For a bit of context, i’m not what you would call a ‘veteran’. i started playing Halo with halo Reach, and that was in my early teens. soon after was MCC and H5. i did of course go back and play the original games, or what i could (3, odst, ce:a, and 4). but recently i’ve been thinking of the work done on these games…
CE, 2, and 3, were just slightly better versions of one another. ODST was a fully built game from once was dlc of h3. and reach was an mixed bag of things, certainly its own thing compared to the other games, but wasted potential too… but for a fair reason given the one year time to make it.
then i got to 343’s games… 4 ran into the same issues of Reach, under devoloped and wasted potential… it had so much going for it. rampant cortana, the forrunners, spec ops, humanizing chief, an in theory improved version of reach’s mp and forge… but all of that was either underused, or worse than what was in Reach
- rampant cortana… it felt as though she was only ‘rampant’ in cutscenes, not really in gameplay aside from minor HUD bugs that only happened in down time… what if chief had to remove cortana? becuase her bugs was affecting his suit so much, he had to start holding onto her chip, but in tern… loosing her assistance. it would also play into humanizing chief as now he can’t rely on cortana. maybe inner monologe on what to do in the mission, for the player that is
- the forrunners… their design is so unique, their gameplay too, another differing race to fight along with the returning remains of the covenant. but also… they’re unfun to fight, specifically against the knights. they’re more ballanced in H5, but in terms of h4… not really. the lack of clear rank differences also doesn’t help. maybe if we could see the weapons they weild better, that concept would’ve also worked, but alas not…
- humanizing chief. again like cortana, we really don’t see any of this outside of cutscenes or down time. what if he interacted with the marines? i’m not talking having a whole convo or whatever… but rather like simple answers, yes or no, move up, we go there, etc… it would also play into an rampant cortana. i mean, if a commander or sargant asked a question, and cortana was having a moment… chief would have to answer for her. but i guess the ending of h4 will work…
- spec ops… in theory sounds fun. a campaign version of FF. but in execution… without the lives and with the annoying ballancing… you’re better off tossing your corpse at the enemy rather than being stratigec
- mp and forge… the multiplayer was just the same as reach with different abilities, honestly it isn’t too bad. but the forge… was so annoying to use. again practically the exact same as reach’s, but placing items and what not… gah, infuriating
- progression system was… okay. simular to reach’s. xp counts as both to rank and as currentcy, higher the rank the more customization you can now unlock
- customization is good. additions of arms and legs… but unfortunate removal of knees, utilities, wrist, and armor affects
now we move onto H5. more mobility focussed, fire teams, new characters, forge, and a unique mp…
- the fire team itea for the campaign… i love this idea. the only downside is… well, the new characters presented, even the returning character of buck, felt bland
- fire team osiris being the primary team in the campaign i don’t really mind, i mean, i think the arbiter had more missions than chief in h2. but what i do mind is just… how bland the characters are of the team. same with blue team. chief having his own team that he hasn’t seen since before CE… sounds amazing, it would help so much with humanizing him, more so given the lack of cortana. but alas like osiris… they’re bland and really don’t do a whole lot, if anything.
- speaking of cortana… her return was stupid, but she seemingly returned in a still rampant state, rilling up the other A.I. by the end of the game, throughing a monkey wrench at the UNSC. again it sounds like a good ending, making us curious how the unsc will pull threw… but her return in the first place is just bad
- the return of the arbiter was nice, us seeing sanghilioes, the swords of sanghilioes campaign the arbiter made with his kind to end the covenant once and for all was amazing. my only complaint is that… i wish we had more of it
- movement… the additional mobility in theory sounds good in a halo game. but in execution… due to now having to buff the weapons heavily to counteract the mobility, whiles is fun, felt more like Cod blops 3 rather than halo. sure no wall running but… the thrusters, spartan slam and sprint smash just… doesn’t suit halo. again, it’s fun (at least to me) but because of it all… it didn’t feel like halo
- forge… expansive, but in tern… complecated beyong belief. i respect those than understand it, but as someone who came from the simplicity of reach and 4, then to this… i couldn’t figure it out. the menues apon menues, all the things you can do… i don’t think suits well on a controller. i wish this game was on pc -v-… and also it was late to launch
- warzone FF… a BTB like expansion of FF. along with a seperate mode for pvp with pve marines. that sounds sooo cool! but then, we see the elephant in the room… req packs… you either get these vya grinding in the game, or through paying for temperary items, weapons, and vehicles… technically pay to win given all you can get and how completely one sided it can get
- progression… per match xp towards your current level rank based on medals and skill. lovely commendations as before to grind towards. you get the in game currentcy by playing the game… to buy from the rng shop… okay…
- customization… well, you get weapon skins now, that’s cool. announcer voices,… assassination animations? there goes uniqueness based on the environment… nameplates were stupidly tied to the emblem itself… and your main spartan was widdled down to just visor, head, and body… there goes varriety
so that was H5… and around the time as well, another ‘game’ released, more so a collection, the MCC. combining games old and new into one spot for all to enjoy, ce, 2, 3, 4, (later odst and reach), with a remaster of H2… sounds amazing!..
- the game could barely be played. campaigns had bugs galor. the multipalyer barely functioned. customs were iffy. everything that could’ve gone wrong… well… it made you question if there was anyone in the QA team with more than one brain cell
- the remaster of H2 was amazing honestly, visual updates is nice. but they also added additional cutscenes for the opening and ending of the game… arbiter talking to lock, mentioning the past events of H2, whiles also tying into H5. okay sure, i don’t mind this at all. what i do mind however is the artstyle transition from h5 to h2… it just ain’t right
- progression is per match but is meaningless… even in current mcc, you only get a bp point for the first 100 levels… challenges were added later
- customization at first was limited to pre-set armors… but as the game came out on pc, all that went back to their original customization, with later additions of both good and bad in design, but additions to what you can add to your spartan is always nice… even if it happened later…
so by this point i think we’re all seeing a pattern, at least i am. these games have so much potential to them, but either because execution wise they’re not good… or some other issue causes them to not be as good as they could be… so then we get into halo infinite. open world, equipment over abilities, a return to form gameplay wise and-… oh… nothing else currently… huh… a repeat of H5… and now free to play… lovely -v-…
- so the open world… after playing it all, it just… feels so small. forza 5, a racing open world game, felt more expansive than this. every where i went in infinite… it all felt the same, like i didn’t go anywhere
- things to do… now like any open world, there are side quests for you to do. alright, sure. the special banished enemies to kill were actually kinda fun. the bases to capture were different enough. and uh… yeah there’s very little in terms of other things to do, at least things that were memorable
- the upgrades are pointless. as someone who ran intentionally through the game legendary, collecting all the spartan cores but without spending a single one, it is entirely possible, and the difficulty is akin to h3 and h2. unfair at times but generaly fun, a nice challenge. though i’d imagine it becomes a cake walk with any upgrades
- FOBS are an interesting idea… though it makes me wonder how doing things around the world is bringing us enough equipment for it all. or how the pilot hasn’t been shot down… or why there aren’t more than three AA guns
- humanizing chief… honestly chief in this game feels… inconsistant. he can be brutally cruel to the weapon one moment, then nice and gentle the next. same goes with the weapon… tossing an hissy fit one moment, and then being completely okay with chief the next
- the pilot… honestly i like this dude. again he’s inconsistant. one moment being mad at chief, the next still causiously helping him. i almost feel bad for him… but then that emotional scene between him and chief happens. that scene i really like. it brings chief’s human side out so much, and goes to show why he is a leader of his own team. if the characters weren’t so inconsistant, this would’ve been perfect
- anything from halo 5… osiris… blue team… cortana… where the heck are they?! like i know they were bland in h5, but that doesn’t mean you get to toss them to the curb. bring them back and expand them into actual characters, 343… gah
- the banished… so tell me, what’s the difference between them and the covenant? yeah yeah, hw2 explains them but… in infinite, they’re just discount covenant without the prophets. they’re nothing compared to how they are in hw2.
- the bosses… are fairly ballanced, though at times can be bs…
- the main baddy, disney villian, just looks ugly and contributes practically nothing to the story
- the two leaders of the banished, i kinda like the war vet feeling of the brute… he knows he’l loose. but to heck with that. send all his forces, and if the demon lives… one final battle with the demon himself. what a way to go… and chief’s respectful actions towards the brute in his final moments are just nice to see, playing into that human side of him… then there’s that elite dude which i feel was underused heavily, dissapointing…
- the… two? monitors of the installation… what was their perpose again? well one of them was just destroyed with no further character development, and the other was just discount 343 guilty spark… there was no purpose to him other than being another boss
- the equipment… no reason to use any except for the grappling hook and the sensor. i wish you didn’t just have all of them and instead had to be stratigecle with them… what if the enemies used them like in h3? that would’ve been cool. and as a side note, it humors me that chief just… has the grappling hook at the start of the game, and uses it as if he had it forever
- vehicles… legit no reason to use them. why? well their physics for some ungodly reason, don’t play well with the geometry of the map, and the map itself is bumpy cliffs most of it, so have fun moving your hog or scorpion about, only for it to flip backwards because of some stupid geometry, like a light breeze touched it, or just start moving in a dirrection you’re not wanting it to… GAH. that and also given the amount of hills and cliffs and mountains… you’re better off with the grappling hook… making the FOBS useless except for ammo…
- airial vehicles… so we talked about ground vehicles, but what about the air? yeah have fun practically having no health with it. be it a banshy or a wasp, that vehicle has so little health it’s practically a airial coffin. you’re better off walking
- the mp… okay, so now that we’re done with the 60 buck campaign… let’s talk the f2p mp… so far in the game’s life cycle, just like with h5… there’s missing playlists… very lacking in modes, and the maps feel like the same three laned garbage… but that could all be excused with the gameplay, which is admittidly fun… but what burchers that is the STILL TO THIS DAY DESYNCE AND THE HORRID SERVER COMPOSER… have fun being connected half way around the world with 100+ ms 80% of the time. oh and even if you’re an lucky one with 60 ms… have fun also with RANDOM PACKET LOSS, GAH…
but… if you can forgive the servers somehow… the gameplay is fun… the vehicles have little to no health though, and there’s no player collision… the ranked system is borked too, so there’s that… - progression system… no commendations… oh, but weekly and daily challenges-… as your only way to earn xp, so no per match xp based on your skill… oh but completing the challenges rewards you with something? oh, a nameplate that has been there three other times… okay… a battle pass? well over half of it is filled with xp boosts and challenge swaps, so not worth it… uh… so nothing
- customization… nameplate is still tied to the emblems. colors are now preseted removing any other uniqueness… vehicles now have customization, but you can’t have multiple attachments… weapons have charms and attachments too, but again limited to only one… your spartan has a lot going for them, but no death effects, set color pallets, certain things aren’t cross core like visors and colors… okay well, how do you earn these items? well aside from the rare and BORING events… payment. not vya gameplay, but payment… really lessens the excitement of seeing someone with a cool armor set…
sooo… yeah, 343 has a lot of good in their games. but all that good is brought down to meh or bad because of one reason or another… they aren’t bad game devs, but they are bad enough to ruin what good they do bring to the table. they can do so much but in the end… so little… hopefully infinite can do better as the years go. but as it sits now… 343 is only continuing the cycle of wasted potential and horid games at launch