Hello again folks. This is the second of today’s two concept art articles. Earlier we looked at equipment of Halo 4, no we look at just some of the concept art for multiplayer armor in Halo 4.
Shall we begin?
The Scout. Also known as Commander Sarah Palmer’s armor. The helmet redesign reflects that of the one from Halo 3. These and others to follow that show the armor in orthogonal views give dimension to the art. One thing I remain curious about is the lack of armor around the mid-section. I know 343 said that they reduced the profile of the armor to allow for more realistic movement in game. However, that really seems to leave the character exposed. Still, I’d take this armor over anything currently used in today’s militaries of the world.
Scout armor trivia:
• Did you know that Spartan Jun from Noble team of Halo Reach wore a version of Scout armor?
• It is for that reason above the Palmer chooses to wear Scout armor. It’s an homage to Jun, who recruited her into the Spartan IV program.
The Halo 4 version of the armor does not look much like it’s predecessor, other than the helmet. To be honest, that to me is what makes the armor identifiable.
Recon Armor Trivia:
• I can has Recon? This was a popular saying back in the Halo 3 days.
• The armor wasn’t available for the longest time. It was only for Bungie employees.
• On a rare occasion, they would award it to a gamer for doing something above and beyond.
• Eventually, the armor was made available through Vid-Master Challenges.
• IIRC, well after that, it was finally given away free.
• In Halo 4, Spartan Madsen of Fireteam Majestic wears the Recon armor. He’s a Sniper. Good thing for someone who does recon, eh?
The EVA armor. Again, other than the helmet, the rest of the armor is of a new design. While this helmet reflects that of previous EVA iterations, in-game it has a move tapered visor, rather than the much more rounded version form Halo 3 and Reach.
EVA Armor Trivia:
• Spartan Emile from Noble team in Reach wears a version of EVA armor. However, his has been heavily modified. In fact, he etched in a skull-like visage into the visor to evoke fear in the enemies he faces.
For the first time, we didn’t just have secondary colors that looked about the same for each armor set, we now got “skins”. These specialized skins were aesthetic in nature. However they gave us something to work for while playing Halo 4. In the above a color palette much like Chocolate Mint is shown. That is great use complimentary colors. They contrast well so that we the viewer are able to immediately determine what is the base color of the armor and what is the “skinned” portion of the armor.
Some skins in Halo 4 are fairly tough to get. I’m almost done with commendations, at 97%. And yet, those last few elude me.
Of the skins shown above, I think only one of them or a close variant of it,made it in-game.
The one I liked the best of those above has to be the bottom right. That EOD helmet most definitely says “SKULL” to me!
The Scanner Helmet. I really like the design of this helmet. In the graphic we get to see what it would look like without the scanner itself. It would have been very cool to have been able to choose if we wanted the visor up or down. Maybe the next game will have choices like that.
Scanner Helmet trivia:
• The Scanner helmet was an exclusive. Due to fan complaints of this, 343 reversed that and made it more readily available to everyone.
• IIRC, the inspiration for this helmet came from Clone Commander Cody in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. (Don’t quote me on that though, as I can’t find the source)
War Master Armor. This by far is my favorite helmet design of Halo 4. I’m a HUGE Iron Man fan. This helmet is the closest one to that helmet. Other than just a couple of days ago, I’ve used that helmet in Halo 4 fro well over a year. Why did I change armor? Well, now I’ve gone to an armor set-up that is as close the the new character from Halo5 Guardians. (See below)
The only other helmet that I think might be better is the Deadeye helmet. And of course that is the ONLY one I do not have… 🙁
This Spartan segues nicely as it uses the same helmet I have from above. It’s the Soldier armor set. Other than the rounded dome, this armor set looks “tough”. The addition of the pouches harkens back a little to Halo CE’s Master Chief.
Soldier Armor Trivia:
• This armor set is used by Spartan Paul DeMarco, Fireteam Majestic’s leader.
• It’s also worn by Spartan Scruggs in the comic book series Halo Escalation. That armor is white primary/yellow secondary
The Orbital armor seen above feels and looks more like EVA armor to me. It’s a decent design. Personally, if I had other choices, I’d never wear a helmet that has a large visor. It just hollers out,”SHOOT ME HERE.”
The Infiltrator armor, the helmet in particular is quite a departure from helmets we’ve seen in the past. While the basic shape is similar, it’s in the faceplate that the difference are the strongest. This is one mean looking Spartan!
Rogue Armor. (Not Rouge as many people spell it…LOL) This is another design that I liked a lot. Not so much the helmet, but the torso harness as well as the shoulder armor. The skins you get for the shoulders help to make this one stand out. This is a solid, well designed set of Mjolnir armor.
Stalker…wait what? Heh, the name itself has always bothered me. I know what it seems 343 was going for, but that word has a negative connotation to it. Consequently, I never use it. It’s not a bad design, though the flat top of the helmet is really different.
And finally a concept of what likely is Gungnir armor. I love the level of detail in this piece.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our little journey into some of the multiplayer armor of Halo 4. If so, let me know by replying below.
Tomorrow, we look at weapon concepts of Reach, then the following day, weapon concepts of Halo 4.
-Sal