Alright, the first half of my post will be my opinion on Halo being an Arena FPS. If you would not like to read it please continue to the second half where I talk about equipment.
Halo is an Arena FPS
Here’s two quick definitions of Arena and Class-Based Shooters.
Arena First Person Shooter: A sub-genre of FPS that makes every player spawn with the same weapons/abilities/everything. Other weapons, power ups and abilities are found on the map and picked up by the player.
Examples of Arena FPS: Halo CE-3, Quake, Unreal Tournament etc.
Class-Based First Person Shooter: a sub-genre of FPS that makes each player have to chose from a series of classes containing different weapons/abilities before or at the beginning of the game.
Examples of Class-Based First Person Shooters: Call of Duty, Battlefield, Team Fortress 2 etc.
Now, here’s the game I’m not sure where to put, because it seems like a different sub-genre I do not know, or what I like to call: a Hybrid.
Halo:Reach
It combines the aspect of weapons and abilities being on the map of Arena FPS, but adds the aspect of having to chose a class at the beginning of the game from Class-Based FPS.
Arena FPS games are specified in balance, and have always been known to be perfect for competitive gameplay. You can travel the map and take anything that you can find, and allows your experience to change however you feel fit at the time.
Class-Based FPS games are specified to make the character have the options to chose from many weapons/abilities before the game, but sacrifices the balance that most competitive gameplay is tailored to.
(Make it known I’m not an expert on all these different concepts, but I do know a lot about the games I’ve played: Halo, UT, CoD)
Alright, now that theory is done, let’s talk Halo. Throughout the years, Halo worked on improving the Arena style, and adding more things to experience on the map such as new weapons, and equipment added in Halo 3. The game was known as the top shooter on console for the longest time, and was even adopted by MLG as being their main competitive FPS game. Halo added things like Forge, which was accepted by many players as they made immensely competitive, or outrageously fun maps.
Halo:Reach started to adapt the class-based shooter aspects but attempted to keep it somewhat like an Arena FPS. We know what Halo games were better competitively, more fun to play with your friends, and had more sales.
Now, shouldn’t we consider Halo 4 as a sequel to Halo 3, and to still have the Arena FPS sub-genre as the original trilogy? We shouldn’t have to stand and watch 343 change the genre to one we know does not deliver the competitive thrill that Halo has always had. Halo has always delivered the Arena Sandbox concept by adding more to the experience of each game, unlike Class-Based shooters, which has the same weapons and experience each time you play.
Now I’m not bashing Class-Based shooters, because we know they are fun just like the Arena FPS games, but I don’t believe we need to sacrifice the balance that Arena FPS games clearly have better done than Class-Based Shooters.
On the other hand…
Halo 3 added Equipment, a wonderful idea that increases the Arena FPS experience. Since Halo 4 is the sequel of Halo 3, I think it should be safe to assume they wouldn’t scrap an idea that can be immensely improved and added unto.
So if you guys have any opinions on Halo being an Arena FPS game, or have any neat ideas of new types of equipment please post them.
