Halo 4 At The Midway Point

Halo, as gamers know, is a first person shooter in which you take control of Master Chief, a genetically engineered Spartan, a super Marine, defending Earth against fanatical aliens.  The Halo trilogy ran it's course with a good story and made a lot of gamers pretty happy.  Two additional games from Bungie (the game's developer) kept the fans happy.  But Bungie eventually decided to move on to other projects.  Microsoft however, knew there was money to be made and turned the franchise over to a company called 343. After much ballyhoo, 343 released Halo 4 two weeks ago.  

For the last two weeks (when time permits, which has not been much--damn you French!) I've been working my way through the campaign mode of Halo 4.  This is not a comprehensive review by any stretch, but just some feelings on the game thus far.  

First the good news for fans.  343 has done their homework, this feels like Halo.  It's a new story (one that only 5 parts in feels like they've set up for a new trilogy... be ready for more), with a familiar angle.  The villains are the often mentioned (but until now never seen) Forerunners--the architects of the Halo weapons.

If I have a complaint it's that so far the game hasn't really distinguished itself from the others in the franchise.  (That and Cortana--The Master Chief's AI that represents herself as a sexy hologram covered in Matrix like code--doesn't quite look right.)  It feels a lot like Halo: Reach, which isn't bad, but... Maybe 343 was afraid of changing the formula too much and alienating hard core fans, but I was looking forward to mixing it up a bit.  But then again, I'm just glad to have Master Chief back.  And maybe once I hammer out some French, I can delve into the multiplayer aspects of the game, nes pas?