Halo 4 = my new COD replacement

Okra and I decided to play a few rounds of the new worked version of Griffball and some OddBall and Flood... i haven't had that much fun in LONG time with a shooter! If more people played it would be such a blast!

No lag. No lag comp. You win a gunfight on skill. You have to aim knock the shield down and aim for the head... those who can't aim die. So satisfying being able to have every fight on even footing! And the game types... so many fun cooperative multiplayer types like Regicide, OddBall, King of the Hill, CTF, Dominion and the list goes on and on and on!

Now everybody go buy Halo 4 and play with us and forget your rage quits and lag comp! haha

Does this not look fun!?

And

After you got offline I played a few more rounds of Halo. Dominion was the game. It is very similar to domination with a few unique differences.

I really think most of the crew would enjoy it. I know I did.

If you guys do pick up Halo then switch your controller to "fishstick" layout and it will be nearly identical to the CoD layout. For those of you who love the smg's and hip firing......you will fall in love with Halo as hip fire rules the day. Hip fire in Halo is like it was in those old PC FPS games......a laser beam. There is no "hip fire spread", the bullets go where you are aimed, even when hipfiring.

Really first class game imo.

Ah i forgot about Dominion! It really is played like Domination in COD! (but no rage-quitting lag! lol)

For those who don't know what it is... there are 3 bases around the map (actual small buildings) and when your team controls one and locks it down (capture time like in COD) it upgrades. The longer you team (controls the flag basically) has the base the more upgrades form on it... turrets can be built... metal shutters over what were once open windows form... power weapons drop next the base.

Picture Dom in COD where you'd get fortifications to your flag making it harder for the enemy to capture it back the longer you hold that flag. Lots of teamwork and can be played just like Dom in COD by holding your base and "b-base". Love it!

I also think a lot of you guys would love it too. Like Okra said, switch the control layout to "fishstick" and it plays almost identically to COD.

You'll have to fight to win gunfights, it's no one shot kill here (minus sniper and power weapons) but if you win, you did it yourself (no lag comp help)... and if you dont... well, your fault too haha!

^^^ i really like that idea of upgraded capture points based on how long you hold them

im all about gaming diversity and will likely pick this up

^^^ Hell yes you should pick it up ASAP! I'll be playing tomorrow after work and this weekend!

And Dominion is a really fun gametype! All the COD Dom fans will love it.

Here's some vids of it. First explaining Dominion second some good gameplay on another map.

Gun,

I was like you and bought Halo way back when it released and then BO2 released a week later so Halo 4 never even made it into my console until last night. Boy was that a mistake.

I really think Microsoft considers the Halo franchise it's baby and they appear to pour a ton of resources at it so that it is first class all the way. I don't think there is another game that gives you all the stuff Halo gives you.

You get a full campaign with 4 player co-op.
You get a multiplayer that is as good as any ever released.
You get forge mode where you can spend hours making your own maps.
They are giving us "Spartan Ops" which I'm told is like a second campaign they toss in as free DLC.

I know Reach and Halo 3 let you play with as many as 4 players online from one xbox. I'm not sure if Halo 4 still does this or not but I think it does.

To me it just feels like Microsoft is busting their ass to make sure their baby, Halo, is as good as any FPS out there. I think they are succeeding too.

^^^
I used to be so into Forge map building in the past Halos. It would be really fun being able to get a few people in a party and build some maps!

Yes, you can actually all join a Forge lobby and build maps together! "hey you put this piece here while they work on the base over there etc."

Quick video of the lead MP designer building a simple map in one of the blank Forge maps:


And there is a even a huge community of "map builders" at ForgeHub that make and share awesome stuff like this...

A remake of "Lockout" made by some kid! That was THE map in Halo 2! lol

No lag comp! Does it means dedicated servers?

No dedicated servers... everything (at least in all my past and present experiences with the franchise) online just plays so much better than COD!

I know Okra can back me up... we were playing last night commenting on how refreshing it was to actually have "FUN" gunfights again where the winner was a direct result of skill (ok luck sometimes lol) and not one player being half a second ahead of the other. Smooth as silk 99% of the time.

I don't know what it is but Halo is really smooth.

It may be that there are just fewer players generally in the game modes. Oh, Halo used to do real "matchmaking" too.....I'm not sure how it does it in Halo 4 but I'd bet it is still the same as before.

What I mean is, the game puts you in lobbies with other players that, according to the game, are around the same skill level as you are. In the old Halo's you'd rank up and down based on recent performance. If you were beasting all week long then you'd slowly be moved up to lobbies with better and better players that match your skills. Same thing happened in reverse. If you had a bunch of crappy matches over and over, you'd be reranked to a lower level and then be put in lobbies with players around your skill level.

Back to the numbers of players....

Dominion = Domination

Dominion is 5 v 5 while Domination is 6v6.....those two extra players may hurt a little as far as lag......think Ground war compared to regular Domination.

Slayer = TDM

I think Slayer is 4v4.....it was in the old Halo's.....but I havent played it in Halo 4 yet since I'm not a big fan of TDM gamemodes in general. 8 players on the "server" vs having 12 players on the "server" should help Halo keep things a little tighter as far as lag.

I think Halo just does a better job of host selection to begin the match over CoD. Just a hunch but I think this is probably the answer. Whatever Halo is doing though, CoD needs to find out and copy it.

I'm going to be playing Halo along with BF3, zombies, Gears and maybe even Borderlands 2 if it turns out ok when it arrives.

Alright im sold. Just picked up my copy of halo 4 and ready to grab a hold of the ackward controller and game on. Hope to see some of u on there. Think my gamer tag is same as my ps3. Havent played xbox since the GREAT PS3 OUTAGE.

Brennan,

I'll clear out a spot on my friends list for you and shoot you an invite this evening.

I play nearly every weeknight starting after 5pm CST sometime continuing on/off until midnight. So if you play during those times you'll see me on a lot.

btw target has halo 4 for 39.99 right now

http://www.target.com/p/halo-4-xbox-360/-/A-13963649#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=halo+4

be sure to print out the ad and take it with you - ive seen store price NOT match web sometimes but they will honor it

there is also some other deal (i have to look it up again) at toys r us buy one game get another 40 or 50% off

i'll pick it up this weekend!! i started my mulitplayer career with the original halo at my buddies basement and a bunch of us dorks bringing our old xbox's and tv's. i loved halo until halo 3 and we had a falling out. hopefully this will rekindle the flame.

BlackDeath wrote:

btw target has halo 4 for 39.99 right now

http://www.target.com/p/halo-4-xbox-360/-/A-13963649#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=halo+4

be sure to print out the ad and take it with you - ive seen store price NOT match web sometimes but they will honor it

there is also some other deal (i have to look it up again) at toys r us buy one game get another 40 or 50% off

Amazon has been running it at 39.99 for quite a while now as well.

Just picked up a copy for 33 including shipping on eBay.

Dirty Koi wrote:

i'll pick it up this weekend!! i started my mulitplayer career with the original halo at my buddies basement and a bunch of us dorks bringing our old xbox's and tv's. i loved halo until halo 3 and we had a falling out. hopefully this will rekindle the flame.

Same here man! haha i remember using that xbox connect service or whatever it was called (before xbox live existed) to connect to buddies when we couldn't run lan games! haha It is "the" OG FPS (ok besides counter strike lol)!

And i'm with you about Halo 3... never played it or reach. Halo 2 was my thing. The competitive online ranking and superb arena-styled maps... loved it! You'll be so excited after your first hour in Halo 4... it has the "soul" of Halo CE and 2 (IMO) with modernized bits with some (very welcomed) COD inspired bits.

I forgot how good it feels to out gun someone with skill not twitch "who sees who first luck". The long time to kill... placing each of those 4 first shots to the body to "pop" their shields... then the last 1 to the head! Actually having to aim for headshots feels right again... just the right speed of gameplay and weapon rpm. And nobody does a satisfying sniper kill like Halo! haha

So now that more and more are going to be playing Halo... FNG this weekend?! Run some GriffBall, OddBall, Dominion etc. !?

bungie also made the original elite( but way way way better) i hope they keep that shit going

^^^True, forgot all about that! Was ahead of its time.

And the other nice thing about Halo is that (regardless of developer with 343i now in charge) they patch when patching needs to be done. They acknowledged some minor lag issues in the first month of Halo 4 and fixed it (was something the game was doing to peoples routers). They are going to be nerfing one over powered weapon in the next patch and they keep adding new game types - far and away the best, most team-centric game types of any FPS (imo).

Will be getting on Halo after work today round 6pm eastern if anyone wants to group up for some games.

Hope I get the game by this weekend! U guys buy the map pack too?

I don't have anything but the free DLC you can download for the last episodes of Spartan Ops.

Played more Dominion last night and figured out a few things unique about it compared to Domination in CoD.

Like Gun said, Dominion allows you to fortify the positions over time as you hold them which is really neat.

Another really big difference is that Halo built their "Domination" so that you can end a match in less than a minute (we won a match like this last night). Halo really encourages the capping of all three "flags" instead of just capping two and then pushing up to cut them off from B as they come out of their spawn. In Halo, if you hold all three positions at once, the other team goes into "Final Stand" where they all appear on your HUD so you can find them and kill them ASAP.....if you can kill all the opposing team(they won't respawn until they recapture one base) before they capture a base back then the game ends.

So.....you trip cap fast as possible and then kill them all before they can retake an objective and that will end the game right then.

Really fun game mode.

Got my first "killstreak" last night too. Ha ha. Didn't really know what to select or anything but it was nice to finally see what that was all about.

What happens is if you kill a few players in a row then a reward type screen will appear and it will let you choose between three normal type awards (it appeared to me)......it looked like a perk, equipment or weapon........I picked the weapon and it dropped down a few steps away but some guy blasted me before I could get it and I never got back around to it to pick it up. Not sure if others could pick it up or not.

I do like that they now put the weapon drops on the map with what they are and their distance from you on your hud display so they are much easier to find for a noob than they were in say.....Halo 3.

There is a real adjustment coming from CoD and BF3 as far as multiplayer though. First, you gotta shoot the hell out of a fool to kill him but he has to do the same to you. The maps are what really take some adjusting to imo. Halo is a vertical game. The maps are sorta CoD sized but they have much more vertical play in them. Most maps seem to have about 4 different "levels".....from underground to the roof of some building and many paths and floors in between. Takes some getting used to as I tend to look ahead and around me but not up and down so much but Halo requires you to look up, down and all around since the levels are very vertical.

Campaign is really pretty too. The graphics really look great imo.

KOI: I have the first DLC and will be buying the Majestic DLC this 25th (prob get the pass)... looks amazing! Check out the new maps...





Okra: Yeah forcing Last Stand is a very cool idea! Also good for the team getting whooped as it sort of "ends their misery" by allowing a far superior team to quickly end it. It also makes for some super intense battles where you might have just two guys left in last stand and they capture an enemy base forcing a complete team respawn. Very cool!

I still think that unless you're playing a far weaker team the best bet is to hold down the spawn and B base just like COD dom. I've been in too many that fell apart because we tried to trip cap and the enemy then took over B and our spawn. Def just a more complex "domination" type game than simple COD dom... i love it!

Another super fun mode is Extraction. It's only playable on the Crimson DLC maps (or custom games we can set up) but it's basically like Demolition with progressive, sites around the map that pop up and you place some extracting ball thing down that slowly (45 seconds) grows and teleports little parts of the map away (to some space ship i guess lol).. team with the most extracts wins. So like if Demo had 5+ bomb plant spots... almost like hardpoint crossed with demo!

Hey just found this for those who are looking to get it

http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/halo-4/91448

GameStop has it new for $39.99 and you can pick it up in the store so no waiting.