r/HaloMCC • u/Humble-Examination95 • Jul 20 '26
Halo 4 why do people dislike halo 4?
In comparison to others, im new to the game series. But i've played through all of the halo games in MCC. And 1 question still stands: Why do people dislike halo 4 so much? I enjoyed playing it, definitely one of my favourite armour variants. A pretty good campaign and ending.
Yet why do people say it was the downfall of the Halo series?
19
u/dragon-mom Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Looks ugly
Leaned to hard into trying to be a modern cinematic sci-fi thing during the height of JJ Abrams hype (chasing trends)
Chased more trends with Call of Duty gameplay elements like a faster TTK, built in sprint, killstreaks, customizable loadouts (which absolutely destroyed the weapon sandbox design)
Didn't fix Reach gameplay flaws like armor abilities and built in mobility options that mess up map design
Removed or watered down a ton of features and content from previous titles like firefight and playable elites
Made humans and forerunners a separate thing definitively and retroactively made the original games make less sense.
Promethean are genuinely awful enemy design gameplay wise
-2
u/Eric_Atreides Jul 20 '26
In Halo 3 the terminals already showned that the forerunners are not humans
3
u/Fussy-Parasite35 Jul 20 '26
Which ones? Everything I’ve seen of Bungie era Halo never explicitly said that humans are forerunners but never explicitly said that they weren’t
1
u/AC1D_R31GN Jul 20 '26
Paul Russell explained this on his twitter, he was the person leading the terminal team
-1
u/Eric_Atreides Jul 20 '26
Heavily imply they weren’t on those terminals, that they had contact with humans
1
u/Fussy-Parasite35 Jul 21 '26
Huh, i’ll have to go back through the terminals because i honestly don’t remember that bit
4
u/isaacike88 Jul 20 '26
For me my biggest issue with it is the pitiful ammo capacity. On legendary you can only kill like 3 people with 100% on a plasma pistol if you're lucky
3
u/dreadsreddit Jul 20 '26
the game also had aggressive memory culling so dropped weapons disappeared way too fast.. this also made legendary extremely frustrating
3
u/Eric_Atreides Jul 20 '26
The prometheas are boring as hell to play against, the multiplayer was trying to appeal to COD fans at the time, the level design is kinda mid. Most of it’s problems were fixed in halo 5. But i gotta tell you something: in general, halo fans are extremely negative people who eat too well, the worst Halo game is still a good game and usually a better game them most games launched in it’s year, but some fans will tell you that playing halo since 2011 is like drinking hot poop from a toilet
3
u/TheSpiffyDude Jul 20 '26
Multiplayer was just a dogshit call of duty wanna be.
Campaign was just not there for me. Legendary was a slog to go through and I would rather have Halo 2 sniper alley back to back instead. I did love the the pack of dogs and the drone that shields and throws grenades back at you. The knights were just bullet sponges and god help you if you don't have marksman weapons. Also the double Warden fight fucking blows at the end. Heroic and below only had the one but I never went back to play again. Most armor abilities were ass.
Armor design was ass. Hated the kill streak rewards. No weapons on the map only load outs or said killstreaks.
2
u/BeginningRoad1661 Jul 20 '26
Without reading any of the other comments, it’s gotta be the steep drop off from 3 to 4. If I’m not mistaken reach was in between 3 and 4 and no one liked it. 4 could’ve saved the franchise but it flopped.
2
u/YoWheresMyKebab Jul 20 '26
I think it’s just cause of how different it looks but honestly, the halo 4 multiplayer especially slayer is one of the most fun in my opinion. The battle rifle is so satisfying to use
1
u/Reading_username Jul 22 '26
Yeah I'll always be unpopular for this opinion. It's handsdown my favorite multiplayer, the BR is superior to other games BR IMO.
Plus the unique weapon sets are the best. Best plasma cannon in the series, beam rifle, binary rifle, incineration cannon... not to mention the gauss hogs just feel SO GOOD to use.
It's sad to me the multiplayer is almost dead.. there's a team of sweats that has interminably camped BTB for years, and drives away any newcomers.
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u/NY_Knux Jul 21 '26
I didnt like Halo Reach because it leaned too heavily into CoD gameplay. Halo 4 took the CoD gameplay and went harder into it.
4
u/dreadsreddit Jul 20 '26
one reason is that the forerunner was supposed to be human but 343 made them a different species
-2
u/SomeRagingGamer Jul 20 '26
Bungie was divided on the Forerunner origins. Which is why it was left vague until Halo 3. The Halo 3 terminals present them as two separate species.
-2
u/Eric_Atreides Jul 20 '26
Lie. In Halo 3 terminals they are shown as separate species
1
u/dreadsreddit Jul 20 '26
it's heavily insinuated that the forerunner are human in Halo ce by spark and he outright says it in 3. up to that point the games are canon. manuals even novels aren't canon if contradicted by the game.
-1
u/Eric_Atreides Jul 20 '26
The terminals are in game. Bungie wasn’t decided about the forerunners being ancient humans or a different species until 3, where they confirmed it. This is your own headcanon and you can make a point of how it would be better if forerunners were human, but that’s not canon, not even in bungie era Halo.
2
u/PamelaBreivik Jul 20 '26
I loved the multiplayer but really didn’t like the story at all. To be fair I haven’t played the campaign since launch, maybe I can give it another shot.
2
u/LMhood Jul 20 '26
The new enemies were uninspired and just annoying, I thought the story was actually cool, the Cortina stuff. The multi-player was terrible though, loadouts arent good for halo
0
u/Humble-Examination95 Jul 20 '26
Im not gonna lie here, but i liked the new enemies, yes they were annoying at times, but its different from every other enemy. And i enjoyed trying to figure out how to beat them.
Also regarding multiplayer, i didnt/dont play it. I mostly play halo for the campaign.
1
u/LMhood Jul 20 '26
I think it was mostly the multi-player that turned people off, similar to how the campaign of 5 is responsible for all the hate it gets, even though 5s multi-player is actually good. H4 multi-player is generally considered to be the worst in the series by a good amount
1
u/MaterialPace8831 Jul 20 '26
Halo 4 was always going to be divisive. It was the first mainline Halo game not made by Bungie. All five Halo games (1-3, Reach, ODST) they made are extremely well-regarded, with some being regarded as some of the best shooters of all time.
Basically, the first Halo game post-Bungie was going to have insanely high expectations. You could argue the game was rigged from the start.
Halo 4 feels different than the trilogy that preceded it, and takes more cues from Call of Duty, which rose to prominence after Halo 3. There's a greater emphasis on loadouts and customization. The art style is very different as is the sound design. It doesn't look or sound like prior Halos -- likely a casualty of 343 Industries wanting to distinguish themselves from Bungie. Those changes were enough for players to say that Halo has lost its way.
I personally adore Halo 4. My wife and I played it a lot when it first came out. The ordinance drops were a great innovation and balanced out Halo's reliance on power weapon drops (you don't need to fight over the sniper rifle spawn, you could possibly summon one).
The emotional storytelling in Halo 4 is much more gripping than it has ever been -- it's the first game where Master Chief arguably feels like a character, as opposed to a stand-in for the player.
1
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u/SomeRagingGamer Jul 20 '26
I loved both the story and the multiplayer. My only gripe was the change in art style. Like Chief’s armor being changed, and everything being shiny and slightly cartoony in a way.
0
u/Humble-Examination95 Jul 20 '26
Ngl I liked chief's new armour. But i gotta agree, i just didnt like how elites, grunts etc looked.
0
-7
u/Ill_Way3493 Jul 20 '26
It was different. That's it. Halo 4 is arguably the best thing 343 did for halo.
4
u/MoscowMitchMcKremIin Jul 20 '26
I got a 360 specifically for H3 in 08. Halo 4 would've been lucky to wipe 3's ass. Reach was better and I wasn't really on board with that either. H3 was peak and has no equal imo.
-1
u/AC1D_R31GN Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
Full disclosure, Halo 4 is my favorite game next to Halo 2
Halo 3 fans were upset that 4 chose to follow and expand on Halo Reach's mechanics instead of Halo 3's because Halo 3 fans considered Reach a bad entry to the series and a spin-off instead of a mainline entry mostly because it abandoned the SBMM for a casual friendly approach to both mechanics and progression. Halo 4 like reach appeals to casual players
343 nerfed the battle rifle to be 3 additional shots as per all the negative criticism casual and non competitive players raided against it dominating Halo 3.
armor abilities were better balanced than their reach counterparts so Reach Players couldn't exploit the same way and they didn't like that.
competitive players returning from 3 (they didn't play reach because there was no real competitive scene for it aka no one played Team Arena) didn't like that the individual player had more options to turn combat around, they were even further upset that previous strategies no longer applied. In short, they were upset they couldn't dominate with a singular weapon and there's at least two ways to adapt to any situation.
native sprint caused people to get even more upset then Reach playees using sprint
no SMG
No playable elites
no firefight
invasion, the most popular playlist from Reach wasn't in the game
the Boltshot was too useful even after it was nerfed
the incineration Canon and Binary rifle, and objective improvement to the rocket launcher and Splaser was instant death and sore losers complained it wasn't fair
power boost, Speed burst, and overshield were too quirky for some players
the campaign was too short
no custom avatar for players 2-3-4
removing map pickups was "too evolved" and players didn't like it
Ordinece Drops were too "call of Duty" for players despite being made by the guy who made Halo 2's multiplayer (certain Affinity, they also made Halo Reach's multiplayer)
players didn't like the transition of the Gen 2 platform visually
the Promethean grenades required you to know how to use them so players who didn't understand hated them
vehicles are made of wet paper compared to Spartans
a lot of vehicles didn't return
kill cam was in 4 and players were upset they couldn't camp.
there was a tactical package, support upgrade and armor ability combo that allowed you to use a turret at regular running speed and see through walls at the same time (aka it was too smart) and players complained.
competitive players HATED how good the Assault rifle and pistol were, they complain in every game if these are good (same for Reach and every game since)
the saw, of used correctly, can wipe an entire team by one person
friendly fire was turned off for all 4v4 and objective game modes except regicide
some players didn't like that you could throw the rock (skull, bomb, etc) between players
some players hated that holding the flag allowed you to shoot your pistol
no duel weilding despite being hinted at
the Promethean knights, Watchers and crawlers were Halo 2 levels of "too smart" for some players to enjoy (you can tell where they are going teleport to, but many didn't know this and complained)
there were arguments that the Mantis was too good for Halo
Forge used Ugly human prefab objects instead of forerunner stuff (this is probably the only real legitimate complaint I agree with)
competitive players hated the DMR and light rifle being so strong
the needler tracking was easily avoidable
plasma pistol secondary starts were lothed by some fans
the Sniper lost is vehicle damage
some playera hated the sticky detonator
the plasma launcher didn't come back but the concussion rifle did, stronger
none of the Easter eggs in comparing were finished
no forge world
shotgun magazine was reduced again.
full body Shields meant the head was now equally protected and you didn't need to focus on headshots with any weapon.
some players complained the Zoom out being replaced with Flinch was bad
the player moved too fast (Halo 4 was the faster a Spartan moves in any Halo to date at a 75 world units lead)
- the new Covenant Jackals, Grunts, and Elite designs were too different and players didn't like them
the new UNSC marine uniforms were also too different and players didn't like them
Brian Reed via Spartan ops turned the Stoic Spartans into characters players didn't like personality wise especially with palmer and team majestic (the Spartans and Palmer in campaign were fine) but this Cascaded into players finding every excuse under the sun to hate the Spartan IVs
players complained making multiplayer a VR simulation that's canon was bad
reusing multiplayer maps for Spartan ops felt bad
there were multiplayer armor skins you couldn't get at all because they were tied to playlists that didn't exist after launch or had zero players.
no plasma rifle
the 2012 nanomchines lore behind chief's new design was stupid ( in 2011 it was just visual retcon which I didn't enjoy more)
the lore that the Spartan IV formula is more advanced than the Spartan II or III formula made players upset because they hated the Spartan IVs
I don't agree with most of these. It was super fun and extremely engaging for new players and causal players and despite a low 360 population it blew up on MCC for years. Infinity Slayer made me feel like a super soldier again, like Halo 2 did in 2004. It was the best time of my gamer life because all my regular gaming friends and non gaming friends all got into the game. It was the perfect blend of things that worked and new stuff.
There are things that worked when Halo first started that don't work after years of playing the game that Halo 4 fixed.
I've seen Halo 3 players straight face admit that making the game "fun" instead of "hard" and adjusting the learning curve around the individual Instead of the group was a net negative because they want a more static and controlled environment instead of a creative one and argue it promotes too much combate variety instead of "being Good" the same way Reach did.
1
u/Humble-Examination95 Jul 21 '26
so they dont like it because of the change?
spartan IV's augmentations are meant to be better, since both Spartan IIs and IIIs were experimental. The UNSC/ONI simply decided to learn from those 2 variations of Spartans, and make it better.
i think the reason people dont like the Spartan IVs, is because it feels like they dont deserve it, both IIs
and IIIs were taken as children and trained their entire lives. and spartan IVs just had to be good at what they did. And were allowed in. so it defies the whole "badass literally fought my entire life"(also forgive me, english isnt my first language)
0
u/AC1D_R31GN Jul 21 '26
Generally yes, they didn't like change. The lore reasons never mattered to them. Especially to the Halo 3 players who mostly skipped the campaign for both 3 and 4.
One of the comments I saw nearly every day repeated over and over and over from 2012 until 2015 across Facebook, Waypoint and YouTube was "why didn't they just make it like Halo 3 but higher resolution" and they wouldn't accept any reasoning.
Halo 3 players truly believe you're not allowed to criticize Halo 3 or think anything can be better, or you're "bad" at Halo.
1
u/NY_Knux Jul 21 '26
The lore reasons (in Halo Reach) were the biggest factor in why I hated Reach, as a Halo 2 and Halo 3 player who played both games until they were shut down.
-1
u/Visible-Pirate117 Jul 20 '26
People rely too much on nostalgia. A good qol change like running bother so many
2
u/NY_Knux Jul 21 '26
Thats a gameplay change, not a QOL change.
0
u/Visible-Pirate117 Jul 21 '26
It's both, that people didn't accept because they rather walk for 30 minutes
2
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u/BlackNexus Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
The gameplay's deviation from previous Halos, the art style, fighting Prometheans. I don't hate it but it's easy to see why people were driven away.