343 have warned fans not to expect the same tempo as Halo Reach in the latest instalment of the game but rather to expect more of a Halo 3-esque experience.
The Halo series that Bungie developed and gifted to the gaming world seemed to have come to an end when Halo: Reach was released and tied up their involvement in the franchise.
Yet, with the game’s protagonist, Master Chief, settling into cryogenic sleep at the end of Halo 3, there was always an outside chance that the series could continue. However, no one expected the series to be resurrected as soon as it was, with Bungie selling
the rights of the game to Microsoft.
Microsoft then hired 343 Studios for, what has been confirmed to be, another trilogy starring Master Chief in the Halo universe.
The studio has been divulging a fair amount of details and screenshots of their upcoming game recently and one of the main facts about Halo 4 to have emerged from all of that is how the pace of the upcoming game will differ from that in Halo Reach.
Josh Holmes, the creative director, explained, “It’s (Halo 4) faster paced and more intense in terms of the immersiveness of the experience and just the overall visceral-ness of the experience – that’s been a real focus for our team.”
He went on to elaborate, “When you look at Halo games throughout the series they’ve changed pretty substantially in terms of the pace of play. Halo Reach is much slower and more methodical than Halo 3. What we wanted to do is push the balance back towards
a faster paced combat feel.”
It sounds like a smart move seeing how Reach was Bungie’s swansong in the Halo universe and it needed to adopt a more emotional, slow paced feel in order to set in with the storyline and the circumstances.
Yet, with the rebirth of the series, 343 need breathe life back into the game and they seem to be going about it with the right mindset.
It is still too soon to judge whether or not the game will be a worthy addition to one of the most iconic series in gaming history but here is to hoping it is.
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