One of Xbox’s most recognisable series is Halo. Although it was developed exclusively for the Xbox, it served as inspiration for a slew of other first-person shooter video games that later appeared on other platforms. The next instalment in the Halo series, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, is getting a remastered campaign.
The next game to be remastered in the Halo series, a long-running multiplayer shooting franchise, will be Halo 4. In addition, it will be available on PC. Fans have been eagerly awaiting word on when Halo 4 will be available for PC.
Xbox 360 is the Platform for Halo 4
The Xbox 360 is the platform for Halo 4, which was created for it. Over the course of nearly three years of development, the game’s creative team of nearly two hundred people was led by creative director Josh Holmes. The game has been praised for carrying on the Halo series’ custom of making players feel awed by its innovative design and thrilling, immersive gameplay.
The game features new characters, weapons, vehicles, and other elements in addition to the “sandbox” that has been present in all six previous Halo games and other media. The “sandbox” and general aesthetic of the game are meant to harken back to the original Halo more so than to the sequels. There is no option to use dual weapons in this game. Halo 4’s development codename was “Halo Onyx.”
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Developer Armando Troisi’s (Mass Effect)
Armando Troisi, who worked on Mass Effect and its sequel, oversaw the in-house team of writers who created the story for Halo 4. Chris Schlerf penned the first version of the Halo 4 script and has had significant editorial input ever since. Halo: Fall of Reach graphic novel author Brian Reed was also an integral part of the writing staff and provided substantial contributions to the story.
Kenneth Scott served as art director on Halo 4. He said that Halo 4’s art direction is more “mature” and rooted in the expanded universe fiction than in previous games in the series. Artists put in significant time and effort to perfect the game’s aesthetic representation of Forerunner technology, which includes the introduction of more “active” Forerunner technology than was present in the previous games.
Since the player is meant to identify with the role of the Master Chief, John-117’s journey is intertwined with the player’s own as they both traverse the Halo universe. John’s backstory is fleshed out and his relationship with Cortana is expanded upon, both of which are significant improvements over the games that came before. The history of Master Chief and the Spartan supersoldiers in general promise a feeling of “a super hero,” which 343 Industries aimed to convey with the increased athleticism in Halo 4.
Master Chief’s MJOLNIR Armour
The Halo 4 art team completely reimagined the Master Chief’s MJOLNIR armour, as they did with many other visual elements. The announcement trailer gave fans their first look at the reimagined armour, which looked very different from the Halo 3 suit they were used to. This led to a lot of questions and speculation.
343 Industries clarified that the teaser’s design wasn’t the final product. After Microsoft’s 2012 Spring Showcase, we saw the final version alongside the debut of Halo 4’s gameplay. The redesign is largely cosmetic and was done so that the suit would look more functional in line with the game’s new aesthetic. The fictional explanation for the suit’s different appearance is that Cortana gave it a thorough makeover while John was in cryosleep.
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The First Halo Game to Make Use of Motion Capture Was Reach
The use of motion capture, which debuted in the Halo series with Reach, was integral to the creation of Halo 4. Material for the character Cortana and a man playing an unidentified character was filmed as recently as the week of April 29, 2012, in Los Angeles, California, before the release of the Making Halo 4: First Look video. Later on, it was revealed that Bruce Thomas and Mackenzie Mason had been cast as John-117 and Cortana, respectively, in the film’s performance capture scenes.
While the game engine handles the rendering of most cutscenes in-engine, Halo 4 is the second game in the series (after Halo Wars) to feature pre-rendered cinematics. With the exception of Spartan Ops, four scenes in the game relied on computer animation created by Digic Pictures (including the introduction of the Infinity mode) and one scene created by Sequence.
After three years of development time, Halo 4 was finally released on September 25, 2012, as revealed at a press event in London. After “various certification processes,” mass production of the game finally got underway. The September 25 completion date for Halo 4 coincides with the fifth anniversary of Halo 3’s North American release.
Audio
The audio director for Halo 4 was Sotaro Tojima, who is best known for his work on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, both games developed by Konami.
The group has conducted numerous live audio recording sessions, including a number of sessions in Tasmania, Australia (referenced as “10”). Some of these sessions involved the use of “homemade” explosives, while others were recorded using specialised microphones in extreme conditions (such as underwater, in fire, or on ice). Tojima wanted the game’s audio to be firmly rooted in the Halo universe, but also to have a more realistic quality than in previous games in the series.
On the 23rd of February, a video was released showing 343i working with the United States Army Special Forces to record gunfire and explosions. The recording features the use of a variety of firearms, including an M4 carbine, Mk 17 battle rifle, M240 general purpose machine gun, M107 sniper rifle, M2 heavy machine gun, and M72 rocket launcher.
The game features cameos from a number of voice actors who have appeared in previous media adaptations. Both Jen Taylor, who voices the artificial intelligence Cortana, and Jeff Steitzer, who calls multiplayer matches and firefights, confirmed on Facebook that they would be returning for Halo 4. According to the Halo Bulletin from June 9th, legendary voice actor Steve Downes will be providing the narration for the game’s main character, John-117.
Despite not having met before, Taylor and Downes recorded the dialogue for some of their scenes together in the same voicing booth for the first time in the Halo series. Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter, hosts of the late-night TBS comedy show Conan, revealed on their show on April 17, 2012 that they would be lending their voices to those of Navy deckhands serving on the futuristic warship Infinity.
In response to a question from a fan at the Rooster Teeth Expo, Halo 4 will feature the “biggest injection” of new voice talent yet for the episodic cooperative series Spartan Ops, according to Frank O’Connor.
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Competitive and Cooperative Multiplayer
In Halo 4, both competitive and cooperative multiplayer are bundled into a single mode called Infinity, which has lore ties to the Halo series and progresses in tandem with the campaign. Players in Infinity command a squad of SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers stationed on the futuristic warship UNSC Infinity.
Bonnie Ross, the studio’s general manager, and Frank O’Connor, the studio’s creative director, established the mission of 343i before work began on Halo 4, which was to ensure that all existing and future works of fiction from the games, novels, comics, etc., would be interwoven and share content from each other.
Halo 4’s multiplayer mode is part of this, as is the upcoming Spartan Ops mode; “Wrapping the whole thing allowed us to make sure that all the fiction in all of those pieces actually mattered – in this case, it connects directly to your career as well as the narrative experience.”
“War Games”
“War Games” is a multiplayer game played competitively on the Infinity’s top-tier combat deck, where players face off against one another in simulated combat situations.
Players can’t create a Sangheili character in multiplayer, though, because of the game’s focus on SPARTAN-IV commandos.
The multiplayer component of Halo 4 was intended to be a “totally new experience” from developer 343 Industries. The series’ long-standing method of maintaining a delicate equilibrium has also been revised as part of these changes. For instance, the player progression system is deeper than in the previous games, giving players more freedom to customise not just their appearance but also how they play through a variety of gameplay-affecting mods and armour permutations.
Players can personalise their playstyles by equipping a variety of Support Upgrades and Tactical Packages, as well as selecting from a wide range of armour abilities. When purchased, a Tactical Package can provide a modest improvement to a specific aspect of the game, such as the player’s shield or weapon capacity. Upgrades to the player’s support system have a similar effect, and include things like a better motion tracker and more bullets.
“Specializations”
In addition, “Specializations,” a new gameplay enhancement feature, is being introduced in Halo 4. Different sets of armour, emblems, visor colours, weapon and armour skins, and armour mods are unlocked upon completion of specialisations, much like tactical packages and support upgrades.
The multiplayer in Halo 4 has been described by developer 343 Industries as “much more fast-paced, more intense, and visceral” than in previous games in the series.
During War Games and Spartan Ops matches, players can request ordnance drops, which may include power-ups or weapons, and the player’s heads-up display will highlight nearby weapon pickups. Slayer, Infinity Slayer, and Regicide are three examples of games that can have multiple players. Overshield, Damage Boost, and Speed Boost are just some of the power-ups you can acquire in Infinity Slayer.
Release Date
Once scheduled for PC release on November 6, 2020, Halo 4 has been pushed back to PC on November 17, 2020. The PC version of Halo 4 will feature a remastered campaign and be optimised for the platform.
In December 2019, the PC version of The Master Chief Collection was released, but it featured only Halo: Reach. Since then, developers have been slowly adding new games to the collection, with Halo 4 being the most recent addition. The seventh Halo game, Halo 4 is the fourth chapter in the series’ overarching narrative.
On November 17th, the Master Chief Collection, which includes Halo 4, will be available for the price of $39.99. The Master Chief Collection for Xbox’s next-gen Series X and S consoles will also launch on this day. Halo 4 will also be sold separately, but since it hasn’t been released to the public yet, players don’t yet know how much it will cost them.
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