Halo 4

 Xbox 360
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 3901 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,403 out of 3901
  2. Mixed: 725 out of 3901
  3. Negative: 773 out of 3901
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  1. GFreeman
    Mar 21, 2013
    4
    Now I had high hopes for Halo 4. But these hopes were shot down when I was playing the Campaign. The enemy's are defiantly not as smart as people say them to be, and the missions are usually very bland and boring. After beating the game on Normal it then attempted to say me into buying Xbox Live so I can keep playing Halo 4. Now I don't play on the Xbox Live so the multiplayer was out ofNow I had high hopes for Halo 4. But these hopes were shot down when I was playing the Campaign. The enemy's are defiantly not as smart as people say them to be, and the missions are usually very bland and boring. After beating the game on Normal it then attempted to say me into buying Xbox Live so I can keep playing Halo 4. Now I don't play on the Xbox Live so the multiplayer was out of the question. Once I beat the main game, I went to the Infinity lobby to try Spartan Ops only to be shot down and slapped in the face by another wall blocking my way to more Halo 4. That wall was a few sentences that said "Xbox Live Gold membership and permission to play online required for Spartan Ops". I immediately turned off my console after that. I went back into the game however a few months later and played the campaign again. It was fun, but afterwards I check my custom created Spartan. I got nothing for playing the campaign. Absolutely nothing except for a helmet for my Avatar. Heck the game didn't even say what difficulty I completed the game on. In my personal opinion Halo 4 could have been a great game, but was shot down by the Xbox Live requirements. You need Xbox Live to look at over 80% of the games content. I'm sorry to say it, but 343 has really ruined Halo for me.… Expand
  2. SirMauz
    Apr 30, 2013
    4
    Do YOU love Call of Duty? Do YOU paly Halo? Well, then 343 has news for YOU! Call of Duty: Master Chief! Congratulations 343, you successfully took the best of two worlds, and FAILED to combine them. Wow. The story is mediocre, very much a Deus Ex Machina. The Spartan Ops are fun, but hey, we're only giving you 10, wait till Halo 5 comes out. Ok. The Multiplayer is seriously unbalanced,Do YOU love Call of Duty? Do YOU paly Halo? Well, then 343 has news for YOU! Call of Duty: Master Chief! Congratulations 343, you successfully took the best of two worlds, and FAILED to combine them. Wow. The story is mediocre, very much a Deus Ex Machina. The Spartan Ops are fun, but hey, we're only giving you 10, wait till Halo 5 comes out. Ok. The Multiplayer is seriously unbalanced, even with the "new" CSR. Which is BS. The group I play with CONSISTENTLY STILL gets put with players who are either pushovers or MLG bosses. WTF. Balance means EVEN 343, not screw with it till folks give up. Personal Ordnance has a lot to do with this, as you may get rockets in a map and the enemy just sees 'nades. Great plan. OR you get on games like Valhalla and all and the other team ALL pulls Snipes/Beams whilst YOUR team gets Needlers/Shotties. Ok. Smart. If you're going to COPY CoD, at least let US choose our ordnance! Personal loadouts are another big BS thing. Hey new kid, you get any points to level up? No? Ok, enjoy your Assault Rifle while I Stealth Active Camo Plas Nade and DMR you. Really 343? If you continue this crap into Halo 5, expect me to NOT buy it, or any other product you make.… Expand
  3. diggs16
    May 26, 2013
    4
    I thought long and hard about giving this game a lower score because of 343's blatant destruction of my absolute favorite game series, but I was objective. By category, here is how I review this game:

    Graphics/Sound: Excellent. I was skeptical about O'Donnell not doing the score, but Davidge did it justice. The graphics update was a nice touch, and this Halo is easily the best looking.    I thought long and hard about giving this game a lower score because of 343's blatant destruction of my absolute favorite game series, but I was objective. By category, here is how I review this game:

    Graphics/Sound: Excellent. I was skeptical about O'Donnell not doing the score, but Davidge did it justice. The graphics update was a nice touch, and this Halo is easily the best looking.

    Campaign: Decent. I would not go so far as to say it was good, but it was serviceable. It continued the story of the most beloved franchise character, and added a touch of humanity to MC as well. Didact was very forgettable as a villain, and he hardly seemed present throughout the game. The storyline with Cortana was so-so, decent but predictable.

    Multiplayer: Bad. This is what the Halo franchise is known for, and 343 REALLY dropped the ball. First of all, they had no beta, which is a huge mistake. This predictably led to balancing issues with weapons and load outs, bad hopper composition, and a very poor selection of maps to accompany the hoppers. Second, the game launched with no competitive ranking system. This was highly criticized with Reach, and yet they repeated the same mistake. When they finally did institute it, they mad it only visible on Waypoint, did not take into account any previously accumulated stats, and used a very bad and watered down rating system that is NOT Truskill (previously used in H3). Third, the map selection at launch was terrible. I know I glazed over this in the beta bit, but 8 maps at launch is not good. To compound the problem, the maps did not compliment the launched hoppers. There were very few small sized, arena type maps for Team Slayer, and the composition forced people to play Big Team. The need to launch a DLC just 1-2 months after launch shows that the needed content did not ship with the game. Fourth, the game hoppers at launch were lacking. There was no Team Snipers, no Griffball, Slayer Pro was taken down after a few weeks, and King Of The Hill was removed shortly thereafter. The choices were basically Team Slayer, or Big Team. Fifth, 343 allowed the king of competitive shooters to be dropped by the MLG. This was a serious mistake, and showed their intentions of moving away from a part of their fan base, which happened to be the most loyal and enduring of their followers.

    In summary, this game is in fact COD: Master Chief Edition. By alienating their core audience, 343 has all but eliminated multiplayer. At launch, the game boasted around 450,000 players in multiplayer during peak hours. At current time, the highest population for a current day is around 40,000. Currently, H4 ranks 5th in XBL player activity behind BO2, Minecraft, FIFA, and MW3. This game is less popular than a COD game that was released 1.5 years ago, and is widely considered to be the worst COD entry. I feel that a small bit of emotion is warranted, and I can only describe it as betrayal. I would pick this game up used in the bargain bin, but cannot justify anyone paying full price for it. I will certainly think long and hard before grabbing another 343 game, but by the time Destiny comes out, I doubt I will even think about Halo any longer.    … Expand
  4. tehMoerz
    Jul 25, 2013
    4
    I'm a bit late to review the game. But I was hyped for this game from the day it was announced to the day it launched. The multiplayer is unbalanced and disappointing. It's a CoD mirror. The population has died so fast. Spartan Ops is recycled regions of the campaign (for the most part.) It also has very cheesy and bad voice acting. Most of the custom games options were removed. Forge hasI'm a bit late to review the game. But I was hyped for this game from the day it was announced to the day it launched. The multiplayer is unbalanced and disappointing. It's a CoD mirror. The population has died so fast. Spartan Ops is recycled regions of the campaign (for the most part.) It also has very cheesy and bad voice acting. Most of the custom games options were removed. Forge has no good maps. Campaign was the only good element. I don' recommend this game unless you're a campaign guy.… Expand
  5. ZombieFrogHorde
    Jul 9, 2013
    4
    Good for a generic FPS but bad for a halo title. Campaign was short and boring. Enemies are cheap and boring. Its only kinda fun at best. If you really want it get it cheap.
  6. Gamespro
    Aug 7, 2013
    4
    Absolutely worst halo game iv'e played I never revisited this game again after 3 days, couldn't even get past the second mission in this game because it's so boring.the multiplayer is alright but you get bored of it way too quick.My advice don't buy this game, it's a waste of your money
  7. TheHonestJack
    Mar 17, 2014
    4
    With astounding graphics, immersive campaign, addicting multiplayer, and a surprisingly fun spartan ops mode, halo 4 is a fantastic entry to the halo franchise, and arguably one of the best halo games ever.
  8. Deusex
    Mar 2, 2014
    4
    343 destroyed halo.

    Pros:
    Great graphics.
    Good controls.
    Nice sound track.

    Cons:
    Bad level design.
    Like 5 hrs long.
    No fire fight...
    Map editor mode is worse then Reach.
    Master chief is the most over hyped protagonist of all time.
    Aliens suck.

    Recommendation: go buy crysis 3. Not this garbage.
  9. Jern
    Mar 2, 2017
    4
    I'm giving this a **** because compared to the other Halo games this one is garbage. Everything unique and fun in the Halo series was taken out in favor of popular elements from other fps games. They managed to jumble everything together into a game that just doesn't play well. It's like Call of Duty with exo suits... which is actually another game that exists, and could even be betterI'm giving this a **** because compared to the other Halo games this one is garbage. Everything unique and fun in the Halo series was taken out in favor of popular elements from other fps games. They managed to jumble everything together into a game that just doesn't play well. It's like Call of Duty with exo suits... which is actually another game that exists, and could even be better than Halo. Breaks my heart.

    The only positives are the graphics and campaign was pretty good in the story department, but still a complete departure from the normal open style of Halo campaigns.    … Expand
  10. Karimchii
    Mar 31, 2014
    4
    This game completely shocked me, It was a massive disappointed, going from halo 3 to halo 4, it was like chalk and cheese. The maps had no depth to them and the online game play was very average. I gave it such a low rating because of how good the prequel was.

    Halo 3 10/10 ----> Halo 4 4/10 Hopefully halo 5 will redeem the series otherwise I will not be buying an xbox 1 as that is    This game completely shocked me, It was a massive disappointed, going from halo 3 to halo 4, it was like chalk and cheese. The maps had no depth to them and the online game play was very average. I gave it such a low rating because of how good the prequel was.

    Halo 3 10/10 ----> Halo 4 4/10

    Hopefully halo 5 will redeem the series otherwise I will not be buying an xbox 1 as that is the only exclusive I am interested in    … Expand
  11. Piedninny
    May 20, 2015
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Want an in-depth explanation for why Halo 4 sucks? Look no further. I always played Halo for the campaign, so that's going to be the main focus of this review. The campaign in Halo 4 pissed me off for a multitude of reasons. First of all, the first thing you notice is the new and innovative introduction of quick time events (press rb to kill elite), and that they brought back the Covenant as an enemy. And not the Covenant from Halo 3, with brutes and no elites. No, they decided to bring back a Covenant that was almost exactly like the one from reach (except with fewer enemy variety), with elites (even though they allied with the UNSC), and all the weapons that the Covenant used in Halo reach, despite that game being a prequel to all of the other Halo games, and therefore the weapons and covenant armor types in that game would be dated by the time Halo 4 rolls around. But the weapons and enemies aren't the only thing dated about Halo 4. The graphics make it look oddly cartoony, the enemy AI is crappy (They don't even reload, so if they have a rocket launcher it gets to be rapid fire), and there are little to no innovations to be found anywhere. Well, unless you count the COD-ification that is rampant in the campaign and multiplayer modes. So, the Covenant sucks. But what about the much-hyped Prometheans? Surely they must be cool? Well... they aren't. There are only four enemy types (unless you count the slight differences n the colors of their back-spikes, which I sure as hell don't). There are only about eight Promethean weapons, which all function just like orange UNSC weapons. Worst of all, there are no Promethean vehicles. Not even giant monsters or anything. Just generic dogs, drones, turrets, and hunchbacked elites. Throughout the campaign, nothing really impressed me. I still remember iconic levels from Halo 3 and Halo Reach ("The Covenant" and "The Ark", anyone?), but this contained none of that. It was all just "go through an area that looks like you're tripping on LSD and hit a button so that you and the naked blue lady can go to a new area". It didn't help that the soundtrack was forgettable. Also, for some reason there was no Arbiter as player 2 (One of the coolest things about Halo 3). Instead, if you want to play with a buddy there's gotta be 2 Master Chiefs. The story also sucked. Basically, this generic alien wants to destroy the world and you have to stop him and the covenant are also there because they weren't creative enough to make a fully fleshed-out forunner faction. The ending is probably the worst part. It involves a single quick time event "boss fight" that makes the fight with Guilty Spark at the end of Halo 3 look like something out of Dark Souls. Then they proceed to kill off Cortana. Freaking Cortana! The Halo story pretty much already ended. Did Bungie give 343 permission to do this? This would be like if a different company made a new lord of the rings movie, and just killed off Gandalf or Legolas at the end. Not only does the campaign suck, 343 also removed Firefight, and replaced it with Spartan Ops, something you can't even use unless you've paid for Xbox Live. The multiplayer is OK I guess, but compared to games like battlefield and COD, Halo needs to actually innovate if it wants to be able to compete with these games. The one thing that pissed me off about it was the fact that you can no longer play as an alien. I gave this game a 4 only because the core gameplay is actually pretty fun, and there are a lot of cool ways you can customize your spartan now. Also, Forge is pretty fun, although still not on par with the map maker of, say, Far Cry (Why can't you spawn enemies or change the weather and terrain? That would be so cool!). Finally, Halo seems to be one of the few games these days that actually gives a **** about splitscreen multiplayer, so I respect it for that. Other than that, you would be better off playing one of the legendary Halo games of old, like Halo 3 or Combat Evolved.… Expand
  12. HuxWard
    Jun 21, 2015
    4
    Dear all, after recently giving in to try 343s recreation of the Halo FPS and playing halo since the first game I think it is worth giving a review of this somewhat lacking game.

    First of all the campaign story feels unremarkable and has certainly lost some of the implied scale of the previous trilogy, quick time events, an unremarkable antagonist and a plot held together by string all    Dear all, after recently giving in to try 343s recreation of the Halo FPS and playing halo since the first game I think it is worth giving a review of this somewhat lacking game.

    First of all the campaign story feels unremarkable and has certainly lost some of the implied scale of the previous trilogy, quick time events, an unremarkable antagonist and a plot held together by string all work to undermine all the Story of the game.

    Each character acts to break immersion from the game, for example the librarian tells the Masterchief that she planned his coming many millenia ago, now this breaks the story, how can one individual anticipate the multitude of factors over those years, both genetic and environmental, acting as everything is predetermined undermines the entire experience and makes you want to put down the controller.
    Captain Del Rio is a complete jackass and the MasterChief licks his boots like some dog, it seemed like 343 forget that this game is meant to fulfill the gamers needs and wants and not be this quasi realistic drama where Cortana, a character I loved to hate in all previous titles, is humanised, I couldn't care for her before and especially don't now.

    Spartan Ops is repetitive on the same five maps and offers nothing new to the franchise, both it and the campaign seem to be very similar: Go here, Press X, Kill enemies, Press X, Listen to female narration and terrible commentary, end scene.

    Multiplayer is unbalanced and far from previous Halos Arena style combat, Everything needs to be more competitive.

    Upon writing this review I have completed this game solo on legendary, have a 1.9 K/D on War Games and completed every Spartan Ops episode that came with game.

    My final point is this: it seems like Halo 4 brings an end to the creativity of previous Halo titles, and fails to make an emotional impact unlike Halo Reach.

    I would say this game is regression to the generic first person shooter and not what Halo is, after sinking many hours into this game I can say it is worth a play and is fun but do not expect the same re playability the older games offered.    … Expand
  13. Zachatastic117
    Jul 13, 2015
    4
    As a major fan of the Halo franchise, I was extremely excited for this game, as at the time of it's announcement Halo 3 was (and still is) one of my favorite games ever made. So, how did 343i do witha follow up? Horribly. The game feels like a clone of Call of Duty, with aspects of Metroid Prime, and some ideas from Halo past. The game starts with Master Chief waking up from cryo-stasis,As a major fan of the Halo franchise, I was extremely excited for this game, as at the time of it's announcement Halo 3 was (and still is) one of my favorite games ever made. So, how did 343i do witha follow up? Horribly. The game feels like a clone of Call of Duty, with aspects of Metroid Prime, and some ideas from Halo past. The game starts with Master Chief waking up from cryo-stasis, as shown in Halo 3 and Halo Legends. He then finds out from Cortana that she found an odd planet. A couple of minutes later, they find out the planet is of Promethean origin. I'll leave it there, in case anyone reading this wants to play it. As for the multiplayer, this is where the aforementioned Call of Duty kicks in. The game now relies upon a customized load-out system that you make yourself for multiplayer. While the idea is nice, it was poorly executed, as there are not as many weapons or customization options in Halo, making it feel to flat. In addition, there are now rewards for getting a bunch of points in a row. Sound familiar? Because it is extremely similar to the Kill-Streak system from Call of Duty, except in this you chose between a power up, weapon, or armor ability. In all, Halo 4 was a major disappointment to me and, according to the user score, many others. 4/10 is the highest I could give this game.… Expand
  14. Croozen
    Jul 20, 2015
    4
    I had never been more hyped for a game in my life. And I have also never been so let down. Halo 4 delivered something that made me feel like I was playing call of duty with Halo weapons. Where did they go wrong? To start things off I can honestly say that Halo 4's multiplayer reminded me of a CoD game. It seems that 343 was trying to emulate some of the features like sprinting and customI had never been more hyped for a game in my life. And I have also never been so let down. Halo 4 delivered something that made me feel like I was playing call of duty with Halo weapons. Where did they go wrong? To start things off I can honestly say that Halo 4's multiplayer reminded me of a CoD game. It seems that 343 was trying to emulate some of the features like sprinting and custom classes into this game, which did not work. Speaking of things that did not work there is that ever so simple ranking system that lacked creativity and sense of accomplishment. 1,2,3,4,5........... Ranks going by numbers to me was always something I hated. It took absolutely no skill to even level up, all you had to do was play the game unlike Halo 4's older brother Halo 3 where skill was implemented into your overall rank. But overall the multiplayer was bland and I quickly lost interest in all of the new abilities and gadgets.

    Ahhh forge, probably the most bittersweet aspect of the game. Halo 4's forge introduced great new abilities like the "snap" feature which I absolutely loved. It also introduced some great maps to build on as well as tons of options to forge with. However that does not save it from it's errors. Dissapointment stuck me hard when I found that there was no UNSC flying vehicle. Only thing that was even capable of flying was a banshee. But that is nothing compared to that annoying intolerable "generating lighting" screen that pops up when you exit the forge ball. Now I am not sure about you guys but this completely killed my love for forge. Even though it was those few seconds I had to wait after only a few minutes of trying to build something I couldn't take it anymore. It was just so annoying.

    The campaign. I am actually completely neutral on this one. I did not think the campaign did an amazing or terrible job of moving along the story, I just think it moved it along. The game play during this was fun I must say but it didn't truly catch my eye.

    So with this I score Halo 4 a 4/10. It was an extreme let down to me personally and I really hope that 343 doesn't screw up with Halo 5.    … Expand
  15. TheGameAddict
    Jan 25, 2017
    4
    I hate to use the word "overrated" but that may be the best way to describe Halo 4.

    Campaign: I hesitate to call Halo 4's campaign a mixed bag as the bad outweighs the good by a notable margin in my opinion. Halo 4's story is good and the ending is genuinely emotional (at least if you played it before Halo 5 came out) but the gameplay often falls flat on its face. But before we get to    I hate to use the word "overrated" but that may be the best way to describe Halo 4.

    Campaign:
    I hesitate to call Halo 4's campaign a mixed bag as the bad outweighs the good by a notable margin in my opinion. Halo 4's story is good and the ending is genuinely emotional (at least if you played it before Halo 5 came out) but the gameplay often falls flat on its face. But before we get to that lets address the elephant in the room, the art style change. This game looks awful in comparison to Halo 3 and its all because 343 decided to change Bungie's art style. Master Chief looks 3x as bulky as he did previously, elites look and sound brutish and dumb, grunts are too ugly, Cortana is overly sexualized, Forerunner structures are overly detailed and boring, so on and so forth. Now onto gameplay. Halo 4's campaign has two main problems: stupid cinematic QTE moments that ruin pacing and serve as the final boss, and the Prometheans. The Prometheans replace the Flood in Halo 4 and they're boring bullet sponges with only one strategy for taking them down. Shoot them till they die. The crawlers are the only good ones because they go down with a single headshot and they're satisfying to kill. The Covenant are fine but brutes, drones and skirmishers are gone. This game is also a complete trainwreck on legendary. You also get to fly a pelican but it sucks because you only fight phantoms. The soundtrack is pretty good, though some tracks feel a little too much like Star Wars or Mass Effect rather than Halo.

    Multiplayer:
    The multiplayer is terrible. Halo 4's multiplayer has customisable loadouts with perks and really bad killstreaks that are just power ups and power weapons. All the returning armour pieces look inferior to Reach's and only a handful of the new ones are decent. Honestly, the multiplayer is so boring that its not even worth talking about in detail but I will say that forge sucks and so does the physics engine.

    Spartan Ops:
    Spartan Ops is Firefight's replacement. Its pretty much just a longer campaign and it suffers from all the same problems except here you get to to play as your own spartan, earn XP, and can respawn infinitely regardless of difficulty. Theres not much more I can say about except that it has a decent story and really good cutscenes.

    Overall, Halo 4 is an incredibly disappointing game and I would go as far as to say its bad. Though I will give it credit for one thing: it snapped me out of my Halo fanboyism.    … Expand
  16. zexxx
    Nov 28, 2020
    4
    Halo, What a great series! I feel in love with Halo for it's story, music and solid FPS gameplay.
    It's similar to Half-life in that way. A Great FPS story-driven game.
    Sadly, 343i decided to throw the story out of the window. The plot in Halo 4 is there to justify the visuals and that's it. it's contrived and lazy. It doesn't respect Halo lore that came before it. It a sad day when    Halo, What a great series! I feel in love with Halo for it's story, music and solid FPS gameplay.
    It's similar to Half-life in that way. A Great FPS story-driven game.

    Sadly, 343i decided to throw the story out of the window.
    The plot in Halo 4 is there to justify the visuals and that's it. it's contrived and lazy.
    It doesn't respect Halo lore that came before it. It a sad day when something you love becomes a cash cow. (Looking at you SW: Force Awakens).

    Halo 4 is a beautiful game, can't take that away, sure. BUT it falls flat on it's face in every other aspect.
    Adding sprint and crouch doesn't count as innovative gameplay.
    It's the worst kind of action flick. It goes for dazzling beauty with big "epic" scenes with little sense.

    The campaign which is the main reason Halo is such an awesome beloved series is the weakest part of this game.

    The Good:
    - Beautiful
    - Sprint/Crouch

    The Bad:
    - Soundtrack
    - Story

    *Doesn't take a genius to see that most 9-10 reviews are simply fan-boys. some would even say the campaign/story isn't that good but still give it a 10.    … Expand
  17. Gorgoroth
    Oct 29, 2020
    4
    Cambia mucho como entregas de halo 3 que es oro, el final en mi experiencia es el peor que he jugado ya que en anteriores entregas los finales de verdad te estresaban está realmente es decepcionante
  18. ghola
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    Same old Halo. Just a teaser for Halo 5 on Xbox720.
    PROS:
    -It´s an OK Halo.
    CONS:
    -You have to read the (great) Halo books (kilo-five and forerunner trilogies) to grasp the plot of this game.
    -Multiplayer has been "CODified".
  19. JTP709
    Nov 9, 2012
    3
    I'll cut to the chase: the graphics are top notch, best on the Xbox 360. Voice active and cut scenes were superb. The game had great pacing in the first two thirds. Changes the history of Halo in terms of what we "thought" we knew about the ancient Forerunners.

    However, there's a lot NOT to like. The game has no third act, no final boss fight, lame musical score (good music, but    I'll cut to the chase: the graphics are top notch, best on the Xbox 360. Voice active and cut scenes were superb. The game had great pacing in the first two thirds. Changes the history of Halo in terms of what we "thought" we knew about the ancient Forerunners.

    However, there's a lot NOT to like.

    The game has no third act, no final boss fight, lame musical score (good music, but nothing as epic as the original Halo trilogy), poor level design toward the end, and missing old features (no more dual wielding, no SMG). The game ends and you're literally like WTF, this is over already? It's easily the SHORTEST campaign (took me six hours on Heroic). You never fight the new villain except in a cut scene. Yup, heard right, you beat the villain in a cut scene. The game literally feels like Act One of a three act play, which isn't a good thing. At least Halo 1, 2, and 3 were all complete games with their own full story arch as part of a larger trilogy.

    The beginning of the game is fun, tons of fun, but the last third is lame in comparison. They introduce all of the new weapons and alien bad guys in by the second mission so later on in the game you never get any new toys, no new challenges, no new surprises. The fun "race against the clock" missions and flying missions are all in the first half, so the second half is just running through repetitive corridors to active a button, then through more corridors to hit another button, rinse and repeat.

    The musical score is good, but nothing that gets your blood pumping. If anything the whole score is just slow, sad, and depressing music. Nothing ever feels epic. Especially at one point in the game when the main bad guy (remember, the one you never get to fight) is slaughtering an entire city of humans. But you don't care. Remember in Halo 2 when the Covenant is attacking Earth? Remember when the game had cut scenes showing the death and destruction, with radio traffic of people crying out and military commanders begging for help as they're being overrun? Yup, Halo 4 has none of that. An entire city is being destroyed and it's like an afterthought in the game. There is NO urgency, no tension, no dread. You just kinda go from one place to the next.

    While I was disappointed with the single player, I was briefly hopeful that Spartan Ops would justify the money I spent on this purchase. Sadly, while the awesome cut scenes promised a lot, I was again let down. I beat the COOP Spartan Ops in under 30 minutes. Yup, all six missions, What makes it worse is each mission is nothing but five minutes of running from one button to the next. Yup, nothing more than more "get here, hit button; go there, hit button" BS that ruined the single player.

    Overall, Halo 4 felt like one big step backwards. It promised so much but delivers so little. I'm hopeful Halo 5 and 6 will deliver, but until then this game is going back to Best Buy. From now on I'll be renting any games developed by 343 Industries.    … Expand
  20. tototototo
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    It's basically the same Halo as always, the only apparant innovation seems to be a copy of features found in CoD. If you loved Bungie's Halo, stick to the sweet memories, there is nothing here you'll like.
  21. brad3ngunn
    Dec 26, 2012
    3
    I enjoyed all the other Halo games (except for Halo Wars. I'm just not a fan of strategy games.) but found myself extremely disappointed with Halo 4, First of all the campaign needed to be much longer because me and my friend managed to play through this in just under 4 hours. That's the amount of time it should take to finish a DLC not a big budget triple A game.

    My second problem with    I enjoyed all the other Halo games (except for Halo Wars. I'm just not a fan of strategy games.) but found myself extremely disappointed with Halo 4, First of all the campaign needed to be much longer because me and my friend managed to play through this in just under 4 hours. That's the amount of time it should take to finish a DLC not a big budget triple A game.

    My second problem with the game is the actual gameplay, when the first Halo released in 2001 it redefined the FPS genre, eleven years later and next to nothings changed. The gameplay is incredibly simple: Shoot enemies, walk/ drive to next area, shoot more enemies. Rinse and repeat. I think it's time for Combat to take another evolutionary step forward.

    My final major problem with Halo 4 is this is the first ever game I have ever played where I felt bored while playing. I'm sorry 343 but I was incredibly bored during Halo 4. It just did nothing to excite me.

    To be fair to the game though not everything about Halo 4 is bad though, I have to admit that the graphics are gorgeous to look at, the voice acting from Steve Downs and Mackenzie Mason is some of the best this year and the game actually has a decent story unlike most modern first person shooters (Cough COD Cough)

    Remember though this is just my opinion, maybe you'll agree with me , or maybe you will love it. If you are a fan of Halo, then I would recommend giving it a try hopefully your opinion differs from mine, otherwise give it a miss unless you see it cheap.    … Expand
  22. HeruLuingul
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    GRAPHICS: It probably looks amazing. I bet. Somehow. If you can actually see through the oceans of overzealous bloom covering everything. Some portions of the game literally blind you. Crossing a light bridge? Can't see anything else in the room. Enemy standing in front of a light source? Good luck scoping in on him without your eyeballs catching fire. Everything just emits a radioactiveGRAPHICS: It probably looks amazing. I bet. Somehow. If you can actually see through the oceans of overzealous bloom covering everything. Some portions of the game literally blind you. Crossing a light bridge? Can't see anything else in the room. Enemy standing in front of a light source? Good luck scoping in on him without your eyeballs catching fire. Everything just emits a radioactive aura about five times as large as is reasonable. I'm not totally against bloom, like I love Tron Legacy and that movie is chock full of it. But the bloom is just so extreme it actually prevents you from enjoying what is probably the best graphics on the 360 right now. I wouldn't know because playing is like staring into the sun.
    AUDIO: I guess I can't really complain about Cortana's voice acting, because she IS going insane, but she just sounded so casual and snarky this time around. There was always a hint of 'proper" in her voice before. Her vocabulary was more advanced. Now she sounds like an angsty teen. But where she had the body to match before, now she looks 30+. Confused.
    Sound effects in general are complete crap, I don't understand why 343 felt compelled to change so much instead of updating the old sounds. The Warthog sounds like an electric shaver from the 70's, or a crappy lawnmower with a fart can. The Mongoose sounds like the Warthog SHOULD sound. The plasma pistol sounds mechanical instead of, well, energy. The shotgun has no bass, where the Assault Rifle has way too much bass. The warthog's chain gun sounds like the glitchy noise when weapons would get stuck in the walls in Halo CE Anniversary (It's like 343 noticed that glitch and said "hey, I like this sound, let's work with it"). Everything is just way too loud, there's no balance to what sounds have priority. When you're shooting a gun from a vehicle while listening to Cortana and the Infinity talk to you at the same time, it all just cancels itself out and you can't make sense of anything.
    MUSIC: It's not BAD, but it's just so generic. I suppose I've been spoiled by Marty's genius, but Halo 4 sounds like your standard summer blockbuster action movie fare. I would compare it to Transformers by Michael Bay, but I actually remember some of the music from Transformers. This stuff is entirely forgettable, and multiple times during the campaign, my friend I was playing co-op with commented on how repetitive and boring it was, so I know it's not just me.
    GAMEPLAY: I haven't touched Multiplayer yet so this is all about Campaign. What a ridiculous glitch fest. The production value is obviously high, so there's a level of polish to it, but there's some really obvious problems I would have identified immediately if I were a playtester. So many times, I killed an enemy and walked over to his corpse, only to find the gun he was using had disappeared. If you try to get in the hovering covie sniper towers, you'll get stuck between the grav lift and the bottom of the platform.
    The enemy AI are HORRIBLE drivers. They frequently get stuck on walls or level geometry and don't do anything to attempt getting un-stuck. They just continue boosting forward into the wall, as if that will help. If you're on Legendary and playing a vehicle-heavy level, you're **** out of luck. And before you all scream "LOL YOU CASUAL YOU JUST SUCK," know that I have completed it on Legendary. When you're on the highest difficulty, it is LITERALLY impossible to drive a vehicle and avoid enemy shots. The AI tracks your motion with complete omniscience. Your banshee will be shot down the moment you leave the ground. your ghost will be blown up if you don't use boost constantly. Your warthog will be obliterated by small-arms fire if you manage to avoid the five Wraiths sniping you from a mile away. I know that legendary is supposed to be difficult, but in the previous games I could still make use of vehicles without being destroyed in seconds.
    Some of the action sequences SCREAMED Call of Duty to me, like the turbo-ghost section. It reeked of "Snowmobile level." Particularly the scripted long jumps that would be impossible to make under normal circumstances. Vehicle sections in previous Halo games always relied on the actual capabilities of the vehicle being driven, and your skill. This is pandering. I'm also incredibly mad that the game begins and ends with quick-time events. Which, BY THE WAY, do not work in Co-op at all. I was on my own xbox, playing co-op with two guys who were splitscreen on another. The first QTE switched control between the two split-screen guys every two seconds, so they were never sure who should be doing it. And the last one at the boss battle was given to me, so they never even knew it happened. Ideally the game would not have any QTEs, but if it's really necessary, just give control to the party leader and be done with it. But give me a real boss battle over this any day.

    Summing up, 343 has destroyed Halo for me and I hate them for it    … Expand
  23. Hitokiri_Ace
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    Halo 4 is so annoying to play online now. It used to be a pain when it was DMR slayer, all people would do is camp and shoot... camp and shoot... now that you can choose your layout... it's always camp slayer. Gone are the olden days of crazy combat, up close fighting, and tactical play.

    If you like CoD, you'll probably like the new halo 4... I get tired of being DMR sniped by their    Halo 4 is so annoying to play online now. It used to be a pain when it was DMR slayer, all people would do is camp and shoot... camp and shoot... now that you can choose your layout... it's always camp slayer. Gone are the olden days of crazy combat, up close fighting, and tactical play.

    If you like CoD, you'll probably like the new halo 4... I get tired of being DMR sniped by their whole team all the time. This is not what I wanted 343. You have lost a future customer. I did love the campaign though. As I usually do. That does not warrant me buying the next game however. Not to mention the horrid slow downs if you play co-op on the same console. Dear me... This game makes me sad.    … Expand
  24. VonSeux
    Dec 28, 2012
    3
    Not for a single moment I had any idea what my objectives meant or where I was. The story makes no sense at all, or at least the presentation is very broken. The game is VERY repetitive and level designs can't hold a candle for games like Metroid Prime. Graphics are good but overrated, since the levels have nothing to see. Controls work fine but the jump mechanics are still ridiculous.
  25. unscshredder
    Dec 28, 2012
    3
    When i got this game, i thought i was going to have a blast... Bad idea. The story would have been good, but they twisted the story, dumb downed the gameplay, and made the multiplayer like Call of Duty.

    Massive Disappointment.
  26. realdomdom
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    This game's existence is disappointing to begin with. On top of that it didn't change enough to be something new and it didn't keep enough from the old games to be a true halo game. It can't identify itself. The campaign (which should, btw, be the most important thing in the game) was heartlessly glued together. It feels short and in actuality it is. Cortana gets crazy. Everyone wants youThis game's existence is disappointing to begin with. On top of that it didn't change enough to be something new and it didn't keep enough from the old games to be a true halo game. It can't identify itself. The campaign (which should, btw, be the most important thing in the game) was heartlessly glued together. It feels short and in actuality it is. Cortana gets crazy. Everyone wants you to think she's a real person. And they try too hard. The master chief speaks a little more. Not that it makes him any more human. And then there is this forerunner who wants to destroy humanity, basically. Maybe it's not very different from what we already saw in older halo games, but it is presented in such a plain and simple way, i couldn't help but laugh through almost every cutscene. Also, i want to thank 343 for not including the campaign in theatre mode, or vice versa. You can't record singleplayer gameplay for your theatre. Oh, thank you so much. I'm sure, singleplayer is too boring anyway, eh?
    Now that's what i call a campaign. On to the multiplayer, shall we?
    Infinity slayer is probably the inevitable "evolution" from normal slayer. Or it is borrowed from some other game, which has an abbrevation, that's three letters long. Either way, it's a new addition to Halo and it's not necessarily bad. Except you don't like it. Oh, and there is also the Killcam. What a nice little thing. I wonder where i saw that before. No, not in Battlefield 3. They apparently don't need it. There's also your typical CTF, King of the Hill, some other stuff and Griffball, of course. I couldn't manage to find Action Sack or other "fun" playlists, but maybe it's just me.

    Overall, the presentation of this game tries too much to convince you of it's coolness and hipness, both visually and storywise, as if you where a little kid. Personally, i don't like the new design at all. It lacks a certain charm. There are also some bugs where, for example, a banshee flies through a tower or an enemy tries to hide itself in a wall. I hope those get ironed out soon, since apparently some people still want to play this game.

    If you like Halo 4, good for you. Let's hope you like Halo 7, too. Don't worry, it's gonna come eventually.    … Expand
  27. H1P1
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    Short but not sweet. Graphically outstanding and the soundtrack is good although sadly none of the nostalgic scores have remained. The guns are varied, useful and sound awesome. However this game is so far from amazing that you would have to slap yourself after all of the pre-release reviews. The levels are boring, uninspired and repetitive, quite literally requiring you to perform theShort but not sweet. Graphically outstanding and the soundtrack is good although sadly none of the nostalgic scores have remained. The guns are varied, useful and sound awesome. However this game is so far from amazing that you would have to slap yourself after all of the pre-release reviews. The levels are boring, uninspired and repetitive, quite literally requiring you to perform the same style of objective in every level. It is also disappointingly short considering how boring the levels are; if it's going to be short make sure the levels are awesome. The vehicles are clunky and do not handle as fluent and fast of halo games of old. Explosions are weaker and smaller. The enemy AI is also unexciting. Whilst I have only played normal difficulty, fighting an elite in past halo games was an awesome challenge. Halo 4's elites do not feel challenging or smart, as well as the other enemies, something that did not exist on the normal difficulty setting of other halo's. Multiplayer is fun, but it's not halo multiplayer - the ultimate thrill of halo multiplayer was never in a perks/ability system, but just in the fact it was halo - it depends what you want, but if I want cod i'll play cod because they do it best. Second only to the gameplay is the story which is also boring. More plot holes than swiss cheese and it's not even easy to follow. Predictable cliche's and attempts to tug your heart strings but there are so many waning questions and factors that don't add up that whilst the humanity of chief can finally be felt, it just feels silly to imply the same for cortana as an AI. The new ideas the game possesses are its most promising aspect. Going into the game all I wanted was the same old halo, but 343 in trying to do this actually made it the killer. They hit some aspects but miss many, and movel design which was the best part of halo, is its worst in this game. They are not as good at doing what bungie do best, so they need to do what they do best. The new things that worked demonstrates that the halo universe can be improved, so they need to forget about recycling bungie halo and take some bold steps to make it their own in future titles.… Expand
  28. Lutallo
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    343 Industries have basically taken COD4 and put all the elements in Halo 4 that make multiplayer unbalanced and unfair. The introduction of perks and loadouts means that any online skill is practically thrown out the door because there will always be a higher level with a better suited weapon/perk. The pace at which you die is completely unsuited to Halo, where 3 headshots with an343 Industries have basically taken COD4 and put all the elements in Halo 4 that make multiplayer unbalanced and unfair. The introduction of perks and loadouts means that any online skill is practically thrown out the door because there will always be a higher level with a better suited weapon/perk. The pace at which you die is completely unsuited to Halo, where 3 headshots with an individual weapon means that once you're shot at first, there is no coming back. The storyline is similar to that of a dodgy Mass Effect 1 makeshift, introducing a main villain, also the story revolves around an AI that no one ever really cared about. On the other hand, the graphics have been improved, evident in the amazing backgrounds of the campaign. Also it must be said that the campaign itself, aside from the story, is actually pretty entertaining and easily up there with Halo 3.… Expand
  29. parside
    Nov 7, 2012
    3
    Why use my $$ to buy a game that give me a fantastic game experience for only 6-8 hours?
    Today there are several games that give same amusement but for a lot of more time: one?
    Borderlands 2. Bye...
  30. thw
    Nov 8, 2012
    3
    THIS GAME NEVER HAPPENED !!!.................. Play Halo Reach instead....
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Awards & Rankings

17
#17 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2012
2
#2 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2012
2
#2 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 83 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 87
  3. Negative: 1 out of 87
  1. Hyper Magazine
    Dec 17, 2012
    90
    Halo 4 eschews esoteric delivery for a sledgehammer story with a blockbuster aesthetic. Epic, engaging and sensorially awesome. [Jan 2013, p.60]
  2. Eurogamer Portugal
    Dec 5, 2012
    90
    In the end, this game is still a fairly conservative and faithful to the original spirit, even with some significant changes.
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  3. DailyGame
    Dec 3, 2012
    75
    The narrative is outstanding, even in spite of a few plot-point missteps, and the character evolution of Master Chief and Cortana deserves to be further explored with these wonderful storytellers (well, maybe one of them can't happen, but I'll avoid spoilers). However, the gameplay feels jilted, awkward and unrefined, three unforgivable sins in a landscape populated with other quite-capable FPS franchises. As a result, I'm going to average everything out: great story plus bad gameplay equals an average experience. And in this overcrowded FPS genre, "average" is isn't something I'd recommend buying.
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