E3 Day 1 Aftermath: Halo 4 Gameplay Footage

Day 1 of E3 2012 has officially come to a close and I couldn't be happier. The one game that I was most interested in seeing - Halo 4 - had an amazing showing. The overall response seems to be extremely positive, even from non-Halo players. 343i has seemingly done the impossible and created what appears to not just be a good Halo game, but one that has the potential to be the best yet. And this is coming from a seasoned Bungie fan. Of course, it could just be all the excitement from finally getting to see the game in action, but never the less, what was shown blew me away. So to make sure we get off on the right foot, if you haven't already watched the new halo 4 gameplay footage, click on the video below:
Amazing, right? The first thing that I noticed were the graphics, this is easily one of the best looking games I've ever seen. The amount of detail in the Master Chief is insane. It's hard to believe that this is running on the Reach engine, and not because I think that Reach was a bad looking game, quite the opposite. But because this game looks so much better. If the whole game looks that good then we are in for an incredibly visceral experience.

In the video we see the largest ship in the UNSC's fleet, the UNSC Infinity, being pulled into a Forerunner Dyson Sphere, or shield world. These are artificial planets created by the Forerunners to protect themselves from the effects of the Halo ring's blast. Similar to a Russian Matryoshka doll, these shield worlds are essentially planets encased in a giant shell. Once inside, the world looks like any other with natural terrain and weather.

The Master Chief is already inside the shield world when the UNSC Infinity is pulled in and watches as the ship calls out for help before crashlanding. We have to assume that the Master Chief and Cortana came to be inside the shield world in the same way that the Infinity did, considering we see them apparently being pulled in at the end of Halo 3. After watching the ship go by, a large sphere appears above the Chief - presumably cloaked before - and races off after the ship. This appears to be some form of Foreunner technology left to look after the shield world, similar to how the Sentinels and Monitors were the caretakers of the Halo rings in previous games.

Next we see the Chief looking out over a cliff as Covenant forces rush toward the crashed Infinity. We also see the large Forerunner sphere hovering motionless above the ship. How the Covenant are already on this shield world is a mystery. The only thing I can think of is that in the previous Halo 4 footage we learned that Cortana wakes Master Chief from Cryo sleep because the Covenant are boarding what's left of their ship. So maybe they followed them here. Either way, these Covenant didn't get the memo that the war is over.

One of the first things you notice that makes Halo 4 stand out amongst it's predecessors is the heads up display (HUD). Previous Halo games have slowly inched toward this, but Halo 4 really makes you feel like a head inside a helmet. The outer edges of the helmet can be easily seen and there is a slight glow around the edges of the faceplate. Something I really thought was cool is how Cortana - along with other characters - shows up in a small window on the inside of your HUD when talking to you. This really helps you get a feel for who you're communicating with rather than them simply being a voice in your head.

The first combat encounter of the demo really impressed me for a number of reasons. First is the way the Covenant troops are acting toward each other before spotting the Master Chief. In the books the hierarchy of the Covenant is explained in great detail, and not just rank, but also how the different races interact each other. The Sangheili (Elites) tolerate the Unggoy (Grunts) because despite their complete cowardice, they are deadly in numbers and useful as cannon fodder. The kig-yar (Jackals), who were a spacefaring race of pirates before being bullied into the Covenant, also don't care for the cowardly Grunts. This plays out in the first encounter when we see a Jackal run over and bump into one the Grunts, followed by the Elite hitting another Grunt in the back as if beckoning him forward.

The next thing I noticed was the way it looked while scoped with the Battle Rifle. Immediately noticable is that the scoped area is square, rather than the typical circle, which makes sense considering the scope on the Battle Rifle in Halo 4 is square. Another new addition is that the HUD space outside of the scoped area is darkened. In previous Halo games this area was simply blurred. The darkening actually made it feel more like the scope was a function of the HUD compared to previous games. After taking out the two Grunts and the Jackal, the Elite pulls out his Energy Sword and charges toward the Chief, only to be vaporized moments before reaching him.

After making his way through more of the dense jungle, the Chief comes upon what could be mistaken as robot dogs. But they do have a name: Promethean Crawlers.

These Crawlers appear to come in packs and seem farely easy to kill, exploding into a gush of orange goo upon death. Cortana assumes that these must be some form of defensive AI's, something akin to the Sentinels from previous games. We also get to see the Chief use the Assault Rifle for the first time. It's doesn't sound as puny as in the AR in Reach and Halo 3, although the 32 round magazine means that it still isn't Halo: CE's MA5B.

Immediately after the encounter with the Crawlers, the Chief is pounced on by a bipedal creature that is aesthetically similar to the Crawlers, and apparently has a orange glowing skull behind it's helmet.

These are called Promethean Knights. This is presumably what vaporized the Elite earlier as it appears to have some form of energy rifle on one arm and what looks to be an energy blade on the other arm that it uses to knock the Chief on his rump. The Knight then seems to spawn another creature from it's back. This enemy is known as a Promethean Watcher. It is a flying enemy that provides support for the Knight by firing an energy weapon at the Chief and providing some sort of shield for the Knight.

In what was one of the more interesting moments of the video, the Chief attempts to throw a Plasma grenade at the Knight only to have the Watcher snatch it out of the air and sling it back at the Chief. Upon killing the Knight, it vaporizes in the same fashion as the Elite had earlier. The Watcher appears to flee after the Knight is killed. Cortana informs the Chief that the Knight dropped something which turns out to be the energy rifle that was attached to it's arm. When picked up, the individual pieces of the weapon appear to come apart and then reconstruct. Cortana informs the Chief that this is Forerunner tech.

The weapon, dubbed the Light Rifle, is a single shot energy weapon that also has a scope function.

In the next encounter the Chief gets to try it out on some more of the Promethean Crawlers as well as another Promethean Knight and Watcher. In what appears to be a glimpse into new gameplay possibilities, the Chief throws a grenade at one of the Watchers, but instead of giving it time to throw the explosive back, he quickly destroys the Watcher thus detonating the grenade and killing several of the Crawlers below. He then turns his attention to two of the Crawlers and another Knight. The Light Rifle makes quick work of the Crawlers killing each with a single shot and after a few body shots, vaporizes the knight with a zoomed headshot.

This Knight drops another Forerunner weapon, this one known as the Scattershot. Functionally it appears to be a shotgun type of weapon. Immediately after picking it up another one of the Knights comes flying at the Chief and he easily puts it down with one blast from the Scattershot. In the next scene we see Cortana switching the Chief's visor to the previously dubbed "Forerunner Vision", now called "Promethean Vision". Promethean Vision appears to be a visor mode that has enemies show up as bright red, even through solid objects. The Chief appears to be surrounded and the gameplay segment ends with one of the Promethean Knights lunging at the Chief.

Next we get a series of short clips that involve a close up fight with an Elite, the Chief standing with a group of ODST's, something that looks like a mech, more creatures that look like Forerunner AI's, and a Warthog driving out of a huge UNSC land vehicle. During all of this we see Cortana talking about how she's 8 years old and how AI's begin to deteriorate after 7. Toward the end we see an angry Cortana screaming that she will not let someone leave the planet. The video ends with a mysterious voice saying, "I have long dreamt of this day, Reclaimer".

And the last bit of info we can pull from today came from the short Halo 4 Smart Glass demo, in which we are given a quick few seconds of multplayer gameplay. But in those few seconds we can see some sort of new launcher weapon, as well as an assassination being performed.
I'm sure we'll learn even more about Halo 4 as the week goes on and I for one can't wait to find out even more about this amazing game.