14 DAY TRIAL // Halo 4 is set to offer a brand new armor design for its protagonist, Master Chief, so developer 343 Industries has now talked about the reasoning behind these changes and how the Chief will still feel “nimble yet heavy.”
Halo 4 is set to appear later this year, with both 343 Industries, its developer, and Microsoft, its publisher, trying hard to kick off a new trilogy of Halo games in the best way imaginable.
Besides the trailer we saw last year at E3 2011, not a lot of things have appeared, so the millions of Halo fans have started dissecting every bit of info about the game, beginning with Master Chief’s upgraded armor.
According to 343, which dedicated a blog post on the Halo Waypoint website to this subject, changes have been made to Master Chief’s look in order to really make it obvious that he’s wearing “800 pounds of tank and jet fighter.”
“Typically, from Halo to Halo, the Master Chief’s armor has changed and adapted, and there have been fictional reasons why,” 343 said. “With Halo 4, we’re taking a different approach and focusing on the storytelling aspects of art from the design standpoint. We don’t do that everywhere in the game, but we wanted to take this opportunity to really focus on him as a human being.”
The modified armor and the changed physics will make players feel like they’re actually inside Master Chief’s armor, instead of controlling a floating gun on the screen, according to the developer.
“One of the Master Chief’s most notable physical characteristics is that he’s wearing 800 pounds of tank and jet fighter. So we pulled that design into the armor and HUD. When you play Halo 4, it’s important you understand that you’re more than just a gun on the screen. To give you that feeling, we have represented that weight with player physics, without interrupting crosshair and shooting accuracy.”
The studio also highlights that the new Master Chief will be a nimble yet heavy superhero, whose armor contrasts with the bulky ones seen in 2010’s Halo: Reach title.
“Our goal is to hit that sweet spot where we represent what is fictionally true about the Chief while making sure you feel like you’re a super-powerful human being when you're playing him,” 343 Industries concluded.
Expect to hear some more details about Halo 4 as we get closer to its release later this year.