: I know that was long-winded, but here's the part where you come in. I dropped
: by the forum to see HBO's feedback concerning Halo at E3, and I noticed a
: surprising number of comments saying how 343i had botched Halo 4, how it
: was lackluster, even bad, game, and how it cast doubt on 343i's future
: endeavors. What I want to know is why you think that. HBO has a reputation
: for a discerning eye and cutting opinions, so I'd like to hear why you
: guys think Halo 4 sucked (or why it was awesome, if you are so inclined).

Leave it to Leviathan to say what I'm thinking better than I ever could.

Anyway, I've spoken about Halo 4 here, here, and over there as well.

Good discussions are here, here, here and here.

But I get the feeling that you'd rather stir up new discussion, rather than read old transcripts. Very well.

Honestly, it all boils down to campaign.

-The Didact is an idiot.
He's insane, ineffectual, and uninteresting. He's incapable of harming the Chief, despite having the Chief in his clutches thrice* with every reason to off the supersoldier, but he doesn't. He acts contrary to the characterization that was established previously, but you have to hunt down the terminals and leave the game to get the vaguest idea why.

His Prometheans were dull, anime-esque, and tedious to fight. Their backstory only makes sense when you realize that the Didact is stark slavering buggo, and the fact that Forerunner weapons are just reskinned Human weapons is just short of an insult to science fiction fans.

*Including the trench run.

-The Covenant are mongrels.
The problem isn't that the ex-Covenant are antagonists. The problem is that 343i is only interested in the ex-Covenant as antagonists, to the point of rebuilding them into "A new Covenant." They've even been redesigned to look more bestial, so you don't feel so bad about killing them.

The Great Schism has been marginalized, except as an excuse to reduce the ex-Covenant factions as major powers. What could have been a cornucopia of excellent stories was dropped in favor of a shallow struggle against a 'badass alien' who wanted to wipe Humanity from the face of the universe... probably because complex political intrigue is too hard to write. But an epic struggle against a Red Skull/Thanos mashup? That's something a comic book writer can wrap his head around.

-Humanity is Superior.
Yeah, while the Covenant is barely able to tie their shoes, Humanity has a super-duper-destroyer with a pocket fleet and an entire Spartan IV program. Because we're just that awesome.

Well, we have a few flaws, like the crippling inability to assign anybody who exhibits competence to a position of command.

-Change is good, right?
Like you said, visual/audio retcons didn't gel. Even if we treat 343i's Halo as a reboot, their reimagining didn't hold up to what Bungie made.

Overall, 343i reminds me of a cargo cult. They're building an imitation of Halo while imitating other popular games. Unfortunately, because they don't seem to understand what made Halo work, the result is...

Yeah. Something like that.