Rumor: Next Halo is 'darker, grittier,' tactical and without Master Chief

Ugh, "gritty", When this word is used to describe a game I know in in for a piece of crap.

I couldn't stand some darker Halo. Count me out

Without MC? I could see this happening. I see them trying to create a story based on a squad and a main charcter with a more in depth storyline to him unlike teh mysterious MC. So let me get this straight...

Gears = Awesome!
Halo = The shizznit!
GRAW = Sick!

All 3 combined = BIGGER, BETTER, and MOAR BADASS! Hey ThePerfectCompanion, theres your answer! And theres MS new answer to a HUGE cashcow exclusive franchise again. Shit yeah!

Oddly enough I just finish watching "Landfall" again

Go I could some in for count Halo. Darker me.

I could go for some darker halo. Count me in!


The hivemind strikes again.

MASTER
NO MASTHER CHIEF?

......Halo but no MS,thats gonna feel weird.
The Chief is a great characters,one of the best and is one of the reasons Halo was so good.
The idea of these halo game it kinda makes me feel weird in a sad way

Forget about the stupid Halo books and the stupid Halo games. The fact is, Halo couldn't stand on its own if it tried. The entire Halo series is based on the book Ringworld.

Taking out Master Chief doesn't seem a big deal as the whole franchise is about multiplayer anyway. As a single player game its mediocre at best.

As for making it darker and grittier, I'm not sure I see the point.. the one thing that made halo stand out from all the other FPS games was it's cool, colorful art-style.
Have a look at the new Halo Wars screenshots, they are instantly recognizable as halo due to the colorful art-style. Take that away and it'll look a lot more generic.

I'm not falling for another Halo rumor or marketing scheme following the disappointment that was Halo 3

As long as darker/grittier doesn't mean Brown and gray I'll all for it.

LOL how is Halo 3 disappointing other than a short story and a bad story ending? Dude just hate Halo cause they can't understand why it popular but yet like stuff that are based off of Halo or they just don't like Halo for no reason.

Halo is a great multiplayer game I mean gather a few people and you can have a ball like in Gears but people just don't get that.

Does anyone know what else we'll be fighting in this new darker, grittier Halo?

I don't want to shoot Flood all day. Freaking bullet suckers they were.

Isn't this already out? And it's called Gears of War?

I think by grittier they mean bodies exploding and gushing blood.

By darker they could mean stary and atmosphere.

Tactical doesn't really mean it has to be third person but it would be nice to be able to switch out from third and FPS. I think they mean by tactical like an actual cover system in an FPS just like how KZ2 is doing now but better(they aren't complete yet so I can't fully judge but from the vids I've seen they need alittle more) and more teamwork themes like R6V2 and kinda buddy system like AoT.

What I'd like to see is

More Weapons
Cover system
Destructible Cover
Ability to switch from 1st to 3rd person.
4-8 online co-op I'd like it to be both.
32 multiplayer online and a squad based mode so we could have 8 squads of 4 go head to head or 4 squads of 8 I'd like it to be both.
Maybe a class based system but that seems like they taken to many ideas from other games but still its a Squad based Sci fi shooter so that wouldn't be so much of a strecth and it would be cool to have all the staples and new ones too.

Hopefully it's released in 09. We don't know anything about 360's 09 lineup.

The Halo series doesn't really need Master Chief, I mean, he could be there, but I actually think he would work better if he wasn't the playable character. Playing as a squad of marines, and ocassionally bumping into him to help you blow some guys up would be pretty cool.

The series certainly doesn't need him to be "Halo". As far as I'm aware, he's not even in Halo Wars.

Halo needs to be re-invented. Bungie knows this. There're smart to move in that direction. I don't agree with some of the comments that Halo is bland -- bland levels, etc. Like many, I am drawn back to playing the Halo games over other games. By the way, anytime anyiones uses the word 'Meh' I instantly know there're a fan boy. Anyway, as much as I want to love Gears, and I do admire the game greatly, I'd rather play Halo 1, 2 or 3 on Legendary. I think Halo 2 was underated. It had great voice acting--much better than 3--that David Cross ad-libbing was hysterical. That's his name right? The comedian? Hysterical. And the gameplay on all the Halo games playing on Legendary is great. I like Halo's sense of humor. The only true criticism that has merit to me is the writing. Bungie needs new writers. The plot, especially in 2 and 3 was convuluted and didn't take advantage of opportunites. Halo 3 turned the flood into a predictabile onslaught when it could have been fascinatingly creepy and strategic. I don't want just a barrage of flood; I want a thinking, maneuvering flood. Anyway, writing aside, I love Halo. Yup, I'm a fan. Bungie earned me as a fan by creating an intelligent game.

Bungie did an excellent job getting the controls, gameplay, and general feel of the Halo titles to be just right. I'd be curious to see what they came up with for a cover-based game.

Wow, it uses both "dark" and "gritty" in the same report? I thought we were done with those buzzwords.

At least they didn't sneak "reboot" in there. That would've just caused the universe to implode on itself.

While there likely won't be "Master Chief", there will be TONS of Spartans. So basically everybody will BE a Master Chief.

Look at DoA4. To this day there are still people who yell "OMG it's Master Chief!" when they see the Spartan. And why not? It looks just like Master Chief, they just gave it a different name so it wasn't.

I thought that Halo 3 was overhyped to be honest, but I'd like to see the new one.

I bought Halo 3 and it was good for a while but to be honest I end hating the game I don’t see myself buying nothing from Bungie like ever.

This is clearly Halo Wars.

Count: Could I go for some Halo in me, Darker?