1. Cost: 9/10
Halo 4 is suprisingly cheap to pick up these days, going for around $15 for the standard edition. I saw it at GameStop for $12. The Game Of The Year edition, however, goes for a much bigger $40 price tag. If you are into DLC and those kinds of things, you should go for the GOTY edition. As far as games go, this one is pretty cheap, especially compared to Call of Duty Black Ops II, which is still $45 for the regular edition!2. New Features: 8/10
-Spartan Ops: This game mode is a nice breath of fresh air for the Halo series, because it plays out like the "Special Ops" game type in MW2. One cool thing is that you can use your loadouts in multiplayer in Spartan Ops. Although it is lots of fun, I found that this particular addition to the game was getting quite repetitive after a while, and requires xbox live gold even to play single player.
-Promethians: The new alien types in Halo 4 are quite creative, including one that flies and protects others with force fields and catches grenades, and one that can crawl along the ground, walls, and ceilings. The new Promethian guns are pretty awesome and use beams of light to do damage. The new weapons include the Binary Rifle, a sniper rifle, a LightRifle, which is a carbine type gun, the Suppressor, an assault rifle, and the Boltshot, a pistol.
-Other New MP Elements: The UNSC and Covenant had all of their classic gun sounds thrown out by 343i and made from scratch. I think that this was a smart thing to do, because now all of the guns feel a great degree more realistic. The Covenant plasma repeater from Halo Reach was scrapped and replaced with the storm rifle, which I personally don't like as much. There aren't any new vehicles for the Covenant or Promethians, but the UNSC did get a beast (if not a little overpowered) new walker called a Mantis, which is equipped with a heavy duty machine gun on one hand and a missile launcher on the other. The credit system that we only saw in Halo Reach is gone. Instead of traditional military rank names, all of the ranks are called Spartan Rank (SR), and then governed by a number, like SR: 21 or SR: 57. Every time a player ranks up, they receive one Spartan Point, unlock new loadouts and can create a class, editing their strike packages (specialties for the class), primary weapons, secondary weapons, grenades, and armor abilities. Everything that you can use in a loadout costs Spartan Points, varying in cost. The graphic engine has been completely redesigned for much better visuals than Halo Reach. The game has more armor abilities, like one that lets you create an automated robot that shoots at passing enemies, an energy shield (not a bubble shield), and several more. Another addition to the game is the ordnance, which is like a killstreak in COD. When a player gets enough kills (not in one life like a killstreak), they get to choose between three different drops, each consisting of either a grenade resupply or a gun. Drops also occur randomly around the battlefield which are not player induced, location depending on the map.-Forge: Forge mode is a mode where players can make their own maps by adding items and changing landscapes to fit their liking. Everything is the same as Halo Reach and Halo 3, except that you now have to have an xbox live gold membership to use it.
-Game Modes: Halo 4 has a wide assortment of game modes, most of which are typical for first person shooters. Some of them are Infinity Slayer (Team Deathmatch in COD), Free for All, and King of the Hill. The Flood game mode returns from Halo Reach, same as always. 343 Industries is constantly adding new temporary game modes to the game, like a football type game mode when the super bowl happens, for example.
Campaign: 9/10 I found the story to be quite good compared to most of the Call of Duty games. Luckily, 343 Industries knows that making the story revolve around the Master Chief, even if he is totally awesome, would not be very interesting. Instead, the storyline focuses on Cortana, the master chief's AI companion, and her rampancy (I think when an AI overthinks and burns themselves out). The special effects in the campaign are incredible, like when a spaceship explodes in a satisfying purple cloud , or even simply when a grenade blows up!
Conclusion: Halo 4 is an amazing game with excellent gameplay, breathtaking graphics, and a good multiplayer unlock system (yes, we're talking to you, Halo Reach!). The game is totally awesome, so if you are reading this and you own an xbox 360, then go out and buy it!
The link for Halo 4 Standard Edition:
http://www.amazon.com/Halo-4-Xbox-360-Standard-Game/dp/B0050SYX8W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393191105&sr=8-1&keywords=halo+4
And for Game Of The Year:
http://www.amazon.com/Halo-4-Game-Edition-Xbox-360/dp/B00FKV8AK6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393191210&sr=8-1&keywords=halo+4+game+of+the+year+edition
