Halo 4 Launch Party!
So there we were! In a desperate attempt to find the nearest Burger King, we accidentally wandered into a venue that had a rather imposing Master Chief figure glowering over passers-by. By sheer luck, we happened to have been invited to the Halo 4 launch in any case. And while we may have caused all kinds of untold mischief and havoc, we also got a pretty good handle on the game itself.
With the venue itself packed with Microsoft staff and other lucky journalists, it took some time for us to get right up to one of the kiosks where the game was being played. (“What do you mean you haven’t heard of us?! Do you have any idea who we are?! Look, we have wristbands!”).
And even then, there was a considerably long queue to actually play the game. We did find a way to speed up the waiting process however, which proved almost as much fun as the game itself. Once we found someone who was completely absorbed in their campaign, we would sidle up silently on either side of them. We would wait until they participated in a particularly heavy shoot-out, one that would cause actual beads of sweat to fall from the players brow. They would dodge, weave, blast and hide, using admirable strategy and skill. And then, when fate struck them a fatal blow, we would applaud with massive ecstasy!
“Good on ya, that was a terrific effort!”
“Did you SEE that, you were an INCH away from victory!”
“OHHH, good game there, good ga- are you leaving?”
This strategy was employed on 3 separate occasions, and may have contributed to our notably shortened playing time. Still…
From what we played, Halo 4 appears to be an incredibly refined version of the previous entries, with the controls as tight as they’ve ever been. The graphics were notably impressive, to such an extent that we were convinced we were watching live action footage at one point. While only the campaign mode was available at the launch, it boasted a co-op mode that functioned particularly well. We were thrown in, about half an hour into the prologue, which in and of itself had plenty of impressive set pieces, including planet wide destruction.
Plenty of the usual vehicles and guns make a return, but with some new enemies thrown into the mix. We won’t spoil it here, but they’re an impressive bunch, a little wilder than the Covenant, and easily as vicious. What’s great about the campaign mode is that it is just as easy to lose yourself in the story as it is to suddenly decide to blow the head off your partner. While the story was truly engaging, we were aware of the time limits that were thrust upon us, so we spent our last ten minutes or so chasing each other in Ghosts, the physics of which have, amazingly, been improved.
At this point, we became aware of two things. First, the central Halo 4 competition was about to start (in which 3 lucky contenders duke it out in order to win some Halo 4 merchandise) and also, some free food had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. What followed was a desperate skirmish to get to one of the promo girls carrying food trays (all of whom, it had to be said, were wearing masks of pure unadulterated terror as they were pushed into the throngs of hungry gamers).
Moments later, bearing 6-7 small baskets of food each, we found ourselves, once again, at the back of a large crowd. The game was about to start but we had, sadly, missed the names of the contenders.
“Shall we make this interesting?” I asked my associate, as the game began to load.
“How’s that now?” he replied, while chewing on a crunchy chicken drumstick.
“…€5 on the guy on the left?”
“…all right. Fiver on the guy in the middle.”
This was all well and good but, considering how incredibly fast paced and visually exciting the match itself was, we found we couldn’t help ourselves from screaming our support from the sidelines, spraying half chewed fish and chips everywhere. And it is difficult to cheer someone on when you don’t know their actual name. So, at this moment, I would like to make a public explanation. And apology. To anyone who attended the Halo 4 launch party and heard yells of “Ed-ùar-do, Ed-ùar-do!” or “Fran-cis-co, Fran-cis-co!”:
These were the names that we eventually decided on to refer to our respective players. Apologies if this was confusing (and well done to Edùardo, whatever your real name may be).
So overall, the launch party was quite an adventure. Microsoft were particularly accommodating to two guys that gave off the distinct impression that they were simply there to cause trouble. Very friendly staff and comfortable atmosphere, which is always great. And Halo 4, though we were only given about 45 minutes to play it, was top notch fun. Let’s hope the entire game is as good throughout.
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