Halo 4 stays grounded in its roots

As Halo 4 loads, a wave of skepticism rushes through me. Will the return of Master Chief, the most iconic figure in Xbox history, make a triumphant return or will this degrade into a cash grab by Microsoft and 343 Studios?

As it turns out, the opening cut scenes shattered my skepticism. Put simply, 343 has given us the return Master Chief warrants and fans deserve.

You'll want to start with the campaign before mastering multiplayer. The reason is Halo 4 applies a leveling-up system and by finishing the campaign, your multiplayer profile gains experience. You’ll spawn with better weapons and armour ability.

When you begin the campaign, embrace your cynical side and try to find flaws in the level design, lighting and presentation. You'll be hard pressed. Halo 4 stays true to the clean surfaces and rounded corners of the series. Don’t be lured, though, into a false sense of been there, done that, my fellow Spartans. This is merely a reminder of your roots. Things will heat up quickly and take you places you've never seen.

Take a moment early on to savour the little nuances and details in the Covenant bodies you obliterate. In the calm that follows the throes of battle, notice the layering of textures on the skin, the care that went into body and armour designs.

Enjoy the irony as Master Chief asks Cortana, "How long was I out? ... Someone should have found us by now." Yes, the Chief-Cortana tango is back. Their bond forged in past fires, but now she is degrading. This story is more about saving your AI friend than it is about alien invasions and secret alliances.

In early stages, you're allowed to feel that sliver of frustration in the formulaic linearity of the game. Not much has changed on this front. The flip-side to that coin is that if you find yourself craving a shake-up now and then, check out the menus. Challenges – limiting skulls and weekly campaign challenges – will not only up the ante for die-hards, but also yield the gift of bonus XP to help your multiplayer payload.

Later, subtle shifts into new enemies, new locales, and new weapons – personal favorites were the Promethean Suppressor and Light Rifle – all are woven into the game in a fluidly elegant fashion. You'll also be happy to see that later stages have a slightly wider expanse in the level design, with a few more offshoots to customize your style of combat.

Once you’re past the new and the old of Halo 4, a pattern begins to emerge: you die. A lot. Expect it and embrace it. Used to be that you could run in, fire off some shots, then find cover while your shield, recharge and weapon reload. Not this time, Chief. This Halo is tougher. And when you get your butt handed to you because you were cocky enough to run in guns a-blazin' all Rooster Cogburn style, just smile, give your head a shake, and use your surroundings and armour abilities at your disposal to emerge victorious.

Don’t expect much backup. When a sprig of fellow humans appear (again, they look and sound great with superb acting and expression), it will likely be short-lived. That's right, Spartan. Easy come, easy go and you'll soon find yourself flying solo again.

The campaign is not quite as lengthy as some previous Halo games, but it’s a wonderful marriage of new and old, all dressed in a rich presentation. Once the campaign is done, there’s no shortage of other game modes to keep you going and keep you growing. That’s right, it's time to fire up the multiplayer.

As with the campaign, you’ll notice that Halo 4's multiplayer looks better than ever, rooted in the visual tone of the series and balanced to create a wonderful symmetry of challenge and reward. Explore the new game modes – such as Regicide, my personal favourite. Relish in tweaked scoring and weapons load-out systems that ensure that no one will immediately dominate.

Finally, you’ll want to check out one more big addition on the multiplayer end: Spartan Ops co-operative mode, a series of seasons with free, weekly, episodic challenges you and your team will work through. Yes, there's no end to the co-op experience in Halo 4, a game developed from the ground up with care and precision, one that never loses sight of the spirit that made the series great.

When he’s not teaching high school, St. Albert Catholic High School alumnus Derek Mitchell can be found attached to a video game console.