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Level Thoughts *SP*
Posted By: RC MasterDate: 11/18/12 5:00 p.m.

In Response To: My Halo 4 Review / thoughts / complaints *SP* (RC Master)


-- Levels --


- M1 Dawn -


Was a little too much narrow corridors, too much waiting around, and not enough sandboxes to play in. Compare it to Cairo Station or even Pillar of Autumn and it's much tighter. The level starts to get good near the end and then it's all over. Thanks for putting in scope for trick jumps in the last area but the rest of the level is so boring it's almost not worth playing.

- M2 Requiem -

. For a game that gives you Sprint as standard a lot of the paths seem very narrow. Particularly between the first open area and the Bridge. I liked the first open area, decent scope for different approaches there, but there are a few too many FRG Grunts. The next couple of areas are pretty boring, too tight, too many enemies not enough approaches with cover. Then you get the bridge! FUN! Then you get locked into the most open section of an open area which isn't that fun, but once you start taking it apart it was good fun, and there are a few tricks you can utilise to trick the spawns! Whoop! Then the level ends... :( By the way, blowing up the Banshee I worked hard to get through a door is BS!

- M3 Forerunners -

I really hated this level at first, now I just think it's the worst level. It's really not pretty in itself and as my first introduction to the knights I got massively frustrated and died the most here. I think they should have probably just made it a snow theme like the Spartan Ops level that borrows some of it's buildings/geometry. The grey Knights would have stood out better too. As I got better at taking out Knights I had a bit more fun. I learned some skips and tricks and cut some areas down to size. It is still all a bit too repetitious, you go through the same 'teleporter hub' like... three times? You do the 'destroy the 3 generators' thing twice.

By the way, the teleporters totally screw with your sense of flow of the mission since they're so disconnected. The second generator area isn't that fun so far still - still too many enemies, not enough cover, they just shove you out in the open and the Banshees are so brokenly overpowered. The Ghost escape sequence was fun and intense the first time (probably helped by the fact I didn't die there), but left me a little cold on subsequent playthroughts: there isn't seemingly any room to improve or optimise, unlike the similar sequences at the end of Halo 1 and 2 that where there were multiple paths and required precise control for optimal path. It also felt a bit too soon to have another 'escape sequence' when there was already one at the end of the first mission.

- M4 Infinity -

The first areas of this level is like a green version of the level 'Cortana' from Halo 3: confusing, multi-layered organic, tight arenas. There are WAY too many invisible barriers all over the place which makes it feel like you're just in a tunnel rather than a jungle. A jungle filled with way too many annoying little crawlers and scaredy-cat Watchers. The level picks up a LOT in the second half in terms of fun. The scorpion section was a little restrictive though - it reminded me of Quarantine Zone from Halo 2 but without any of the wider sections. Mantis was fun, but again a little 1-dimensional. I appreciated the fact that I could opt to grab a Mongoose instead - that was good fun.

In the loading bay however, the game's overzealous despawning regime really annoyed me: I was doing an Easy difficulty speed run and had forgone the Scorpion in favour of the faster Ghost. So when I reached the loading bay I knew there was one Grunt there with a Fuel Rod Gun that I could use to help destroy the Hunters. But - and here's the kicker - the FRG despawned literally as I was trying to pick it up. There shouldn't have been anything loaded except that one room and still it couldn't even keep the weapons around for 10 seconds! WTF?

- M5 Reclaimer -

Some people said they don't like this mission but I actually had a fair amount of fun here. I enjoyed riding the Mammoth even if it was a bit slow and they talk far too much. There are also a HUGE number of skips on this level and you have a good degree of freedom to explore the rocks around the areas. Exploration is still cut a little short by seemingly illogical barriers: I want to explore the waterfall behind the crashed Pelican dammit! Also, it's a bit disappointing that many of the vistas are fairly close matte paintings - where you know equivalents in Reach were real geometry for miles.

- M6 Shutdown -

This level is really hard the way you're supposed to do it, and stupidly easy if you go straight to the 3rd tower. There are way too many Knights crammed onto tiny platforms in the first two towers with little room to manoeuvre or get around. The Gondola seemed fun at first until you realise you're just repeating the same thing three times (get off, kill enemies, hit button). Then you do a very similar thing at the other tower, except it's a destroy mission (which is way too reminiscent of Mission 3, Forerunner), and there are protective panels over the cores which don't open in any sensical fashion, and won't let you kill the things even though you can blatantly see and hit them. GAH!

The Pelican was drastically underused, a bit too heavy, and overall not as fun as the Falcon from Reach. The Phantoms as the only enemies were too simple, especially with the uber-Laser you had - missile pods would probably have been more fun (which would maintain consistency with Pelican models we've seen in the past). The scale was too large with too much open space to make it feel like you were going at any sort of speed.

- M7 Composer

The first fighting area of this level - the hanger - shows some promise with some wider, more open areas with multiple rooms, routes and opportunities to skip fights. But then it quickly devolves into another corridor crawling level with areas even less interesting than the first level, Dawn. Getting to blast the Covies out the airlock was fun but it's a bit of an all-or-nothing deal. Then with like so many aspects of this game: you do it twice.

Again the Mantis was fun, but it's so tall you have difficulty finding places to cover behind and feel like you're constantly without shields on Legendary. There is also WAAAY too much waiting around at the end: I would have preferred to have been able to actually do something in the mean time like at least move through space. Being stuck in a room was boring.

- M8 Midnight -

Actually enjoyed the Broadsword! Again it' s underused though: trench run, destroy 5 orbs and you're done. The hitboxes on some of the moving pieces of geometry are screwy too: there is this one partially closing door that has nailed me a bunch of times but I would swear every time I was in the clear.

I think it could have used some pro-level control options (barrel rolls, to start with) and something to fight other than stationary turrets. Imagine how fun it would have been to roll your way through all those tunnels and turrets? (imagine the end of Star Wars Episode 6 where they're trying to get inside the Death Star to hit the core). Funnily enough, if you hold down RB and flip around in the final area, you can get the camera stuck upside down - showing a lot of the code of the Sabre is still there. I feel like I've already mastered the entire route less than 2 weeks in, whereas I still don't feel like a master of the Sabre section in Reach - and that is mostly because of the enemies you have to deal with. The turrets barely bother you at all on Midnight.

The rest of the level is far too repetitive (is there a theme here?) you go through the same 3-leveled hub twice, the T-corridor like… 3 times? (in succession) The same magically floating islands around the Composer twice, just with different enemies set ups.

The fighting is a lot more bearable than M3-Forerunner though, as you get more plentiful tools. But again the constant teleporter use really breaks the flow of the level.

I really didn't like the Campaign ending on a Quick Time Event. It was incredibly slow and lame, and the whole set-up was cliché. I wish there was an option to skip it as I have no desire to ever 'play' that bit again. Even H2 style boss battles or H3 style 'point and shoot' would have been preferable.

rcvgs



Message Index




Replies:

My Halo 4 Review / thoughts / complaints *SP*RC Master 11/18/12 4:57 p.m.
     Level Thoughts *SP*RC Master 11/18/12 5:00 p.m.
           I liked your review styleRevenant1988 11/18/12 8:14 p.m.
           Re: Level Thoughts *SP*scarab 11/19/12 1:21 a.m.
                 Re: Level Thoughts *SP*Lurono 11/19/12 7:52 a.m.
                 Re: Level Thoughts *SP*SonGoharotto 11/19/12 10:05 a.m.
                 Re: Level Thoughts *SP*Quirel 11/19/12 12:01 p.m.
     Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*RC Master 11/18/12 5:03 p.m.
           Re: Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*Cody Miller 11/18/12 5:47 p.m.
                 Re: Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*uberfoop 11/18/12 6:04 p.m.
                       Re: Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*SonGoharotto 11/18/12 6:27 p.m.
                 Re: Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*RC Master 11/19/12 10:47 a.m.
                 Same for sprint racing on bikesLurono 11/19/12 10:08 p.m.
           Re: Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*BoneKin 11/18/12 8:55 p.m.
           Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)Revenant1988 11/18/12 9:03 p.m.
                 Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)Ragashingo 11/18/12 9:50 p.m.
                       Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)RC Master 11/19/12 6:14 a.m.
                 Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)uberfoop 11/18/12 10:37 p.m.
                 Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)Cody Miller 11/19/12 12:19 a.m.
                       Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)Revenant1988 11/19/12 6:36 a.m.
                 Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)RC Master 11/19/12 11:16 a.m.
                       Nanomachines *NM*thebruce0 11/19/12 12:18 p.m.
                             *cringe* *NM*RC Master 11/19/12 2:09 p.m.
                       Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)NikGntre 11/20/12 11:12 a.m.
                             Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)Quirel 11/20/12 11:18 a.m.
                                   Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)NikGntre 11/21/12 12:42 a.m.
                                   Re: Dude, you nailed MP for me (long reply)Hoovaloov 11/21/12 4:03 a.m.
                             MP is now an unreal tournamentscarab 11/20/12 1:35 p.m.
           Re: Infinity Multiplayer thoughts *no sp*Hedgemony 11/18/12 11:48 p.m.
     Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*RC Master 11/18/12 5:09 p.m.
           Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*SonGoharotto 11/18/12 6:25 p.m.
                 Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*uberfoop 11/18/12 6:39 p.m.
                       Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*SonGoharotto 11/18/12 7:54 p.m.
                       Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*scarab 11/19/12 12:10 a.m.
                             Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Quirel 11/19/12 12:50 a.m.
                 Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Leviathan 11/18/12 6:56 p.m.
                       Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*SonGoharotto 11/18/12 7:52 p.m.
                 Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Ragashingo 11/18/12 7:32 p.m.
                       Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*SonGoharotto 11/18/12 7:51 p.m.
                             Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*uberfoop 11/18/12 8:19 p.m.
                                   Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Ragashingo 11/18/12 8:44 p.m.
                                         Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*uberfoop 11/18/12 8:53 p.m.
                                               Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Ragashingo 11/18/12 9:40 p.m.
                                                     Exactly what I was thinking *NM*Lurono 11/19/12 10:11 p.m.
                                               Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Hoovaloov 11/19/12 1:02 a.m.
                             Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*scarab 11/19/12 12:13 a.m.
                                   Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Hoovaloov 11/19/12 1:12 a.m.
                                         ^ This *NM*SonGoharotto 11/19/12 9:30 a.m.
                 Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*RC Master 11/19/12 2:04 p.m.
                       Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*The Loot 11/20/12 10:55 a.m.
           Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*INSANEdrive 11/18/12 9:27 p.m.
           Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*PsycoJoe 11/18/12 9:59 p.m.
                 Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*Quirel 11/19/12 12:35 a.m.
                       Re: Spartan Ops & Enemy thoughts *SP*PsycoJoe 11/19/12 2:04 a.m.
     Well said. *NM*Devil Mingy 11/18/12 8:32 p.m.
     Re: My Halo 4 Review / thoughts / complaints *SP*Kermit 11/18/12 11:18 p.m.
     Good thoughts, RC, and well written! *NM*Lurono 11/19/12 10:14 p.m.



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