Microsoft recently announced that Halo 4 is going to have some significant differences from previous games in the franchise, at least on the multiplayer side of things. If you’re a casual player, you needn’t worry because Microsoft’s announcment will not likely apply to you but if you are a hardcore Halo lover then you may want to prepare yourselves. 343 Studios isn’t just making Halo their own, they’re changing the landscape of the competitive multiplayer.
Whilst playing Halo 4‘s multiplayer, things will be more or less the same game we all expect it to be up until the level cap. Once you reach Level 50 though, you’ll begin to start playing with ‘specializations’ which are armor modifications specifically designed to adapt to and enhance the methodology a player uses when playing. So let’s say you’re really into racking up the stealth kills. Your specialization of choice would likely be the Wetworks mod, which will help you go unseen and unheard a little easier and generally increase your stealthiness. Whatever your M.O. on a battle-map is, it will likely be tailored to with these specialisations.
Such power doesn’t come easy, though. Having worked your way up to the level cap, you’ll need to push yourself through an additional ten levels for each specialization you plan on using. So, if you’re using weapon drops a lot and would like some versatility, you may consider gunning for the Tracker spec, which lets you ‘re-roll’ a weapon drop for a chance at something more your style, and the Engineer mod, which uses an arrow to direct you to the nearest drops to give you an advantage, which means that for both of these you’d have to level up an extra 20 times past the level cap, and so on if you want more. Logically, it would be reasonable for more flexible players to aim for the Pioneer mod first as that one will allow players to level up more quickly.
However, in order for the specializations to be integrated without any weird chaotic game-breaking occurring only the Wetworks and Pioneer specs will be available to most players at launch. The full set of 8 specializations will be immediately available to those purchasing the limited edition of Halo 4, but will gradually be rolled out by 343 once their data is all leveled out.
So, any thoughts on this? Do you think this will present any unfair advantages for more experienced players, or do those ‘noobs’ deserve it for not being ‘leet’ enough, or something ? Let us know in the comments below.
Halo 4 will be released November 6th, 2012 for Xbox 360.
[Source, IGN via Examiner]
Billy is 21 years old, enjoys dumb stuff and has a tendency to write when he isn’t busy welcoming our inevitable zombie/robot/alien overlords.
