Fans of the Halo franchise will be pleased to hear that the latest outing featuring the predominately green Master Chief is due to launch on November 6th for the Xbox 360.
The game will be set four years after Halo 3 and the new game will focus on Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 and his colleague Cortana, as they battle an ancient, deadly enemy.
Tensions are high, because this is the first game in the franchise not developed by legendary Bungie Studios. They broke away from Microsoft in 2007, and a new ‘343 Industries' was set up to push Halo into the next decade. 343 Industries have given the Chief a few tweaks here and there and apparently he is a lot more talkative now. As long as we don't get presented with Duke Nukem style one liners it should be ok.
Halo 4 creative Director Josh Holmes said “One of the things we wanted to do was put Chief up against new challenges and have him face obstacles unlike anything he's faced before — some of those are external and some of those are internal, Throughout the course of the story, we wanted him to undergo some kind of meaningful change as a character.”
One of the changes is to Master Chief's bodysuit, under the outer shell of his armor. The bodysuit now regulates Chief's physical state of being and Holmes cracked a joke to the press, saying it was the reason “he doesn't need to go to the bathroom in the middle of battle.”
Kim Wolfkill, executive producer said “There's definitely some really clear changes in the shape and placement of the armor, For us, Chief is such an athletic and agile warrior. It was necessary that his core armor design reflect that. As he is fighting his way through the environments in this game, he needs a freedom of movement that feels believable.”
Halo 4 is the first of a new trilogy of titles. 343 Industries has dubbed the new games ‘the reclaimer trilogy.'
Halo is a huge franchise for Microsoft, selling over 40 million games and driving sales of the Xbox consoles for the company. Microsoft will be doing all they can to ensure the new development company can continue their success story. We can imagine a few executives in the business are nervously biting their nails praying that the fan base will welcome the new title with open arms.
Kitguru says: A new talkative Master Chief with a bodysuit that can drain away urine. Whatever next?
Could it really be any worse than Halo 3?
Sounds like the classic character change that could break it.
The absence of anything from the Chief isnt a gaping hole to be filled. Its mainly empty to leave room for the palyer. Start fleshing it out too much and you’ll loose what the Chief is, which is anyone who picks up the controller.
I hope 343 remmeber not to go overboard on these “internal challenges” or the Chief’s breats will start to grow.
Getting Halo 4 is something thats ‘going’ to happen for me. Its just done.
Will i enjoy, i’ll take a leap of faith and say yes but i hope that the new Chief wont make me reconsider getting Halo 5.