First Look: Halo 4 - Trailer + Gameplay Demo E3 2012

The fourth installment of the Halo franchise is due on November 6, 2012. As usual Halo will be Xbox 360 exclusive, and it is without a doubt their flagship series. The story takes place 4 years after the ending of Halo 3. As you can see in the trailer (you did see the trailer right?) humans have achieved peace, a peace that led them to believed that they could recommission a warship into a ship to spread peace in the galaxy and in the look for a new habitable planet. In Halo 4, Master Chief has been lost in space since the ending of the last Halo and the eventually find themselves on a Forerunner planet called Requiem. This is where the story begins, when the UNSC ship crashes into the planet for reasons unknown to Master Chief and his AI Cortana. As the trailer showed, Master Chief is on his way to check for survivors until he sees Covenant forces heading for the ship, and then meets a new enemy. These enemies are believe to be Forerunners, but there has been no confirmation of this thus far. The developers of the game 343 Industries have already made it clear that this is another trilogy and the the 5th game in the franchise will have a much darker tone than previous Halo's and the main plot of course will be resolved in Halo 6. The graphics in this game look amazing, much better than most shooters out right now. People have complained that Halo is always the same, run, shoot, run some more and shoot again. This game however will be somewhat breaking from that formula as Halo 4 will rely on exploration, mystery, discovery and of course running and shooting. Even if it's running and shooting, Halo has been doing it greatly over the past three games and this has even led to side stories that have also been quite popular with the fans. Halo 4 also offers a plot twist, one where Master Chief's AI Cortana apparently goes rogue, whether this is because as an AI her lifespan has exceeded the 7 year lifespan of an AI or because the enemy is controlling her it is unknown yet. Master Chief will have access to Forerunner weapons and judging by the video, they will be incredibly powerful, plus it was awesome the way the broken pieces stuck together to reform the weapon. It looks like in Halo 4, Master Chief will meet his match in the Forerunners. Although not much information has been released on Halo 4 the trailer and the gameplay video really show no negative aspects in the game so far, the story is interesting, the new concept seems to only help the series, the graphics are incredibly detailed, and the game as a whole seems to be the perfect new start of a franchise. The question must be asked however, can Master Chief really take on the Forerunners? Find out on 11-06-2012

Drake's Reviews Score (Pre-Release) 10 out of 10