The first addition will be “Spartan Points”, which is the game’s new currency, replacing CR in Halo: Reach. The points can be used to purchase armor, armor abilities, and downloadable Spartan Ops missions, which are more or less the same as the Spec Ops missions from Modern Warfare 3.
The chief difference between Spec Ops and Spartan Ops is that the former will have a storyline that spans out over several months, which should encourage players to return to check out the latest episode in the series. Spartan Ops will come at the cost of the Firefight game mode, though this may just be a move sideways, since Spartan Ops will offer multiplayer online co-op gameplay.
A new gameplay mode will be added, however, called Regicide. A variation on VIP, the player who is the scoring leader is called the King. Any players the King kills raises the bounty on him, and players who kill the King claim the reward.
The game also offers a rationalization for the entire “red Spartans vs. blue Spartans” in multiplayer combat: it’s a virtual reality training mission inside a simulator called the UNSC Infinity. That said, Elites won’t be in multiplayer combat anymore.
As for combat itself, Sprint is now a standard armor ability and it is always equipped. A new ability called “Forerunner Vision” will allow people to see through walls (it’ll be interesting to see how it’s balanced, since it’s basically a legal wall hack.) The hologram, jetpack, and active camo armor abilities will also be making a return, as will frag grenades. Weapons will now drop and random locations, so weapon camping will be less likely.
There are two new medals as well, “Distraction” and “Revenge” medals. A player receives a “Distraction” medal when they record no kills in a match, therefore being a “distraction”, and a “Revenge” medal is given for killing the player who just killed them.
Finally, the most controversial changes to multiplayer is the instant respawn, in which tapping X will immediately send the player back to the match, which could be problematic if there’s no defense against spawn camping. Less controversial but more intriguing is the ability to join games already in progress.
Halo 4 is being developed by 343 Industries and due to be released late this year for the Xbox 360.
