When 343 took over Halo, they drastically changed a franchise that was loved by millions, and renowned for its style of play, more specifically the slower methodical play, and the play style of map control, and these ideologies of gameplay, is how classic Halo is meant to feel. In 2015, with the introduction of the fastest-paced Halo game to date - are we being a bit too harsh, or unaccepting the change?
Halo has probably got a sightly smaller fanbase than COD, and 343 have been ridiculed by players for the “negative” way they have changed gameplay, i.e using sprint and the introduction of spartan abilities, personally, I feel the game needed an evolution to continue to compete with other FPS’, namely COD and Battlefield, and I was just wondering, if say Treyarch had drastically changed the Black Ops formula, i.e; make kill times longer, no longer implement kill streaks, and make it more related to classic Halo play; how would the COD fanbase react? Obviously at least 99% would oppose the change, and that 1% would welcome change, but would the COD fanbase react more/less outraged than how the Halo fanbase reacted to Halo 5?
I say this because even though the COD fans would largely be irritated, it wouldn’t particularly stop them playing, whereas in Halo 5’s case, lots of players have left the franchise (shown by the low sales of Halo 5), and taken it out on 343 (and to an extent - rightfully so), but would Treyarch get the hate 343 get? In my opinion no, I believe Halo 5 is held in much higher regard to COD, (hence why its developers are much more vulnerable to criticism). Also, specifically regarding its legacy and the hate 343 are getting, it is almost like punishing for them for rising to the challenge to re-create Halo, hence why I think 343 Industries have received an unfair amount of criticism - because let’s be honest, 343 making Halo 5 a game of the year was borderline impossible.
I respect 343 for evolving the franchise, but to clarify I’m not a 343 fanboy, I think the campaign is too short and not immersive enough, I sympathise for the players who miss split-screen, and I’ve publicly shared my (dislike) for the REQ system (my last forum post), but I do not think there are any other studios who could have done a better job with Halo 5 than 343 did.
In shorthand I ask you this; “Do you think 343 Industries deserve the amount of hate they’ve received, and would COD developers be treated differently?”
I look forward to seeing your opinions!
Comparing/contrasting developers never ends well and the threads always quickly devolve into flame-fests. That aside, it’s also entirely hypothetical and moot. There are better things out there to discuss/debate.