Halo 4 is already high on everyone’s list of highly-anticipated games for 2012. But 343 Industries won’t stop until it’s at the top spot, and with just a few weeks before the November launch, they’re putting they hype machine into full gear.
Xbox 360 Magazine UK had a chance to speak with 343 Industries boss Frank O’Connor and he’s got some bold plans for the Halo franchise’s latest entry, Halo 4, and the Spartan Ops DLC.
While episodic content isn’t new to video games, Halo 4 will be the first in the series to feature a segmented cooperative campaign through Spartan Ops. O’Connor reveals that they’ve taken massive and elaborate steps to make sure that fans get a truly unique gaming experience, one that utilizes great storytelling, awesome gameplay and mixes it with the TV series format:
“You have to dump it all in one eight-hour playthrough and ignore the act structure, because people are playing it over weeks […] It’s more predictable how people will ingest the story and it gives us more control and cadence over the narrative. And when you’re doing this over a narrative and campaign that’s spread over 8-15 hours, we can direct it on a granular level of detail and you know that person is going to be surprised and remember that thing you told them one level ago.
“But really, I’m more interested in social experience. Do people go into work the next day and say, ‘Man, Spartan Ops was cool. I liked it when that thing happened that was pretty exciting’? And then you continue that conversation: ‘Oh, I loved it when you flipped that Warthog over and we all fell to our deaths because you’re a s**tty driver.’ Have players combine the narrative and the interactive experience like when they’re talking about Lost or Breaking Bad.”
It seems like a risky move, trying to combine the weekly TV format with gaming sensibilities but it’s one that’s definitely gotten us intrigued. How will players react to Halo 4’s Spartan Ops and will it have the same impact as successful TV shows? Will they gradually build relationships with the inhabitants of the DLC world the way we did with our favorite TV show characters? November 6 is less than a month away. I guess we’ll find out then.
Are you looking forward to Halo 4 and Spartan Ops? Share your thoughts in the comments below!