Microsoft didn’t let slip any details of their rumoured new next-gen console at the E3 games expo in Los Angeles this week... but they did manage to spring some surprises all the same
Microsoft didn’t let slip any details of their rumoured new next-gen console at the E3 games expo in Los Angeles this week... but they did manage to spring some surprises all the same.
Their Smart Glass app that allows you to view bonus content from games and Xbox Live services on a mobile devicewas a smart dig in the ribs for Nintendo’s Wii-U tablet.
Equally unexpected was the unveiling of a near-revolutionary Halo 4 multiplayer mode. When new developers 343 Industries took over Microsoft’s flagship FPS series they promised not just to deliver a stunning shooter, but also to do justice to the game’s rich and much-loved fiction that has spawned spin-off novels, comics and (coming soon) a live-action web TV series.
With Spartan Ops, 343 have delivered on those dual pledges in full. Its self-contained mode supports up to four players (it can be soloed, but is designed for co-op) and shares career elements with the more conventional Wargames multiplayer mode. Effectively, it’s a continuation of the storyline established in the single-player campaign.
The level I played starts with our Spartans attacking a Covenant base that’s quickly overrun by the game’s new antagonists the PromÂetheans, a mostly orange alien race also known as The Forerunners).
Naturally, they come in several different flavours: Crawlers are quick over the ground and able to jump great heights; the heavily armed (and armoured) Promethean Knights phase in and out of combat at will; the Watchers, meanwhile, are airborne pests who shield other enemies and call in reinforcements. They have their own weaponry... we snaffled the Scattershot, a shotgun whose shells can bounce off walls and floors, but it’s still very much classic Halo.
The twist instead lies in how the content will be delivered. Franchise Development Director Frank O’Connor explains that each Spartan Op will have a bespoke CGI intro and five unique missions around 15 minutes long. They’ll be released as weekly DLC as soon as Halo 4 launches.
Incredibly they’ll also be completely free (providing you have an Xbox Live Gold membership) and there will be “months rather than weeks†of them.
UNMISSABLE
Plenty of games publishers talk about episodic content, but this TV series-like approach is a genuine first. O’Connor hints there will be more “seasons†of Spartan Ops if â€" or rather, when â€" it proves a success, and promises unmissable “water-cooler moments†to come.
“We wanted to do something really different,†explains O’Connor. “All of the Spartan Ops episodes are genuine fiction. It’s not just ‘destroy a generator’. Real things happen to people you care about. Some of the most pivotal things in Halo will happen in this vehicle.â€
It’s a staggering commitment. Back in March, producer Kiki Wolfkill told me that this fourth title was about the beginning of a new sci-fi saga that will define the next decade for Halo. With Spartan Ops, they could also conceivably change the way we receive game content forever.
Halo 4 Xbox 360. Out November 6
Checkout the Top 10 hot new games from E3 2012 expo
View gallery fullscreen PS3
Top 10 hot games at the E3 2012 expo...
View gallery fullscreen
No comments:
Post a Comment