By now you’ve probably watched the Halo 4 trailer several times like I have (if you somehow didn’t see it, click HERE). Instead of talking about how awesome the return of the BR is, how Spartans can jump high again, or that I’m thrilled for some smaller competitive maps, there are three interesting things in the trailer that stood out to me.
Armor Changes (Abilities?)
If you check the circled area on the top left in the above picture, you can see a meter that isn’t there in the other HUD views in the video. Since the ammo meter and shield power are clearly present elsewhere, the best bet is that this is the meter for some additional ability. It is possible since it isn’t in any of the other HUD images in the video that whatever the mystery ability is, it may not be available in every gametype. Of course there is also the possibility that in the other screens 343 just hid that part of the HUD. Most likely, this is the meter for armor abilities. Which abilities are in the game are still in question, though we clearly see Sprint in the video several times, and we saw a Jet Pack/Thruster that Master Chief used back in the teaser trailer from last year. On that note, check out the following composite image:
[NOTE: This article is a piece of recovered archive data from the old HaloCollectors.com website. Some links, images, or videos may no longer be available.]⇑ Click HERE to expand and read the remainder of the video analysis!
Those look a lot like thrusters on the backs of those Spartans, and the more I watched the videos, the more it looked like all of them had the “thrusters.” Is it possible that there will be fewer armor abilities in Halo 4, but that you can carry more than one at a time (thrusters and sprint, for instance)?
Opening, Climbing, Crawling
The above images show some new movements in the first person view. The top image shows the segment of the video where Master Chief is climbing, and you can clearly see his hands and arms moving him around. The bottom shows some doors being forced open. Is it possible that this may be a Kinect feature for the campaign? Frank O’Connor confirmed in an interview with NowGamer that “Kinect doesn’t have any real bearing on Halo 4,” but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be used as an optional feature like the item scanning in Halo Anniversary. In any case, it looks like we get to see MC interact with the environment in some new ways.
New Scoring/Team Symbols?
Unicorns vs Wolves anyone? That’s what it looks like if you check the circled area. This could be team symbols, or they could hold significance for the gametype. Its unlikely the latter is the case since it clearly says “BR Slayer,” but since this isn’t a finished version of the game anything is possible. Also of note is the insanely high score that would be atypical of a normal slayer game. Is this a new gametype, or is it possible that now you get more that one point per kill depending on how you get the kill (style points for headshot, assassination, close call, etc.)? The easy explaination is that it is a custom game with a high score count limit so the game can be tested for bugs or problems for an extended time in one game, but for now all we can do is guess.
While more rumors and speculation continue to run rampant on the internet, one thing is for sure: Holiday 2012 can’t get here soon enough!