As many of you probably know, Armour Abilities and Custom Loadouts got their sweet little -Yoinks!- kicked out the window by 343i as (more than likely) an attempt to win back the hearts of Halo’s more cold-hearted fan base. This really raises a question? Are we going back to the future or forward to the past?
Armour Abilities and Loadouts have been panned by fans of the original trilogy as game-breaking mechanics that ruin Halo and make the franchise like Call of Duty. Personally, I don’t understand the hate and these claims are ridiculous. Now before you AA and CL (Custom Loadouts) haters start getting mad I need you all to hear me out.
I am not an avid user of Armour Abilities because I personally like playing without them as much as I can. It is not because I hate them or dislike them or think they are useless. Some of them I think are cool and I use them when I need them the most. And they are fun to use in custom games and forge to create you own insanely fun gametype. Now those options are gone. Which is very disappointing to me and many other people who actually thought the Armour Abilities were cool and actually use them as a part of their strategy in combat.
We will start with Armour Abilities. Oh, how the community hates those things. First having Armour Abilities is practical. If a Spartan needed to get somewhere high and quick a Jet Pack would do the job. If a spartan needed to stay hidden and remain a ghost the Active Camouflage would do just the trick. Those are just two example of how having Armour Abilities actually makes sense.
Now for the online multiplayer use. Many people say that AA is a game-breaking mechanic that makes matches unbalanced and unfair. Oh, and they also make noobs OP. (Now humour me, how are AA going to make somebody that sucks at a better advantage then a really good player.) Those claims are very bias and a little far fetched. And I will explain why.
Auto Sentry: It is basically a floating single shot Promethean Weapon that spartans can somehow spawn at will. It is basically used as a back up tool if a spartan finds himself out-matched and out-skilled. Sounds noobish doesn’t it? Well, if you take into account the amount of damage this little buddy does it seems as dangerous as a mosquito bite. (Unless you are allergic to those type of things then you might have cause for concern.) In other words these things are harmless. People barely use them, and people barely die from them.(If you did then you should be -Yoink!- shame of yourself!)
Active Camo: You become cloaked. You could sneak pass enemies undetected, confuse enemies by instantly disappearing or sneak by your mother to steal that last cookie out the cookie jar. (<<< Yes, that was a poor attempt at humor.) You are rendered entirely non-existent on your enemies radar as if you were not there. However, AC has some extreme setbacks. First of all you can’t run or else you are visible. You must always travel at walking pace or crouching pace.(Or crawling pace? Like why the -Yoink- haven’t we been able to go prone yet?) Even if you follow these guidelines, you are not entirely invisible. You can be easily spotted by people who are looking for you or just have trained eye for slow moving clear shimmering ghosts. And often times they are only useful in small maps.
Thruster Pack: Allow you to speedily move from one area of the map to the other area of the map, succesfully avoiding getting killed by your enemy. Not really. It only moves you a handful of yards before you become a sitting duck again. Couple that with the fact you can’t fire your weapon when using it and your left with a pretty docile Armour Ability. That is until someone figures out how to use it to its deadliest potential. Even that takes great timing and skill to pull off. You know how I know? (Because I haven’t been able to pull it off yet without making myself look like a fool.)
Promethean Vision: Oh the hate this thing gets. Why? I don’t know because it only allows you to see your enemies through walls. What exactly are you going to do about enemies on the other side of a wall anyway? Shoot them through the wall? (Now that is a game breaking mechanic if I ever heard one.) Its pretty much a cool feature that functions as a novel aesthetic. So seeing this baby leave like the Auto Sentry would be like seeing armour lock leave.
Regeneration Field: Uh, yeah this definitely gamebreaking. It just heals players a little quicker then normal. But it doesn’t stop players in it’s green aura from dying just as quickly as any one else. I’ve seen many a spartan throw up them regeneration shields only to find themselves open to a embarrassing tea-bagging. The only use I see is deploying it after a firefight to get yourself prepared for the next one battle.
Jet Packs: Yes, the loathsome Jet Pack. The Armour Ability that yours truly used so much until I realized that getting shot out of the air is just as bad as getting shot on the ground.(They both result in me biting the dust.) Truthfully, unless you are master at floating through the sky for a couple of seconds and nailing headshots then the Jet Pack is only good for getting to higher places. Which route would you rather take to get to the next floor? Would you go up a flight of stairs? Or would you just use a jet pack to get where you need to go? Frankly, in combat situations you are a sitting duck with limited maneuverability and limited air time.
Holograms: Holograms are pretty cool, though I have yet to master the art of deception. Basically you get behind cover and deploy your hologram. It will then run in a perfectly straight line confusing your enemy into thinking it is you. That split/second of deception could get you the advantage you need to catch your poor enemy off guard. The downside to this AA is that not a lot of people know how to use it. Many people deploy it when they are standing right in front of you leaving you wondering exactly which head they were thinking with or even if they have any. Another drawback is that it is painfully obvious that it is a hologram, given that it runs in a perfectly straight line and it doesn’t show the player’s gamertag.
And lastly Hardlight Shield: Its basically a shield made of light that keeps people directly in front of you from killing you. Pretty handy when you want to put off the enemies rhythm. However, as stated before it only protect your front which means you are basically naked everywhere else. And they are not in any measure impervious to frag or pulse grenades. Given that you can’t shoot back, the hardlight shield need only be used to mess up the enemies attack and give you a chance to strike back. But often times players are not skilled enough to pull it off.
To be continued…