Beginning in Halo 2, Halo has always featured 1-sided, asymmetrical game modes. These have included simple variants like 1 Flag CTF, 1 Bomb Assault, and Territories, as well as the occasional full-blown mode like Invasion. Halo 4 introduced a departure from this for the first time in close to a decade, not shipping with any 1-sided game modes and never adding in any via updates. A few work arounds were made for this, like hiding one flag under the floor and using rounds to emulate the old system, or the Conversion game mode that I helped create in order to fill the Invasion gap (with limited success), and these helped the customs community get by until MCC brought back these options in Halo 2 Anniversary. With the bare-bones game modes introduced in Halo 5 and the frequent update schedule, may of us expected that 1-sides modes might make a comeback in this game. 1 Flag in particular is a simple variant of CTF, and should be fairly easy to implement. Unfortunately, 6+ months later even this most basic variant has not been released or made possible.
This is a call to 343 Industries to dedicate the time and resources to make a few basic 1-side game mode variants. 1 Flag CTF, 1 Bomb Assault, and a 1 sided “lockdown style” Strongholds variant are the big three modes I would like to see. These base game modes already exist in the game, and so should take the least amount of effort to create. Even with the intricacies of game design and the amount of other content being created, I feel that this should be a relatively minor task for 343 Industries to achieve. There are already asymmetrical maps in Matchmaking that would support these modes with a few tweaks to spawn and weapon layouts, tasks that would take forgers a couple of hours to a day to complete.
These game modes would not only add more variety to current playlists, but also would vastly increase the variety of maps produced in Halo 5’s Forge. 1-sided game modes play very differently from their symmetrical counterparts, and this allows for more wild, asymmetric map designs that would just never work for symmetrical modes. This invigorates custom games and leads to the potential for more varied and interesting forge content reaching matchmaking. As a longtime member of the forge and customs communities, I can attest that the variety of types of maps in Halo 5 has been severely hampered by a lack of game modes to design around. Choices fuel creativity, and with just a few small game modes we could see a huge increase in variety, increasing forge activity, promoting variety in customs, and leading towards a better matchmaking experience.
I 100% agree. One sided round based gamemodes are stupid fun! I was disappointed with the launch gametypes in Halo 4, but compare that to Halo 5 it had a library of modes!
To further reinforce my point, do we really never want to see maps like High Ground, Longshore, Terminal, or Relic in Halo again? These were maps that did not support symmetrical objectives well, and without the inclusion of 1-sided modes would have likely never caught on. These maps could support highly competitive play when set up right, and also provided a break from the constant stream of symmetrical arenas. We need these game modes in order to see this type of map again!
> 2533274864518298;8:
> To further reinforce my point, do we really never want to see maps like High Ground, Longshore, Terminal, or Relic in Halo again? These were maps that did not support symmetrical objectives well, and without the inclusion of 1-sided modes would have likely never caught on. These maps could support highly competitive play when set up right, and also provided a break from the constant stream of symmetrical arenas. We need these game modes in order to see this type of map again!
The reason they were probably axed is because the HCS doesn’t seem to fond of 1 sided objectives.
Although adding 1-sided objectives would be pretty fun for a social objective playlist or something along the lines. I’m sure it isn’t impossible for them to add such gametypes.
> 2533274837307348;3:
> I 100% agree. Its been long enough.
Exactly! I miss the days of 1-sided assymetrical game modes, especially 1-sided Assault. Would really love to see them make their return to H5’s multiplayer soon.
1 Flag CTF is one of my all time favorite modes. I missed it dearly in Halo 4 and I still miss it. Asymmetrical gametypes in general were my favorites. Warzone Assault had me intrigued at first, but I ultimately found I didn’t like Warzone much at all. I’d love to see some asymmetrical games come to arena more than anything!
One-sided modes, and One Flag CTF in particular have been a huge part of Halo for years. They provide opportunities for a different type of experience within the core Halo gameplay we love. There are several reasons why the community wants to see these modes return and plenty of reason to believe it would be feasible to at least add one-sided variants of existing modes like Flag and Bomb.
One bit of support that may not be well-circulated is the huge potential for these modes to shine in HWC and other competitive play. Yes, it would split the map pool somewhat to have some maps developed for these one-sided modes and the traditional multi-objective modes, but there would still be enough overlap in viability for Slayer and Strongholds play to be worth it. Counter Strike, a game centered around a one-sided objective mode, is by far the most viewed first-person shooter e-sport, so there’s no reason to believe this wouldn’t be popular with audiences.
Also, as Shoe led on, a list of the maps which supported these modes (excluding remakes) includes numerous classics.
Just thought I’d add that I think 1-sided modes like 1-flag CTF with rounds could potentially work well for a Team Doubles playlist as well, as opposed to normal CTF.
Yeah let’s have more one sided game modes so we can have even more people here complaining about “farming” … sounds good to me… sarcasm of course… one sided games are lame and that is fact