The difference between the original Halo and Halo 4 is extreme. Old school versus modern game design. Gameplay driven versus cinematic.
Halo 1. An old school game. Almost feels like an open world game compared to modern Halo:
Halo 4. Inspired by Call of Duty. A heavily scripted and very directed experience (through Cortana's voice, by use of dramatic sounds and effects to draw your attention and tight design of the level):
Sorry, but you're seriously basing this off 6 minutes of gameplay? What were you expecting, a 20 minute warthog demo?
Even if it's "only" as open as Reach, it'll still be a lot more open than COD 4-9... I think you should give the game and devs a chance before condemning it a COD clone too be honest.
Yes it's a small segment probably from early in the game but the hints are there though.
- Cortana talks to you like you are a baby, just like Captain Price/MacTavish does in COD ("look over there!" "Pick this up", "run now!")
- very loud noice or strong visual effect when game wants your attention
- you lose control of the camera when the game really really wants your attention
- heavily scripted enemy spawn and enemy behaviour.
- level design extremely linear
- cut-scenes more frequent between gameplay segments
