Halo 4 is the first installment of the brand game trilogy set within the Halo universe and a continuation of the enormously successful franchise that helped make the Microsoft Xbox such a massive success. The launch of the title also marks the return of Master Chief John-117 as the main protagonist, having been absent from interim titles such as Halo Reach and ODST.

Halo 4 was announced at E3 in June 2011 and will be released in the last quarter of 2012. The game picks up exactly where Halo 3 left off - with Master Chief entering a state of suspended animation as the USNC frigate Forward Unto Dawn drifted away into deep space. The trailer for the new game, previewed at E3, begins with the voice of Cortana urging Master Chief to wake up. Initially groggy, John-117 finally snaps into full alertness, breaks out of his cryonic sleep chamber and transfers Cortana to her data chip before blasting his way off the ship. The trailer ends with Master chief preparing to face an unseen foe as the Dawn approaches a mysterious glowing portal.

Few details have been released about the plot line of Halo 4 but developers say it will revolve around Master Chief confronting his own destiny and then facing an ancient evil which threatens to destroy the entire universe. Halo 3 ended with the Covenant forming an alliance with humanity so expect to see them lining up alongside Master Chief to take on the new enemy together.

Sharp-eyed fans of the character noticed a number of subtle changes in Master Chief's armor in the trailer including built-in thruster pack and a redesigned pelvis guard. According to sources within 343 Industries, there are story-related reasons for the change but will not reveal them until the launch of the game itself. For this to make sense, the game is likely to include elements of back story in which Master Chief emerges from his sleep tube to have the modifications to his armor installed.

Whereas all previous Halo titles have been produced by Bungie, Halo 4 will be the first to be developed by 343 Industries, Microsoft's internal games division named after the rather irritating character of 343 Guilty Spark from the very first Halo game. Although some fans of the franchise have expressed concern at this change, a significant number of Bungie staff have joined 343 so the high standards of previous releases are extremely likely to be maintained.

What is especially thrilling is that the second and third installments of the new series, officially known as the Reclaimer trilogy, are already being planned. This means the developers can introduce fully immersive storyline and gameplay elements into Halo 4 which will only be properly resolved in later episodes. Although it was always assumed that the original Halo would be a success, the developers had no idea if the game would endue and so could only plan ahead to a limited degree. 343 Industries have no such limitations.

The original Halo trilogy was launched on the Xbox and then continued on the Xbox 360. With no timescale announced for the launch of Halo 5 and 6 but with rumors of a new console being launched as early as 2013, the new trilogy looks likely to do the same, a move which can only further enhance quality of both Halo 4 and the games that follow.