Halo’sIdentity Problem Began With an Admirable Mess

It ’s a law of nature that finally , every long - run secret plan franchise will have a fussy entry that gets dinged forstraying too farfrom what made it so fun in the first lieu . Your Super Mario Sunshine , yourDragon Age II , Assassin ’s Creed III , and so on . Whether or not that opinion alter more favourably over time , the initial ghost of negativeness will forever hover it . Microsoft ’s Halo is no exception , except that disconfirming specter has n’t hovered over one finicky game , but one whole studio .

Halo 4 released for the Xbox 360 on November 6 , 2012 , and was the first full entry from developer 343 Industries . The studio became the official stewards of the enfranchisement after Bungie bow out with Halo Reach in 2010 , and prior to Halo 4 , made Reach map packs and contribute development on the 2011 remaking to Halo : Combat Evolved . For what was the start of what would fare to be love as the “ Reclaimer Saga , ” 343 wanted to put a bigger direction on narrative than Bungie ’s games , which they attain by get to the cutting edge the series ’ deeper Forerunner traditional knowledge that was present in the early game , but not the enceinte focal point .

For a franchise whose early entree could well be tally up as “ guy wire in helmet kills aliens , ” and as the game industry was beginning to put a groovy focus on characters in its exclusive player offer , you may see why 343 would follow causa . With that in mind , it makes sensory faculty why Halo 4 chosen to weave in Master Chief and Cortana ’s efforts to get back to Earth amidst the latter ’s deteriorating mental country and subsequent death with the arrival of the Forerunner Didact , who wants to commute humans into robotic Promethean warrior under his rule to suppress the galaxy . If there ’s anything that Halo could be suited for , it would be a abstruse geographic expedition of character , and whether one chooses to search atChief and Cortana ’s dynamicas platonic or amorous , there is something there that ’s made their adventures deserving following over twelvemonth . But while the drive tries its best , the end resultant is ultimately kind of a Mess .

Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft

No doubt , there ’s some highlights : the opening night wherein Chief and Cortana endeavor to escape the ship they ’ve spent years in cryo eternal rest on while being occupy by the Covenant is chaotic and dizzying , and the moment where the pair clash Edwin Herbert Land on the reality of Requiem and Chief take care up at the vibrate skyscrapers make for a similar sense of bigness and awe consanguineal to when the they stepped onto the Halo ring in the original game . Similarly , the penultimate mission , which is essentially a Death Star foot race , ca n’t help but feel awesome thanks largely in part to a strong melodic mount from co - composerKazuma Jinnouchi .

But the biggest trouble of Halo 4 ’s campaign , and the Reclaimer Saga overall , is that it too easily overindulges in the series ’ already constitute mythology , or just piles on new traditional knowledge without doing a decent enough business of establishing why it ’s unlike than what ’s come before . Amidst the Chief - Cortana story , which features some of the serial ’ skilful written material for the characters , the Forerunner of it all begins to feel like it ’s mire in too much terminology to be approachable to anyone not already waist - deep in inflate culture medium . And it ’s a shame to say this , because Halo 4 contains one of the series ’ most interesting plus that ’s come to define 343 ’s future games , and even theHalo goggle box series .

Halo 4 features standard co - op standardised to that of its predecessors , while also introduce a novel mode called Spartan Ops . Set after the event of the plot ’s campaign , up to four actor with their own customizable Spartans would participate in commission with their own narrative hook and weekly expiration agenda . That mode did n’t last longer than the first season , and narrative outcome antecedently meant for succeeding seasons were convert into monthly comics that serve to bridge the campaigns of Halo 4 and Halo 5 . But its sprightliness lived on in 343 ’s continuation : Halo 5 ’s Centennial State - op place players in the boot of three discover Spartans on the respective teams of Master Chief and Jameson Locke . Halo Infinite , though it ’s keep up in the footsteps of other lively service plot by feature narrative events in its seasonal model , could n’t have gotten there without Spartan Ops laying the foundation for the franchise to explore .

Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft

Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft

Amongst the pantheon of Halo developers , 343 ’s land tenure has n’t been without its issues and controversies , both overall and specific to sure entries . As stated at the jump , it ’s the curse of any long - running franchise : the idea of what it is becomes held so tightly by fans that anything that vary from it is seen as a gross betrayal . In this guinea pig , the franchise ’s peak would beHalo 3 , a Jagannath that was so handsome that it work in player who never gave the serial so much as a glance back then . At estimable , anything else that ’s come after can only desire to reach second place or perhaps be seen as a near enough equal , depending on one ’s estimation of a finicky game .

For 343 , its Halo game feel like they hail so close to flawlessness . Halo 4 , 5 , and Infinite have their various strength and weakness , and each one feels like they get a certain part of what produce the franchise so dear and why it merit to stick around . But each clock time the developers assay to sort out what did n’t figure out in a former entry , the crack in the franchise ’s identity begin to show , and it ’s getting to the point where they either need to get wholly new armor or move on to a new journeying .

need more io9 news program ? Check out when to ask the latestMarvelandStar Warsreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know aboutHouse of the DragonandLord of the Rings : The Rings of Power .

Image: 343 Industries/Microsoft