Halo 4 - Xbox 360 (Standard Game)

Product Information

Halo 4 Spartan Ops Season 1: Episodes 6-10". xbox.com. Microsoft. January 21, 2013. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013 . Retrieved January 21, 2013. Makuch, Eddie (October 2, 2012). "Free Halo 4 armor for those who watch debates on Xbox Live". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 16, 2019 . Retrieved November 3, 2012. a b c d e "Eurogamer Expo 2012: Live Developer Sessions". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network. September 27, 2012. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013 . Retrieved September 27, 2012. Borrelli, Christopher (November 5, 2012). "Steve Downes is the 'Halo' master". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved April 2, 2018.

The senior 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. [32] [47] With the game's increased focus on the Forerunners, the artists invested heavily into the look and feel of Forerunner technology. The game also features more diversity in Forerunner structures, including fully active Forerunner technology as opposed to the mostly inert and abandoned structures seen in the earlier games. [32] [48] [49] The majority of the game is lit statically using lightmaps; this allowed the art team to achieve realistic lighting effects with full global illumination and ambient occlusion. Image-based lighting is also used to ground scenes and make everything fit together better. [47]Shea, Jessica (March 29, 2013). "Welcome to Forge Island". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013 . Retrieved March 29, 2013. 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. McWhertor, Michael (January 22, 2013). "Call of Duty, Halo 4 and Minecraft lead Xbox Live's top games of 2012". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013 . Retrieved January 26, 2013.

a b c Graser, Marc (April 30, 2012). " 'Halo' Web series to bow before next game". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015 . Retrieved June 10, 2012. Dynamic light invariably requires real-time shadowing - a computationally expensive process that often produces less than stellar results. Here, 343i has come up with an interesting solution. Shadows appear to be rendered at a low resolution, but edges are straightened or curved, with an added noise dither also in place. At very close range, the illusion breaks down just a little but further away, the effect is very convincing indeed. The effect has some visual similarities with distance field shadows, as utilised for environmental shading in Unreal Engine 3, but this is the first time we've seen something like it utilised in real-time on dynamic shadows. Bamford, Vince (August 18, 2012). "Mountain Dew seeks Halo 4 effect from move to target games fans". The Grocer. William Reed Business Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 . Retrieved October 7, 2012. a b c Vasters, Clemens (January 17, 2013). "How Halo 4 is using Windows Azure Service Bus". Channel 9. Microsoft. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015 . Retrieved February 5, 2013.Halo:Reach– Campaign,Firefight,Customgames,Forge,Splitscreen, Local Area Networking (LAN), Online squads, support will vary forAchievements a b c d Rosenberg, Adam (November 1, 2012). "Halo 4 Review". G4. G4 Media. Archived from the original on February 26, 2013 . Retrieved November 1, 2012. Goldfarb, Andrew (October 10, 2012). "David Fincher Producing Halo 4 Launch Trailer". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015 . Retrieved October 20, 2012. Halo 4 review". Edge. Future plc. November 1, 2012. p.1. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012 . Retrieved November 1, 2012. Halo 4 - Gameplay Trailer". IGN. Ziff Davis. October 23, 2012. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016 . Retrieved April 6, 2015.

Bryant, Ben (November 5, 2012). "Halo 4 to launch worldwide at midnight in more than 10,000 retail locations". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013 . Retrieved November 23, 2012. Campaign". Halo Waypoint. 343 Industries. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013 . Retrieved November 11, 2012. Winners". Game Critics Awards. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015 . Retrieved December 11, 2012. a b c "IGN First Look: Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Behind-the-Scenes". IGN. Ziff Davis. July 11, 2012. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015 . Retrieved October 6, 2012.has also raised the bar in cut-scenes too compared with previous Halo titles - the new studio has made impressive strides in terms of facial detail and animation." Cut-scenes put 343 firmly in control of the rendering budget, allowing for models that are more detailed than their in-game equivalents and enhanced effects work including depth-of-field. Facial rendering and animation is also a clear step up from previous Halo titles. Seriously, if you think about what the arrival of the Harbinger and the Endless means, your jaw should be hitting the floor. Halo Infinite potentially sets up a whole new direction for the series to take. The results of the studio's work are compelling. From the smallest rendering elements to the sense of overall size and scale, Halo 4 represents an impressive leap over what has come before, producing scenes we can describe as being of genuine magnificence. Remember that feeling you had when playing the first 20 minutes of God of War 3 for the first time? The sensation that the developers had somehow extracted next-gen visuals from current gen hardware? While Halo 4 doesn't quite engender that feeling of hushed awe, it gets very, very close - and more importantly the game does a great job of maintaining that level of quality across the entirety of the campaign. A new standard in Xbox 360 image quality? Competitive multiplayer received a mixed reception by critics. Chris Watters of GameSpot welcomed the new armor abilities and gameplay tweaks introduced in multiplayer. He praised the continuing robustness of Custom Game options and the accessibility of level editing in Forge. [153] CVG's Gapper stated that the new scoring system alone made Halo 4 multiplayer the best in the series, emphasizing that recognition for assists and completing objective tasks was a positive change. [149] Polygon writer, Arthur Gies, said that the new game mode Dominion was the best addition to Halo multiplayer since the introduction of Xbox Live. He also thought that the multiplayer component was more approachable to people outside of the core player-base without dumbing anything down. [156]

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]

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