If Halo 4 really does introduce the "dramatic" innovations promised at a first look event in San Francisco last week, then new developer 343 Industries certainly wasn't ready to show them to us.
Assembled around a large table in a room lit only by blue neon lights, Halo 4's creative director Josh Holmes, franchise overlord and ex-CVG editor Frank O'Connor, and amazingly named exec producer Kiki Wolfkill prepared to show us Microsoft's 2012 trump card for the very first time.
And they did that via a pair of 'behind the scenes' videos, one of which will undoubtedly make its way online by the time this article has been published.
The focus of the Xbox Spring Showcase reveal was squarely pointed at multiplayer, aside from a few hints at how its making the single-player gamplay "faster paced and more intense".
Creative director Holmes kicked off the presentation by expressing 343's desire to push the Halo series forward, and not dwell too much on what previous games have done in the past.
"As a team when we embarked on this creative journey one of the things that we really wrestled with is how do we balance the respect that we have for the legacy of this game that we love so much, with our desire to innovate and push things forward," he said.
"As a team we came together based on our shared love for the universe and the games that are at the core of this universe, and yet we don't simply want to innovate what's been done before."
343 says it sees Halo 4 as something of a reboot - not in terms of characters or story, but the gameplay that will lay the foundation for an entire new trilogy. And that means more Master Chief.
MASTER AND CHIEF
As suggested in last year's CGI trailer - and as you can see in the in-game shots on this page - everyone's favourite Xbox space marine's undergone something of a makeover. Master Chief's once hulking armour has taken on a sleeker, more "functional" appearance, making the super solider look less like an extra from Quake and more like a sci-fi space ninja who'd fit in shooting through the next Crysis.
The purpose of the new look, says 343, is to emphasise Chief's humanity; gaps in the sleek armour expose the underlying body suit that confirm, indeed, there is a man underneath that heap of green metal - and apparently he has feelings and stuff.
"There were two goals in thinking about what we wanted to do with Chief," explained Wolfkill. "One of those was very gameplay focussed; providing a really visceral first-person experience and what it feels like as a player to embody Chief, really delivering on that fantasy of being a 900 pound Spartan.
"The second goal revolved around storytelling and character development," she added. "There is such a rich fiction around Master Chief and John that exists in other mediums that haven't traditionally been experienced through the games. So we're going to really try and pull the curtain back on Chief as John, but also his motivations and what's really going on behind the mask."
The producer claimed 343 plans to do this not through cut-scenes, but using first-person perspective and the characters around Chief to reflect on his character.
"Cortana is a huge part of that," she adds, "she's obviously his closest friend and ally. The fact that in a way she's more human than he is is a really interesting device for us.
"Another lens that we look at him through is really the threat that he faces. He has understood really well the threats that he has faced in the past - we will introduce a new threat for him that is going to bring on some new challenges that he hasn't faced before.
"It's going to be a very ancient, very dark threat and the decision he's going to need to make and the things he'll need to overcome will really start to define him a little differently as a character." Forerunners, anyone?
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As for the single-player gameplay, creative head Holmes admitted 343 did consider a more scripted approach for Halo 4, but instead decided the sandbox style of the originals is part of what makes the series what it is.
"We're definitely not creating Mirror's Edge set in the Halo universe - so I wouldn't go as far as to say we're radically changing the gameplay style in a way that it's unrecognisable," he told CVG at the event. "One of the things that we've said is that we want this to very much stay true to that Halo feel that we believe fans everywhere love."
Asked if that means a return to sandbox gameplay, the 343 man said Halo 4 will "absolutely" feature that style of play.
"Very early on there were discussions around 'do we stay with the sandbox approach that has taken Halo to this place, or do we radically reinvent it as something that's maybe more scripted and constrained.
"My view personally is that what makes Halo so special is that sense of freedom and creativity - the fact that I as a player can be creative in everything that I do throughout the experience, both moment to moment and then in the surrounding experiences like Forge at stuff like that - I can create my own experiences and stories to share.
"That's part of the foundation and bedrock of Halo for me, and we want to stay very true to that."
Holmes did talk of giving players "a greater sense of empowerment through choice" and how that's "one of the absolute design pillars for the game," but we still don't feel much closer to finding out just how far 343 will stray from Bungie's template.
"It's faster paced and more intense in terms of the immersiveness of the experience and just the overall visceralness of the experience - that's been a real focus for our team," he added.
"When you look at Halo games throughout the series they've changed pretty substantially in terms of pace of play. Halo Reach is much slower and more methodical than Halo 3. What we wanted to do is push the balance back towards a more faster paced combat feel."
"WE WANT TO REDEFINE HALO MULTIPLAYER"
The first we see of the game proper - besides the flashes of Master Chief in the sunshine you'll see in 343's behind the scenes vid - is a camera flythrough of two of Halo 4's multiplayer maps. Visually Halo 4 doesn't look a world above Halo Reach - which is to be expected considering its the fifth instalment on current hardware. The most striking improvements though are in its rather gorgeous lighting and some really impressive facial animation shown off in the earlier video.
Holmes said technology is a particular focus point for the studio: "We've been focussed as a team on continuing Halo's tradition of innovation. We've been looking at that both at a standpoint of the creative decisions that we make, as well as the technology that's under the hood and really overhauling the engine top to bottom to provide a number of really significant technological advances."
In terms of multiplayer - which is all 343 was showing us at the Xbox Showcase - Josh wasn't short of tall promises. The studio even claimed it's come up with a "fairly convincing backstory" as to why Red Spartans are fighting Blue Spartans - but unfortunately it didn't reveal details.
"We really want to redefine what Halo multiplayer is - make it something that's indisputably Halo at its core, but is evolved in important and innovative ways," Holmes said. "From a gameplay standpoint it's about creating something that stay true to that magical Halo feel but is faster, more visceral and intense in all aspects of the combat."
The two maps themselves look typical Halo, with gravity lifts and man cannons in abundance - a familiar feeling that's later backed up when we get to see actual gameplay footage.
The first map is Warhouse, a space station arena featuring a beautiful skybox with violent, whirling clouds and asteroids majestically drifting through the stars.
"This is a civilian manufacturing facility that is in near-space orbit above a gas giant," Holmes explains. "It's a tight, symmetrical map that's really optimised for competitive play.
"This particular map has one central feature which is a new weapons platform that is being manufactured here - the Cyclops Mk 2 - which is this massive mech. This really becomes a focal point of battles; players can move around the outer platforms with a circular flow and man cannons that carry them from place to place... it makes for a really intense, face paced play experience."
The second map is Wraparound, another small, Team Slayer-focused arena. "This is a Forerunner solar facility within a Forerunner shield world," pipes up Holmes, before explaining that the facility's designed to generate artificial sunlight for an ancient world. The map's purpose is reflected in its gorgeous lighting, and a glistening white glow radiates from every catwalk and platform.
Next the developer rolls a video showing actual gameplay - red vs. blue Spartans using only Battle Rifles. it's incredibly familiar stuff, which has us wondering exactly which areas of gameplay the promised innovations will come from.
Sleeker Spartan IVs leap from catwalks firing bursts from their long-barrelled rifles, causing energy shields to deplete and a 'head shot' medal to pop up on an instantly recognisable HUD. The footage is rife with melee attacks, trademark 'floaty' jumps and leaps-aplenty from the scattered man cannons and gravity lifts. Without your glasses on, it could be any Halo.
But rather than dismissing the sequel on the spot, we came away from the Halo 4 presentation with an overwhelming feeling that we weren't being shown the full picture.
Post-presentation the 343 team spoke of increased Spartan customisation, "aesthetic and gameplay-enhancing", including an evolution of Reach's armour abilities. While the Xbox Showcase footage features only one rifle, the full game's said to include a "vast arsenal" of weapons - and the Microsoft-housed team specifically teased one game-changing feature.
"Our design goal is to really dramatically redesign the Halo multiplayer experience and do that in a couple of different ways," says Holmes. "Certainly in ways that impact the core experience and the moment-to-moment, but also the surrounding experience and the different modes of plays that we offer to players.
"The details are that are not things that we're talking about today, but I think people will be really excited as we start to role out more details on our creative goals in that area.
"Today we're not talking about how we're really redefining the surrounding experience for multiplayer and providing a new way for you and your friends to play Halo that's unlike anything that you've played before," he teases. "Hopefully that's peaked your interest."