343: Here are some of the things i’ve noticed about Halo 4 that i think you would benefit from hearing.
Lets start with the positives.
You did a fantastic job with visuals. The scenery looks great, the facial expressions and detail on characters are a massive and much needed improvement off of the previous games.
The change on the sound effects are also a great improvement. A lot more realistic sounding, it really helps immerse you more into the game.
The interface has a really good feel to it. Although there are some aspects im still questioning, it still feels like a lot of thought went into it. Very well organized.
Overall, Halo 4 is a ton of fun to play, has enough new things to keep you entertained and attached, yet keeps some good fundamentals.
However, here is the constructive criticism part.
A VAST amount of the problems in multiplayer seem to be easily fixable and more of “rookie mistakes.” For example, there is a big lack of inconsistency at launch date between having a level cap set so low and having a special advertising promotion for double xp. It seems that this was an oversight stemming from a lack of communication between marketing and multiplayer team.
Next, there seems to be a general lack of research when it comes to your daily, weekly, and monthly challenges. This is something i feel should have been learned while you had your training wheels on during Halo Reach, and you were actively helping and participating in their daily challenges. For example, making a weekly challenge in the second week where you have to get 18 Regicides in one match which equates to a perfect game with perfect circumstances sometimes out of your control. Halo Reach did a very good job of keeping challenges engaging, possible, rewarding, and yet still challenging. However, seeing a pretty difficult daily challenge that only equates to gaining xp equal to one extra match seems a little unbalanced to me. This is something i feel like was pretty close to being perfected in the last release, yet took a step backwards when this one came out
Another ‘rookie mistake’ that seems to be vastly looked down upon, is the decision to make emblems unlockable after certain commendations and levels are met. I understand making some ‘class specific’ emblems and backgrounds unlockable, or even ones pertaining to the requirement (e.x. - The splattered human with the splatter spree requirement), however, making standard basic emblems that have been around the length of the franchise largely unreachable is a poor move. The emblems promote creativity and distinction between other players, yet, when you say “sorry, you can only be an individual after you do X” is a little bit extreme.
Next, i want to address the level 70 cap for standard edition players. Halo 3 and Halo Reach provided such a lengthy xp leveling system, that i still have not gotten the highest rank on either of the games. A reality that i embrace. It means i still have room for growth years after the game is released. However, when i start playing Halo 4 for less than a month and realize that i can no longer gain XP or progress until you deem it appropriate to open it up more, is a little ridiculous. You can see on the forums that many people have left to play other games from this simple act. I understand giving special treatment to limited edition owners for shelling out more money, but this is an oversight that was very poorly planned. Your most dedicated players are told “you’ve played more than we want you to, come back later” you lose a lot of respect in their eyes. The progression system is what gives you a drive to achieve. Of course there is the simple pleasure of playing to enjoy the game, but there is no incentive to succeed. It means that no matter what you do, or how well you do it, you are not rewarded, while other players can sprint past you.
With all this multiplayer criticism, i will say that i do personally enjoy the point system where you get points for the things you do (ex. assists, distractions, etc.) because it makes you feel like what you are doing matters. So i will give you that.
There are also a few commendations that i feel were poorly researched. For example, perfections. The very first level of perfections requires you to get 5. I dont know about most other players, but if i got a perfection once, it was a BIG thing. It was by far one of the biggest achievements of my halo career. But to demand 5 for just the first level seems a bit unreasonable. If anything, it should be a one time commendation where if you do it once, you get a jackpot, and then its completed. Same thing with regicide. I dont know if you’ve played it recently, but assassinating the king is quite the mile marker. With everyone constantly grabbing at him, its extremely difficult to do this.
On to Spartan Ops. I will say that i understand the limitations you have to work with as far as bandwidth goes and other performance factors. However, to keep reusing the EXACT same levels and pretending like you are in a different location, it almost insults our intelligence. If you want to give legitimate reasons why you have to keep going back to that spot in the storyline, fine. But calling the same place something different and pretending its somewhere else its not cool. If you’re going to reuse maps, you have TONS of different places in the campaign and multiplayer at your disposal. Places that are already in the game. You dont have to conjure up new places. Just use what you already have.
On the same note, the multiplayer aspect of Spartan Ops is very flawed. It is the most laggy thing i have played since i used an outdated computer with a dial up connection to play halo 1. There needs to be some kind of improvement.
I will say though, the storyline and overall concept of Spartan Ops is Genius. Very innovative and a great idea. Just poorly implemented.
Shortly i will just poke at the campaign. One of the first things that master chief mentions is that he thought we were at a truce with covenant and is curious why he is fighting them. Through the entirety of the campaign this question is not answered. This while keeping in mind that he has direct contact with infinity for the second half of the game. Did he just lose interest and forget to ask? If you added a couple singular lines of commentary where master chief asks a soldier " i thought we had a truce" and he says “this is a group of extremists” then that would have been enough.
Also, whats the explanation about the armor changes to master chief? I dont see how being in cryo sleep getting a few “firmware upgrades” makes his armor look different.
Im also curious as to why you make a specific announcement trailer showing master chief bursting out of his cryo tube and jetpacking through the ship where in the game this is anything but the case. Same thing with the trailer showing him tied up and tortured by the promethians, yet, this is never the case in the campaign. The marketing and storyline seem severely uncoordinated.
Anyway, like i said, very fun game. I cant put it down. Overall one of my most favorite games of all. Yet these are some things that leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
No game is perfect, they never will be. But please take these things into consideration as constructive criticism for future patches, games, or otherwise.
Thank you
SlipStrikeX