Although next month’s Game Informer, which features a cover story unveiling new details regarding 343 Industries’ Halo 4, doesn’t release for another few days, first details from the cover story have begun appearing online. While the information isn’t as concrete as fans might expect, what 343 Industries does share regarding the game’s story and multiplayer is pretty intriguing.
Story wise, it appears that Halo 4 picks up right where Halo 3 left off (although a few years later), with Master Chief battling a Covenant force that has breached his ship. The Covenant, if you’ll remember, had made a truce with human forces over the course of the Halo series, but apparently something has them after Spartan 117 again.
As the story envelops, 343 promises to explain more about Master Chief’s origins including a deeper exploration of Cortana’s evolution from irreplaceable partner to an AI gone rogue. Cooperative fans should also be happy to learn that four-player co-op across the entire campaign will be making a return.
Spartan Ops is a new addition for Halo 4, but is a common feature amongst multiplayer shooters. Essentially a cooperative campaign, Spartan Ops will allow up to four players to get together and complete their own story missions complete with unique objectives and cinematics.
Like Call of Duty‘s Spec Ops, Spartan Ops will also be getting a wealth of new additions through DLC and updates. Spartan Ops will be 343′s answer to Firefight, which will not be receiving its own dedicated mode this time around.
Multiplayer, which 343 Industries has labeled Infinity, will be a somewhat familiar experience, but still carry some unique qualities. Rather than only picking up weapons on the fly – although weapon drops will be returning — multiplayer will feature loadouts, which are predetermined weapon options each player takes into the multiplayer. Among the items that will be customizable include primary weapon, secondary weapon, grenade type, and weapon armor abilities.
Yes, the return of armor abilities will be pretty contentious, but at least one element, sprinting, will come standard for the Spartan IVs. Additional Spartan abilities like being able to see through walls will be unlockable via an in-game currency system called Spartan Points. Another controversial change is the removal of the respawn clock for matches of Team Slayer; instead getting right back into battle will be instantaneous.
There’s still plenty more details to be revealed by the Halo 4 cover story, but just these small pieces of information show that 343 Industries isn’t just picking up where Bungie left off, but are instead trying to make the series there own. And based on some of the things they are attempting, fans should have plenty to be excited about this Holiday.
Are you more interested in picking up with the story of Master Chief or to get your hands on the new multiplayer?
Halo 4 is scheduled to release Holiday 2012 for the Xbox 360.
Source: Game Informer, NeoGAF
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No! ‘Spartan Ops” Seriously? They’re not trying to make Halo they’re trying to make a Call of Duty-like Halo! The name itself implies it -_- That said, i’ll probably buy the game regardless i’ll just be really pissed off while palying it. This “Spartan Ops” better be good and not reminiscent of Cod. I like Cod, but i like my Halo too.
They said cinematic and story. That to me sounds absolutely awesome. I don’t care if the name is similar. It involves military, it makes sense. To me these games always HAVE to improve on each other, and I think this will be a definite improvement.
Plus, I always hated firefight anyways, it was just a poorly done GOW: Horde mode rip off that was not nearly as fun.
oh get over it. Now adays nothing is new anymore. Everything is a “rip-off” of something else and gears of war wasnt the first game to have a horde mode, it just brought it back.
And Firefight in ODST was amazing but it was kind of bad in Reach
I wasn’t really bashing it. Yeah I didn’t like it, but I didn’t hate it. Didn’t really play it in ODST, but in that game it felt right. In Reach it was either too easy or too hard, never any fun. My point was that Halo has taken things from other games before and made them better, why is it a problem if they do it again?
Not that they shouldn’t. I honestly can’t wait. This game is gonna my birthday present. Lol.
This all sounds very interesting and I’m looking forward to this more and more.
Btw, third to last paragraph, near the end of the first paragraph of should be their, not there.
Other than that, great article.
Good job 343 you butchered Halo.
Should i get the torches and pitchforks and meet you at their workplace?
That would be delightful.
This game still has months of preparement, they didn’t butcher it in any way possible so far
Custom weaps?! HALO is gonna be ruined, this is what got me hating cod in the first place
Its now Call of Halo: Spartan
Ops
calm the hell down people, we dont know the exact details on any of these modes/changes, and i highly doubt it’s the final word on them either, just like the far cry 3 mp, things will more then likely change closer towards release date which from what i have come to gather is around october/november.
i dont really care for mp or any co-op, in fact i dont really care for the halo franchise in general, the series has been very repetitive in terms of narrative and gameplay (just like CoD) and the mp has been full to the rim with annoying little kids.
i hope the narrative goes down a dark alleyway and shows us just how brutal the spartan training really is/was, so we know what makes chief such a ‘hard a**’ (that of which is isn’t imo).
Congrats 343 for screwing up what was the best franchise on xbox imo but ya learn to keep the same aspects as halo not cod weapon loadouts like wtf i understand reach had some type of loadout but not where people customize their own s***.
I just want to know the release date!!!!
….Ummm just the input of a day one fan here but…at what point did any of this sound bad? And at what point do you people not realize that 343 is new perspective and everyone at Bungie who even cared about Halo. Stop judging the game before you play it. To me this sounds Legendary! (See what I did there?)
Might be cool. I still think MC shouldve died in Halo 3 but whatever. Still need a bit more info for me to lock this puppy in.
Haha! Don’t be silly. Spartans don’t die, they just go MIA.
Well this is crap. Pre-determined loadouts? Screw that. I want to play halo not call of duty. The weapons need to stay how they are. That takes to much away from the halo experience. Fans aren’t going to be merciful with this handoff. I sure hope that is speculation only or there’s going to be A LOT of pissed off fans.
Sounds legit. I’m not a huge MP fan but do you blame them from incorporating some Call of Duty aspects? The games sell out every year. Besides, some of the fun parts of these games is its customization.
With that being said, you can’t bash on ‘em for being new and inventive. I mean you have to admit it would be lame playing the same game but with the exception that it’s a sequel *cough* CoD *cough* lol.
I think they are doing a good job keeping Halo alive and fresh, even if the story may seem a little different. Who knows, it could surprise us all.
My point exactly!
No game should sellout just because another s***** fps gets a billion sales. Especially Halo. I want Halo to be Halo not just some b******* cop off. I just cant believe how people don’t see that quantity is not quality.
343 isn’t pumping out games yearly like COD. COD has actually lost ALOT of their online players because people got tired of playing the same game over and over. Since Halo CE they have been taking things from other games, and making them better. And they will and SHOULD continue to do so. That my friend, is Halo being Halo. People get so caught up in pointing fingers from one game to another saying, “Oh they got this from that so it sucks.”
It’s not about who did what first, it’s about who does it best. Don’t hate the game before you play it man. You miss out when you do that.
That is not halo. Halo started the fps era and almost everything that bungie did was original and not fron other games. I don’t have to play it because how do you think they got the info? By them playing the alpha test. They SHOULD go back to being original.
Everybody is entitled to there own opinion. I understand where you are coming from and I respect that. I agree 110% that Halo started it all and that no sequels can beat the original, but nowadays it is kinda difficult to be original and unique. :/ Sadly, the only thing they can do is use stuff that has been used in different games but give it its own Halo twist. I’m not trying to convince you that I’m right or to get you to buy the game or anything… Actually I don’t know what I’m trying to do. Haha I guess I’m just defending an unreleased game, as silly as that sounds.
Oh no….I just realized……….. I was right :O
Red vs. Blue the game!!! Can’t wait to see what Rooster teeth does with this! Lol
What? lol
In Reach there was a room that talked about the RvB testing. It was an easter egg. Now, if they do this, they could, for better or for worse, actually incorporate the stories. Put some comic relief in Halo. The characters have all made Cameo/easter egg’s since Halo 3.
Hmmm… I remember all the easter eggs but I guess I never paid much attention to the Reach one. That would be, like you said, either really awesome or really terrible. Then again I don’t know the possibilities of this actually happening. I’m not familiar with the relationship Roosterteeth has with 343. If it’s anything like the Bungie relationship it will happen. Most definately. Lol.
I think Rooster Teeth would def make it good. lol
Just as long as they keep it away from campaign. If Sarge and MC get into a discussion about the range of a shot gun I’m taking the game back. Lol!
All of these changes sound awesome!
Can’t wait for this to come out!
Spartan IVs? or did you mean Spartan IIIs?
Nope spartan IVs. They changed armor again.
Yea, I just read about it. Stupid IMO.
source: http://www.halopedian.com/SPARTAN-IV_Program
Would have been more intrested in a series surrounding The Battle of Harvest & the first contact w the covenant. Spartan IIs were not publically known, so ur missions wld be deep behind enemy lines or secondary objective wld to not b spotted.
more like changed spartan class, MC has mark VI, spartan III had mark V, spartan IV is a while new group
I actually like the armor I mean its a whole new trilogy with a new developer so it kinda makes sense. Just has a good/cool vibe to me.
ya its pretty cool
When did your Spartan Generation determine what armor you use?
Always has.
II’s = Stealth
III’s = the tank approach
IV’s = Cost efficiency/multi purpose
Class does dictate armor. Read the books.
@DiscipleinBlack
I do read the books (only the Eric Nylund ones) and you would be incorrect sir.
Spartan II’s have had a variety of armors and were the only Spartans that went public. Halsely had a Mark VII armor in development an wld have been deployed had it not been for the attack on Reach.
There were 3 versions of the IIIs; Alpha, Beta & Gamma. All three were practically cost effective cannon fodder on order of Col Ackerson trained by the Spartan II Kurt. Yes, They had the cheaper armor but Noble Team & select others had a more expensive armor.
And Spartan IVs were adults who volunteered. They are a BS story for multiplayer, in that multiplayer the RedvsBlue is a VR training for them.
Both IIs & IIIs used stealth & the tank approach, but only the IIIs were treated as cannon fodder. Class dictates assignments but not armor.
@Discipleinblack
the II’s were tank and III’s were stealth/cost
Adults couldn’t volunteer for Spartan training. It’s in the books. They were kids.
@Andrew
Yes, that is true except in the case of the Spartan Is & the Spartan IVs.
http://www.halopedian.com/SPARTAN-IV_Program
This all sounds pretty cool. I think they could have picked a better name other than “Spartan Ops”, but whatever, I’m sure it’ll be enjoyable.
Dumb! I feel like they just turned this into call of duty. Hopefully they will have a multiplayer beta. I don’t wanna spend more money to play the same game with a sci-fi skin.
Nope no beta. Which is completely ridiculous in my opinion. Probably scared of criticism and how they skinned CoD and put Halo on it.
They said respawning will be immediate, meaning no more tea bagging? Nooooooooo!
Dude I didn’t even think about that?!?!?!?
THANK GOD!!!!!
I just want the clan system to come back to halo.