Now you may be wondering why I’m bringing this up now instead of shortly after release. Well, I wanted to give the game some time to grow on me as well as gauge reactions fro friends and fans on Halo 4. While most of the opinions in this article are my own, some are also drawn upon and in agreement with those friends and fans.

I’d love to see some of the old armor return. Barring that, I think 343 really needs to take a look at much of the armor they created. Not so much from the neck down, but rather the helmets.

An overwhelming majority of them simply aren’t plausible. How is anyone supposed to see out of some of them? The ones I like the most are the ones with decent sized visors. Operator is great, so too the recruit. But what of Waterworks? Really? A slit in the middle of the helmet for a visor? Also, just the general design of some of these helmets is plain awful. EVA isn’t rounded anymore. And how about the sad face helmet..That’s the HAZOP helmet if you didn’t know. Or the Frankenstein helmet? Seriously, did 343 have any kind of focus group outside of themselves to gauge reaction? (And I’m talking outside of Microsoft altogether.)

As a designer myself as well as a long time Halo gamer, I’d have shot down at least a third of the helmet designs and had them redone or scrapped entirely.

Here are all but I think one of the helmets in Halo 4, with some commentary by me:

A plain “X” means I think it should just be completely removed from any future Halo games.
A “NP” means “not plausible” but could be reworked into a helmet that is plausible to see out of.
A “X” with a “F” next to it means “fugly.” Yeah, you know what that means… How did that design get approved.

(Might I suggest you download this graphic below and open in a new window to make it easier to read along)

Starting at the top, I could have dinged the Gungnir helmet as not plausible, but I gave this one a pass as it was in Reach and very popular as something different. I think however that 343 went just a bit too wild in their designs of helmets for Halo 4. Especially in thinking that we’d like more helmets without plausible visors. Really, what’s the use of visor colors for some fo these helmets when they have none or barely there visors? Anyway, back to the top row. I’m actually fine with them all except while I think the FOTUS helmet (marked “NP” is cool, that horn really should go.
Second row: CIO? More like I can’t see at all. Okay of the offending NP helmets this one has the next to the best potential behind the FOTUS helmet. Change it so that the black area surrounding the three visor dots is also part of the visor and we have a workable helmet that even looks decent. The last one in the row is kind of the same, though that visor would be HUGE.
Third row: Orbital…uh, the mish-mash of Emile’s helmet from Reach, that skull is just horrid. Sorry but I really would have preferred the carved in look. Though yeah, then people would complain about continuity with Emile being dead. So just can this helmet and bring back the traditional EVA helmet. (Which bears noting that the Strider and even to a point the new Rogue helmets are close to the EVA. While I like the Strider one, it and the Rogue one can go in place of a proper EVA helmet.) The helmet next to the Orbital one (forgive me that I can’t recall which one it is) is kinda ungly. Put a visor on it please. Otherwise drop it.
Fourth row: OMG, that Pioneer helmet…It’s a dual vertical Cyclops helmet. Yeah, that’s kind of an oxymoron and there in lies my point, moronic. Make the visor part that strip of metal in the middle and those circles metal instead and maybe, MAYBE you have a viable helmet. Otherwise…yep, CAN IT. Oh the poor Hazop helmet. What happened to you? You now look like a very sad Stormtrooper from Star Wars. Sigh. I liked the Hazop from Reach. Why did 343 have to change it so dramatically? Can this one please and give us something more reminiscent of the Reach Hazop.
Fifth row: Be my Frankenstein! Or at least my weird Halloween helmet. Okay it could also be said to look like a jar, hence jar-head. However I think my marines buddies would take serious offense to that. PLEASE, kill that design. While I think the Locus (why not add that “t” at the end 343?) is very cool looking and even used it for a time, it’s just not plausible since it doesn’t have a visor. Also, consider how bulbous the head is. It looks out of scale with the rest of the body. Fix the scaling at least and keep it in.
Six row: I actually like the Vanguard helmet (the first one), but dang, does it have to have that small square visor? Expand the visor and it would be a great helmet. I do want to unlock this in Halo 4 though as I like the “cross” pattern on it. (that’s the secondary Vanguard helmet which, IIRC is a bit harder to get) Next is the Wetwork helmet. While it’s a cool design in theory and could have been a good replacement for the Hayabusa, that small slit of a visor down the middle just ruins it for me. I’d like to see this reworked with at least a slim banded visor across the middle. Oh the stalker. Okay first, let’s discuss that name. Stalker. Not really something you want to be known as. Yes, I know it was taken from “Brute Stalkers” in previous Halo games. However, some may not make that correlation. It really is a bit creepy. Beyond that though is the stunted, blunted top of the helmet. The visor is just okay. It could definitely have been made bigger and the helmet even shows where that change could have been made.
Seventh row: The Tracker helmet is kind of cool, but the visor is a bit small and low on the helmet. The one thing that does bother me a little is that it constantly reminds me of the Geth head from Mass Effect. The Venator helmet without a doubt is a cool design, but the visor isn’t too plausible. It’s close however. It kind of has the Dead Space feel to it. I think a little bit thicker though on the visor parts would have made this more plausible.

Also, do others think it’s strange that 343 changed the name of some of the helmets from what they were to something else entirely? The Security helmet comes to mind. It’s now the Operator helmet.

Speaking of previous helmets, I’d really like the Mark V, CQB and original Rogue helmets back. I’ve already touched on the EVA coming back as well. Scout looks okay in it’s Halo 4 version as do the EOD helmet.

I just think while wanted to make Halo 4 their own, 343 went a bit too far with some of the helmet designs. Practicality needs to come back. If you’ve read the books then you know that on a rare occasion, the armor fails and they have to use their eyes. Those helmets I listed about as NP would not make the grade. You just can’t remove your helmet in battle. You’d just be begging to be headshot.

Some of the helmets have had such negative review (well and many before my own) that they’ve been dubbed Power Rangers. That’s not really a moniker I want associated with Spartan armor.

Please 343, get back to more practical designs. It can be done, yet still have some splash or “pizazz” to it, without looking otherworldly or alien.

-Sal