The next Halo is coming in March 2007. According to a Microsoft source who asked to remain anonymous and a second source close to the company, IGN today learned that Microsoft will publish the next Halo game (as predicted in January) in March 2007.
Changes to Online Play…
Xbox Live games will have many more options and players can choose to play with
31, 15, or 7 other players in the game type and the map of their choice. In
Halo 3, players will also be able pick such rudimentary options as whether
music tracks on their HDD will play in the background, whether they want
infinite grenades and whether all starting primary and secondary weapons as
well as the heavy and light vehicles are randomly determined each respawn.
Everything in the game from the trees to the giant skyscrapers will be fully
destructible in the multiplayer maps as well. Another feature mentioned was an
online co-op and counter-op mode with up to 16 players. These 16 player co-op
and counter-op modes will only be available for a select few massive open ended
single player missions. There will be a ton of additional gameplay modes as
well, including one where you spend the whole time on the back of a warthog,
one where your job will be to accompany and protect certain individuals. In
co-op 15 players play along side you as fellow marines while the counter-op
team will assume the roles of elites and other units all over the massive map
with the job of preventing your team from completing the mission in the
allotted time. When one of the co-op or counter-op players die, they simply
assume the role of one of the computer controlled allied or opposing characters
should one be available.
Changes to Level Design…
In addition to dual wielding and stealing vehicles (and steal weapons as well
using a new disarm attack), Master Chief will be able to swim very quickly and
will able to sprint this time and will also be able to quickly duck and roll
out of the way in order to avoid charging vehicles and hunters.
Various weather and particle effects including snow, rain, lightning, dust
storms (presumably for a desert level), fog (presumably for a rainforest level)
as well as many ambient life forms found on Earth, including fish, sharks,
alligators, birds, rabbits, stampeding rhinos (in jungles), and civilians in
complete panic and disarray (in urban settings) will be included.
The levels will be truly massive in scope, completely destructible (down to
every last wall of every building), fully interactive (you can climb to the top
of and fight in the rooftops or through the windows of virtually every
building) and allow for full free roaming. All of Earth’s armies are immersed
in a war to determine the fate of Earth itself, and the levels, the tone, and
the scale of the gameplay will truly reflect this.
The flood are making an reappearance possibly on Earth!!! (only they’ll now be
faster, scarier and more hideous than ever before). And their numbers will be
so massive at certain areas that the only way to survive is to sneak past them
while destroying critical light sources to be able to hide in the shadows.
The game will center on repelling the covenant invasion of Earth. The levels
will be much bigger as will the number of enemies and the number of allies by
your side. This will be a full blown massive war between the covenant, humans
and flood with tons upon tons of units from each faction engaged in combat at
any given time all over the massive levels. The outdoor levels also allow
players to free roam and choose which battles they wish to engage in thus
giving players the sense that they truly are fighting an epic war for Earth’s
survival. To facilitate this, the game will be less scripted, the AI will be
ramped up quite a bit more (to a degree that bots will require no additional
programming time), the multiplayer games will support atleast 32 players at
once, and there will be multiple playable characters with unique strengths and
weaknesses.
More Online...
The playable characters being considered include Hunters (bigger targets,
slower except when charging someone without a weapon, but they have more life,
are much faster and have more varied melee attacks) and the flying Drones found
in the first level of Halo 2 (weaker but faster and possessing the ability to
fly limited distances). But there is talk that all the characters in Halo will
be playable characters.
The bots and AI allies and opponents will be so advanced that not only will
they be able to drive realistically, every thing about their actions makes you
feel as though you are facing a real human opponent. A feature being considered
that’s tied to this includes voice control of nearby marines and bots. If
implement, it’s possible that by utilizing the headphones used on live, nearby
bots and marines will be able to recognize and obey simple commands such as
defend this area (whatever area the crosshair is pointed to), retreat and take
cover, follow me, drive this vehicle to enemy flag, provide cover fire, wait
here, attack in line formation etc.
A map/mission maker is also strongly being considered.
