As election volunteers prep for
their big day, game stores are gearing up for midnight releases of the Xbox’s
biggest series.
According to IGN results released Monday, nearly one-quarter
of the participants who claimed to be registered voters said they are
considering skipping the vote to play the game instead, with the percentages
rising to 35 in Florida and 28 in Ohio.
Microsoft has said it is certainly
not its intention to have gamers stay home on Election Day, and has some
tie-ins to encourage voting. The company gave free armor to players who watched
three of the four presidential/vice-presidential debates and even set up a a
campaign to have game protagonist Master Chief ask Halo fans to vote, as Polygon’s Brian Crescente reported last month.
Of course, gamers can always vote,
then play. Or get the midnight release, play, vote and go back to playing. And
if you voted early, then you can feel extra smug.
Once you’ve fulfilled your civic
duty, though, here’s a little more about the game:
There is life after Bungie. This is the first Halo title that hasn’t been made with
involvement from the studio that created the series in 2001 — Bungie. Once a
Microsoft property, Bungie announced it would strike out on its own after Halo
3, leaving the series in the hands of the Microsoft’s in-house developers, 343
Industries.
So how did 343 do flying solo?
Reviewers say, that Halo 4 is just as good if not better than the original Halo
trilogy.
“If you were curious about 343’s
ability to pull this off, to make Halo 4 as good as Bungie’s games, here’s your
answer,” wrote Penny Arcade’s Sophie Frell. “Halo 4 is not as
good as Reach or Halo 3. It’s better.”
Gameplay is fun, smooth and largely
lives up to the hype: IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey had high praise — 9.8 out of 10 —
for the new title, saying that it has made him fall back in love with the
franchise.
McCaffrey said that the campaign is
paced better than most first-person shooters, and he found the artificial
intelligence up to scratch. Halo’s wide-ranging arsenal of weapons is still in
place, he said, and each gun “has a purpose, and every situation a fitting
firing solution.”
Single-player and multiplayer have
both seen significant changes, Frell wrote, largely for the better. Halo 4 has
eight missions, but Frell said the game doesn’t seem that short and offers up
plenty of new equipment and interesting elements for players to try. As for the
multiplayer, Frell said it is more “cohesive” and plays like a developer’s
appreciation gift for their players.
The Wall Street Journal’s Adam Najberg said that the
multiplayer has been retooled and based off a storyline started in the
single-player campaign. He added that collaborative play and the vehicles in
the game made the game’s multiplayer stand out.
It’s all about Cortana. Microsoft hinted in its E3 presentation that the game would
explore more about Cortana, who has been your AI aid throughout the series as
she starts to break down. Reviewers were careful not to give spoilers, but said
that Cortana’s struggle with her humanity is a core part of the game’s story.
Across the board, reviewers pointed to this conflict as proof that 343 has
taken Halo in a new and interesting direction.
It looks — and sounds — completely
different. Halo 4 won’t disappoint you with
its looks. Najberg sums it up this way: “I’m not sure how 343 goosed such
stellar animations, lighting, shadows and smooth movement from the engine, but
kudos for giving a 2012 experience in 2012 when so many other games have
under-delivered.”
The sound and soundtrack, which are an integral
part of the Halo franchise, are also also said to be stunning — though Najberg
did say the music got a bit too “schmaltzy” at times - Washington Post
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