Halo 4 review

[EvilBoris]

You should of picked MGS2 to really ram home the point

[bcass]

I actually really liked the story in MGS2. Not that I can remember much about it, and I know the story was a total mess, but I loved it going all weird towards the end. Breaking the 4th wall and all that paranoia stuff definitely appealed.

[MisterBubbles]

The story is simple and good, no major plot developments, ( bcass has it right ), two friends who care about each other, cause they been there for over 10 years, and suffered and watched a lot of friends die, but somehow managed to make it through.

[JohnMcL7]

I disagree. I think there is a story there, albeit a very simple one. That's probably why it works so well. The lack of convolution. It's probably one of the best examples of how you do it in the context of a game. Anything that tries to make a game tell a story like a film or a book always fails IMO. Games require a different approach to story telling.

A story in the loosest sense of the term, there's only a few basics there to thread the game levels together but there is pretty much nothing to it which is one of the main reasons I enjoyed Nylund's additions as then you do get the story which is a lot more interesting than the few scraps in the game. It doesn't need to tell the story like a book and it's certainly possible to tell a story well through a game, if you don't like having story elements that's your preference but I still don't see that as an example of a good story.

John

[JohnMcL7]

The story is simple and good, no major plot developments, ( bcass has it right ), two friends who care about each other, cause they been there for over 10 years, and suffered and watched a lot of friends die, but somehow managed to make it through.

Surely you're not talking about Halo4 which has plot developments so major they entirely rewrite the franchise's history and redefines the human-covenant alliance?

John

[MisterBubbles]

A book is a book, this is a game, and one of the main objectives in this genre is shooting things, so story may get it the way.

[MisterBubbles]

Im saying its a simple story about two friends trying to stay alive, theres plot developments, very major ones yes, but ive faith in 343 to get the balance right, they seem to care about the franchise .

[JohnMcL7]

A book is a book, this is a game, and one of the main objectives in this genre is shooting things, so story may get it the way.

It doesn't have to get in the way - if implemented well, the story should be told through the game - Halo4 certainly has a story but I just don't think it's a very good one nor would I say it's simple either, it's a complete mess trying to understand it particularly when some of the retcons are random and make no sense as well as the lack of consistency.

John

[MisterBubbles]

What don't you understand?

[MisterBubbles]

I Think Bungie and now 343 are trying to make people who play it fans, not just play the game, but the whole mythology and universe and community, and maybe that involves buying a few more Halo products, ie books or DVD's or comic, or even just the CD's with the music.

[JohnMcL7]

What don't you understand?

I posted most of the questions a few pages back, spent a while reading and as far as I can gather there is nothing to understand for the most part - due to the retconning and consistency errors much of it simply doesn't make sense.

John

[JohnMcL7]

I Think Bungie and now 343 are trying to make people who play it fans, not just play the game, but the whole mythology and universe and community, and maybe that involves buying a few more Halo products, ie books or DVD's or comic, or even just the CD's with the music.

Well there's no doubt about that, it's been the strategy for many years hence forming a company to manage a wide array of different products outside of the game before taking full control of the game last. I certainly do like that side of it being able to delve deeper into the universe and understand it much better, it's something I think they did a great job with initially but they seem to wander back and forth on. Halo 2 and 3/Ghosts of Onyx pretty much separated the books and the games then Reach closed that gap again by bringing in Halsey and the mk III Spartans from Fall of Reach/Ghosts of Onyx then they keep Halo4 and the books close but after rewriting a considerable amount of what has gone before it. Which is what I find frustrating particularly as I don't think that rewrite was needed and some of it is entirely pointless, I guess due to bored graphic artists or something.

John

[MisterBubbles]

John i think you need to play all the games again, why are the Master Chief and Cortana on the dawn, well Halo 3 is the answer to that, and the Pillar of Autumn is destroyed.

[JohnMcL7]

John i think you need to play all the games again, why are the Master Chief and Cortana on the dawn, well Halo 3 is the answer to that, and the Pillar of Autumn is destroyed.

Ummm...no, it's clearly you that needs to play the games again not me otherwise you would be seeing the mistakes and inconsistencies such as the one highlighted in your post -

->Open Spoiler<-

I know fine why they are on the Dawn (not sure if you are joking or not with that comment), the question is why are they on a completely different ship? The Forward unto Dawn in Halo 3 is completely different to the one in Halo4, they're not even a related class or a variant

John

[EvilBoris]

What do you mean, the ship forward unto dawn that they are on in Halo 3, which gets split in 2 and the master chief is still in it on Halo 4?

What's so confusing about that. Why are they different ship classes?