343 has officially confirmed that there will be the Flood in Halo 4, but not in the way you would think. They will not be making an appearance in the campaign, however they will be in full force in the Multiplayer. In previous Halo titles, the infected were always thought to be zombies, but that is about to radically change. In Halo 4 when you are infected you are transformed into the Flood, complete with new skin and a claw to be used as a melee weapon. Infection is now its own gametype and allows 10 players per game.

 Originally Posted by 343 Industries

Flood move faster, react differently to bullets, and have specially tuned armor abilities, the core of which is an enhanced Flood Thrust Pack.

One of the infected is also the “Alpha Flood” which has additional strengths. I have even heard of unique assassinations for Flood players, but as of now I have not seen one

Never having been a fan of the infection gametypes in previous Halo titles, I didn’t pay much attention when the announcement was released, however the more I see about this reimagined gametype, the more excited I get about playing it.

 Originally Posted by 343 Industries

Halo 4’s Flood mode is a round-based, ten-player game. It is a true asymmetric experience with the added twist of dynamic teams; this really changes things up as each game is different, especially in the incredibly intense and high-action final seconds.

At the beginning of each round, two players spawn as Flood forms and eight players spawn as Survivors. Survivors are standard Spartans equipped with shotguns and magnums, while Flood move very quickly and can only use a melee attack. When a Survivor gets killed by a Flood, the Survivor will convert and respawn as a Flood. The round ends if a Survivor makes it to 3:00 or if all players are converted to Flood.

One of the things we concentrated on for War Games was establishing player roles in Multiplayer, so we put a great deal of attention into being the King, Flag carrier, Grif, etc. Being the final Survivor is another role we focused on, and it’s a very intense experience having nine other Flood rush at you. Some (and by some, I of course mean David Ellis) would even say it’s poo-inducing.

Here is a list of all of the infection specific medals that can be aquired in Halo 4

Flood Conversion- Convert a Spartan to the Flood

Alpha Conversion- Convert a Spartan to the Flood as an Alpha

Infector – Kill 2 Spartans in a row as a Flood without dying

Carrier – Kill 3 Spartans in a row as a Flood without dying

Juggernaut – Kill 4 Spartans in a row as a Flood without dying

Gravemind – Kill ALL Spartans in a row as a Flood without dying

Flood Kill – Kill a Flood

Flood Kill Assist – Assist killing a Flood

Flood Hunter – Kill 4 Flood in a row as a Spartan without dying

Flood Survivor – Kill 6 Flood in a row as a Spartan without dying

Flood Exterminator -Kill 10 Flood in a row as a Spartan without dying

Last Man Standing -Be the last surviving Spartan

Final Conversion - Kill the last remaining Spartan

Flood Victory – Contribute to the Flood total conversion of all Spartans

Ancient One – Survive the entire round as a Flood and convert at least one Spartan

Clever – Survive the entire round as a Spartan

The following is a great video by IGF with gameplay of the new Halo 4 Flood Infection Game type in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=ygjBow2jcPk

Infection has been loved by Halo players since the introduction of the gametype in Halo 3, and with it’s re-imagining I expect it will see an even higher population of players in Halo 4.