As someone who has been a halo fan since I received my first Xbox with Halo CE, I was starting to feel the downward spiral of Halo with the last 2 major iterations in the Halo franchise. I did not really enjoy either game in terms of multiplayer. I tried for a long time to accept reach but the lack of any kind of competitive ranking system and other mechanic issues, the game just didn’t feel right. When 343 took over I was super hyped like the majority of players here probably were only to be let down again with some really strange multiplayer design choices (I enjoyed campaign), we ALL know what those were.
Now we have halo 5 and I have to say so far it’s been a blast. The game play feels like halo, more so then anything since halo 3. I accept the new/reoccurring additions (for the most part), and realize the game has to evolve a little to survive. My only worry is 343 might be trying to take it to far, cosmetically stripping Halo’s identity in the process (details ahead). Here is a list of things in my opinion needs to/should be changed for the final product. These will range from cosmetic to game play changing (in no particular order):
- Halo 5 opening theme - I was actually pretty disgusted first starting the beta, the menu music is awful. It sounds like generic war movie/game music, not Halo. I will agree with other posters and say i want my chanting back.
- Service tags - Why can’t we choose less then 4 characters? It’s a little gripe but it matters. I’ve used the same service tag since halo 3 and now I can’t anymore because it is only 3 characters long.
- Spartan opening/closing sequence - I still haven’t really understood the point of this besides showing what armor your wearing, but who really cares. It just looks cheesy and unnecessary (especially the closing sequence). Wasting development time on something like this is extremely puzzling.
- Spartan chatter - I personally don’t have a problem with this as it helps some people but an option to turn it off would be nice, it can be distracting at times.
- Power weapon callouts - My only complaint about this is the frequency. One 30 second reminder that power weapons are about to spawn is fine. The power weapon indicators aren’t a bad inclusion either as it helps when you play solo and don’t have a team who communicates.
- Assault Rifle - It needs it’s ranged reduced. The damage feels pretty good. I felt the assault rifle in Halo 4 felt pretty close to perfect yet they decided to change it. Also automatic weapons in this game should not get increased damage on head shots as it is completely random and inconsistent because you can’t control the spread enough for it to take any skill.
- Sniper Rifle/DMR - Please remove the delay to scope, probably just an oversight but it feels hindering to game play especially when said game play is much faster then before.
- Kill Cam - I really dislike kill cams in this game. I would much rather be able to look at other teammates, see if my power weapon was picked up or what direction people went. As others have stated putting in an option to just turn it off would be nice.
- Death music - Distracting and unnecessary once again. It gets extremely repetitive and annoying after a while.
- Thruster - I feel like it can be used too frequently. An increased cooldown and visible recharge meter would be nice. It would make people use thruster more intelligently and make it less easy to spam.
- Ground Pound - I don’t have a problem with the ability itself but maybe a range decrease would be nice. Also it needs new weapon mapping, I accidentally activate it all the time while trying to crouch jump.
- Smart Scope - Some of the smart scope animations are distracting visually and make it harder to aim, especially the DMR, Light Rifle and Pistol. I guess you could fix it by giving zoom weapons the standard zoom treatment and all other weapons get “down the sights” smart scope.
- Bullet Magnetism - This may just be a connection thing but I feel that it’s too high. While aim assist is reduced head shots feel too easy and I feel like I’ve been killed around corners. Almost like bullets curve around corners if your target just moved past said corner.
- Slayer Announcement - Small, but I miss the old slayer announcements. The whole controlling power weapons announcement is silly really.
- Weapons - I know 343 is trying to make their mark on Halo but why change the iconic look of so many weapons. I’m almost afraid to see what the needler is going to look like. Also the prophet’s bane make no sense to me, it’s essentially the same as the energy sword with some added features but looks god awful and out of place.