[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] flamedude The Lich was a poor replacement for the Scarab with none of the drama or spectacular size or power.[/quote] I agree on this. Whenever a Scarab appeared in Halo 3 and in ODST it was a real "oh -blam!-" moment which offered a lot of variety in combating them. Nothing can quite surpass the Citadel battle in The Covenant, that was incomprehensibly epic. [quote]The Pelican level had absolutely no point as there was no combat whatsoever and the Falcon level surpasses it in every way.[/quote] There was combat against Phantoms and Banshees while in the Pelican... but other than the spectacle it offered, I do feel that it wasn't implemented enough. There should have been more to the mission to be honest. [quote]The Broadsword level was a shameless starfox/death star trench run ripoff[/quote] I don't really mind about that, I thought it felt absolutely epic. [quote]that ended with the easiest objective whereas with the Sabre I fought alongside other Sabres and a Frigate against a variety of Covenant.[/quote] Long Night of Solace's space battle was [i]horribly[/i] dull. The other Sabres couldn't do anything, they often crashed into debris and even when they were around I just forgot they were there. I thought the Broadsword segment was much more enjoyable, especially the bit where you emerge out of the trench tunnel and see Earth with the UNSC fleet jumping in to help you while Lasky talks over the radio. 117 playing in the background gave that particular part of Midnight a much better atmosphere than LNoS, IMO. [quote]The ending was crushingly disappointing though. You fight a bunch of knights, hit some switches, JUMP, fight a bunch of knights, hit some switches, JUMP, fight a bunch of...... you know? It was the same thing over and over and the very final penultimate platform to the confrontation with the Didact was..... a bunch of knights. Then we jump into another weird mini-game. Game ends.[/quote] It did feel a bit lackluster, at times but there were some golden moments with Cortana and the actual ending itself was by far the best ending in the series - and, by extention, the best ending in a game this year since Journey IMO. It was beautiful, emotional and felt almost poetic in how the thematic tone set about by the Prologue was resolved. I think Halo 4 could have benefitted from an extra 2 missions - the first being set on the Infinity after Cortana goes rampant and Chief actually gets arrested, with Lasky then breaking him out and getting him to the Pelican. And a second mission set on Installation 03 rather than Ivanoff Station. Some additional cutscenes of the Infinity returning to FleetCOM with lasky becoming Captain would have been nice, as well as a Mass Effect-esque scene of total destruction where the Composer hits New Phoenix. [Edited on 11.18.2012 1:13 PM PST]