplayer. Is the multiplayer fun? No, not really. It no longer means anything to have a BR because now everyone can spawn with a BR if they so choose. That is not Halo. Players can customize their starting loadout for matches, which seems like a good idea at first.... then you realize that this makes the game inherently unfair; people will start the game with advantages that others do not have. That is not Halo. If you are doing better in a game, you get rewarded with weapon drops. This may make sense to those who are familiar with COD, but, once again, this is not Halo. But what about the graphics in Halo 4? Aren't they amazing? No, not really. I don't understand why people are gushing about them. First of all, graphics take the back seat behind story and gameplay. Second of all, what game isn't good looking nowadays? Third of all, the new look to Halo 4 is... well... annoying. Everything is all bright and reflective, just for the sake of showcasing the graphics, but I think most people will agree with me when I say I want to be able to SEE my radar and the people I am shooting. Finally, the controls for Halo 4 are very annoying. Did you use the "recon" configuration in Halo Reach like I did? Well, have fun using X to sprint instead of left bumper. In conclusion, I was very disapointed with Halo 4. I wouldn't buy it. Maybe rent it.… Expand
  90. RottenGameTacos
    Nov 14, 2012
    4
    Do you love Halo multiplayer? Are you looking for a challenge? Well, this is not the game for you. With no ranking system Halo 4 kicks competitiveness to the curb. The load-outs and ordnance packages make the experience feel generic. It is infinitely disappointing.

    As for the campaign, players will find the same well-grounded fundamentals of game-play they've come to expect from the ser    ies. However, the storytelling is bland and the level designs look to have been pulled from previous episodes, leaving little desire to be replayed.… Expand
  91. modshroom128
    Nov 15, 2012
    0
    Lacks the sheer brilliance of the past halo games. the campaign is horribly linear and extra sci-fiy for the sake of being sci-fi. There is literally no reason as to why they made the campaign revolve around master chief's character and cortana, it makes no sense and detracts from the epicness of the actual halo story. The whole campaigns story feels nothing like a halo game. For some reason grunts and elites don't speak which was 343's way of trying to make them "MORE SPOOKY" which is the complete opposite of previous halo's charm. There is no reason as to why 343 made the game dark and edgier than past halos, it detracts from the brilliance of bungie's past halo games with their vibrant weird purple and blue colors. 343 just didn't put in that spark of subtle genius and creativity that old halo's had and it shows. Most of the "new guns" are just laser versions of standard human weapons which was a huge disappointing. The fact that 343 took out most of the custom game options, and 6 vehicles including a human flying vehicle just shows that they don't realize that halo was supposed to feel like a big open sandbox of fun. All of the multiplayer maps (except for Ragnarock) are horrible because 343 doesn't realize that big open spaces make maps good. Even the huge maps feel like cramped tiny maps because of the ridiculous amount of walls and lack of open spaces. It's like they took the worst elements from the past halo games and turned them into a new game.

    TLDR: Although it might have the best graphics Halo 4 lacks the subtle brilliance and charm of the old halos.    … Expand
  92. Adub34
    Nov 17, 2012
    3
    worst halo game ever the online is way to easy no competition they have made it to much like call of duty unlocking guns and emblems i dont ever remember that on halo i got halos 1-4 and Reach is my favorite one and im a big halo fan im just mot feeling halo 4 the campaign was great but just got to repeative Bungie should have stayed with microsoft studios and made a great game 343 is trash to me.… Expand
  93. Wakkorotti
    Nov 19, 2012
    3
    Halo 4 is absolutely a visually stunning game. The graphics are completely beautiful, the worlds look and feel real, and the new enemies, though there are only really three, at least interesting to look at. That being said, even on legendary, the campaign is painfully, woefully, short. I would almost classify it an EPIC failure. When you can turn on the Tough Luck skull and complete a board like Requiem in a little over a half an hour, there is something wrong. The odd thing about Halo 4 is that the plot and story line are arguably the best in the series thus far, save the possible exception of Halo: Reach. But the new ancient evil awakened, the Didact does not inspire fear or foreboding and you never truly get to battle him. The re-imagined grunts still look ridiculous, and I want to know what happened to the skirmishers and Brutes. I feel like there was so much of the Halo universe left untapped by the game that I can only describe my feelings about it as disappointed. The game is a rehash of the same boards over and over and over again. Massive boards that you often travel through both ways and face the same enemies over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. the AI (Game level, not Cortana) is weak at best. You can sit in certain spots on certain boards and head shot enemies until they perish without them ever moving. Glitches like this stand out far more than the beauty of the worlds that 343I created. The magnum has returned as a great, and viable option for reeking mayhem both in the campaign, on Spartan Ops and in the multi-player game, so I was pretty stoked about that. Another big disappointment is the score. There are none of the hauntingly beautiful melodies from the original trilogy or driving beats to get the blood pumping for bigger battles. As a Halo veteran whose first game on the original Xbox was Combat Evolved, I was really hoping to get back to the core of why I was a Halo fan in the first place. Halo 2 was a huge disappointment as the focus seemed to shift to the online universe. I truly hoped Halo 4 would get back to that innovation and creativity. The first level, in my opinion, does exactly that and really raised my hopes that whole game was going to be more than just running and gunning. The interactions between Cortana and Master Chief, the different parts of the board where you have to climb or kill an elite made me overly optimistic. If the game continued the way it started, I think it could have been something special. At the end of the day, though, i was as disappointed in Halo 4 as I was with the weak storyline in Black Ops 1.… Expand
  94. X-themask
    Nov 20, 2012
    0
    Well reason I gave a low rating was that this game felt like an alienation to actual Halo storyline. Not only did it greatly contradict the other storylines it just felt cluttered and jumbled. Honestly 343 should have spent a better time reviewing the storyline before it decided to adopt Halo as its new money baby. now they are just makeing the story for the money. It shows with lack of detail in the Covies and just the general graphics that are dulled by the immense glare on everything. [this was the first game i had turn down the brightness cause everything was TOO shiny]. By all means this is a great first person shooter game but in no way is this a great Halo. i personally will not be buying anymore Halos unless 343 can improve.… Expand
  95. alpharowe
    Nov 22, 2012
    4
    I love the Halo storyline especially Reach. However this Halo 4 campaign was a disappointment. The story was convenient and one dimensional. You might have replaced the words UNSC (United Nations Space Command) with USSC (United States Space Command). Having one black dude and one Asian dude does not count for diversity in the world. At least Halo Reach had Spartans with more exotic names.

    The Game play was very repetitive. and it felt like playing a game of Pacman whereas playing Reach you felt that each level you were playing you were accomplishing a greater goal to the story line. I didn't have the same excitement I usually have will a Halo game. Games are more than just graphics, sounds and lighting. It missed that 4th dimension. Excitement. Despite this the MasterCheif/Cortana relationship was cool in this game. But overall I am very disappointment.    … Expand
  96. getbacktogaming
    Dec 3, 2012
    0
    There is a lot of positive stuff about this game but what really irritates me is this : WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY GOLD TO PLAY SPARTAN OPS OFFLINE!?! This mentality at M$ earns this game a 1/10. It's outright disgusting. Costco will be taking my game back. I am not paying 60 $ to HAVE to pay another membership just to play OFFLINE! If I want to play online I can do it for free on my PS3 or play for XBL Gold... but now you guys are going to start charging for play Spartan Ops offline?!? I MEAN WHAT THE HELL??? It's not like this mode was not playable solo or local splitscreen... it is! If you start requesting Gold for this there is no end to your greed. Keep your video game. If I want to play it I'll wait for a price drop I am not paying full price to be ripped like this. Gosh even MW2 and MW3 special ops were all playable splitscreen... Black Ops can even have local splitscreen / LAN matches!?! Seriously shame on you Micro$oft and 343.… Expand
  97. Speed4Runs
    Dec 24, 2012
    1
    Always the same game. There are only 2 weapons, slow gameplay, same graphics level, boring game and overall bad done. Not recommended.
  98. SniperFish
    May 13, 2013
    3
    Complete wreck. Single player: fantastic story, very good for John, fantastic direction, new enemy and the perfect start, but Halo 4 is embarrassingly short, I don't understand why 3 years of development and they did not put much into it, the story and the whole trilogy is wrecked if Halo 5's campaign isn't big and it probably won't be, I wonder so much about Halo 5 and I think it would be a big story that should have aleast 20 big levels, you do have to bear in mind that 343 were focusing on Halo Anniversary and that this is their first game. Interrogation scene: do the ONI suddenly despise SPARTANS now? Dr. Halsey kidnapped children and turned them into SPARTANS, which were originally used to crush rebels or something, so? why does it matter now? they would've died anyway since what ever their home planet was, got burned to ash by an alien invasion and that happened to billions of other people, this doesn't make sense, who cares cares that kids were taken away? they became heroes later on, other kids died during the process of becoming SPARTANS though. I don't understand this. The Elites are enemies again, they are rebels and turned allies by Halo 3, so why? do they not recognize the truce? Spartan Ops is good, but there is no Firefight, again, 3 years of production and even that's missing. There are 3 Forge World maps, unfortunately they are small and have very limited boundaries even a space map with stupidly limited boundaries and STILL no proper custom map matchmaking. You can buy weapons and perk sort of things which is good, and good that it's assault/precision guns only, but loads of missing game modes no Stockpile no Head Hunter no Assault no Race, and bad maps. What makes the multiplayer far worse is that weapons now don't respawn and 343 only seem to care about human weapons; at a base, instead of a Beam Rifle it would have a Sniper Rifle, predictable. There is no Beam Rifle playlist, no Carbine or Light Rifle in SWAT and with that "Shotty Snipers" you get shotgun, but not Scattershot. This is a science fiction game, 343 made it, they designed the weapons and then they FORGET that there are alien and Forerunner counterparts to the human weapons. They need to upper the score limit, the games don't go on long enough. I also hate the way you earn armor now, by hard commendation challenges (the community probably wanted that) especially that they are too hard to keep track of. I don't know for sure why they've taken out weapon respawn. Apparently weapon respawn was "bad," apparently it would make Halo 4 less competitive. I've never seen any complaints about weapon respawn, it makes Halo more unique. It's stupid and boring, playing with just assault rifles and precision guns now, some weapons are placed across the maps at start, but they don't respawn. "Ordnance ready!" it'll be a weapon or temporary power-up, but it gets harder to get and is not enough to keep you playing a game without just using carbine weapons. As a good player, you will earn average 4-5 drops in a game. I don't know how many fans like this change or whether they do or not, but you don't earn enough ordnance to justify it and you should have selection of 2 weapons, completely ruined the game for me. With that Flood Mode, it's stupid that you can use Promethean Vision and why can't things be as if their real? the multiplayer is actually SPARTANS training in a high-tech virtual simulation, is 343 trying to be more realistic and state that SPARTANS wouldn't actually kill each other? and I suppose the Flood Mode is just SPARTANS dressing up and pretending? I guess this explains why Elites aren't playable now. Reach has lots of problems and a terrible campaign, they screwed up Halo CE Anniversary by making the multiplayer a map-pack for Reach and now Halo 4 is a bad game... I enjoyed Halo 4's campaign but I was very annoyed at the end for it's short length. Halo means a lot to me and had a big influence on me getting the Xbox 360 3 years ago. Again, I wait 18 months desperately for a game and it's bad. 3 years of development and +awesome new Promethean enemies, +better graphics and sound effects, +Spartan Ops, -VERY short campaign. -Multiplayer falls apart; weapons don't respawn for stupid reasons, missing game modes, small Forge World boundaries, bad maps, not enough maps, no big maps and a stupid setup, -no Firefight, -unlock armor by commendations. -Why not let us play vs our friends in matchmaking? it makes the game more fun. -And why not let us carry more weapons? oh I get it, because in reality, people can't? Halo should NOT be taken seriously. Would that make the game less competitive in multiplayer? would it cause bad balancing? I don't think so, I totally agree it would make Halo better, more unique and more away from typical shooters. Halo 4 took 3 years of development, this review took me 3 hours. To me, Halo means a lot. To me, Halo 4 is just a wreckage, not a package. To me, Halo 4 is the biggest disappointment of 2012.… Expand
  99. Stuu
    Nov 25, 2012
    4
    343 industries clearly wanted to distance themselves from Bungie by redesigning how the Halo universe looks and how it sounds. Unfortunately for 343 compared to Reach the game feels far less impressive with less appealing aesthetics and the completely redesigned sounds seemed to miss the mark too.

    The game itself tried to do to many things to please a larger audience base. New to the g    ame are mech armor, linear flying sequences (which uncannily seemed like Starfox 64 with a halo skin) Quick time events and even a set piece that seemed to be taken from portal, where the bad guy inexplicably re-arranges a level design to make it harder (but not impossible for some reason) to get from point A to point B. On the note of the Bad guy, his motivation is brushed away in one line of dialogue and then takes a position of complete indifference to Master Chief for the rest of the game even though he is continually foiled by the chief. Cortana no longer has her strong personality but rather now reminds me of someone craving attention by constantly complaining just to get Master Chief to reassure her which accumulates to the most out of place cut-scene.

    The multiplayer is now more focused on fast paced action rather than weapon spawn camping. which is a significant improvement. Though the need for a perk to be able to pick up fallen grenades seems a bit odd for a halo game.

    Overall a massive missed opportunity with the poorly written and heavily retconned plot where Microsoft might have been better off just creating a completely new universe from scratch rather than attaching onto the existing halo one.    … Expand
  100. sweatyfatfngrz
    Dec 1, 2012
    1
    Am I reviewing the right game? I keep reading all these positive reviews and I have to wonder how many bong rips you'd have to take to get that perception of this game. Seems like the only thing going for it is the huge fan base that the other Halo games established. The story was cheesy, graphics left a lot to be desired and the online game play was so lacking that I'm not sure why they even bothered. About the only thing that came out of this game is now I know which of my friends like purple, cyan and pink. Thank God the new Black Ops is out and I get $40 for trading this in! Would have given it a 0 out of 10 but that is just ridiculous.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 83 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 87
  3. Negative: 1 out of 87
  1. Hyper Magazine
    Dec 17, 2012
    90
    Halo 4 eschews esoteric delivery for a sledgehammer story with a blockbuster aesthetic. Epic, engaging and sensorially awesome. [Jan 2013, p.60]
  2. Eurogamer Portugal
    Dec 5, 2012
    90
    In the end, this game is still a fairly conservative and faithful to the original spirit, even with some significant changes.
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  3. DailyGame
    Dec 3, 2012
    75
    The narrative is outstanding, even in spite of a few plot-point missteps, and the character evolution of Master Chief and Cortana deserves to be further explored with these wonderful storytellers (well, maybe one of them can't happen, but I'll avoid spoilers). However, the gameplay feels jilted, awkward and unrefined, three unforgivable sins in a landscape populated with other quite-capable FPS franchises. As a result, I'm going to average everything out: great story plus bad gameplay equals an average experience. And in this overcrowded FPS genre, "average" is isn't something I'd recommend buying.
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