My comparison of Halo 3 and Halo 4 and how we can make Halo 5 a better game.
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With Halo 3 being free to download with Xbox Live’s Games for Gold program I’d thought I’d hop in for the first time in years and after months of playing Halo 4. I have been a Halo fan and player for many years and I thought I’ll make the thread to detail the differences I noticed, my opinions on them and what can be done for Halo 5. I will state for the sake of accuracy and an objective comparison when I started this I took my nostalgia goggles off and things in Halo 3 were quite a bit different than I remember. For the sake of time and space I will only focus on multiplayer here. First lets start off when things I think Halo 4 does a bit better.
Things I feel Halo 4 does better than Halo 3:
+Right from when I started up Halo 3 I noticed Halo 4 feels more “fluid” than it’s predecessor. Note I’m not talking about pacing that I will get into later, Halo 4’s player movement just flows much better and Halo 3 while fine in its time feels more stiff and rigid. This feeling started to fade the more games of Halo 3 I played but I feel it was worth a mention.
+Objective markers, during my few games of Halo 3 I played earlier I played 2 games of CTF and 1 game of One Bomb and a distinct thing I noticed is it’s harder to track where the objective is at in Halo 3. Many times during CTF the enemy would grab our flag but I had trouble finding where the flag carrier was. At one point during CTF on Avalanche(An amazing map btw) I was in the hornet overlooking most of the map when I STILL couldn’t find the enemy that had our flag, the HUD marker never showed up and cost us the game. Halo 4 solved this by having a HUD marker over the enemy flag carrier’s head at all times, allowing your team to coordinate and launch a counter assault.
+Weapon sounds, the sound of Halo 4’s weapons completely outclasses those of Halo 3. A prime example would be the Assault Rifle, in Halo 3 it sounds like nothing more than an automatic stapler while in Halo 4 it sounds like an actual, powerful rifle firing 7.62x51mm. While some of the weapons in Halo 4 sound a bit underwhelming(Gravity Hammer, Storm Rifle, Suppressor, Light Rifle) overall I find Halo 4 had the better sound.
+End of match music. While this is a small detail I found that it does make a slight difference. Near the end of a match in Halo 4 ether when the time is running low or there is only a few points/captures needed to win/lose music would start to play, this helped create a mood and a sense of urgency that Halo 3 lacked.
Things I feel Halo 3 does better than Halo 4:
+Even starts. In Halo 3 everyone started on an even ground when the match began, while a few might call this boring I feel the majority of players and myself would call this balanced. In Halo 4 when a match starts almost everyone starts with a different weapon, according to the map and gametype this automatically creates those with advantages over others. In Halo 3 if an enemy kills me at a distance with a Battle Rifle while I have nothing more than an Assault Rifle I would have been at a disadvantage but this does not bother me since I know the enemy went out and took the time to arm himself with a Battle Rifle while in Halo 4 they just spawn with it every single time. In Halo 3 with even starts the only thing separating you and the enemy is skill and knowledge, not some uncontrollable advantage or disadvantage right off the start.
+Power weapon acquirement and predictability. In Halo 4 getting a power weapon is easy, just get a few kills or assists and it will drop down in an ordinance drop for you and there you go. While this seems great at first its really not, it creates terrible unpredictability and randomness which has no place in a competitive FPS. You turn the corner and BAM the enemy happens to have a Scattershot how are you supposed to predict and plan that? You had NO way of knowing they might have that and died because of it, died due to something beyond your control. the Take Dominion right after Halo 4’s launch for example, everyone and their grandmother had Incineration Cannons, Fuel Rod Guns, or SAWs. While in Halo 3 power weapons were on the map there for everyone to have a chance to acquire. If you wanted a Rocket Launcher you had to first know where it is and FIGHT THE OTHER TEAM for it, it wasn’t gift wrapped personally for you, you EARNED that power weapon by getting it before they did, ether by controlling the hill or keeping the enemy pinned back. Map control and skill was key as it should be.
+Maps. I feel Halo 3’s multiplayer maps flowed much better than Halo 4’s does. While this is a matter of pure opinion compare maps such as Halo 3’s Avalanche or Sandtrap to Halo 4’s Complex or Vortex. I would say Halo 4’s predecessor’s maps just flow better. While some of Halo 4’s DLC maps are better(Such as Perdition, Skyline, Landfall, Monolith, Outcast) the point still stands. Not just flow but aesthetic theming as well. In Halo 3 you have multiplayer maps based around the UNSC, Covenant, Forerunner and even the Flood. There are 25 War Games maps in Halo 4 and every single one is ether Forerunner or UNSC based. For example there is not a single Covenant map at all. You could argue you never really visit a Covenant space in Halo 4’s campaign that doesn’t really matter, especially since War Games is fictionally a simulation you could have a map based on anything you want, anywhere or anyTIME. We never visit Harvest but there is a Pre-Covenant War Harvest in War Games. Why not a map set near the Unyielding Hierophant? Or aboard High Charity? Or the Greater Ark? Or the Forerunner city on Onyx? The possibilities are literally endless and yet we only have Requiem or UNSC spaces.
+Pacing. While I mentioned earlier that Halo 4 feels far more “fluid” in its player movement than Halo 3 which feels rather rigid, I feel Halo 3 has better pacing in it’s matches. Its no secret that Halo 4 is a faster paced game, 343i themselves have stated they made Halo 4 faster paced on purpose. However I feel this does not suit Halo all too well. While I was playing Halo 3 I would grab a sniper for example and look for a good spot to snipe from and mark as my “home” and get comfortable in while if I tried to do this in Halo 4 half the game would be over by the time I was ready. Matches and even player encounters in Halo 3 were slower paced giving each player time to think about the situation and act accordingly which took skill and cunning, while in Halo 4 a similar encounter would end in ether one of the players sprinting away or dying before they get the chance to blink.
Continued in next post…