3. Halo 4
I love Halo. It's one of my favourite gaming franchises and one of the best sci-fi games in the last 10 years. I love the history, the story and the characters but for most people it's all about the multi player. Halo has changed a lot since the original with some people disliking the new direction in which Reach and ODST were taken. Personally, the last Halo game I loved was Halo 3. The multi player was excellent and I loved the maps. Waiting in the queue, I wondered whether there really was life after Bungie or whether Microsoft should have left it alone until next gen. But once I got the controller in my hand, it didn't take long for me to forget my concerns. Master Chief is back and better than ever. I played two type of matches, free-for-all and the new infection mode game type 'Flood'. It's the same as the regular Infection, with the main objective being to survive. Although there is one cool new feature, when you are infected, you respawn as a form of Flood. The Flood are stronger than infected Spartans and the Flood Talon, the weapon available for Flood players, is an interesting addition also. I always loved Infection so it's great to see it get the overhaul it deserves and I think it will be hugely popular online. Next up was free-for-all on a map called Exile. After about 2 minutes I could immediately tell that this was more like classic Halo than anything in the last five years. The guns are so balanced and refined, as are the power ups which seem to be a little bit non Halo-ish. That might be a good thing or not, depending on your appreciation for there inclusion. The movement is fluid and perfectly responsive. The best thing about Halo is that genuine skill comes into it. It's not about picking the most powerful gun and hiding in a corner, real tactics come into play. Shields seemed to regenerate a bit slower too but maybe that was just me. I got hammered in my first game, coming a miserably 7th but in the second game I improved to snatch 3rd spot. There were more details on Spartan Ops released too and it does look to be a cool addition. Also, everybody was commentating on the sound of the game which is in fact thunderous. Halo 4 is going to be a major seller for Xbox 360 this year and I can't wait to see the rest of the campaign. It the final game plays as epic as it looks in the trailers, we're in for one hell of a ride.