Did 343 do a better job than Bungie?

I strongly believe that regarding the Halo games that debuted on the Xbox 360, 343's Halo 4 had the best single player and multiplayer. Honestly Halo 4 = BEST halo multi and 2nd best Halo SP.

Thoughts?

Disagree, H3 is probably the best Halo game.

You're certainly in the minority with that opinion. Bungie also built a franchise from the ground up. 343 just has to keep refreshing the formula.

I strongly disagree as do many legions of Halo fans. I base this on my experience with the series since the very first game which I bought on launch day 2001.

Also, Metacritic reveals that Halo 4 failed to get the AAA (90+ or above) status Bungie got with all their MAIN Halo titles. Bungie created Halo and Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo Reach are all 90+ at Metacritic. 343 even made a big deal about hitting 90+ before Halo 4's release being cited at verious sites by Bonnie Ross, but new studio 343 couldn't get the job done although they had all the Halo assets and formula handed to them on a silver platter.

Halo 4 was a good game, but it wasn't a great Halo game imo. The MP was especially disappointing and I'm a high Halo 4 rank so it's not like I didn't give it a fair shake. 343 has a lot to prove with Halo 5.

Agreed.

I think the Single player was amazing , also in the technical side of the game ( Graphics and sound ) Halo 4 was the best . I also loved the Music and the art style .

but in the Multiplayer i think Halo 4 was really bad .

and lets not forget , Bungie created the whole thing . even thought I like 343's Style more .

I really liked Halo 4. I thought it had everything that Bungie offered in their games. The multiplayer was great, and so was the single player. Bungie is just one of those developers that has a following of loyal fans. 343 could put out the best Halo game ever, and Bungie fans would still bitch about it.

I don't think they did a better job, just a diffrerent one. As a big Halo fan since the first game, I very much enjoyed Halo 4 and thought it had a spectacular campaign. Multiplayer was awesome as well and just did different things than previous games.....I really enojoyed what they did with Spartan OPS and the episode format for that.

For me it felt consistent with previous games, Halo 4 didn't stand out as being much better or worse, for me it was just another awesome Halo game in line with the others, and I never understood some of the negativity towards it, but this kind of thing always happens when you have a massive high-profile franchise like that, some fans won't be happy with some of the changes.

I'm not worried about Halo 5, Halo 4 was their first game and imo they did great and Halo 5 should be even better because they will have used some of the feedback they got from Halo 4 on their 2nd game.

That's a tough one... The first 3 Halos are pretty special to me. But I think 343 did a great job with H4, and I'm pretty confident they'll do a great job with future games too.

Halo 3: ODST: Best Campaign

Halo 3: Best multiplayer (most will say Halo 2 though)

Though, I do think Halo: Reach is also very good in its own right.

343 did a miserable job with Halo 4 and it never got me hooked.

So much hate for Halo 4.

The campaign actually made the enemies seem ruthless, and the multiplayer had some sick elements to it. The orbital drop system, along with that mech. I dunno, i thought the guns were genius too.

I can't give my full impression until I play Halo 4, but from what I've seen.... I know people will hate me for it.... I tend to think 343 is a much better team for the job than Bungie.

Bungie is alright, they do some good stuff. But to be perfectly frank, I never understood what all of the buzz was about. They might be a good team to work for, they might have fun and be really passionate about the games they make. ...But 90% of Bungie is all hype.

Just looking at Destiny, the game screams Hype to me. It might be an ok game, but I didn't really feel anything when I played the demo. I didn't feel much when I played Marathon, either. It just kind of seems to me that Bungie got a lucky break with Halo, and all of the cards fell into place just right to create something with a wide appeal.

343 is made up of Halo fans, and I feel like they've done a great job of progressing Halo in the natural direction the series needed to grow. But knowing how most Halo fans don't agree on things, I don't think all Halo fans will ever unanimously agree that some future Halo game is the best one yet.

I've only played the first two halo games and I thoroughly enjoyed them a lot and I can't wait for the Master chief collection.

In terms of graphics, cinematics and sound, I believe 343 did a better job. However, the multiplayer from Halo CE and Halo 2 are my favorite. I started losing interest in Bungie's games after Halo 3... Halo ODST and Halo Reach didn't live up to my expectations. I didn't like the inclusion of jet packs, I began to grow tired of the art style, and the "futuristic" human cities never felt like believable cities to me.

Agreed^ Halo 3's single player was pretty awesome, although I never got a chance to finish Halo 4's campaign...maybe some day.

Also loved the multi-player ranking system in halo 3, they should return to that in Halo 5.

Yeah Halo 3 might be my favorite too. I mean I have enjoyed all Halo games almost equally(never really played Halo 2 that much though, will have to rectify that with the MCC), I felt they all captured the essence of Halo while branching off with their own thing, but when I think back at Halo 3 I just remember that first level and the music was just amazing at the time, left a good impression..I remember at the time it was the first Halo game to be released on the 360 and the buildup to release was great and when it finally came out it was awesome.....I think I might play that first on the MCC.

I haven't played Halo 4 but Halo 3 was amazing, I doubt that Halo 4 is better.

Hard to say really. Halo1-3 had this religious/sci-fi story that I really digged, and I especially loved the design of the Spartans. ODST and REACH where bold approaches that took a more military standpoint, but I still thoroughly enjoyed them as spin off games. However with Halo 4, whilst I'am really into all the deep sci-fi forerunner lore they're jumping into, its not quite the same as the original story with the prophets, the rings and war between elites and brutes, I also wasn't a huge fan of the new spartan design over the originals. I feel like 343 are really trying to separate themselves from Bungie, and in many ways I really like what 343 are doing, but I feel like Bungie is still winning. But hell its still fairly early into the new Halo franchise, so Halo 5 and 6 can definitely turn things around, and with the MC collection coming Nov, thats sure to be a right decision that will please many fans, myself included.