Halo 4

"Wake up, John."

- Official tagline

Halo 4 is the seventh installment in the bestselling Halo franchise for the Xbox 360. A teaser trailer shown at Microsoft's E3 Media Briefing on June 6th, 2011 confirmed that Halo 4 is to be the first installment in the Reclaimer Trilogy. Set four and a half years after the events of Halo 3, Halo 4 will continue the story of John-117 and Cortana left abandoned on the remains of the. The two survivors drift toward the mysterious world of Requiem and the ancient evil within. Halo 4 is the first game developed by 343 Industries, the management team in charge of the Halo franchise, and will be published by Microsoft Studios; it was released worldwide on November 6th, 2012.

Plot
"Set in the aftermath of Halo 3, Master Chief returns to confront his own destiny and face an ancient evil that threatens the fate of the entire universe. Halo 4 marks the start of a new trilogy that begins with its release in 2012."

- Official summary

Halo 4 marks the return of John-117 as a playable protagonist after three Halo games focusing on different sets of characters. Having been lost in space for five years after the finale of Halo 3, John-117 and Cortana, adrift aboard the wreckage of the aft section of the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn, find themselves near Requiem, the Forerunner shield world first seen in the Legendary ending of Halo 3.

The story of Halo 4 has been described as being heavily focused on mystery, exploration and discovery, as well as being grand in scope and scale. Forerunner elements are featured extensively. The game also shows how humanity and the UNSC have adapted to the post-war world, particularly how they have co-opted Forerunner technology into their military devices and assets. The Covenant returns in the game, in the form of a remnant faction, consisting of Sangheili and their former Unggoy and Kig-Yar subordinates still loyal to the tenets of the Covenant religion. However, the Covenant are taking a backseat to an entirely new antagonist, the Prometheans, an elite class of Forerunner Warriors and their legendary leader known as the Didact, which has been said to be a "threat beyond anything that Master Chief has faced before." The subject of Cortana's ongoing rampancy, a year beyond her ideal functional lifespan, is also thoroughly and prominently detailed in Halo 4.

Unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 4 is designed to be part of a three-game arc from the beginning. In addition, 343 Industries is aiming for more complete connectivity among all of their future media than that of the original trilogy; the Forerunner Saga and Kilo-Five Trilogy novels, and the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary terminals have been stated as "definitely" having "resonant connections" to Halo 4's story. The third and final Forerunner Saga novel, Silentium, is expected to be released on March 19th, 2013. Frank O'Connor noted that Silentium will be released after Halo 4 for "specific strategic reasons" likely referring to the connectivity of the game and the novel. A live action series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, provides a backstory for several characters set to appear in the game; this series consists of five episodes totaling 75 minutes. The Halo 4 Collectors Edition will include a 90 minute extended cut of the series.

Like Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the Halo 4 campaign contains animated terminals accessible to the player.

Discovery
Halo 4 begins on July 20th, 2557, four years and seven months after the armistice ending the Human-Covenant War. Cortana, laying silent for years, notices that the ship's intruder alarms have activated and attempts to wake John-117 from cryo-sleep. Cortana notifies him that in his sleep, she rewrote the firmware of his MJOLNIR Mark VI armor, upgrading the HUD, armor capabilities, while giving a new overall appearance. With alarms ringing and the intruders spreading to multiple decks, John slips Cortana's chip back into his neural interface and upon opening a sealed hatch, unpressurized rooms rip him from the deck and send him into the vacuum. After climbing up an elevator shaft, suddenly, a Sangheili swordsman comes charging at the Spartan. After a brief close quarters engagement with the soldier, he kicks him down the shaft to his death. John questions the AI construct on why his once-formidable allies have attacked them, to which she has no answer. After fighting the Sangheili and their "repatriated" Unggoy subordinates, John makes his way to the aft observation deck, viewing a large Covenant fleet surrounding the Forward Unto Dawn while multiple boarding crafts dock with the heavily damaged aft section of the frigate.

John and Cortana subsequently make a crash-landing on the Forerunner world Requiem, entering the inner planetary shell via an entrance in the Dyson sphere-like superstructure. Recovering a Warthog, Master Chief and Cortana vow to make their way back to Earth in order to find a cure for Cortana's escalating Rampancy. They set out to find a way to contact the UNSC, circumventing the powerful jamming field surrounding the world.

Fighting through numerous Covenant hunting parties, Master Chief is attacked by advanced Forerunner defense drones which Cortana identifies as Prometheans. Evading or destroying pursuit, John attempts to warn the approaching UNSC Infinity of the dangerous artificially-induced gravity field that had caused the Forward Unto Dawn to crash.

The Didact
After disabling two control nodes, it becomes clear to John that a great threat had once been imprisoned within Requiem. The Didact, the Forerunners' greatest warrior and the individual responsible for firing the Halo Array 100,000 years ago, remains in suspended animation within a Cryptum. Easily disabling John with his powerful abilities, he declares the return of the Forerunners as the galaxy's rulers and saviors. Humanity remains weak and unworthy in his eyes of inheriting the Mantle, a view rejected by his wife, the Librarian. Having always revered the Forerunners as gods, the Covenant quickly swear alliance to the Didact and his armies. The Didact views the Covenant as mere primitives, but permits them to serve his cause, to prevent the ascension of the human race to galactic prominence.

Narrowly escaping the collapsing command center, the Chief and Cortana returns to the planet's surface only to find their warning to the Infinity came too late. The warship crashes more than 70 kilometers away, with a massive force of Covenant and Prometheans closing on their position.

Evading capture, John is successful in regrouping with a group of SPARTAN-IVs and Marines led by Commander Thomas Lasky. Recognizing the Chief immediately, Lasky asks John and Cortana to clear a landing zone so that Infinity's ground forces can fall back to the ship which has fallen under siege. Commandeering a Scorpion tank, John leads the attack to the crippled vessel alongside Commander Sarah Palmer's Spartans. Using the UNSC's latest weapon, the Mantis exoskeleton, John rallies a force of nearby Marines and regains control of the ship's interior. After reinitializing the secondary MAC guns and missile batteries, the tide turns in the UNSC's favor. Two CCS-class cruisers and dozens of dropships are destroyed in the artillery barrage, while the Didact's Cryptum is forced to retreat.

With a momentary lull in the fighting, John is called to a strategy meeting with Andrew Del Rio, Captain of the Infinity. Skeptical of the threat of the Prometheans, Rio orders an immediate attack on a Forerunner gravity well generator preventing the ship from leaving. A strike force of Spartans led by John is deployed along with a Mammoth-class ultra heavy ground vehicle supporting the attack. Facing daunting odds, the UNSC is able to defeat a large armored strike force of Covenant and Prometheans and they disable the gravity beam. Before reaching his objective, John is confronted with a vision from the Librarian, who warns him of the Didact's true plans.

The Composer
In ancient times, the human race was once a great interstellar empire. Fleeing from the Flood and destroying any world tainted with their presence, they came into contact with the Forerunner ecumene. Ignoring their warnings about the dangers posed by the parasite, the Forerunners led by the Didact defeated and imprisoned humanity upon their homeworld. Weakened by the struggle, the Forerunners were easy prey to the resurgent Flood. Despite this, the Didact planned to use the Composer, a device capable of transferring organic consciousness to software format to escape the Flood's infection. But the process was flawed, and the humans used as test subjects were corrupted, becoming fit only to function as the AIs of Promethean war-frames. This failure necessitated the firing of the Halo Array. Opposing the Didact for her own reasons, the Librarian provides John a gift: a medical treatment to counteract the Forerunner's devolution of the human genome, and a means to resist the Didact's plan to enslave the human race once again.

Regrouping aboard the Infinity, Captain Del Rio dismisses the threat of the Prometheans and prepares the ship to depart the system. Defying direct orders, John takes the increasingly unstable Cortana and departs the Infinity. Armed with a Pelican gunship provided by Commander Lasky, John launches several attacks on support pillars providing the Didact's Cryptum with shields and power, with the goal of preventing him from leaving the planet and attacking Earth and other colonies.

This attempt ultimately proves unsuccessful, as the Didact leaves Requiem aboard his vessel, escorted by a flotilla of Covenant ships. Stowing away aboard a Covenant ship, Master Chief pursues the Forerunner to Ivanoff, a UNSC research base orbiting Halo Installation 03 where the Composer is kept. Dr. Sandra Tillson, a lead researcher aboard the base, helps guide John to the artifact amidst a swarm of Covenant attackers. Despite reaching the artifact first, the Didact is successful in obtaining the Composer, tearing it out of the station's hull with a gravity beam. Testing the weapon, the Composer burns the crew of the station to ash, assimilating their knowledge to power additional war machines. The Master Chief survives, thanks to the genetic enhancements provided by the Librarian.

With the Composer in the Didact's possession, the Forerunner is poised to deal a deathblow to the UNSC, and by extension humanity. Racing back to Earth aboard a Broadsword fighter stowed on the outer hull of the Didact's ship, the Master Chief is surprised to find the Infinity and a UNSC fleet waiting for him. Flying below the Forerunner vessel's shields, John is able to destroy the ship's point defense guns, allowing Infinity to bombard its hull. Entering through a breach in the armor, John fights his way to the Didact's location.

Despite their best efforts, the Didact begins to fire on Earth with the Composer, annihilating New Phoenix, URNA. Armed with a HAVOK portable nuclear device, John confronts the Didact once again. While John is unable to hurt the Forerunner with conventional attacks, Cortana, nearing the end of her life, disables the Didact's armor and immobilizes him with hard light bindings. With the last of his strength, John uses a Promethean grenade to destroy the Forerunner's armor and detonates the nuclear bomb manually.

Farewells
With the last of her power, Cortana is able to teleport John away from the vessel before it was destroyed and meets with John for one last time inside a bubble of hard light. Overcome with emotion, John remarks that he was supposed to have protected her. Cortana insists that they were supposed to protect each other, and did. Using her hard light body, Cortana is able to actually touch John for the first time, which she says that she's been waiting to do for a very long time. Smiling and seeming at peace, Cortana welcomes John home, and then fades away completely, dying. The Master Chief drifts in space amidst the debris of the Didact's ship for a time before being recovered by a UNSC search-and-rescue team. Later, John speaks with (now Captain) Lasky about the loss of his closest friend and companion. Aboard the Infinity, John rejoins Palmer and the other Spartans, preparing for their inevitable next battle, and his MJOLNIR Mark VI armor is removed for the first time since he put it on at Cairo Station in 2552.

The Didact, seemingly surviving the destruction of his ship, gives a speech in the battle's aftermath, swearing his vengeance against humanity will continue, and he will see the Forerunners return to power at any cost. Meanwhile, a UNSC team investigates the city of New Phoenix, where the Composer's energy beam was directed; although the infrastructure of vehicles and buildings are completely untouched, its former human inhabitants are gone.

While their defeat at Earth proved a set back for the Promethean/Covenant alliance, it did not result in their defeat. Months later, the Infinity returns to Requiem with a complement of Spartans, determined to reclaim the planet. This tour forms the background for the Spartan Ops mode.

Campaign
The campaign of Halo 4 consists of 10 levels, of which 8 are playable.


 * 1) Prologue (cutscene; unplayable)
 * 2) Dawn
 * 3) Requiem
 * 4) Forerunner
 * 5) Infinity
 * 6) Reclaimer
 * 7) Shutdown
 * 8) Composer
 * 9) Midnight
 * 10) Epilogue (cutscene; unplayable)

Characters

 * Andrew Del Rio
 * Armstrong
 * Austen
 * Casillas
 * Catherine Halsey
 * Cortana
 * The Didact
 * Dunlap
 * Estey-Bethel
 * Faber
 * Forthencho
 * Gabriel Thorne
 * Grant
 * Hoya
 * Jared Miller
 * John-117
 * Jul 'Mdama
 * The Librarian
 * Lincoln
 * Madsen
 * Paul DeMarco
 * Robert Dalton
 * Roland
 * Sandra Tillson
 * Sarah Palmer
 * Marcus Stacker
 * Thomas Lasky
 * Tashi

Equipment and technology

 * Ancilla
 * Artificial intelligence
 * Promethean Crawler
 * Crawler Snipe
 * Alpha Crawler
 * Promethean Knight
 * Knight Lancer
 * Knight Commander
 * Knight Battlewagon
 * Promethean Watcher
 * Constraint field
 * Cryo chamber
 * Cryptum
 * The Composer
 * Geas
 * HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon
 * Kig-Yar combat harness
 * Storm variant
 * Heavy variant
 * Ranger variant
 * Sniper variant
 * Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet
 * Kig-Yar targeting headgear
 * M2705 Regenerative Kinetic Dispersal Field
 * M805X Forward Acceleration System/Fulcrum Mitigating
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * MJOLNIR [GEN1]
 * MJOLNIR Mark VI
 * Standard variant
 * Upgraded variant
 * MJOLNIR [GEN2]
 * Orbital defense platform
 * Sangheili combat harness
 * Storm variant
 * Commander variant
 * Ranger variant
 * Warrior variant
 * Zealot variant
 * Sentinel Aggressor
 * Series 12 Single Operator Lift Apparatus
 * Stationary shield generator
 * Type-3 Refraction Dissonance Modifier/Camouflage
 * Type-27 Responsive Holographic Form Emulator‎
 * Unggoy combat harness
 * Storm variant
 * Heavy variant
 * Imperial variant
 * Ranger variant
 * Z-90 Photonic Coalescence Emitter/Aegis
 * Z-2500 Automated Protection Drone
 * Z-5080 Short-Range Spectrum Augmenter/Vision

Events

 * Human-Flood War
 * Forerunner-Flood War
 * Human-Forerunner War
 * Human-Promethean War
 * Battle of Earth (2557)
 * Raid on Ivanoff Station
 * Requiem campaign

Locations

 * Carinae Station
 * Charum Hakkor
 * Circinius IV
 * Corbulo Academy of Military Science
 * Sol system
 * Earth
 * United Republic of North America
 * New Phoenix
 * Luna
 * Halo Array
 * Installation 00
 * Installation 03
 * Ivanoff Station
 * Installation 05
 * Installation 07
 * Requiem

Organizations

 * Ecumene
 * Lifeworker
 * Promethean
 * Covenant remnant
 * Prehistoric human civilization
 * United Earth Government
 * United Nations Space Command
 * Spartan
 * SPARTAN-IV Program
 * Fireteam Crimson
 * Fireteam Majestic
 * UNSC Army
 * UNSC Air Force
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * UNSC Navy
 * Fleet Command
 * Naval Special Weapons
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * Office of Naval Intelligence

Species

 * Flood (Terminals and Simulation Only)
 * Forerunner
 * Human
 * Jiralhanae (Prologue Only)
 * Kig-Yar
 * Lekgolo
 * Mgalekgolo
 * Sangheili
 * Unggoy

Vehicles

 * Boarding craft
 * CAS-class assault carrier
 * CCS-class battlecruiser
 * Cyclops Mark II
 * D79-TC Pelican
 * F-41 Broadsword
 * Infinity-class cruiser
 * Mantle's Approach
 * HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX ADS
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12G1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle
 * M12R Light Anti-Aircraft Vehicle
 * M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicle
 * M808 Main Battle Tank
 * Mobile Anti-Aircraft Weapons Platform M510 Siegework/Ultra-Heavy
 * Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
 * Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
 * Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multi-role Fighter
 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
 * Type-44 Troop Carrier
 * Type-55 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun
 * Type-56 Ground Support Deployment Platform/Ultra Heavy
 * Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multi-role Fighter
 * Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
 * Type-44 Troop Carrier
 * Type-55 Anti-Infantry Stationary Gun
 * Type-56 Ground Support Deployment Platform/Ultra Heavy

Weapons

 * ARC-920
 * Assault cannon
 * BR85 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle
 * Combat knife
 * H-295 Forward Observer Module
 * M247H Heavy Machine Gun
 * M363 Remote Projectile Detonator
 * M395 Designated Marksman Rifle
 * M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon
 * M45D Tactical Shotgun
 * M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * M739 Light Machine Gun
 * M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade
 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * Sniper Rifle System 99-Series 5 Anti-Matériel
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel grenade
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
 * Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle (Prologue Only)
 * Type-27 Special Application Sniper Rifle
 * Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
 * Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
 * Type-50 Directed Energy Rifle/Heavy
 * Type-51 Carbine
 * Type-52 Directed Energy Support Weapon
 * Type-55 Directed Energy Rifle/Advanced
 * Z-040 Attenuation Field Generator/Localized
 * Z-110 Directed Energy Pistol/Exotic
 * Z-130 Directed Energy Automatic Weapon
 * Z-180 Close Combat Rifle/Asymmetric Engagement Mitigator
 * Z-250 Directed Energy Engagement Weapon
 * Z-390 High-Explosive Munitions Rifle
 * Z-750 Special Application Sniper Rifle

Gameplay and design
Halo 4 is being developed for the Xbox 360 console. The game's creative team, which comprises nearly 200 individuals who have been developing the game for nearly three years, is led by creative director Josh Holmes. The game will continue the Halo series' tradition of inspiring wonder in the player while providing engaging, visceral gameplay. The game will utilize much of the "sandbox" that has been featured across all six prior Halo games and other media, in addition to introducing new characters, weapons, vehicles, and other elements. The game's "sandbox" and overall style are meant to be evocative of Halo: Combat Evolved moreso than of later installments. Dual wielding will not be accessible in the game.

The narrative design team of Halo 4 is headed by Armando Troisi, who previously worked on Mass Effect and its sequel, along with an in-house team of writers. The original draft of the Halo 4 script was written by Chris Schlerf, who has also had major influence on the script since then. Brian Reed, who wrote the 2010-2012 graphic novel adaptation Halo: Fall of Reach, is also part of the writing team and has made significant contributions on the story.

The art director for Halo 4 is Kenneth Scott. He described the visual style of Halo 4 as being more ingrained in the expanded universe fiction, and more "mature" than before. With the game's increased focus on the Forerunners, the artists have invested heavily on the look and feel of Forerunner technology. It has also been stated that there will be more diversity to Forerunner structures, including fully active Forerunner technology as opposed to the mostly inert and abandoned structures seen in the earlier games.

John-117's experience and the player's experience are meant to be intertwined, with the Master Chief essentially serving as the player's avatar within the Halo universe. John's character will also be explored and developed in more depth than in the prior games, and the relationship between John and Cortana will be heavily featured and greatly expanded. In addition, 343 Industries has stated that Halo 4 will feature much more athleticism, as the background of Master Chief and the SPARTAN super soldiers in general promise a feeling of "a super hero", a feeling they want to convey to the player.

With the increased focus on the character of Master Chief, the Halo 4 art team has redesigned his MJOLNIR armor from the ground up. The first look into the redefined armor, which differs considerably from the suit seen in Halo 3, was seen in the announcement trailer, generating a considerable amount of confusion and speculation among fans. 343 Industries later stated that the design seen in the trailer was not the final version. The final iteration was later seen alongside the first Halo 4 gameplay reveal following Microsoft Spring Showcase 2012. The changes in the design are mostly cosmetic and were made with the intent of giving the suit a more functional look in order to suit the new art direction of the game. In a fictional context, the difference in the suit's appearance is explained by an extensive overhaul performed by Cortana while John was in cryo-sleep.

Motion capture, first implemented in the series on Halo: Reach, was used during the production of Halo 4. Recording began prior to the release of the Making Halo 4: First Look video in Los Angeles, California, with material for the character Cortana and a man playing an unidentified character filmed; recordings have been done as recently as the week of April 29th, 2012. Bruce Thomas and MacKenzie Mason would later be confirmed as the "cinematic performance capture actors" for John-117 and Cortana, respectively.

At a London press event for Halo 4, it was announced that development of the game was completed on September 25th, 2012 after three years in development. The finished product has since been sent to "various certification processes" before mass production of the game begins. Coincidentally, the September 25th completion date of Halo 4 also marks the fifth anniversary of the North American release of its predecessor, Halo 3.

Audio
Sotaro Tojima, best known for his work on Konami's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, serves as Halo 4's audio director. The team has performed many live audio recording sessions, several of which occurred in Tasmania, Australia. Some of these recording sessions have taken place in generally inhospitable environments, such as underwater, in fire, and in ice, through the use of specially designed microphones; other recording sessions have utilized "home made" explosives. Tojima intends for the game's audio to be clearly grounded in the Halo universe, though to also have a more realistic quality than in past titles. A video was released on February 23rd depicting 343i recording weapon and explosion audio alongside the U.S. Army Special Forces. Weapons such as the M4 carbine, Mk 17 battle rifle, M240 general purpose machine gun, M107 sniper rifle, M2 heavy machine gun, and M72 rocket launcher were used in the recording.

Five voice actors have so far been announced for the game. Jen Taylor, voicing the AI Cortana, and Jeff Steitzer, the multiplayer and firefight Announcer, have confirmed on Facebook that they will again be reprising their roles for Halo 4. Steve Downes, the iconic voice of John-117, was confirmed to voice the game's protagonist in the June 9th Halo Bulletin. On the April 17th, 2012 episode of the TBS late night comedy show Conan, hosts Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter announced that they'll be voicing Navy deckhands lifting crates aboard the advanced warship Infinity towards the end of the story. Frank O'Connor, replying to a fan's question at the Rooster Teeth Expo, stated that the cast for the upcoming episodic cooperative series Spartan Ops will have the "biggest injection" of new voice talent for Halo 4.

On April 11, 2012, the composer for Halo 4 was announced to be Neil Davidge, best known as the co-writer and producer for the British electronica duo Massive Attack. Davidge first started in his role as the future composer in late 2010, eventually having his first meeting with 343i laying out his ideas for the music of the game. After the meeting, Davidge began writing 20 to 30 pieces that would be the base of the Halo 4 score, which he officially began working on in August of 2011. Davidge has since stated that over four hours and an estimated 300 pieces had been written as of May 8, 2012. Composing Halo 4 is noted as being split into four distinct "tiers," each consisting of central themes for a handful of missions. Many of the key compositions were recorded and completed in January 2012 ahead of 343i's completion deadline. Though still grounded in the Halo universe, the score for Halo 4 will be taking a new direction from Martin O'Donnell's composition in previous Halo titles. Orchestral and composition for the score was done at the famed Abbey Road Studios in Westminster, London, England, mostly notably known for their work with The Beatles during the 1960's.

Multiplayer


The competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes of Halo 4 are grouped together into a mode known as Infinity, which is tied to the Halo series fiction and runs parallel to the campaign story. In Infinity, players take control of SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers serving aboard the advanced warship, UNSC Infinity. Prior to the beginning of development on Halo 4, 343i General Manager Bonnie Ross and Frank O'Connor set the framework of the new studio's mission which entailed that all pieces of existing and future fiction from the games, novels, comics, etc. would be interwoven and share content from each other. Among this would be the multiplayer component for Halo 4, which would later include the introduction of Spartan Ops; " Wrapping the whole thing together allowed us to make sure that all the fiction in all of those pieces actually mattered – in this case, it connects directly to your career as well as the narrative experience."

War Games
Competitive multiplayer, known as "War Games," pits players against one another in adversarial combat training in simulated environments in the advanced combat deck of the Infinity. However, due to the emphasis on the SPARTAN-IV commandos, players do not have the option to use Sangheili for their multiplayer character.

343 Industries aims to provide a "brand new experience" in Halo 4 multiplayer. This includes a reworking of the series' traditional balance system. For example, the player progression system is more extensive, allowing players to choose between various modifications which have an effect on gameplay, in addition to aesthetic armor permutations similar to the prior games. Players are able to customize their loadouts, being able to choose between various armor abilities as well as new customizable features, known as Support Upgrades and Tactical Packages. Tactical Packages offer a small performance boost to a chosen gameplay feature, such as the player's shield or weapon carrying capacity. Support Upgrades function similarly, and feature such improvements as motion tracker upgrade and an increase in the player's maximum ammunition. Halo 4 also introduces a new gameplay enhancement feature referred to as "Specializations". Specializations unlock different armor sets, emblems, visor colors, weapon and armor skins, and armor mods, which work similar to tactical packages and support upgrades. It has also been stated that multiplayer gameplay is "much more fast-paced, more intense and visceral" than in the prior games. Weapon pickups on maps are marked on the player's heads-up display, and players are able to call in ordnance drops, containing power-ups or weapons, during War Games or Spartan Ops matches. Some multiplayer gametypes include Slayer, Infinity Slayer, and Regicide. Power-ups available in Infinity Slayer include Overshield, Damage Boost, and Speed Boost.

Maps
Unlike Halo: Reach, where the original multiplayer maps were shared in the campaign as gameplay spaces, all multiplayer maps in Halo 4 will be purpose-built for multiplayer alone much like in the first three Halo games. Frank O'Connor at the time had stated that the names of the two previously known multiplayer maps were only placeholders and would be revealed at a later date. 343 Industries cooperated with Certain Affinity in the production of the multiplayer maps for Halo 4.

Spartan Ops


Spartan Ops is a secondary campaign that replaces the Firefight mode featured in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. Much like traditional campaign cooperative play, Spartan Ops will allow up to four players to participate in weekly objective-based episodic missions; Missions will intertwine directly with events in the main Halo 4 campaign, expanding on the story of the UNSC Infinity and her crew, who will interact with John-117 during the series; this new mode is being likened to a second full-scale campaign for the game. Compared to a season of a television program, each "episode" of Spartan Ops will feature a pre-rendered cinematic and five playable missions complete with new events, characters, locations, and gameplay challenges, totaling up to 12 hours of new gameplay. The development of Spartan Ops will see the largest influx of new characters, along with corresponding facial and voice talent, and gameplay/sandbox elements into any property of the Halo franchise since 2001. 343 Industries will be supporting additional Spartan Ops missions for months after launch of the game and unlike Reach challenges, players will have the opportunity to play from the beginning of the episodic campaign regardless of when they started playing. The first "season" will be included with the price of the game, though 343i has not ruled out charging players for additional Spartan Ops seasons. Frank O'Connor has stated that it will "bridge the gap" between the events of Halo 4 and the future release of its sequel Halo 5.

The development of Spartan Ops came to fruition under the ideals of persistent, fresh replayability and small additions to the fiction surrounding the Reclaimer Trilogy and ancillary content. Each episode of the series, gameplay-wise, is set up with meaning to enhance the significance of the events you are playing through, and as such, simplistic single-objective missions will not be a focus of Spartan Ops. Frank O'Connor in an interview with The Guardian states that the stories and events have been loosely laid out for "a few years" ; the success or failure of Spartan Ops may lead to a continuation of the series past 2012-2013 with a "known beginning, a middle, and an end." The first season of Spartan Ops as of June 2012 has been noted as being "very rigid" with the direction of the story having already been mapped out from beginning to end.

Season One will consist of ten episodes and a total of fifty missions (five missions per episode) released following the launch of Halo 4. If the episodes are released consistently, Spartan Ops Season One will actively run from its premiere alongside Halo 4 's worldwide release on November 6th, 2012 to the finale on January 15th, 2013. Players will still need Xbox Live to play the first season.

Forge
Forge is a returning feature in Halo 4. Co-developed with Certain Affinity, the feature was first shown to public audiences at the Rooster Teeth Expo on July 7th, 2012 in a presentation highlighting various new features included with this newest iteration of Forge mode. The feature sports a number of improvements over its predecessors, including the ability to use "magnets" to snap objects to one another or duplicate any object at will. It is accessible in three dedicated maps with unique object palettes.

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Microsoft Studios, the game's publisher, has plans to put millions of dollars into marketing Halo 4 through the various mediums. Television advertisements, including Fincher's Scanned and general gameplay trailers, will be tailored to individual shows such as Sons of Anarchy, Fringe and across many channels in the game's targeted demographic.

Marketing for Halo 4 began in June 2012 with the release of the live-action trailer The Commissioning at E3 2012. It would subsequently be released in an extended format during the seventh match of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship between England and France, effectively beginning the pre-release worldwide public advertisement of Halo 4. The Commissioning simultaneously depicts the ceremony that formally placed the in active duty within the Fleet, during operations in deep space with its battlegroup, and eventually during the Promethean's assault on its systems, dragging it into the shield world of Requiem. Days later, what appeared to be an alternate reality game (ARG), first used for the series in Halo 2, had shown up on the ESPN website alongside two standard flash advertisements presenting The Commissioning. This potential ARG campaign for Halo 4 predominantly features fragmented coding and an assortment of words in Latin, along with an glyph similar in appearance to that of the Didact, the Promethean supreme commander of the Ecumene's military.

On October 10th, film director David Fincher, highly praised for films such as Fight Club and The Social Network, was announced as the executive producer for the launch trailer for Halo 4 titled "Scanned." Filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, Scanned is a two-minute teaser to the game that seamlessly blends computer-generated and live action imagery, developing on the history of the character of John-117 as his adversary, the Didact, scans his memories. Tim Miller, whom Fincher worked with on his 2011 American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as its visual effects lead, teams up again with Fincher as the director on the project, who he refers to Miller as as being "at the visual and technical forefront of hybridized live-action/CGI – not only pushing the boundary but defining it." Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter, who have been previously revealed to lending their talents as Infinity crewmen, will reprise their roles from the game's campaign for the upcoming teaser. Scanned premiered during the airing of the October 18th, 2012 episode of NBC's evening talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and was subsequently released on various other media outlets and platforms following the broadcast.

On October 24th, 343 Industries shows a gameplay trailer of Halo 4 on the TV show Sons of Anarchy, and shows several gameplay of the campaign and multiplayer.

The public had their first opportunity to play Halo 4 War Games at the Rooster Teeth Expo in Austin, Texas on July 7th and 8th, 2012.

Mountain Dew and Doritos will be releasing specially themed Halo 4 merchandise on October 1, to celebrate the game's release.

Editions
The North American (ESRB) and European (PEGI) cover art for Halo 4, seen here, was unveiled on May 14th, 2012 through a series of 32 "puzzle pieces" given to various community members by 343 Industries. It depicts John-117 kneeling in his upgraded MJOLNIR armor with an MA5D assault rifle at the entrance to the Requiem Dyson sphere. To his sides, the crashing remains of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, which is visually upgraded from its previous incarnation in Halo 3, and a CCS-class battlecruiser with other debris surround him.

Announced on May 16th, 2012, 343 Industries revealed a collector's edition for Halo 4. The Halo 4 Limited Edition has been noted as "maximizing your multiplayer experience," which in-turn will expand on the fiction of the Halo universe like many aspects of the game as a whole. The Limited Edition is presented in a large, minimalistic grey case that is adorned with an updated United Nations Space Command insignia; the game itself will be included in a smaller silver tin case that features similar artwork to the larger case and is embossed with futuristic artwork. It is currently available for purchase worldwide starting at $99.99 (USD). 343 Industries has confirmed that there will not be a "Legendary Edition" for Halo 4, citing that they didn't want consumers to have to choose what version-specific ancillary items they'd receive.

Pre-order bonuses
Many pre-order bonuses for Halo 4 were revealed on May 25th, 2012. This is the first time that Microsoft Studios has introduced retailer-specific bonus items for a Halo game; preorder bonuses were offered for ODST, Reach, and Combat Evolved Anniversary, however, not on the scale of Halo 4. Helmet and armor skins and emblems are completely customizable for use in multiplayer to match the style of the individual player. Note that the armor exclusives are for the skins (design), not the armor themselves. Each bonus item and their respective retailer are listed below by availability:

Books
Awakening: The Art of Halo 4 is a hardcover art book first announced on May 8th, 2012. The book will be published by Titan Books with a release date of November 2nd, 2012. This fourth retail art collection from the Halo universe will include 192 pages of colored illustration used during production to create the vision of Halo 4 and will include commentary by 343 Industries artists and developers.

Five novels released from January 2011 to January 2013, though not specifically game merchandise, are intertwined with the story and expanded universe introduced in Halo 4. Set thousands of years in the past, the Forerunner Saga and its three novels Cryptum (Jan. 4th, 2011), Primordium (Jan. 3rd, 2012), and the upcoming Silentium (Jan. 8th, 2013 ) deal with the events leading up to and during the Forerunner-Flood war up to the "present day." The Kilo-Five Trilogy, consisting of Glasslands (Oct. 25th, 2011), The Thursday War (Oct. 2nd, 2012), and an unannounced third novel, chronicles the months following the end of Halo 3 and will bridge the gap between the original Bungie trilogy and the Reclaimer Trilogy.

Licensed products
McFarlane Toys have announced two waves of action figures, vehicles, toy sets, and other products for Halo 4. The first series, set for release in August 2012, will feature four 6-inch carded figures, which include returning characters John-117 and a Sangheili Zealot and two new inclusions into the Halo universe, the Unggoy Storm and two Spartan Warriors, one red and one blue ; a larger boxed product, featuring an up-scaled John-117 and accessories within a frozen cryopod will also be available. Released alongside Halo 4 in November will be the second series, including a figure of Cortana and a SPARTAN-IV soldier with two new enemy types, the Crawler and the Watcher; another large boxed product regarded as being an "enemy unlike anything before" will be released in Holiday 2012. The second series, set for release in January 2013, will feature four 6-inch as John-117 with the ARC-920, two Spartan Warriors (one orange and one purple), Thomas Lasky with a Magnum and a Sangheili Ranger with the Particle Beam Rifle and one new inclusion: the Kig-Yar Storm. McFarlane will also be releasing a Halo 4 series under their "Micro Ops" line, which includes smaller non-character figures made specifically for battle recreations. Jada Toys will be producing replica figures and die cast vehicles based on content from the game, including a highly detailed 14-inch M12 Warthog vehicle.

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc., a well known manufacturing company for game products, will be releasing a licensed communication headset coinciding with the launch of Halo 4. The headset's aesthetics will have a design reminiscent of designs seen in the Halo universe.

GAEMS PGE, manufacturer of personal gaming environments, produced a UNSC-themed Personal Gaming Environment for the Xbox 360.

Announcement
Called "Awakening," this trailer was revealed for the first time on June 6th, 2011 at E3 2011, during the Xbox Press Briefing in Los Angeles, California. It effectively was the announcement of Halo 4 as well of that of the Reclaimer Trilogy. Developed by agencytwofifteen, Digital Domain, and Anonymous Content, with music by the game's composer Neil Davidge, Awakening showed off early assets currently in-development by 343 Industries including John-117's new armor and Cortana's makeover since their last incarnations in Halo 3 and the animated short film Halo Legends: Origins. It would later be revealed that the trailer is set during the opening moments of Halo 4, during a Covenant boarding of the ship.

Aptly named, the trailer depicts the awakening of John-117 from cryo sleep aboard the by Cortana shouting for the Spartan to wake up. John-117 secures Cortana's data crystal within his neural interface and proceeds to escape a raging fire engulfing him while dodging broken-off debris from the ship. Blasting open a door preventing his escape, John-117 lays his eyes on the outer surface of an unknown alien world. Standing on the very edge of the warship being torn apart by explosions, the Spartan and his A.I. companion view this world opening itself.

Concept Art Glimpse
Ending off the 10-year anniversary celebration of Halo Fest at PAX Prime 2011 in Seattle, Washington was the release of a trailer following the first panel discussing Halo 4. Released on August 28th, 2011, it would be the first new glimpse of the game since its reveal at E3. It featured glimpses at many of the upcoming campaign's environments, including a habital terrestrial world with Forerunner glyphs on the surface, several location drafts which feature buildings and ships that follow the Forerunners' style of architecture and design, concepts of the Forward Unto Dawn 's wreckage, and some concepts of the then-unidentified planet. Two of these images were repurposed as the cover art for the Forerunner Saga novels, Cryptum and Primordium. Following the Halo 4 title card was a quick teaser of an unknown bipedal creature.

Behind The Scenes
Making Halo 4 is a documentary series covering the development of Halo 4, presented and narrated by the staff of 343 Industries. A total of five videos has been released under this documentary series. The first video, titled "First Look", revealed the first in-game footage of Campaign and War Games for Halo 4 along with various gameplay elements. Composing Worlds is the second video, focusing on the audio design of the development. The third video, titled "A Hero Awakens", goes in great detail on the development of storyline and character performances. The fourth video, titled "Return of the Forerunners", focuses on the development of the Prometheans and their weapons. The fifth, titled "Infinity Multiplayer", focuses on the development and inspiration of Halo 4 ' s multiplayer mode.

Demonstration videos
Nearly a year after the announcement of the game, 343 Industries revealed the first proper gameplay footage of Halo 4 on June 4th, 2012 at the Xbox Press Briefing for E3 2012. Headlining the show, the demonstration started off with the first viewing of the live-action trailer The Commissioning which synced perfectly into the events of the in-game portion of the reveal. The UNSC Infinity, pulled down into the atmosphere of Requiem by the Prometheans, flies right above John-117 who determines that the advanced warship will crash nearly 78 kilometers from their position. This gameplay demonstration reveals the "ancient evil" that John-117 and his companions will fight during the course of the game, who would be revealed as the Prometheans, the ultimate group of the Forerunner Warrior-Servant caste. 343i's reveal concludes with a short cinematic montage of various environments across Requiem with a voiceover sequence by Cortana, revealing the first prominent display of Rampancy in the series.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn


Announced on April 30th, 2012, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a five-episode live-action series with a total runtime of 75 minutes, making it one of the longest marketing programs for any game in history. Forward Unto Dawn will chronicle the life of Thomas Lasky from his experiences at Corbulo Academy decades before his service aboard the UNSC Infinity, alongside his "mentor" John-117. 343i's business director, Matt McCloskey, stated that Forward Unto Dawn will allow the franchise to "make Halo accessible for people who haven't played the games." Both McCloskey and Frank O'Connor noted that the series will flesh out the fiction of the universe, particularly Halo 4's. Viewers will be given background information on the various events set prior to the upcoming game and the characters set to appear in it, as well as being introduced to new elements and expanding on old ones.

Forward Unto Dawn will be released prior to the worldwide launch of Halo 4 on October 5th, 2012, first as a short weekly webseries exclusively on Halo Waypoint and Machinima.com and later in its full 75-minute form on other devices. A 90-minute extended edition is included with the limited edition for Halo 4. Directed by Stewart Hendler, filming on Forward Unto Dawn took place in British Columbia throughout Spring 2012 and is currently in post-production in Los Angeles. It stars Tom Green (Thomas Lasky), Anna Popplewell (Chyler Silva), and Daniel Cudmore (John-117).

Soundtrack
The Halo 4: Original Soundtrack will be released October 22, 2012. The soundtrack features 15 tracks, though some editions come with a remix album.

Reception
Halo 4 has received extremely positive acclaim from critics, and high praise for surpassing expectations. IGN's Ryan McCaffrey gave the game a score of 9.8 out of 10, calling it "not only a success, but a bar-raising triumph for the entire first-person shooter genre," and praised most aspects of the game, ranging from graphics and design to enemy behaviour, and called the multiplayer "golden". Criticisms of the game were that the need to view the Terminal through Halo Waypoint "serves only to pull you out of the experience, literally and figuratively." , and that "some of its fetch quest-y, flip-three-switches sequences feel like they artificially lengthen the game because of how long you can get hung up on them when the going gets tough." The only negative of multiplayer was that the Spartan Ops mode "lacks the replayability and score-based incentives of the Firefight mode it replaces," and that the new lobby system was "a bit more cluttered and difficult to parse through than previous Halos," but otherwise praised it as "on par with what Bungie had previously established." His overall conclusion was that "Halo has been rebuilt. It has been redefined. And it has been reinvigorated."

Jose Otero of 1UP similarly praised the game, stating that 343 Industries have "created a worthy sequel to a blockbuster franchise that wasn't initially theirs,", and that "Halo 4 demonstrates a genuine effort to either introduce new elements or simply correct old problems." He also stated that "the sound design of Halo 4 benefits from having a punchier effect than the previous entries," and that the game "benefits from striking art direction that draws some inspiration from J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek while adding an impressive layer of detail." Criticism of the campaign was that while "For the most part, the narrative does well at weaving together a big-picture conflict involving the mysterious Forerunners while telling a subtle side story about Cortana's descent into rampancy", "the resolution to Halo 4's story doesn't make a lot of sense." He admitted that "the decision to adopt a perks system in Halo 4 makes sense from a gameplay perspective, since it introduces additional avenues for players to build a character that fits their distinct play style, but these same additions slightly erase elements that distinguish two of the biggest shooter franchises from one other. Halo still has the advantage of energy shields and armor abilities, but its a shame to see the series conform to another game's mold", and he voiced concerns that "the short length of Spartan Ops can feel odd at first -- unless you're playing on Legendary difficulty, that is -- but the promise of more content could easily erase these concerns." He praised the addition of the Prometheans, which "add a wonderful element of enemy teamwork that complements the existing A.I. behaviors beautifully," and concluded that "343i has done a great job of capturing the essence of Halo, tapping into the kind of options that FPS fans love."

Tina Amini praised the emotional impact of the campaign, stating that "I can safely say I’ve never sat through a Halo campaign quite at the edge of my seat like I have in the first title by 343 Industries,", and praised the campaign as "beautiful. It’s cinematic, and features lovely music," and that it "humanized what was up until now mainly just a really fun, well-made series of games," though she found that "concepts and names are thrown at you in such rapid succession that it’s difficult to follow along" and complained that "I found the Spartan Ops missions to be fairly boring." She also admitted that "gamers are afraid of change. So the addition of ordnance drops in multiplayer—basically a bonus given to players who do well during a match—might not be desirable." She also complained that "Prometheans as a new enemy class are more annoying than I expected," and that "fighting them grew stale very quickly," but praised their arsenal as "trump[ing] even the Covenant’s stock." Overall, she recommender players "keep an open mind for Halo 4, because you just may enjoy it as much as I did."

Trivia

 * When recording dialogue as Sergeant Major Avery Johnson for Halo 2, David Scully humorously said, "In Halo 4, I get a woman!"
 * Halo 4 is the first Halo game since Halo 2 (not including the real time strategy game Halo Wars) to not feature the option to view saved films of the campaign in Theatre mode.
 * Halo 4 is the very first game developed and released by 343 Industries.
 * In-game, Halo 4 falsely identifies the Fuel Rod Gun as the Fuel Rod Cannon when prompted to pick one up.