Halo 4 Review

This post will not contain any spoilers. First I will discuss the campaign, then Spartan Ops, and finally the online play.

Just recently, I was able to buy the game Halo 4. It is the continuation of the Halo series and the start of a second trilogy. The premise of the campaign is that you are awoken on a ship with Cortana many years after the end of Halo 3. The ship, Forward unto Dawn, is drifting towards a forerunner planet. On this planet, you have to fight through the campaign against the Covenant and a new race of aliens called Prometheans. Overall, I felt that the campaign was  very good, especially if you have played the previous parts of the Halo series but I felt that I had many unanswered questions. One of which was why the Covenant were even on the planet. This question was only somewhat answered in the final missions. There were others but they would give away large sections of the plot so you will just have to trust me for now.

One of the available game mods in Halo 4 is called Spartan Ops where you are Spartans that are given specific missions to carry out regarding the forerunner planet. At the beginning of this game mode, I was very intrigued. Not only did the plot answer some of those unanswered questions I spoke of earlier but also it contains a different style of plot where you are part of a team rather than a lone ranger. However, you still do almost all tasks yourself. The plot eventually gets repetitive since you have to keep going back to the same locations and have to do similar tasks. Continually having to kill Prometheans and Covenant soldiers. Still, I love how new Spartan Ops are given which essentially are a continuation of the campaign.

The one aspect of the game Halo 4 that I get angry with is the online play. The guns that are unlock able to start each math with are generally terrible. The only good weapons are things like the Spartan Laser, rocket launcher and the sniper rifles. These are only found either from different locations across the map if they spawn or gotten from ordinance which are weapon drops from kill streaks. Good weapons and the vehicles are the only plausible way to kill people. Also, the weapons that you start out with are all basically the same game, regardless of racial origin. There is a semi-auto rifle per race, an automatic and inaccurate rifle, and a pistol. The premise that these different aliens all are at the same tech level in just stupid. The forerunners were able to create the halo rings but could not make an accurate, long range, automatic gun. However, all of this information is negated if you prefer the game mode swat. This eliminates shields and allows only certain starting weapons. Personally, I find this the only game mode truly enjoyable. Most people would disagree though.

Overall, I would suggest this game to anyone who liked the first games of the Halo series. I know many people that are dedicated to the online play so I don't know how much my opinion of it matters. This campaign is a great continuation of the series and I am genuinely looking forward to the next.