First glimpse at Halo 4 confirms Forerunners as enemy

Microsoft kicked off its E3 conference with a first look proper at Halo 4's campaign, revealing the Forerunners as a new enemy as well as the introduction of new weaponry into the game.

A real-time demo was prefaced by an impressive and very expensive looking live action video that laid the foundations for the first game in 343's Reclaimer trilogy, seeing the ship UNSC Infinity being sent out to explore new worlds.

Things soon go awry, with the ship being sent plummeting to the surface of a new and lush looking alien planet, and Master Chief's there to pick up the pieces.

Over a brief gameplay section the Covenant were seen to return, with appearances from a handful of grunts as well as an elite. They were eclipsed by the debut of a new enemy, with the Forerunners seemingly confirmed.

Small, scuttling scarab type enemies were joined by a more hulking presence, which seems to be a Forerunner analogue of the Covenant elite, and flying enemies that bore a resemblance to Forerunner Sentinels also joined the fray.

The new enemy types also mean new toys for the Chief to play with: in the demo, a Forerunner weapon that operated like a Carbine rifle was used, and a new visor mode - superficially similar to that seen in ODST - also featured.

Microsoft will be showing more of Halo 4 later this week - expect to hear more details here on Eurogamer once we get to see it for ourselves first hand.