Halo 4

[Blu]

I noticed he also did Ghosts of Onyx and Evolutions? Ah snap, I'm going to have to read those as well.

Any other Halo novels worth checking out? I know I've heard The Flood is pretty boring, like reading a slow version of the story from the first game or something lol.

Fall of Reach was just amazing though. Sure Reach the game was great, but Fall of Reach would've been even better if that were the blueprints they used for the story of the game. Goes into so much detail about the Covenant as well. I'm glad the Elites were ruthless and scary again in Reach, because that's only half as crazy as they sounded in the first novel.

The novels are probably what makes me a bit stuck up about Halo 2 and 3 though, lol. First Strike would've made a way better Halo 2 than what we got.

I really loved Fall of Reach and First Strike. Flood was a decent read but very parallel to the Halo:CE, so you're not missing much--that and Dietz's writing isn't as good as Nylund's. The back story of the Spartans in Fall of Reach is incredible, and the filling in of what happens in between Halo and Halo 2 is great via First Strike is quite awesome. I liked hearing how Johnson survives. I didn't particularly care for some of the retcons I saw in Reach the game.

I feel like picking back up Reach and First Strike and playing through them again. Maybe I'll read Fall of Reach, play Fall of Reach, play CE Anniversary, First Strike, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. Sounds ambitious, but maybe I'll do that over Thanksgiving. lol.

I'm about halfway into the fifth level on the Legendary campaign. It's been challenging, but rewarding. The AI is pretty strong with pulling off some flanking maneuvers. That and instakilling me with headshots.

[WiseFool22]

I absolutely love the campaign. I haven't read any of the novels since Fall of Reach so I'm pretty confused with the story, but in my opinion it's the best campaign since the original Halo.

Multiplayer, on the other hand, is a disappointment to me. I feel like it has way too much of a COD influence. I don't like how you pick classes, I don't like how there aren't weapons laid out in specific points across the maps, and I don't like the instant respawn. Multiplayer just feels like a COD with a Halo skin for me. I know some people love it though, so good for them. I'll just keep busy playing campaign.

I also haven't tried out spartan ops yet. That may be cool.

[Xeogred]

Alright, only complaint...but not exactly unexpected coming off Halo 3 / Reach, but that campaign was short as balls. I mean, I picked it up after work on Tuesday night, probably played ~2 hours a night since then, so that was probably like 6 hours total. lol

Gonna need some time to digest everything to see how I feel overall.

[Blu]

I think I invested around 8 hours on the legendary campaign. Man, that was tough! Well worth it.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I played about 3 hours at a frat house the other day.

Not bad, I like it more than 2/3, but don't like it as much as 1/Wars. Once the price drops to $19.99 and used copies are $15 I'll snag one for the collection.

[dsheinem]

I'm probably 4 hours or so into the campaign (just played the mech part) and quite like it so far, but I'm not digging the visor-vision HUD...I thought Reach was prettier.

I played a little MP but haven't dug in at all. I'm playing a bunch tomorrow night at a friend's, so will have a better sense then.

[OldSchool_Boy]

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/1 ... should-be/

[emwearz]

This is the first Halo game I have actually been hooked on, loving the online multiplayer, love playing the split screen spartan ops with my mate and looking forward for more to come, love the campaign with no flood (hopefully ever), though I have read about it being mega short, which sucks, but I am sure the hours I will put into online will give me more than my moneys worth.

My friend bought it on launch and came over and we played some online, dropped in and picked up a copy when driving him home.

[BurningDoom]

I stayed up all night last night playing the campaign after renting it from RedBox. Got through Act IV. Gotta say, I'm impressed. I expected a lot of things to change and suffer from Bungie's departure. But I was pleasantly surprised. It looks and feels like a Halo game. And the story so far is pretty good.

Am I the only one that's bothered by the changes to Cortana, though? The breast augmentation isn't what I'm talking about, either. I'm shallow enough to appreciate that. It's the the basic way she looks that I'm talking about. She looks darker, the computer circuitry thingies that are on her body look different, and her face definetly looks different. It looks a different "person" all together in the face. It keeps taking me out of the game just a little bit.

And the mech-suit vehicle, is so freaking cool! I feel like such a bad ass blowing my way through the Forerunner robot-thingies in that.

But I do miss the classic Halo theme music. Wish they would have kept that.

The music and Cortana complaints aside, this is has been a stellar Halo experience that is worthy of the Halo name. Great controls and lots of action, engaging cutscenes, fantastic graphics, and a good story. It tops ODST and Reach for sure, so far at least. Still not Combat Evolved or Halo 2 level for me, yet. But we'll see if that changes as I progress further into the campaign today.

[Xeogred]

The multiplayer is top notch and finally "different enough", I think it'll make up for the short campaign time. Definitely digging the multi a ton.