Man, I just gotta say something.
I used to be a huge fan of competitive Halo. Back in the day, I could play Halo for 4 hours straight and then sit back and just watch the latest tournament on my PC and relax. I used to have so much fun watching them because the game took skill. Yeah, there were flaws in the in-game mechanics, but if you could overlook the small things and see the picture as a whole, it was great to watch.
Even in Halo 3, there was a sort of party-like chaos to appreciate, which also had high entertainment value. Not everyone liked the timed weapon spawns, but at 11:55, in every mlg settinged game, there’d be a fight going down by rockets and all 8 players in the game would want to be there. And that happened every 3 minutes. Oh, and don’t forget the sniper either; it was on a shorter cooldown and was much more devastating to map-control. And after that party, you’d have a few short seconds to catch your breath before worrying about when the next power up was going to spawn, which, by the way, wasn’t on a set timer and would respawn 3 minutes after it was last picked up. So, to remember, we have two set values, one occurring every 3 minutes and another ever 2:30, and one random value that has to be remembered when it occurs (the power-up). Sounds like a fun thing to juggle on your plate while still trying to kill the 4 enemy players bent on your virtual destruction, right? Actually, it was and it was great to watch.
But I digress. See, I’m trying to remind you of how engaging a simple game can be and, to be honest, I’m really seeing that in Halo 4. The choice to keep the DMR as a long range gun and the BR as an accurate close/mid range gun shows that you’re not afraid to place guns into roles, which keeps the game flowing smoothly because players aren’t as often caught off-guard by situations and forced to retreat; they’re typically only moving to places that they feel comfortable being with their weapon and if it’s clearly evident how that gun is specifically effective, then players are more likely to put themselves in places where those situations are likely to happen. This in turn makes the game feel more fun in general. Things are kept active and exciting and players are eased into situations where they feel comfortable fighting. Having clearly defined weapon roles is awesome. Good job there, 343.
Deciding to get rid weapon times is a highly debatable decision. I, for one, am alright with it as it gives players a clear goal to accomplish, even on slayer gametypes. The main problem that Reach has had is that it’s not entertaining enough to watch. There are a lot of reasons for this, but most of them boil down to the fact that the gameplay is boring and drawn-out. Matches are long to watch and uneventful. Halo 4, from what I’ve been reading, shouldn’t suffer from that problem. Now that there are important areas that receive ordinance and should be held at all times, it drastically changes how players can set themselves up throughout the map. They have to hold the important places, which quickly turns this into a game of attack/defend. Since the weapons could come down at any time, players know that it’s imperative to keep control of the areas. This gives a clear goal to players and really keeps the game flowing. Not to mention, since the power weapons won’t always be there, it forces players to use the good ol’ BR, beatdown and backstab skills that every good internet warrior should have mastered. The game becomes less about what you have and more about how you use it. Competitive gaming at it’s core.
Sprint is also another improvement. Having sprint all the time is just great. It lets players get to places faster and, again, keeps the game flowing. I don’t have much to say about it since it’s pretty straight-forward. It’s not really a power-up, it’s just a utility. Good stuff.
I also really, really love how it seems like the game is breaking down into 1v1 fights again. Some of the fondest experiences I have of Halo are the little BR battles you’d get to have. It’s what made Halo Halo. No other game had anything like it. For 3 seconds, you were locked in battle and someone had to die. Reach’s clunky DMR made for awkward close range battles where players would often just choose not to fight, which slowed down gameplay a lot. It also really hurt the competitive scene. Fans were constantly subjected to long drawn-out games because of the wonky mechanics of the DMR and Reach in general. These games did not flow well.
MLG tried to tweak the game settings to get them to work better, but honestly, in my opinion, the person they put in charge of that was neither qualified nor versed enough to do so. In two words, it flopped. MLG realized it and so did their community. They tried to save it, but to no avail. It’s true. Go on their website right now. Here’s a hyperlink. On the main website, there’s not one- not one single link to a halo news-related article. If you didn’t already know it, you’d be hard-pressed to find any evidence that this is actually the host of the biggest Halo tournaments on the continent. And the community has only suffered because of it. The MLG console community has been steadily dwindling down since Halo: Reach’s release and has been in need of a really good competitive game. I think that Halo 4 is that game. I’ve payed attention to every console shooter that’s come out in the last 5 years and I haven’t seen any that I’d actually like to play competitively, but I honestly can’t say I’ve seen a single thing that would put me off of reach so far. it’s just fantastic. All of it. I have no complaints.
To whomever’s at 343 making this Halo game so -Yoink!- good, thank you. I’ve been waiting a long time.