Halo 4

 

       

Halo 4
Developer(s)	343 Industries Additional work by:[show]
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Studios
Composer(s)	Neil Davidge
Series	Halo
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release date(s)	November 6, 2012 JP November 8, 2012
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Media/distribution	Optical disc
System requirements For multiplayer mode:

Halo 4 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries for the Xbox 360 console. It is the first installment in a new trilogy of Halo series games, named the "Reclaimer Trilogy". The game was released worldwide on November 6, 2012, with the exception of Japan where the game will be released on November 8, 2012. The game begins 4 years after the ending of Halo 3, and marks the return of the main protagonist, Master Chief, along with artificial intelligence construct Cortana.
Halo 4 was officially announced on June 4, 2011, at E3 2011. Its development was revealed at the same time as Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. On September 26, 2012, it was announced that the game's development was complete.

Gameplay 

 

 

 

 

   

Modes

Halo 4's story or campaign mode can be played through alone or cooperatively with one other player in split screen and up to three other players through Xbox Live.

Unlike in Halo 3 cooperative campaign where each player takes the role of a different character, in Halo 4 all players will play as Master Chief.

Halo 4 features a new story-driven game mode, titled "Spartan Ops", that can be played solo or cooperatively on two player split screen and on Xbox Live with up to three other players. It serves as a replacement for the Firefight game mode that featured in Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST. Season one of Spartan Ops delivers five new objective-based missions and cinematics each week over a period of ten weeks to players.

In the multiplayer component of Halo 4, titled Infinity multiplayer, players build their own custom Spartan-IV super-soldier and advance in their multiplayer career which spans across gameplay in War Games, Spartan Ops, Forge and Theater. Players can advance through ranks by earning experience (or XP) by playing War Games, Spartan Ops, using Forge, and by completing both challenges and commendations.Commendations and challenges were first featured in Halo: Reach, both have been expanded in Halo 4. At each rank players earn Spartan Points (SP), which are used to purchase gameplay items such as weapons, armor abilities and various upgrades for personal loadouts.

Once players attain rank SR-50 they can enlist into one of the eight available Specializations, enabling players to unlock further customisation for their Spartan. Each Specialization is composed of ten ranks, players cannot switch their Specialization until they complete it. Items for visual customisation are also unlocked by gaining ranks, mastering commendations and completing certain goals.Halo 4 includes Forge, a map-editing tool, that was first featured in Halo 3. Both Forge and War Games can be played on four player split screen, although some War Games playlists may restrict the number of players playing from a single console.

Plot

Setting

Halo 4 takes place in the year 2557. It marks the return of the Master Chief, John-117, as a playable protagonist for the first time since 2007's Halo 3, who'd been considered dead or missing in action by Covenant and UNSC forces since the end events of the previous game.
The planet featured in most of the game, Requiem, is a Forerunner world. The Forerunners made the Halo installations as emergency weapons that could wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy.

Plot

Having been lost in space since the finale of Halo 3, Master Chief and Cortana drift aboard the wreckage of the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn. Cortana wakes Master Chief after a mysterious disturbance and warns him Covenant forces are trying to board the ship. They find themselves near a mysterious Forerunner planet, Requiem, where much of the game takes place. This planet asserts a "Gravity Well," causing the remnants of the Dawn to crash-land on the surface of Requiem.

Cortana confirms that the Covenant forces opposing the Chief are a splinter faction called the "Storm Covenant" who have come to Requiem for reasons currently unknown; they are also opposed by cybernetic constructs called Prometheans. She reveals that the normal lifespan of an AI is seven years and she is currently in her eighth year. Her exposure to Halo and her operation beyond her natural lifespan have contributed to her becoming "rampant", a mental state of aged AIs akin to insanity, and which normally results in the 'death' of the AI. She also receives radio signals from a human ship, the UNSC Infinity, whose captain Andrew Del Rio and executive officer Thomas Lasky have picked up the distress beacon from the Dawn. Cortana tries to warn them away, lest they also be dragged into the Gravity Well, and directs the Chief to the source of a jamming signal that is interfering with her broadcasts. Unfortunately, it is actually a trap laid by The Didact, a Forerunner first introduced in Halo Legends, who has summoned both the Storm Covenant and now John-117. John inadvertently frees The Didact from his imprisonment, and The Didact, now supported by both Storm Covenant and Prometheans, sets out to achieve his goals, which begin with an assault on the Infinity.

After helping Lasky, Del Rio and Sarah Palmer, member of the SPARTAN-IV corps, repulse the attack on the Infinity, the Master Chief sets out on a mission to destroy the Gravity Well so that the UNSC ship can escape. Cortana's Rampancy continues to plague her, as she loses her temper and is not always able to complete mission tasks. Additionally, the Chief is contacted by The Librarian, long-deceased Forerunner, protector of humanity, and former wife of The Didact. She explains that after humanity was cast down after their defeat in the Human-Forerunner War (first detailed in Halo: Cryptum), The Flood began to encroach upon the galaxy, and the Forerunners were divided on how to protect humanity from them. The Didact advocated using a device called "The Composer" to convert humans into loyal Prometheans, some of whom the Chief has already fought, and currently seeks this tool as the means to his conquest.

The Librarian grants John-117 immunity to the Compositing process and returns him to the UNSC forces. The Gravity Well is successfully demolished, but Captain Del Rio orders a full retreat to Earth instead of staying to oppose The Didact, using Cortana's Rampancy to attack the veracity of her and John's testimony. The Master Chief refuses these orders and remains on Requiem with Cortana.

The Master Chief and Cortana attempt to sabotage The Didact's ship. They are unsuccessful, but by stowing aboard they are taken to the location of The Composer: the Ivanoff Research Station recently established near Installation 03, one of the remaining Halo rings. Despite the combined efforts of the Chief and Ivanoff research staff to destroy The Composer using a nuclear weapon, The Didact is able to gain custody of it and departs for Earth, with John and Cortana pursuing in a Broadsword fighter. Aided by a UNSC defense fleet headed by the Infinity, the Chief boards the ship with warhead in tow, whilst Cortana takes advantage of her Rampancy-caused personality fragmentation to overwhelm the enemy computer systems. The two together defeat The Didact, and John detonates the bomb; unfortunately, Cortana exerts what little power and agency remaining to her to save him from the explosion, and is lost along with the ship.

A post-credits scene, in which John returns to Earth for debriefing, is overlaid by narration from The Didact, proclaiming the Forerunners custodians of the galaxy and humanity their greatest threat. "Think of my acts as you will, but do not doubt the reality: the reclamation has already begun, and we are hopeless to stop it."

Development

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Whereas the original trilogy of Halo games was developed by Bungie, Halo 4 was developed by 343 Industries, a subsidiary of Microsoft Studios. 343 Industries was established in 2007 by Microsoft Studios to oversee the Halo universe following Bungie's separation from Microsoft. The studio's creative team, which includes nearly 200 people, were developing the game since at least 2009 and was led by creative director Josh Holmes. The game utilizes much of the "sandbox" that has been featured across all six prior Halo games and other media, in addition to introducing new characters, weapons, vehicles, and other elements. The game's "sandbox" and overall style are meant to be more evocative of Halo: Combat Evolved than of later installments. The game engine used is a heavily modified version of the engine established by Bungie. Unlike previous games in the Halo series, Halo 4 runs natively in 720p resolution. The game itself comes on two discs and requires 4GB of available storage space either on a 8GB USB flash drive or Xbox 360 hard drive to play the multiplayer component. Disc two is used to install the multiplayer content and disc one is used for launching the game.

The story of Halo 4 is focused less on the Halo series' traditional straightforward first-person shooter genre, instead relying more on mystery, exploration and discovery. Developers described the game as being grand in scope and scale. Forerunner elements will be featured extensively in the game's environment. Developers also suggested that the game will reveal how humanity and the UNSC have adapted to the galaxy after the end of their war with the Covenant, particularly how they have co-opted Forerunner technology.

Unlike the original trilogy, the story has been designed to be part of a three-game arc from the beginning. In addition, 343 Industries is aiming for "a more complete connectivity between all of their future media than before", and the Forerunner Saga novel Halo: Primordium, the post-war novel Halo: Glasslands, and the terminals in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, will "definitely" have "resonant connections" to Halo 4's story. Little information has been released regarding the trilogy storyline, but developers have claimed that Halo 5 will be a much darker title before the conflict is resolved in Halo 6.

Master Chief's character will also be explored and developed in more depth than in the prior games, and the relationship between John and Cortana will be heavily featured and greatly expanded. The new design of the Master Chief's armor has undergone a number of iterations, and it has been confirmed that the design from the announcement trailer is not the final version. On December 2, 2011, Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor said that both Master Chief and Cortana will undergo "radical" changes in appearance for the new game, some of them attributed to better graphics and others to story elements.
The art director for Halo 4 is Kenneth Scott. He described the visual style of Halo 4 as being more ingrained in the expanded universe fiction, and more "mature" than before. With the game's increased focus on the Forerunners, the artists have invested heavily into the look and feel of Forerunner technology. It has also been stated that there will be more diversity to Forerunner structures, including fully active Forerunner technology as opposed to the mostly inert and abandoned structures seen in the earlier games.

On July 7, 2012, a pre-release build of Halo 4's Forge mode was revealed at the Rooster Teeth Expo which took place at the Austin Convention Center. The Forge mode was developed by Certain Affinity, a development team that has worked alongside Bungie and 343 Industries on previous Halo titles. Due to rendering issues and significant engine changes, Theater mode in campaign was not featured in the game on launch, but it is a feature that may be implemented in the future. On September 26, 2012, Frank O'Connor announced that the game's development was complete.

Cast

Voice actors Steve Downes and Jen Taylor reprise their roles in Halo 4 as Master Chief and Cortana respectively.Actor Mark Rolston voices Captain Andrew Del Rio. Additional voices that have also been confirmed include Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter and Jason Bradbury. Bruce Thomas is the performance capture actor playing the role of Master Chief and actress Mackenzie Mason will be playing the role of Cortana. Facial motion capture is utilized to capture the facial expressions of actors where applicable.

Video

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