: Am I the only one around here who kind of enjoyed Halo 4? It wasn't perfect,
: but come on. It's not the disaster that everybody is making it out to be.
: Granted I've played very little multiplayer, and I am not very into the
: extended universe, so complaints regarding those aspects I can't really
: relate to.

: But as a foundation, I think it's pretty strong. Fix some things like the art
: direction, quicktime events, stage gimmicks, and weapon overlap, and I
: think the next one could be a great game easily.

As I state in my review of Halo 4, in which I give the game an overall score of 7/10:

"Had this not been a Halo game, I might have been more generous, but it is a Halo game and thus I must rate it by how it compares to its predecessors. It's a grab bag of missed opportunities, steps backward, and unnecessary changes that detract from the overall experience. While not a terrible game by any means and still better than most of the competition, it is immensely disappointing and one of the weaker entries in the series (for me, it's a tossup between Halo 2 and Halo 4 for "Least Good Halo Game"), and I think the series is going in the wrong direction. It makes me very apprehensive about the franchise's future, and 343 Industries has failed to demonstrate to me that they are worthy caretakers of the legacy they inherited from Bungie."

So yeah, Halo 4 is not a bad game by any means, and compared to most other "AAA" action titles it's pretty damn good. However, by Halo standards it was sorely lacking. COD-style rank-based unlocks, QTEs, ordnance drops, and custom loadouts were unwelcome additions to gameplay. There was too much weapon redundancy. The Campaign missions were perhaps more linear than ever. The number of gametypes and custom options were slashed dramatically. The art design was a radical departure from what came before and makes it feel like it takes place in an alternate reality. Halo 5 really needs to improve on these faults while retaining everything that made it (and prior Halo games) good.