Has anyone ever fantasized about a Battlefield style Halo game? I’ve always seen there as being a lot of space in the Halo Universe for that. Imagine this:
You spawn as a UNSC Marine on board a support ship hanging low in the atmosphere. Like in BF5, where you can spawn in a landing craft, a tank, or a plane, you have the same options. Do you hop in a longsword and make a bombing run to soften a Covenant advance? Do you take a Pelican full of squadmates to the surface, hovering over a hot LZ for just seconds before dusting off and finding a holding pattern, providing fire support? Or do you hop in an SOEIV pod with ODSTs and drop straight into the enemy base? You fight desperately to defend a set of orbital generators but a charge of brutes overwhelms your defenses. From over the mountain tops you see a CCS-Class Battlecruiser move in and start to glass the area, a UNSC defeat.
All of the basics of Battlefield would translate so easily into Halo. I think that because of the variety of NPCs and enemy types, it would make sense for the entire game to be a SP/MP hybrid with brief cinematics punctuating big team battles. AI would need to be involved, to fill the sandbox with content. The AI would react to the human players, and be easier to kill but for less points. For example, you play as an Elite. If you select Elite Major you charge in and find that the AI grunts and jackals around you rally behind you. If you select silent shadow, you sneak around with an energy sword and grunts stay out of your way. As a human, maybe you play as an ODST, an armored marine, or a Spartan-III. You have armor and shields etc. maybe, but you aren’t dominating the field. AI Marines reinforce positions you take and follow your advance.
Would be really cool to see a carrier or support ship as the UNSC base, and a covenant ship on the opposite end. The ships aren’t engaged with each other, but both can be damaged (a la Battlefront II.)
It’s not a bad idea, but I think one of the main problems games like these have is that their narratives are typically very weak. Fun to play, but not necessarily memorable with their stories, which is something Halo usually strives to do with a central story in their mainline games. Hell, even in their “Spartan Strike/Assault” games there’s a decent story.
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> It’s not a bad idea, but I think one of the main problems games like these have is that their narratives are typically very weak. Fun to play, but not necessarily memorable with their stories, which is something Halo usually strives to do with a central story in their mainline games. Hell, even in their “Spartan Strike/Assault” games there’s a decent story.
I actually feel like this would be a great opportunity to take the Battlefield formula further. Take BF5, you play Iwo Jima and the Japanese can win. So you would have a huge variety of canonical battles to pick from, and they could have optional cutscenes to watch etc. I think it would be cool because for those of us who love the lore, we could get immersed in a battle like Sigma Octanus IV on the ground, with plenty of little easter eggs relating to the canon. The players who don’t care, can just skip the cutscenes and play the game without looking around.
I feel like there could be some interesting ways to make what is actually a multiplayer game into an enjoyable narrative experience. I definitely hear your point though, this would be a bit different and certainly a lot less linear than offerings thus far. But, like in Halo Wars or ODST, would provide more insight into the war outside of Master Chief’s story. It would also provide somewhat of a blank slate for players to just enjoy the world of halo, play around in a sandbox that feels like the human-covenant war, and create their own stories. I’ve always loved how in Battlefield you end up in realistic moments… translated into Halo these moments would be when your Pelican is downed behind enemy lines and you’re trapped with your squad until another dropship comes in to the rescue… or maybe the human ship gets taken out and reinforcements slow down and you and your ODST squad are pinned down in a bunker by hordes of grunts?
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> > 2533274850493408;3:
> > It’s not a bad idea, but I think one of the main problems games like these have is that their narratives are typically very weak. Fun to play, but not necessarily memorable with their stories, which is something Halo usually strives to do with a central story in their mainline games. Hell, even in their “Spartan Strike/Assault” games there’s a decent story.
>
> I actually feel like this would be a great opportunity to take the Battlefield formula further. Take BF5, you play Iwo Jima and the Japanese can win. So you would have a huge variety of canonical battles to pick from, and they could have optional cutscenes to watch etc. I think it would be cool because for those of us who love the lore, we could get immersed in a battle like Sigma Octanus IV on the ground, with plenty of little easter eggs relating to the canon. The players who don’t care, can just skip the cutscenes and play the game without looking around.
>
> I feel like there could be some interesting ways to make what is actually a multiplayer game into an enjoyable narrative experience. I definitely hear your point though, this would be a bit different and certainly a lot less linear than offerings thus far. But, like in Halo Wars or ODST, would provide more insight into the war outside of Master Chief’s story. It would also provide somewhat of a blank slate for players to just enjoy the world of halo, play around in a sandbox that feels like the human-covenant war, and create their own stories. I’ve always loved how in Battlefield you end up in realistic moments… translated into Halo these moments would be when your Pelican is downed behind enemy lines and you’re trapped with your squad until another dropship comes in to the rescue… or maybe the human ship gets taken out and reinforcements slow down and you and your ODST squad are pinned down in a bunker by hordes of grunts?
Haven’t played BF5 (even though I think I own it honestly) so I can’t really speak to it, but the overall topic kind of got me thinking.
One of the things that made the Star Wars Battlefront II campaign so memorable (and I’m talking the OG one not the XB1 one), was that it kind of told the “untold story” of the 501st legion and gave you some history/background in those clone turned storm troopers, fighting alongside and then against the Jedi.
Maybe the same way to do this is to identify some of the boots on the ground around Chief, or even like Noble team, and be able to play through some of those big battles yourself. Be able to play as a marine with an AR, or a sniper, or shock trooper, etc through some of the major battles, like on Reach, or Installation 04.
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> > > 2533274850493408;3:
> > > It’s not a bad idea, but I think one of the main problems games like these have is that their narratives are typically very weak. Fun to play, but not necessarily memorable with their stories, which is something Halo usually strives to do with a central story in their mainline games. Hell, even in their “Spartan Strike/Assault” games there’s a decent story.
> >
> > I actually feel like this would be a great opportunity to take the Battlefield formula further. Take BF5, you play Iwo Jima and the Japanese can win. So you would have a huge variety of canonical battles to pick from, and they could have optional cutscenes to watch etc. I think it would be cool because for those of us who love the lore, we could get immersed in a battle like Sigma Octanus IV on the ground, with plenty of little easter eggs relating to the canon. The players who don’t care, can just skip the cutscenes and play the game without looking around.
> >
> > I feel like there could be some interesting ways to make what is actually a multiplayer game into an enjoyable narrative experience. I definitely hear your point though, this would be a bit different and certainly a lot less linear than offerings thus far. But, like in Halo Wars or ODST, would provide more insight into the war outside of Master Chief’s story. It would also provide somewhat of a blank slate for players to just enjoy the world of halo, play around in a sandbox that feels like the human-covenant war, and create their own stories. I’ve always loved how in Battlefield you end up in realistic moments… translated into Halo these moments would be when your Pelican is downed behind enemy lines and you’re trapped with your squad until another dropship comes in to the rescue… or maybe the human ship gets taken out and reinforcements slow down and you and your ODST squad are pinned down in a bunker by hordes of grunts?
>
> Haven’t played BF5 (even though I think I own it honestly) so I can’t really speak to it, but the overall topic kind of got me thinking.
>
> One of the things that made the Star Wars Battlefront II campaign so memorable (and I’m talking the OG one not the XB1 one), was that it kind of told the “untold story” of the 501st legion and gave you some history/background in those clone turned storm troopers, fighting alongside and then against the Jedi.
>
> Maybe the same way to do this is to identify some of the boots on the ground around Chief, or even like Noble team, and be able to play through some of those big battles yourself. Be able to play as a marine with an AR, or a sniper, or shock trooper, etc through some of the major battles, like on Reach, or Installation 04.
Agreed, it would be very cool to present a story like that. One thing that I’ve considered a lot is balancing… obviously nobody wants to play as a grunt. I think it would make sense to have some easy AI cannon fodder type troops on each side. I could see that being Grunts and Jackals for the Covenant (Human players who want to play Covenant could choose between Brutes and Elites to spawn as, each with different classes.) On the UNSC side, a whole bunch of AI marines would run around and get thwacked, but maybe the Human players for the UNSC would spawn as ODSTs. The ODSTs would be a great equivalent to the 501st Legion, you could play as the 105th ODST Division and follow them on a campaign across the inner colonies. Or maybe you follow a battalion that’s attached to a Destroyer Wolf Pack, roaming and raiding through enemy territory. Later on in the campaign, you could play on Reach and then Earth.
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> > > > 2533274850493408;3:
> > > > It’s not a bad idea, but I think one of the main problems games like these have is that their narratives are typically very weak. Fun to play, but not necessarily memorable with their stories, which is something Halo usually strives to do with a central story in their mainline games. Hell, even in their “Spartan Strike/Assault” games there’s a decent story.
> > >
> > > I actually feel like this would be a great opportunity to take the Battlefield formula further. Take BF5, you play Iwo Jima and the Japanese can win. So you would have a huge variety of canonical battles to pick from, and they could have optional cutscenes to watch etc. I think it would be cool because for those of us who love the lore, we could get immersed in a battle like Sigma Octanus IV on the ground, with plenty of little easter eggs relating to the canon. The players who don’t care, can just skip the cutscenes and play the game without looking around.
> > >
> > > I feel like there could be some interesting ways to make what is actually a multiplayer game into an enjoyable narrative experience. I definitely hear your point though, this would be a bit different and certainly a lot less linear than offerings thus far. But, like in Halo Wars or ODST, would provide more insight into the war outside of Master Chief’s story. It would also provide somewhat of a blank slate for players to just enjoy the world of halo, play around in a sandbox that feels like the human-covenant war, and create their own stories. I’ve always loved how in Battlefield you end up in realistic moments… translated into Halo these moments would be when your Pelican is downed behind enemy lines and you’re trapped with your squad until another dropship comes in to the rescue… or maybe the human ship gets taken out and reinforcements slow down and you and your ODST squad are pinned down in a bunker by hordes of grunts?
> >
> > Haven’t played BF5 (even though I think I own it honestly) so I can’t really speak to it, but the overall topic kind of got me thinking.
> >
> > One of the things that made the Star Wars Battlefront II campaign so memorable (and I’m talking the OG one not the XB1 one), was that it kind of told the “untold story” of the 501st legion and gave you some history/background in those clone turned storm troopers, fighting alongside and then against the Jedi.
> >
> > Maybe the same way to do this is to identify some of the boots on the ground around Chief, or even like Noble team, and be able to play through some of those big battles yourself. Be able to play as a marine with an AR, or a sniper, or shock trooper, etc through some of the major battles, like on Reach, or Installation 04.
>
> Agreed, it would be very cool to present a story like that. One thing that I’ve considered a lot is balancing… obviously nobody wants to play as a grunt. I think it would make sense to have some easy AI cannon fodder type troops on each side. I could see that being Grunts and Jackals for the Covenant (Human players who want to play Covenant could choose between Brutes and Elites to spawn as, each with different classes.) On the UNSC side, a whole bunch of AI marines would run around and get thwacked, but maybe the Human players for the UNSC would spawn as ODSTs. The ODSTs would be a great equivalent to the 501st Legion, you could play as the 105th ODST Division and follow them on a campaign across the inner colonies. Or maybe you follow a battalion that’s attached to a Destroyer Wolf Pack, roaming and raiding through enemy territory. Later on in the campaign, you could play on Reach and then Earth.
I think you could even work in creative ways to get grunts into the game - like it would be cool if you could spawn as a grunt, but actually as a grunt squad - say like three grunts with little health individually, but when one dies you automatically get transported to the body of another one in the squad instead of having to respawn at a command post or rally point.
The closest we got is Warzone, but I wouldn’t mind a bigger game mode like battlefield as Spartans or Marines. Maybe ODST’s too! With objectives and vehicles and space battles too possibly.
Something like this or a star wars battlefront style game, where after earning so much score you can choose to spawn in as a brute chieftain or spartan etc would be amazing