Halo 4 - Xbox 360 (Standard Game)

Product Information

Shea, Jessica (November 21, 2012). "The Halo Bulletin: 11.21.12". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on August 6, 2013 . Retrieved November 24, 2012. Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary were both officially announced on June 6, 2011, at the E3 2011. [36] Halo 4 is the first installment in the Reclaimer Saga of Halo games. [37] The studio's creative team, which included nearly 200 people led by creative director Josh Holmes, started developing the game as early as 2009. [29] [32] Prior to the release of the game, Microsoft Studios Vice President Phil Spencer stated that the Halo franchise is the "most important entertainment product in the company" and that Halo 4 was the most expensive game that Microsoft had made. [27] A demonstration of the game's campaign was first shown at E3 2012. The developers described it as a pivotal moment in development, as it was the first time the game had been shown publicly. The positive reaction was a morale boost for the team, who were unsure how the public would react. [34] On July 7, 2012, a pre-release build of Halo 4 's Forge mode was showcased by 343 Industries and Certain Affinity at RTX which took place at the Austin Convention Center. [18] [35] [38] On September 26, 2012, O'Connor announced that the game's development was complete. [39] Design [ edit ] Sotaro Tojima, best known for his work on Konami's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, served as Halo 4 's audio director. [32] The team performed many live audio recording sessions, several of which occurred in Tasmania, Australia. Some of these recording sessions took place in generally inhospitable environments, such as underwater, in fire, and in ice, through the use of specially designed microphones; [32] other recording sessions have utilized "home made" explosives. [61] Tojima intended for the game's audio to be clearly grounded in the Halo universe, while also having a more realistic quality than in past titles. [32] Traditionally, the Halo series has aimed very much for the console standard 30 frames per second update, giving the engine a 33.33ms time-frame in which to calculate each refresh. Other characteristics of the technology include a v-sync implementation which all but eliminates screen-tear - save for the odd frame running over budget just a touch, resulting in a tear-line at the very top of the screen, usually unseen in an HDTV's overscan area.

a b Bromell, Adam (November 20, 2012). "The Environment Art of Halo 4". Polycount. p.1. Archived from the original on October 31, 2013 . Retrieved November 24, 2012. Robinson, Martin (February 27, 2013). "Halo 4: Spartan Ops Season 1 review". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Archived from the original on March 24, 2015 . Retrieved March 27, 2015. Mad Catz® Ships Licensed Halo® 4 Gaming Headset Range". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg L.P. October 30, 2012. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015 . Retrieved February 25, 2015.

Holmes explained that one of the goals for Halo 4 's campaign was to incorporate more human elements into the story. To accomplish this the team wrote a B story that explored Master Chief's relationship with his AI partner, Cortana, who would break down into a dementia-like state. [46] The development team realized that Halo 4 's narrative could be dense and hard to approach, making it inaccessible for new players. [33] They found incorporating such a storyline into an action game to be extremely challenging and considered dropping it during development. Holmes was adamant about including it; he took inspiration from his mother's battle with dementia, which she was diagnosed with near the start of the game's development. This led Holmes to want to capture the emotion and tell "a perfect story". [46] A piece of concept art showing the gravity-defying architecture and scenery of the Forerunner planet, Requiem Bromell, Adam (November 20, 2012). "The Environment Art of Halo 4". Polycount. p.3. Archived from the original on October 31, 2013 . Retrieved November 24, 2012. a b c Shea, Jessica (January 16, 2013). "The Halo Bulletin: 1.16.13". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013 . Retrieved January 21, 2013.

Battling the Flood". Halo Encyclopedia (2nded.). Dorling Kindersley. October 3, 2011. pp.180–181. ISBN 9781405373166 . Retrieved September 14, 2013. Halo 4 is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. Halo 4 's story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence construct Cortana, as they encounter unknown threats while exploring an ancient civilization's planet. The player assumes the role of Master Chief who battles against a new faction that splintered off from remnants of the Covenant, a former military alliance of alien races, and against mechanical warriors of the Forerunner empire known as the Prometheans. The game features a selection of weapons, enemies, and game modes not present in previous titles of the series. Halo 4 is a game that impresses on many levels. To begin with, it's clear that 343 Industries has treated all existing aspects of the Halo material with a high degree of reverence: while the game is receiving some criticism for its similarities to the older titles in the series, it's clear that this was the studio's intention from day one. Call it playing it safe if you like, but in building a new engine atop the core fundamentals laid down by Bungie, 343i made the right move. The result is a game that feels familiar, but crucially feels right. Combine that with the expert design direction and the groundbreaking technology and we have a game that genuinely impresses with the sheer magnificence of some its scenes, feeling every inch like the sci-fi epic the Halo games have always wanted to be.Mahardy, Mike (November 14, 2012). "How 343 Set A Storytelling Precedent". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015 . Retrieved November 14, 2012. Shea, Jessica (April 11, 2012). "The Halo Bulletin: 4.11.12". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013 . Retrieved June 10, 2012. Matulef, Jeffrey (September 2, 2012). "Halo 4 shows off new Grifball mode". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013 . Retrieved December 10, 2012. Golden Reel Award Winners & Nominees: Other". mpse.org. Motion Picture Sound Editors. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015 . Retrieved February 28, 2013. Reiner, Andrew (October 25, 2012). "Master Chief Gets Adorable In Funko's New Pop Vinyl". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015 . Retrieved October 28, 2012.

Shea, Jessica (December 6, 2012). "The Halo Bulletin: 12.06.12". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013 . Retrieved January 21, 2013. However, despite the similarities with Reach, there are a clutch of differences too. Most games that aim for 30 frames per second do so with a very predictable cadence - on the 60Hz output of the console's HDMI port, we'll see a unique frame followed by a duplicate before the cycle repeats. Halo 4 can add - or drop - frames seemingly at will, upsetting the cadence and introducing micro-stutter into the motion of the game, even if the average frame-rate remains at 30FPS. a b c Pellett, Matthew (November 2, 2012). "Halo 4: the astonishing real-life prequel". Official Xbox Magazine UK. Future plc. p.2. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014 . Retrieved November 3, 2012. More positively, the new take on lighting and effects work in the revised Halo 4 engine yields some noticeable bonuses when compared directly with Reach. This manifests most directly in effects-heavy sequences - screen-filling alpha during intense fire-fights could send Bungie's lap of honour plunging to 20 frames per second and there were a small handful of areas that had the distinct feeling of being somewhat under-optimised, again resulting in the same choppy update. By and large, frame-rate was solid, but this only served to make those troublesome areas stand out all the more. Gies, Arthur (November 7, 2015). "Halo: The Master Chief Collection review: the library". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015 . Retrieved November 11, 2014.

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a b "Halo 4". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015 . Retrieved December 8, 2012. Other game features include Forge, a map-editing tool first introduced in Halo 3. Like War Games it has both split screen and Xbox Live support. Using the tool, players can edit default multiplayer maps by adding or modifying spawn points, weapons and items, or create new ones using canvases. Forge in Halo 4 contains a new "magnet" feature for connecting forge pieces together. [18] Theater mode allows players to view films, create video clips, and capture screen shots from recent matches in War Games or custom games. [19] Halo 4 also offers a file sharing system that allows players to upload and share video clips, screenshots, custom maps and game variants. [20] Synopsis [ edit ] Setting and characters [ edit ]

Shea, Jessica (January 30, 2013). "The Halo Bulletin: 1.30.13". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013 . Retrieved January 31, 2013. Best Overall Graphics". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on January 8, 2015 . Retrieved December 14, 2012.Mallory, Jordan (July 14, 2012). "Legendary Edition Halo 4 360 bundle official, limited edition controllers also announced". Joystiq. AOL. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013 . Retrieved July 15, 2012. Games in 2013". bafta.org. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015 . Retrieved February 12, 2013. a b Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (May 17, 2012). "Halo 4 Limited Edition bags early access to Halo 4 DLC". Official Xbox Magazine UK. Future plc. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013 . Retrieved June 10, 2012. Halo 4 's campaign received a mixed reception from critics. Reviewers enjoyed Master Chief's return as the protagonist, and the emotional connection between Master Chief and Cortana was highly praised. [150] [152] [153] [158] Mike Mahardy of Game Informer complimented the characterization improvements of Chief and Cortana, calling their evolved love story more "focused" and "relatable" to the player, in comparison to the "cloudy and impersonal" stories from the prior games of the franchise. [159] GameSpot editor, Chris Watters, described the "thrilling and emotional return of Master Chief and Cortana" as the highlight of the game. [153] GamesRadar maintained that the narrative was enthralling and the campaign's structure was much better than its predecessors. [154] IGN's McCaffrey praised the game's lighting, movements, animations, and lauded the campaign for its pacing, "deftly mixing on-foot combat, vehicle sequences, quiet story moments, and key Chief-and-Cortana interactions." Although Neil Davidge's work on the musical composition was noted as a "bold shift", McCaffrey claimed the music seemed "complementary rather than additive." [19] Jason in Halo 4". The Gadget Show. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on February 25, 2015 . Retrieved February 25, 2015.