Many people scorned the text describing your actions that appeared on the middle of the screen during a recent clip (the gameplay shown during the Conan O'Brien show) - some of that is still there, but it's no longer smack-dab in the center of the screen (I don't think). I remember noticing it only once during the evening - so it's clearly quite a bit less obtrusive.
Radar has been simplified; no more brighter/dimmer dots for folks above/below you. Now, altitude is obvious: if your enemies are on your level, they're dots. If they're above you, they're small arrows pointing up. If they're below you, they're downward-pointing arrows. It felt almost crude at the beginning of the evening, compared to the subtlety of Reach's altitude display... but that feeling went away quickly, and the utility was highly appreciated by the time we wrapped it up.
Frank suggested that there are multiple types of drops, and in the games we were playing, these were PERSONAL drops... but I saw that they could be used to supplement your armory (you know about the drop before the other team, and can get to the drop location first), or used to set up traps for the other team (put yourself in position to ambush folks coming to a drop, then give them a reason to walk in). I'll be keeping my eyes open for more details on how these systems work.
When I started playing, I found it difficult to get into the groove; it almost felt like I was 'swimming'. I realized after a little bit, however, that this was due to two things: the first was that I'd been playing with almost no sound (I was wearing headphones, and volume was turned almost off), and I hadn't gotten the hang of Sprint being in a new place. Once I turned up the sound, and became accustomed to clicking for Sprint, things became much snappier - Halo 4 feels faster than Reach.
Sorry.
