Hi, All. Just to give myself a quick introduction, I am a very heavily level design focussed player and study the subject really rigorously. I have always had something to say about level design in games and usually bring up things people usually don’t talk about, so I wanted to bring a change in scenery and provide some viewpoints on the new map from the perspective of a level design fanatic.
I’m going to eliminate bias here and try to take a really neutralized stance on this and try to target features and concepts used for a fair review. Obviously I haven’t myself played the map, so I will just have to provide various hypothesis on how I feel these features make an impact, Good or Bad.
Firstly, I’ll mention that I have had a lot to criticize in Warzone before. It’s a wonderful modern concept for a game, but it’s pioneering into the Halo franchise was barely going to go off without a hitch. I’ll mention a few of the issues level design created that I have indeed mentioned before:
Less than well optimized use of space: Most of the time, we found, in maps like Apex and Stormbreak, there was a lot of mindless sprinting for one objective. The map layout promoted a strategy approach that involved charging blindly at the nearest base, otherwise, you’d have to spend a lengthy period of time navigating barren regions of the map to cut out the stalemates. This was the case with All Warzone maps. Arc was build more efficiently, so this kind of short cutting was a bit more forgiving time wise. We always had massive areas outside bases that were never really used, and just ended up being a long track for players to sprint across.
This size optimization was quite poor and resulted in much smaller battles. Hardly anyone was in a similar place at once, so battles were mostly just picking off lone spartans.
A.I Placement: This kind of system broke up gameplay too severely, players ended up running away from objectives to shoot down point buckets that were never really a threat in the first place.
Repetition in Layout: Each map used the same generic layout. This really made the maps feel less adventurous and more grinding, as you felt like you were just using the same strategies for each map.
Building Repetition: Similar issue, the same side bases were used for each map. They quickly got pretty boring to use and be around. Especially since their design was incredibly simple.
Man-Cannon Abuse: The man-cannon’s only purpose before was to blur the lines of these massive empty spaces of land. They were just sweeping the dust under the rug with these, as they are simply there to cover up bits of land that don’t get used. They could’ve been used more creatively to build interesting combat opportunities for Spartans to lean in on and should be there to cut out areas of the map that are only briefly inactive, rather than areas that shouldn’t really be there to begin with.
Where are we now?
Well, after seeing the gameplay on the new Warzone map, it’s easy to see where some of the problems have been dealt with.
First off, the Generic layout is gone, we are facing something more experimental. It does appear to break up combat more as it gives players more options (Not the best thing). But the way Man-cannons have been optimized makes amazing use of the world’s space and allows players to quickly focus their combat potential in areas that are quite distant. Yet, they are barely traversing areas that are not combat lively, as we see players soaring over heated vehicle engagements.
The issue where the same Side-buildings have been used has been partially dismissed. But we are presented with a slightly problematic solution. Firstly, this is not a new building, it’s more interesting architecturally, I’ll give them that, but it’s still a repetition issue, and it seems to be too substantial for a side base. It should be more compact in it’s design as it is unlikely (more likely than before, however) to get as heated as central base. Yet, it’s a similar size. It’s functionality is on the right track as we have, before had to decide whether to spawn in a dangerous place for a vehicle, or painfully far away. This option is much more satisfying.
On the brighter side, the placement of A.I spawns is far more intuitive. They are placed in ready active parts of the map in order to escalate the engagements already happening on the field. The Phaeton is able to harass players across the map and other foes are dropped in vital battle areas. So we are seeing better use of A.I foes.
My biggest criticism has been fulfilled; Map space is used much better. This map is clearly much smaller than our average map, but vertical space and map gadgets make sure every battle is a heated one. There are plenty of areas where on-foot players can navigate, high or low, and a vast multitude of different options to traverse the map encourage more sophisticated and diverse use of different strategies.
My Final Verdict:
It’s extremely reassuring that 343 has tackled some of the big level designing issues that were present before. This map feel much more well rounded, and I’m incredibly happy to see the original plans for the map scrapped as the new design compliment game-play much better.
On a flip-side, 343 is still suffering under the issues of Architectural repetition and the use of A.I is still to be maximised. Considering that this is a game mode that replace Halo’s typical co-op mode, A.I hasn’t been utilized in a satisfying enough way. Fighting enemies needs to feel more rewarding. I am leaning more into a mechanics field here, but I feel it will stimulate the use of level design if this feature is properly introduced.
My final words are, Progress is still Progress. I am not seeing a map that is totally satisfactory, but I can see that 343’s designers are at least generally aware of the issues that Warzone has incorporated since launch. I am simply appreciative that we haven’t been presented with another map that follows the scheme of the first 3 (Which was dangerously close to happening judging by the original plan.) I’m interested to see how to map will feel to play, but it’s very clear to see, already, that this is a step up.