I had an opportunity to question a 343 employee about this last night. (Can’t say who though)
Anyway, I ask if the change to the Covies looks were for aesthetic reasons, or polygon count, or something entirely different.
As suspected, the look of the traditional Covenant forces was changed to make them look more menacing. Frank O’Conner has eluded to this as well.
There apparently was a discussion about the Jackal in particular with their more bird-like appearance and not being as threatening. The decision was made to make them appear a little bit more dinosaur like, giving them a stunted beak and moving their eyes forward.
That definitely changed the look of them. For the better? Hmm you decide:
I happen to like it. Other than the head, much of the rest of the Jackal remains intact from previous iterations. The new version in Halo 4 definitely looks more bad-ass and no where near bird-like.
I was told there really won’t be any canonical explanation for this. It’s not like the evolved. It’s just an aesthetic change.
It seems like we won’t know until the game comes out. I heard(I might be thinking of someone’s guess,) that the Storm is a faction of rouge Covenants. Maybe since they don’t have Covenant supplies they needed to evolve? I personally hate the new design for 3 reasons:
1. It is too different and there is no canon explanation for the change, so it is inconsistent.
2. I loved the Halo 3-Reach design, but this one looks like Godzilla. It also looks like it doesn’t fit into its armor properly.
3. Now we won’t get a Halo 3-Reach Jackal in Reach scale. This isn’t too valid since it’s McFarlane’s fault.
Might sound a bit biased, but so far I like all changes made to the species. The grunts look really good in Halo 4 in my opinion: definitely more menacing.
Yeah, I like the Grunts because they did not change too much
What’s funny is that the Grunts changed the most of all the Covies. New textured skin, no longer exoskeleton, bigger heads, breathing tubs in their nose instead of mouth masks, four toes instead of three. Yet still, they look like Grunts, just a little bit more dangerous.