Microsoft launches Halo 4 for Xbox 360

Microsoft brings to India, Halo 4, its biggest sci-fi blockbuster of the season, marking the return of the Master Chief. Halo 4 will be available at retail stores across India on Tuesday, 6th November. The Halo 4 Standard Edition is for Rs 3,299 and Limited Edition for Rs 4,599.

Speaking at the launch of Halo 4, Anshu Mor, Business Group Lead, Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft Corporation India, said, “We are delighted to launch the next edition of Halo - a game that has shaped entertainment history and defined a generation of gamers. There has been much anticipation around the return of Master Chief and gamers will revel in the storyline and gameplay in Halo 4. Let the Halo fever begin!”

Multiplayer in Halo 4 is the standard red versus blue

Developed by 343 Industries, Halo 4 marks the dawn of a new game series, the Reclaimer Saga, centered on the Master Chief as he  faces an ancient evil and a deadly new class of technologically advanced foes — the Prometheans. Master Chief sets out on an emotional journey fraught with personal demons and the most daunting challenges he’s ever faced. Featuring a darker and more personal story that reintroduces the iconic hero as a genuinely human character, Halo 4 sets players on a sci-fi voyage that will span the next decade of Halo games, across a three part trilogy.

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Halo 4’s multiplayer offering through War Games, will take place on the Spartan training ship Infinity and will tie into the game’s story. Halo 4 will come shipped with Forge toolset, the in-game map builder further enhanced from Halo 3. Allowing players to design their own multiplayer maps, the Forge toolset with three unique environments has the ability to alter any current and future War Games map.

You get to kill aliens and stuff

Halo 4 also introduces the game’s downloadable Spartan Ops mode. In this mode, as many as four gamers at a time can play through episodes around the Spartan Soldiers on board UNSC Infinity and their fight with the Prometheans. These episodes, divided into chapters, will be available for free download every week.
 
The Halo franchise of games is exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and the Xbox Live online entertainment network. To date, more than 46 million copies of Halo games have been sold worldwide, driving more than five billion hours of gameplay by people connected to Xbox Live.

Back in October, Microsoft had revealed information on the game’s DLC and Season Pass. The Halo 4 War Games Map Pass is set to cost $25 (approximately Rs 1,341) and will include nine maps in total that will be released between December 2012 and April 2013. The map packs are set to cost $10 (approximately Rs 536) individually. An added bonus for those who purchase the Maps Pass is the inclusion of two in-game helmets called the Scanner and the Strider, and an in-game emblem – the Falcon. The Map Pass will be included in the Limited Edition of Halo 4.