Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Halo 4: Dawn

It's finally time!! I've finished writing about Mass Effect and now I'm on to Halo!! To be fair it wasn't all my fault - I've been meaning to blog about it for a while, but the recent Xbox One announcement threw my planned blogging pattern out of synch a little bit!

So yes my plan is to blog through Halo 4, each post will cover two missions unless I find I can cram more in as I go on. I will discuss any new enemies, weapons and vehicles that we come across (and there are plenty!!) as well as giving an overview of the storyline as I'm fairly sure any Halo fans will have played the game so won't need to worry about spoilers at this stage. As for my current progress I'm nearly finished playing 'Spartan Ops' a multiplayer campaign (though I've largely played it solo) set after the events of the single player story. The missions are simpler and shorter but have a decent story to them too.

I will try to be as throrough as I can, but one major downside to the new game is the lack of 'Theatre' mode. This was helpful in Halo: Reach as I was able to take snapshots of various thigs I couldn't find pictures of online, so apologies if there is anything missing here.

Prologue

The first 'mission' is actually a cinematic, rendered in amazing lifelike CG - it pretty much speaks for itself so I'll just post it here.


Dawn

The first level of the Campaign finds John still adrift on the Forward Unto Dawn nearly five years after destroying Instalation 00 and the Flood as well as the remains of the loyalist Covenant fleet. Detecting threats Cortana wakes John to find the ship not-so-abandoned.

New Enemies

Storm Covenant











The old Covenant is dead, most of the Prophets died aboard High Charity and the Brute loyalists were defeated by the Arbiter's forces which allied with humanity. But lacking a purpose a new rebel 'covenant' was formed, following the old ways and seeking Forerunner technology and rejecting the Arbiter's leadership. While generally less equipped then their predecessors, higher ranking Storm members have access to advanced technologies. Member species still include Unggoy (grunts) Kig-Yar (jackals) and Mgalekgolo (hunters) but Jiralhanae (brutes) Yanme'e (drones) and Huragok (engineers) are no longer present.

Covenant Rangers












Rangers, equipped for extra-vehicular activity, have long been part of the Covenant forces, but this is the first time Unggoy and Kig-Yar rangers have been encountered in-game.

Kig-Yar Heavy











Just to note that it seems a new species of Kig-Ya is in this game, being more reptilian than bird-like or maybe it is an overall redesign. These Jackal heavies have stronger shields and body armour than the rank and file.

New Weapons

Storm Rifle
 






A modified version of the standard plasma rifle issued to Covenant forces, this is the Standard weapon carried by Sangheili loyal to the new Covenant.

Hyperion Missile








Part of the armament of Forward Unto Dawn, this is a powerful ship-to-ship weapon capable of destroying a small cruiser.

New vehicles

CRS-Class Cruiser








Essentially a much smaller version of the standard CCS-Cruiser used by the Covenant, a large force of these smaller vessels, supporting some Assault Carriers and larger craft are the bulk of the Storm's fleet.

Story

Awoken from cryo-sleep Chief is pushed into action by Cortana, who detects a presence nearby. As they expore the ruined ship they are scanned by an unknown force. John runs into a Covenant, surprised at their hostility, looking for more information they head to the observation deack to see a host of cruisers flocking around the wreck. Covenant forces board and John fights through them to the outer hull of the ship where he manually launches a missile at an approaching cruiser unfortunate enough to have it's shields down. But after this action John is sucked into the Forerunner planet Requiem by an unknown entity...but I'll get to that!!

More Halo soon! Next up Dawn of the Jedi!

No comments: