Spartan Ops episode 9 preview gallery: Video screencaps

Woot, I can’t wait for this episode. It’s the next to the last and the action is really ramping up here. Palmer finally puts her helmet on and goes out into battle. Or at least a man (or is that woman?) hunt. She’s out to get Halsey as ordered by Admiral Serin Ozman of ONI.

This episode is called “Key” and I bet it’s going to be very KEY to the Halo universe going forward. Halsey gets what looks like two index keys from the Librarian. Somehow one ends up with Jul M’dama and the other with Spartan Thorne (man I just knew he was going to play a more important part going forward). Hmm, I wonder if the Librarian makes Jul and the UNSC make a peace treaty?

Also note the keys are Red and Blue. Coincidence? I don’t think so. And I’d venture to guess one is the Didact’s while the other is the Librarian’s.

Hmm, this episode is getting better and better and it’s not even out yet!

-Sal

Spartan Ops episode 9 preview gallery chapter missions.

The first gallery is of mission screencaps. Looks like we’re getting a new map! WOOT!! As well “Apex” makes it’s return.

-Sal

HaloWaypoint Bulletin: 2/6/13

The Halo Bulletin 2/6/13

This week’s bulletin is a good one. Of course there is the usual nonsensical first portion by BS Angel (I mean that with love Jess), then she gets to the “meat” or is that bacon? of the bulletin.

Spartan Ops gets a nod with a origin of “Undid Iridium.”

Playlists updates are the next order of business with Snipers and Shotty Snipes detailed. Also we’re getting a combined Team Objective playlist. This will no include Team Regicide, Oddball and finally the return of King of the Hill! (Yea!!!)

Team Throwdown (the competitive playlist) is planned for release on Feb 18. The Competitive Skill Rank (CSR) won’t be available at launch however. 343 wants to allow for some time to tweak the playlists in Throwback before opening up levels 1-50. So get your practice in now before it counts!

Finally it what I think is one of the most cool articles in recent bulletins is the revelation that there are still several uncovered Easter Eggs in the campaign.

Oh MY! I was just playing campaign yesterday in hopes of finding something others hadn’t yet. Looks like I’m going to be hitting the campaign really hard today. BS Angel eludes to there being a prize if you find them first. WOOT!

-Sal

Spartan Ops Episode 9 trailer!!!

All I can say is, OH MY! I think this episode is going to ROCK!

Finally Palmer puts her helmet on AND goes into battle on Requiem!

Halsey meeting the Librarian. Oh, this is going to be SOOO GOOD!

-Sal

Spartan Ops Episode 7: Invasion comic book

A slight delay due to the awesomeness of last week’s missions (I couldn’t help but play those Infinity missions over and over again!)

Let me know if you like the comic book folks. Reply, or send an e-mail to sal@halofanforlife.com or tweet me: http://twitter.com/#/HaloFanForLife

Now to get cracking on Episode 8!

-Sal

Spartan Ops Episode 8 discussion. (SPOILERS)

First things first.

I have this nagging suspicion that Halsey is going to become an AI. In fact it’s possible that she becomes the new Cortana (of sorts). It’s kind of cool AND creepy at the same time if you think about it. Clearly Master Chief has feelings for Cortana. Cortana was born of the cloned mind of Halsey for whom Chief learned from in his early stages of training and one whom the Spartans called “mom.”

To have her as an AI would be cool, so long as she doesn’t have the 7 year rampancy bit.

But then to have her replace Cortana…She’s motherly toward Chief, yet she has Cortana within her so to speak. It’s all just confusing. It’s kind of like a partial Oedipus complex. (Look it up if you don’t know)

Also, did anyone else catch that Parangosky is dead (or maybe retired, thoguh I don’t think that old hag would ever retire…)? She was the former head of ONI. Now the new head is actually a former Spartan. Yes…she is. Read the books. Serin Osman was a Spartan II. She didn’t get all of the enhancements as her body was rejecting them. But she’s a Spartan II none-the-less. To have her give the order to kill Halsey is just well…WOW. She didn’t seem to worried about her decision though. Seems like at first she was okay with her “non-decision” of not putting Halsey in a deep hole or killing her. Now that all has changed.

If Halsey does indeed become an AI, well, she’s going to be a LOT harder to kill. I dont’ think Lasky will have Halsey killed. Well, that’s if she’s not turned into an AI already. Though by disobeying a direct order from the head of ONI, well, that would have some serious repercussions.

Okay, trying to get back on track here. What happened to the Knight who looked both Halsey and Lasky in the face and gave them it’s skull scream? That wasn’t shown. Would have been nice to see Lasky blow it away with the shotgun he had.

Once again Palmer is a …. oh nevermind, she’s just not worth talking about anymore. Okay maybe just a few sentences. She can dual weild. Great, why can’t we then in either War games or Spartan Ops? She can take out a Knight with just one shot from a magnum? That must be the most powerful magnum in all of the UNSC. And why for gawd sakes dos she never where her helmet? She might as well be in that skin tight suit we saw in the first episode if she’s going to stay on the ship all the time. She needs to be a much better example to her troops and be IN UNIFORM at all times. Well at least she should have found a way to snag her helmet during the invasion. I get that 343 wants people to know who she is by having her face shown. We know who she is now. Please put a bucket on her! (Bucket is slang for helmet)

The CG is this is pretty good. Nothing too remarkable though. I did like the map Madsen found and showed. As well the holotable of the Infinity bridge was very cool to look at. Where can I get one of those? LOL.

Gek, poor Gek. Why did he have to die? I actually LIKED him. I wanted to know how he was shamed as well as how he lost his left eye. Will we ever find out? Hopefully in the third book of the latest series.

So Halsey goes up into the blue light stream. Man, I gotta think she’s going to become evolved. LIke I said at the beginning, an AI, likely.

As for the missions, well again as of this writing they still aren’t up on Waypoint for me to recall. I do remember that the initial cutscene from the first chapter didn’t looked finished. At least the first couple of seconds didn’t. The background, especially the green hillsides looked terribly low res.

I didn’t mind too much that we revisited areas again, but the missions themselves seemed a bit boring, even though we had more vehicle combat. There really wasn’t much room for the vehicles to maneuver around in anyway, so that was kind of wasteful. Though I did manage to get the Warthog into areas I’m pretty sure they weren’t intended to be. (I like to do that kind of stuff). Same with the Wraith. I think it’s the fourth mission, you can capture a wraith if you’re careful about how you kill the driver. There are clearly Forerunner pieces in the way between where you get it and where you need to go. SO I suspect they don’t want you to take it there. However, by punching off the tips of the front “wings” of the wraith, you can EASILY get it to the next area as it will fit between those Forerunner poles.

While I liked the video, it wasn’t as good as the previous two and the missions weren’t as good either. I did like the last mission where you had to defend areas. That circling holo defend area was kind of cool. And what do you know, Glassman isn’t as much a dolt as he was made out to be. Seems like even Halsey noted that to in the video.

Well, i’m furiously finishing up the Spartan Ops comic for episode 7 so I can get started on 8.

Any thought on this episode and/or missions? Click reply below!

-Sal

Halo 4 weekly challenges: 2-4/10-13

WarGames WEEKLY 020413

 

I’m SO glad I don’t need campaign acheivements anymore. No way I’d be going for those challenges.

Spartan Ops ones are VERY easy as are the War Games ones.

Just look at that XP bonus too. If I hadn’t already hit SR130, I’d be trying for these big time. As it is, I already got the Spartan Ops ones first thing this morning.

Hmm, I wonder if 343 might just have some new levels for us after SR130 afterall? And if so, hopefully, the XP earn will count.

-Sal

 

War Games daily challenges: 2-4-13

WarGames 020413

 

Wow, these are pretty easy and just look at that XP!

Hmm, this actually is NOT a good thing that XP is so high. It means 343 is trying to entice people to come back or stay by offering high XP amounts. We should want to play the game regardless of XP. Besides, it’s SO easy to get to SR130 anyway, even without these high XP challenges.