Halo MCC Play-Through Part 4: Halo 4

Now for the final story of the MCC play through comes Halo 4. The latest installment of John’s journey.

 

So it’s officially been four years after the Halo incident. Master Chief is stranded in space with Cortana, until they come across a rogue Covenant fleet, and a Forerunner shield world known as Requiem. Cortana’s starting rampancy which is like, a stage where AIs malfunction, think themselves to death, and shut down. It’s complicated to explain, but I’ve done research on it. Hoping to find a way home, they pick up a signal of another UNSC frigate, but it turns out it’s not where they thought it was. The signal was manipulated by a Forerunner Promethean known as the Didact, so that Chief could release him. After reuniting with the real frigate, it looks like John & Cortana’s plan to get home is put on hold once they learn what the Didact’s plan is.

Though I must admit: ever since I heard about the Forerunners, I longed to learn about them. Now I’m finally learning. It started with the Didact and the Librarian, then I found all the terminals in the game, and learned the Didact’s past. The rest of the things on Forerunners, I had to read the books for, which I am doing right now. So just like Halo 2, this game I liked for it allowing me to go in depth to another species I am curious about.

Gameplay wise, I’d say there is nothing wrong with it. It may seem to have a few Call of Duty concepts such as times when you have to climb and crawl. But it’s sprinting that mainly pisses off fans. It’s not infinite, and lots of shooter games use it now. I don’t really care to be honest what the controls are, as long as I can master them, and use them on the battlefield. Now that we’ve got the Prometheans, we’ve got their weapons as well. That being said, Prometheans I have mixed feelings for each one. Knights even though they are the toughest, they do not bother me. Except of course when they teleport, lunge at me, and eject Watchers. But other than, that I just use whatever strategy pops into my head to take them down, especially if they have heavier weapons. Speaking of Watchers, they are without a doubt, my least favourite because of their ability to put shields in front of the Knights & Crawlers, to set up turrets, resurrect Knights, and they’re fast and hard to target like Skirmishers in Reach. Crawlers are easy to kill, but sometimes deadly if they get too close, I have found their melee attack quite a pain sometimes.

New armor abilities are more useful than you think. I always pick up the auto sentry turret when possible. Gives pretty good covering fire actually, and can help you take out some additional enemies if there’s a lot around, especially Watchers. Other than that, the only other thing I didn’t like about this game, was the look of the Storm Covenant. The Elites aren’t so awesome, and the Grunts aren’t the same without gas masks. Their faces remind me of the krogan in the Mass Effect universe, only smaller.

One of the things that makes this game different, and provides evolution in the franchise is John and Cortana’s relationship as partners, and close friends. With Cortana becoming rampant, John vows to get her back to Earth no matter what. In the game it’s hard to watch as her condition gets worse. It seems that these two are capable of having emotion. Cortana’s always had personality throughout the series, but not John until now. In this game he speaks more often, and is capable of having a weakness, being vulnerable, and even having emotion even if he doesn’t sound like it when he talks. The two of them are stranded on Requiem, and must take care of each other. I’ve always loved their relationship, and it seems to intensify a lot in this game. The first time I played through this game, I shed a few tears when Cortana used her remaining self to touch John for the first time before dying. I will miss her.

Now, about the Didact……I’ll try to keep this short because I plan to say alot about him so most of it will be going in a later entry. When I first saw him I didn’t like him at first, seeing as we have a totally new antagonist after having the Prophets for the previous games. When I saw his face, he reminded me of an Orc from Lord of the Rings. But at the same time, he was pretty cool but I didn’t feel much about him during my first play through. Then two years later, a few weeks before MCC’s release I did another play through of this game, and this time fixed my attention on the story because why not? I didn’t really pay much attention the first time. Unlike Halo Reach, I didn’t binge play this game back when it came out, in fact I didn’t binge play it until a month before MCC was released, so my interest in the Forerunners didn’t blossom until now. But the Didact is an interesting villain, and like I said, there’s a lot I want to say about him, and I’m saving that for a later entry, since this one is about the game in general.

Well that wraps up my reviews on all 4 games in MCC, I hope you enjoyed them (that is if anyone is actually reading this) Christmas is coming, my shopping is done, and all my presents are wrapped. I also bought myself an early Christmas present on eBay, but it looks like it might arrive just in time instead of early! What is it? Here’s a hint: it has something to do with Halo 4. Got a guess? Leave a comment.

-Emily