343i I had high hopes for Halo 4 as many people did and for the most part you guys did an amazing job with the game. If I had to rate Halo 4 on a normal game scale 1 - 10 I would give it a 9 BUT on a Halo game scale I would give it an Honest 7 today. Upon release I would gave it a 6 and let me explain.
In a Halo game for me the most important thing and the first thing I play is the campaign which in Halo 4 I thought was up there with every other Halo game but like every other Halo game I had my problems with it. I felt that in Halo 4 there was background story that was missing or unexplained, not even in the terminals was it explained. Mainly Captain Del Rio’s problem with the Master Chief and Cortana’s problem with the Doctor from “The Composer”. There was also no finding skulls and that is tradition in my opinion. Aside from that I didn’t have any problems with the campaign.
Now lets talk about Spartan Ops. Right out the gate I had 2 problems with it. The first one is the lack of my Spartan in any cut scene what so ever. We know that because of time restrains and resources you had to do CGI videos, which looked amazing. But that lack of my Spartan there made me feel disconnected from the story. This was made significantly better in the second half of Spartan Ops but for some people it was too late. The second problem I had was the massive reuse of maps. I know it fit the story but it was really disappointing coming week after week only to play on 3 of the 5 maps featured last week. One last thing there is no in game scoring system which is a huge disappointment alone with no skull support.
The last and maybe the most important thing is multiplayer/community support. I feel when you created Halo 4 you appealed to the wrong crowd. It wasn’t the Hardcore Halo community. The same community that stuck with Halo 3 through 3 Call of Duty games. I believe that if Halo on the Xbox One is to even last a week and I’m not exaggerating you need to go back to your roots but add the things from the new Halos, Halo: Reach and Halo 4, that DO NOT effect gameplay.
Things to keep from Halo: Reach and Halo 4.
- The party system in Halo: Reach and Halo 4 are perfect
- The map voting system is great BUT maybe it should show 1 map and three Game-modes along with a Skip Maps option like in Halo 3
3.Forge is getting better and better with every Halo and all you have to do is improve on it. Like flyable UNSC Vehicles and AI placement. - Spartan Customization. Can we finally get the 3 color or specific armor pieces color choice? I mean it won’t matter in Multiplayer Red vs. Blue.
- Vocal and Visual information from the game and announcer is very helpful.
- Extraction
Things not to keep from Halo: Reach and Halo 4
- Sprint PERIOD.
- Flinch when shot
- Ordinance in Matchmaking*
- Armor Abilities PERIOD
- Create a class all together
- I believe that in Spartan Ops there should have been Ordinance drops when you scored a certain amount of points if there had been a scoring System in place.
Things to add back from Halo 3 (ODST also), Halo 2, and Halo: Combat Evolved.
- Descoping. Descoping when shot isn’t as frustrating as flinching when shot.
- Clan support. It would be huge for competitive play. A Clan vs. Clan 4v4 playlist would great.
- Power Ups. Overshield, Active Camouflage , and Custom Power Up orbs or cubes from Halo 1 ( I likes the cubs)
- Death animations
- Air Vehicles
- Firefight in the traditional Halo 3: ODST was.
- RANKED and SOCIAL playlist.
- Halo 3 ranking system with Halo 4 updates to it so it can’t be exploited.
- Spawn System.
- Regular CTF and Regular Oddball from Halo: Combat Evolved - Halo: Reach
- Assault, VIP, Race, Party Games.
And last but most certainly not least. More support for the Competitive/Tournament scene. It confusing to see AGL pay outs at only $2,000 along with little developer presence. The tournaments you host are nice but you should host 4v4s. And if the Next Halo is coming out in 2014 then you need to talk to the current Halo 4 Pros and casters to setup an Official Competitive playlist AT LAUNCH along with them there to test weapons and make sure they are balanced.
Listen 343i I play Halo 4 almost everyday and I also play every other Halo because of the story. I think you guys did a great job for your first time with a game and like I said before on a regular game scale you guys get a 9 from me but on a Halo game scale you get a 6 at launch and 7 today which is slightly above average and good. You need to get everything right at launch. Please give the fans what they want and they will support you. Just a side note. If you were thinking about keeping sprint in Halo you should really reconsider.
Sincerely
With love a concerned Halo fan