I'm abso

inglutely BLOWN AWAY how HORRIBLE Halo 4 is.
I had to take a break from the game when I got a "Return to the Battefield" countdown. My jaw dropped, I threw the controller down and ripped my headphones off. I was in utter dismay. A Halo game...telling me that I'm leaving the battlefield... W...T...F.
Just so you know my Halo background, I was a HARDCORE Halo 1 player. I mean, all the time I was practicing on Legendary, playing on XboxConnect, and competing in local tournaments. Halo 2 came out, I played that game to death. 3 was fun, ODST is my personal fave, Reach was really good but probably my least favorite. But basically what I want to get across is I'm far from a Halo "newb". I'm well acquainted with Halo and it's very specific "feel". Now here are a couple other things that are messed up:
-Story. WTF. Why are these covenant fighting me? Why is it not a concern and it's just okay to kill HUNDREDS of them when from the main character's POV they had a truce. When you meet up with the humans, it's like "oh... hey, sup". Not the reaction I was expecting when MC has been MIA for over 4

ing years!!! How does MC know how to use the new alien weapons?!? There are so many things that happen in the story that get no explanation. From what I've heard some of this is explained through the Halo novels and other materials, but guess what? Not everybody is going to read all of that stuff. I just play the games. Hell I've never even seen that Halo cartoon thing. Don't really care to. I just enjoy playing Halo and experiencing the story/universe through the game. So why am I (a person who only plays the Halo games) punished by not getting the full story.
-AI. Holy shit what happened to the amazing Halo AI!? Every time I encounter an enemy banshee, they almost immediately fly into a wall and get stuck. Enemies don't chase you down like they used to. It's like they have an agro area around them, get near, they will attack, otherwise they pretty much stay in place. And then there are just random weird things like driving a scorpion 3 feet away from a grunt, but he doesn't even turn around toward all the marines that are shooting at him, just keeps staring off into the distance.
- I was in a structure and I brought a ghost in. When I went to activate a button, a short cutscene took place, and then my ghost had disappeared!
-The "predator" visor power up. More of a hinderance than a help. The visor in ODST was amazingly useful. This one... not at all. I couldn't get rid of it quick enough.
-The new alien weapons... not really new. So far from what I've played everything is a straight up copy of a human weapon. Nothing new and interesting like how the needler was new and interesting.
-How the

does the Rocket Launcher targeting work?! You never get a tool-tip or any instruction. Moreover how come I can target banshees but not any ground vehicles? Moreover, there's nothing to instruct you on how to run, crouch, whatever. I mean I've played all the Halo games, but I wasn't clear on how to run until I looked up the controller configuration in the menu. I can't imagine how it must be for a newbie. Now here is maybe why: I started playing on Heroic. Maybe there are more tool-tips for normal. But in the menu it says "Heroic: For the veteran Halo player". That's me! I've played all of 'em. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to automatically know how all the new functions in this game work.
-The dashing/running. Feels nice at first but why isn't it accompanied by a stamina bar or something? It feels like if you wait a few seconds after exhausting a run you can get a full run again, but if you do it right away you only get a couple of seconds. So it's like there's an invisible stamina bar refilling... so let me just see it.
I've been playing on Heroic, and I'm amazed how dumb the AI is. I think I might drop it down to normal just to finish the game real quick so I can trade it in Sunday. So disappointed... in 343 and in the gaming media. I can't believe how high the reviews have been. Where I'm at right now this feels like a good 7 out of 10.
UPDATE: Just beat the game. Unfortunetely more problems arose. Very minor gameplay spoilers ahead, no story spoilers:
- There is a mission where you pilot a fighter jet basically. The problem is that it's constantly moving forward and if you crash into anything it's INSTA-DEATH. I was really having trouble with the controls too because the jet pilots like any other vehicle basically... which is a problem with a jet. With any of the other flying vehicles it's fine because they basically are glorified helicopters. Works great with FPS controls. A constantly moving jet on the otherhand is totally different. It felt completely unnatural to use the right stick to aim the jet, much less not inverted. I play Halo default controls all the way. But a jet needs to control... like a jet. Inverted, left stick. I guess I could have switched the controls in the options menu, but this whole mission should've been scrapped to begin with. Not fun at all. It seems like this is a running problem with Halo 4. "Hey I got this idea!", "Ok great, throw it in!". There's so many mediocre missions and ideas not full executed in Halo 4. Which brings me to...
-The final mission. What a joke. Run a round, shoot the enemies, push a few buttons, and then...wait for it... a glorified QTE!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! I seriously couldn't believe it. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with QTE's (just look at my avatar), but QTE's do not belong in Halo.
This game has made me yearn all the more for whatever Bungie is up to next. There's so many small things in Halo 4 that just feel off like no other Halo before it. During cutscenes, Chief lands real hard on the platform, but the controller doesn't rumble. A real disconnect. SFX don't trigger in some buildings/structures until you move outside. I suspect that might get fixed in a patch, but still very distracting right now. In one of the in-game cutscenes a ship explodes but allow me to describe the explosion: The ship is smoking, electricity is buzzing all over. Here comes the explosion... The ship literally disappears, and the next frame is an explosion in it's place. It was so distracting and ugly I couldn't believe it.
I'm trading this thing in today at BB, hopefully I can at least get $42 back with the trade in deal going on now. Man do I regret not renting it. Most disappointing $18+tax I've ever spent: Halo 4.