So far I’m digging it. Its game-play is new and refreshing, but manages to still feel like Halo in a manner. Removing the ridiculous armor abilities that were introduced in Reach is a massive improvement and helps the game feel Like what halo was pre-reach with a few extra movement abilities. Although, the TTK in this game is a bit too short and I believe it removes some of the great gunfight aspects that Halo had.
Movement:
The thruster pack definitely creates a intense feeling during gunfights which is welcoming. The stabilizing thrusters for midair hover-aim is intriguing and I am having a hard time deciding if I like it or not. The reason being that it does remove that awesome feeling of landing hits while jumping and falling and killing a player in a fast motion. On the other hand it does create some minor tactical play. The ground pound is simply awesome and I only say that because the thruster pack can be used for avoiding it. I also like that it can’t OHK unless landing directly which rarely happens. I’m indifferent about being able to slide, I guess it’s a personal preference as I never saw a good reason for using it and when I’m faced with someone using I just laugh for a sec before blowing their brains out, but I guess it doesn’t need to touched. As for the Spartan Charge I believe it works well with the flow of the game I haven’t come across an issue with it yet after 82 games.
Weapons:
A lot of improvements have been made, The AR is actually a mid range rifle like its original design intended it to be. Although its hip fire accuracy is a little too good. The magnum not being useless again is always a welcoming feature.
The SMG is back and I’m in love with it, I always wondered why it was taken out to begin with. Although I do have to say that it is a bit too powerful as well as it performs almost better than an AR in medium range. I think keeping the effectiveness for SMG and AR when smart scope is used would work if the hip-fire effectiveness was reduced a bit.
The BR is almost where it needs to be. Ever since the introduction of the DMR it nearly falls out of place. When it comes down to it the DMR will outperform the BR every time when two players of equal skill are dueling period. The BR’s smart scope, although looks neat it does clutter up the screen a bit too much although I’m getting used to it.
Now for the DMR… personally I despise this weapon with a passion and for the most part the H2 and H3 veteran players I know will agree that it was a weapon that should have never been introduced to the halo games. It is simply too freaking good, The bullet magnetism has always been off the charts and the dmg to rof to handling ratio creates an inbalance in its TTK. This weapon has created a system that forced COD play and removes a lot of the intense gunfights that halo was established on. I do realize that the gun is here to stay and I do use it at times, but it does need to be revamped.
The Prophet’s Bane… too big and too bright. as cool as it looks I feel like I’m purposely blinding myself when I pick it up. I dont really know either what the difference between it and the energy sword are, I like new shiny things so I’m cool with it.
Medals:
It’s what Halo is known for, although we have hit a point where we have too many unnecessary medals. Hat trick? really? Weapon specific kill medals? Just unnecessary and only serves to clutter up the medal list. The weapon specific kill streaks are just enough.
UI and player menu screens:
Just bring back the H3 scoreboards and screens with details on who got what medals how many times, the top 3 medals earned by whom, who killed who how many times etc. We needz dis statz! That’s it for now.