Before I go into my Halo 4 diatribe, I have to say that I completely forgot that the xbox controllers had a USB-C (Micro-B for older generations) where you can plug them into the Xbox (used my PS5 the first time lol) and essentially have a wired controller. Using my PS5 USB cord, I am now tethered to the Xbox Series X to play my games while my PS5 controller charges on a much shorter cable. But think of the battery costs I can now save! This is my great discovery of the week.
I think 343 has been getting a bad rap on the Halo front. While the topics and hate vary from person to person and game to game, I will say that I have had no personal grievances with the company and understand that, like watching a movie or reading a book, that I am merely a traveler in their new (old) world. I enjoy their games and look forward to their future involvement with the franchise.
My son and I have been blitzing through MCC and its really amazing how the series has progressed from CE to Infinite. The original had the Covenant, the Flood, no dual-wield, no swords, just a really cool sci-fi story about man’s last stand on a completely alien world with a cool twist toward the end. My favorite thing about this game is even being 20 years old, the story still holds up. I really enjoy a good story. RIP Keyes.
Halo 2 (Anniversary Edition) is just epic, though I’d love to see 2+3 together as one REALLY long title. At any rate, explaining to my son (and showing) my son why I love dual-wielding SMGs was a blast. Can I be the Arbiter? No, you be the Arbiter conversations and understanding why the Elite are so mad at the end – they were displaced by the Jiralhanae after all (I love the subtle Korean additions to the game). Then the Flood. Always the Flood. “What’s a Gravemind?” Again he asks during our Halo CE run. And then the graphical updates? Really nice, smooth, rich. Kind of laggy at times but probably due to running the game in two graphical modes simultaneously. I saw this with Halo CE as well. I’m drooling at the notion of Halo 3 in 2A’s graphical setting.
Not to say that H3 didn’t stand out. The tones were darker, the graphics a little flatter but still held its own. There is less difference between a title at the late stages of the original Xbox than a 360 title when comparing it to the One or Series editions. And when you compare the updated graphics from CE and 2, there is even less of a division. But to be fair, H3 came out early in the 360’s life cycle while Halo 4 came out at the end of it. Halo 3 was a pretty good romp and when it came to an end, you really thought… could this be the end of the Chief?
Of course not.
When you come to Halo 4, you see an updated Chief, updated graphics (late stage 360), a new story, and an incredible adventure. I enjoyed this one the most thus far. After a certain point, you’re boostin’ with the ghost, trying to get away from an area that’s literally falling apart all the while running over grunts. The Mammoth scenes were pretty intense. My son got a kick out of that. Then I’m running around in a heavily armed Pelican just lighting up the sky. The space battles. The Mantis. What’s a map without a scorpion? All the flavors, spices, mixed into one beautiful mess.
The story elements (as mentioned before) I loved. Cortana was so nuanced and when she spoke, the weight of her rampancy is felt, especially toward the end when she’s trying to juggle so many things at once to get the Chief to the end. Jen Taylor, the VA, did an incredible job.
My son likes to listen to music that he calls “Halo music”, which is just some Youtuber playing some song over his compilation of Halo clips. I didn’t have Youtube when I was a kid. I barely had quality television (AFKN!) but I guess we are just victims of the time.
I tweeted recently that the “Composer” mission was my favorite of the game. Here’s why. It’s chaos. The asteroid had just been assaulted by the Didact’s forces and every corner there is something going on, whether its scientists and security forces shooting at each other or the end of a massacre. And there is so much shaking. The chaos is scripted and controlled of course – but if 343 took it another notch (in an imaginary scenario) where they stretched the mission even more, the stage would be so wild.
But what about the Didact? According to the books, his end seems… trivial, though having pieces of a Halo ring fall on you seem hardly trivial but I would’ve loved to have seen his end in a later title. Ur-Didact is one of the coolest bad guys I’ve seen in quite some time so when he gets written out off-screen, I won’t lie, it is kind of disappointing. But do the books count as canon?
We’re on our way to Halo Reach and ODST before wrapping up with 5. At some point shortly thereafter, co-op for Infinite will be released, right? 😀