“Halo 4” ushers in the return of mankind’s greatest hero, the Master Chief, in a newly envisioned, epic sci-fi adventure.

Set nearly five years after the events of “Halo 3,” “Halo 4” follows the Master Chief and his faithful artificial intelligence (AI) companion Cortana as they venture into a mysterious new world and discover an overpowering ancient evil that threatens to annihilate mankind. With humanity’s fate hanging in the balance, the Master Chief and Cortana are thrust into a desperate mission against overwhelming odds to save mankind from the threat of imminent extinction.

At PAX Prime 343 Industries announced details on the reimagined “Capture the Flag” and “Oddball” modes, the addition of the community-created “Grifball” mode as well as the first look at a brand-new multiplayer map in “Halo 4” called “Exile”:

EXILE - Miraculously, the survivors of the UNSC Diadochi’s violent crash managed to not only recover provisions from the vessel’s debris field, but also use it as a makeshift shelter for several years. When rescue and recovery teams finally arrived, they were surprised to discover a healthy, burgeoning community thriving within the ship’s remains. Now this wreckage serves as a battleground in War Games. ‘Exile’ is an earthy, circular canyon bed interconnected by a network of caves and favoring fast-paced vehicle combat, while still offering frantic, on-foot action.

Key Features:

• “Halo 4” marks the dawn of a blockbuster new game series, the Reclaimer Saga, centered on the Master Chief ashe embarks 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 an epic sci-fi voyage that will span the next decade of “Halo” games. As the story unfolds, the Master Chief and his relationship with Cortana will evolve in deep and meaningful ways that will resonate through the entire Reclaimer Saga.
• Brace for a thrilling, action-packed adventure deep inside a mysterious new world to confront the gravest threat humanity has ever faced. Harness a vast arsenal of futuristic human and alien weaponry, abilities, and vehicles as you step back into the boots of the Master Chief and wage a desperate war against an overpowering new nemesis and a deadly new class of technologically advanced foes —the Prometheans —that will challenge you to employ innovative new combat tactics. With increased pace and action, greater epic encounters, new interactive story elements, and more combat freedom than ever before, “Halo 4” delivers the series’ most dynamic and explosive campaign yet —whether you take up the fight solo or launch a cooperative assault with up to four players over Xbox LIVE.
• “Halo 4” introduces the groundbreaking “Halo Infinity Multiplayer” offering that will redefine the award-winning series and revolutionize the way people think about storytelling and multiplayer gameplay.
• The hub of the “Halo 4” multiplayer experience is the UNSC Infinity —the largest starship in the UNSC fleet that serves as the center of your Spartan career. Here, you’ll build your custom Spartan-IV supersoldier and progress your multiplayer career across all “Halo 4” competitive and cooperative game modes. As you advance your Spartan career aboard the largest starship in the UNSC fleet, your multiplayer experience will be embedded in the fiction of “Halo” like never before, where your progress and game choices affect your appearance, your arsenal and your role on the battlefield.
• The story of the UNSC Infinity intersects with the “Halo 4” campaign, and then continues on in a brand-new, story-driven experience known as Spartan Ops. A first-of-its-kind, exciting new addition to the “Halo” franchise,Spartan Ops is an episodic adventure that blends immersive storytelling, high-quality cinematics and action-packed gameplay to deliver an unprecedented serialized experience. Through a weekly series of cinematic episodes, Spartan Ops will tell the continuing story of the UNSC Infinity, following the events of “Halo 4.” These episodes will center on the UNSC Infinity leaders and crew as well as a new team of Spartans —Majestic Squad. These cinematic episodes will provide the backdrop for the weekly Spartan Ops gameplay missions. Playable in single-player or cooperatively with up to four players, Spartan Ops lets you explore the corners of Requiem in objective-based missions and help uncover the secrets of the mysterious Forerunner world. A massive-scale adventure that builds off the “Halo 4” story, access to Spartan Ops is included with “Halo 4” at no additional charge —effectively delivering two campaign experiences in one game.
• The competitive multiplayer modes of “Halo 4,” known asWar Games,take place on the combat deck of the UNSC Infinity and revive the visceral and immersive experiences that “Halo” multiplayer is famous for. Featuring 10 diverse and action-packed new multiplayer maps at launch, “Halo 4” introduces a broad variety of immersive new game modes and strategies to help you progress your Spartan-IV career, while delivering an experience that’s distinctly “Halo.”
• “Halo 4” features a vastly expanded suite of new multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles and armor abilities; a new loadout and player progression system; and a new armor modification system that introduces gameplay-enhancing customizations for the first time in a “Halo” game. These advancements can be used in both Spartan Ops and certain War Games matchmaking playlists, empowering players’ choices, vastly expanding their creative options, and making the experience deeper for core fans and more approachable for newcomers.
  The “Halo 4” player progression system goes beyond simple aesthetic upgrades, encouraging players to invest time and effort to create a Spartan that looks and plays the way they want. Players can obtain and activate combat enhancements called “Specializations” based on the style of play they engage in, from stealth to all-out assault and everything in between.
• Built on the backbone of the engine that revolutionized the shooter genre and console gaming, “Halo 4” provides a more visceral and visually stunning “Halo” experience than ever before, taking a massive leap forward with all-new engine technology, including state-of-the-art graphics, lighting, animation, audio, physics, motion-capture cinematics and AI. All these systems have been dramatically overhauled or redesigned from the ground up to deliver the most visually striking and immersive “Halo” game to date.
• From acclaimed producer and composer Neil Davidge of the famed trip hop group Massive Attack comes a sweeping musical score that captures the heroic spirit and emotional intensity of the Master Chief’s adventure. Combined with all-new audio recordings for every weapon and sound effect in the game, the action gets up close and personal, delivering an impactful experience that resonates as powerfully as an epic Hollywood blockbuster.