What will halo 4 multiplayer be like

But after many, many hours playing the multiplayer beta over the course of this weekend, one thing is clear: this is the best Halo in ages. The thing about Halo, for my money, is that the very things that made it special also made it very hard to replicate. Lord knows, people tried.

It was still a sea change, and in hindsight a time of soul searching for Halo. Everything was fine, but just fine. The bright spark that Bungie had nurtured felt to have been dimmed. The result, at least in this multiplayer beta, is a Halo that leans into the sandbox madness that each game in the series built that came to a zenith in Halo 3.

Crucially, these new features feel as though they slot into the texture of multiplayer matches naturally and without spoiling that precious core triangle. The sound design is remarkably good, with the ability to tell where enemies are based on audio alone well defined. To me, Halo has always been about synergy. The campaign remains an enormous question mark, as does progression and an ongoing DLC and update path.

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There could also be some kind of narrative element to multiplayer. Fans of the series may also be interested to note that the classic Battle rifle is back. The familiar pulse weapon looks set to be restored to its powerful specifications from the first Halo titles. Speaking at the Xbox Showcase event in San Francisco last week, creative director Josh Holmes told reporters: "You, as a player, have the ability to customise all aspects of your Spartan warrior — and not just cosmetically.

For the first time in a Halo title, you can actually change gameplay-impacting components. This allows you to customise load outs and gives you gameplay enhancements that can be unlocked through the progression system.

In an interview with the Guardian later on, executive producer Kiki Wolfkill explained that Industries had been looking at trends in the first-person genre, and had recognised the need to provide a more adapable and personalised multiplayer experience. And if we've seen some interesting design elements, even if they weren't successful in another game, they may have sparked interest for us. How do we really support different play styles in Halo 4? There's always been a lot of choice in Halo, but it's about pushing that even further.

It gets back to how do we allow players to choose the thing that supports the play style that makes them the most successful. The move toward a full character progression system will no doubt be controversial with Halo fans, and will be viewed as a shift in style toward first-person shooter rivals such as Call of Duty and Battlefield.

I'd like to tell people to be happy and confident and look forward to it, but I can't control that. We'll explain our decisions at a later date. It's been carefully considered.

During a press briefing, Holmes also hinted that the infrastructure of the multiplayer mode is likely to evolve too, with changes to the lobby and matchmaking systems that suggest a more socially connected title.

O'Connor was more specific in an interview later with the Guardian. The number one rule of multiplayer game design is — everything is fun against a friend.

Pong is fun against a friend! But it probably isn't against an anonymous random person.