Halo 4 Inc Exclusive Assassin Armor Emblem XBOX 360

After five years in the shadows, the Halo franchise has finally re-emerged to once again claim its throne as the dominative force on Xbox 360. During the void after Halo 3's explosive finish we've witnessed the Call of Duty franchise snatch the number one spot with little competition other than the less-than-impressive 'spin-off' release of Halo: Reach; which simply didn't satisfy most Halo loyalists. With 343 Industries now taking the helm, the pressure is on for them to catapult the franchise back to what many fans would call the halcyon days; where Halo 3 found the perfect balance between an enthralling campaign and a formidable multiplayer experience.

At the end of Halo 3 our beloved Master Chief managed to escape certain death and board a derelict ship: Forward Unto Dawn and with the ship slowly roaming through outer space, the Chief entered cryogenic sleep while he awaited rescue…The fourth instalment fast forwards four years later, where the Chief remains in cryogenic sleep under the watchful eye of his AI companion Cortana. We open Halo 4 with Cortana awakening Chief from his slumber to notify him that their ship is being boarded by enemy forces as they near a mysterious planet that we later come to know as Requiem. Meanwhile, Cortana has begun to develop rampancy - a deadly condition that causes AI to generate a fatal form of dementia. Despite everything that goes on in Halo 4, Chief's relationship with Cortana is the true core of the story and surprisingly, it's enough to keep you captivated throughout the games seven hour campaign - which is a less than impressive lapse of time for such a blockbuster title.

With a new game comes new enemies, this time in the form of a robot-like race known as the Prometheans who follow the same difficulty system as the Covenant; at the bottom of the pile is the robotic dogs with mounted guns who attack in packs, followed closely by drones that help on the battlefield and finally the Promethean Knights. What must be noted, however, is that each enemy is stronger than its Covenant equivalent. For example, the Knights are particularly formidable as they have the ability to teleport around the battlefield while eating a wealth of bullets in the process and when you finally overcome one of them, they get revived by one of the support drones - so make sure you take out those pesky drones first!

With the Prometheans only having three tiers of enemies, it won't come as a shock to you that the Covenant once again return in their swarm-like fashion with their ever-constant goal of thwarting off Master Chief's plans. Unfortunately, 343 introduce them immediately in the game as the Forward Unto Dawn intruders, which seems like nothing more than a ploy to delay the introduction of the Prometheans in order to keep players on their toes. Sadly it doesn't really work and it would have probably been better introducing the Covenant at a different stage in the game. In truth the Covenants presence in Halo 4 is brutally lacklustre and you will continually find yourself questioning their inclusion in the game as they appear to have no real motive to be there in the first place. The only reason they seem to be in the game is to provide us with a wider array of weapons and a more diverse range of enemies to shoot.



With us now being gifted a wide array of enemies to shoot, we were of course going to need some more firepower to make sure they're left at our wake and thankfully, 343 provide! The return of the Covenant of course marks the reintroduction of timeless classics, such as the energy sword and plasma rifle, but on the other side of the spectrum we have an exciting new range of Forerunner weaponry used by the Prometheans. The scattershot (shotgun) is one such weapon that you'll find yourself having ample amounts of fun with as you blast your way through packs of enemies, but unfortunately, due to its sheer power ammo for it is low - which is an understandable move by 343 in order to maintain a degree of difficulty throughout the game. Not every Forerunner weapon makes you immortal though, one weapon that reflects this perfectly is the Suppressor: A weapon that for all intensive purposes shoots out pretty lights at the enemies while they melt your face off with powerful plasma blasts! Nevertheless, we're treated to a mouth-watering banquet of weapons that ensure the experience of killing hoards of hostiles never runs dry.

Moving back to the story itself, from the on-set you'll notice the one true constant that never leaves you during the game: Halo 4 is visually stunning. The game is garnished with breath-taking cut scenes that truly immerse you through the excellent use of facial mapping, which has recently became a big hit within the industry since LA Noire utilized it perfectly. The cut scenes are undeniably the pinnacle of Halo 4's success; the use of lighting and shadows, the character movements and even their features are all ambassadors for why we really don't need the next generation of consoles any time soon. The Chief once again wears his trademark amour that we've grown accustom to in the past Halo games, only this time it's not the perfect gleaming suit that it was back in Halo 3. This time we can see numerous battle scars across the suit which is notably fading in color. His suits deterioration tell us an underlying story: Chief is not as untouchable as we once thought and the wars have made their mark on him - which is something the game attempts to explore throughout the campaign.

Through the Chiefs amour we also bear witness to another success story of Halo 4: its impeccable audio design. As he moves we can hear and almost feel his suit pieces grinding and clanking together as he traverses Requiems inspiring terrain - which gives both Chief and the planet itself a more tangible feel. Likewise, we also hear enemies like never before, such as the terrifying Elites of the Covenant. As they trudge through the marshes of Requiem, you can feel each footstep as it sinks into the ground below and what this does for us is pretty significant and something Bungie never managed to do: Give the Covenant solders a real presence. The soundtrack itself is also something that should be highly regarded considering 343 approached a different artist to take the helm - which was seen by many as a risky move considering Halo 3's award winning soundtrack has went down as one of the best in the industry. This new-age soundtrack adequately reflects each situation with inspiring results; dramatic moments are portrayed through soft melodic sequences while massive battle scenes feature high-tempo rushes that help you dive into the moment with personal investment. Overall, whilst the soundtrack doesn't reach the memorable heights of Halo 3's, it does act as a worthy precursor and more importantly, a successful basis for future Halo games to follow, learn from and ultimately improve.

Conclusively Halo 4 doesn't really seem like a completely brand new game as not too much has changed sinceHalo 3, all the core mechanics are still there. It seems like 343 have simply been unable to break the shackles and emerge from Bungie's highly-regarded shadow, but with more Halo games to come from them in the next generation, expect to see them break free soon enough. 343 didn't really seem to impose too much of their ideology across the board, but from what you do see you can't help but be impressed and wonder why they didn't show us more of their promising, raw talent. They seem like the child in school who knows the right answer, but they're too scared to put their hand up and show their brilliance. Despite Halo 4 being brutally disappointing in many, many aspects, it's still somehow an amazing game; it's fast paced, diverse, competitive and addicting. It's Halo.

When I first bought Halo 4 I was filled with great excitement and apprehension. With 343 Industries taking over from where Bungie left off in Halo 3, one does worry what new direction the story will take. But all concern slowly ebbed away as I progressed through the campaign. 343 Industries certainly added emotion to the storyline with a touch of irony, but without losing the essence that made Halo great such as the combat, guns and AI. Throughout the action Cortana starts to lose her mind which is referred to as rampancy when AI have exceeded their normal operational time; and it is this in short that gives Halo 4 that emotive edge.

This time around Master Chief is faced with a new enemy called Prometheans, although new enemies mean new weapons; of which the Light Rifle is the best in my opinion. The 3 different types of enemy are Knights, Crawlers, and Watchers. The diversity between these Prometheans give Halo a more challenging feel to the campaign. The Crawlers are easy to kill and mainly distract you whilst the Knights teleport to different locations to get better locations to shoot you. Watchers are simple enough to destroy but can be annoying when they start reincarnating enemies to hinder your progress.

The graphics in Halo 4 are simply stunning; from the vast detail of the trees and bushes in the jungle to the grass and rocks in the canyon. Promethean weapons are another aspect which demonstrates the powerful graphics in Halo; especially when you pick up a gun and it assembles in your hands. Only one thing sums up the extent of the graphics in Halo 4, which is Cortana; the level of precision in facial expressions enhances the emotion in the storyline. The sound is still great but I didn’t feel there was too much difference between sound qualities to the previous Halo games by Bungie.

New to Halo is the Spartan Ops, which is a free DLC. Spartan Ops series consist of 10 episodes which continue the story after the events of Halo 4 campaign as you return to Requiem. This is a cooperative game play but also lets you earn points towards ranking up. I didn’t play much of Spartan Ops but of what I played it was a successful addition to the series.

Personally for me the storyline puts this Halo above and beyond all previous games in the franchise as well as the graphics in the game, which really push the boundaries of the Xbox 360. The vast assortment of weapons and ways to kill enemies will cause people to want to play this game repeatedly. As Halo 4 is the beginning of a new trilogy I am eager to see more.

I would give this game 9/10.

I recently purchased this game, i got it on promotion when i bought Red Dead Redemption GOTY version, great price and next Day delivery yet but once again thank you shopto.net, How ever iam confused there was no Dlc content,can you explain please.

best game in the series so far,graphics game play feels so much better in the latest installment. You will be blown away on how much this game has improved since bungie has left

AMAZING GAME, GAME OF THE YEAR NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. WELCOME BACK HALO!!!

brilliant game love it, but i have not yet got my code for the assassin emblem, where do you get it from?

The Halo Series Has gotta be one the most expensive games i have ever brought. Why i hear you ask because i not only buy the game but the xbox 360 to play it on. And i dont really want to keep the xbox 360 because it just gets cluttered up with no use etc. As i use my PS3 to play online (Free Internet :) :)) But hey we all know Halo is worth the Extra £200 if it means we get to play it. :P

A long-time Halo fan, I am looking forward to where the story takes us, especially it it was as gripping and action-packed as before. Slightly sceptical about the latest installment seeing as the original developers decided to call it an end previously. Will this title live up to the epic campaigns its predessors delivered?

Frankly, I hope they have thought of some changes to the Multiplayer system too. I recall watching several coloured frogs wielding guns hopping around...