Do you ever get the feeling most review sites seriously gave this game overall positive scores because its a blockbuster and they HAVE to? I sure do, every review I’ve read thus far contradicts what’s actually in the game. They say the game has a lot of polish, a variety of environment, new weapons with their own unique feel, and new vehicles (spoiler alert, there’s only 1 new vehicle, not counting the mission-specific pelican). Its misleading, and I feel sorry for my fellow Halo fans as well as newcomers who bought this game because its supposedly ‘praised’. And they said this is Microsoft’s biggest budget game ever? Yeah, maybe if you count all the huge advertising they did, including buying a country for a day just to promote the game to some select press and journalists.
On top of it all, I experienced several campaign bugs that made the game very unenjoyable. That’s not even counting the atrocious stoyline and storyboarding this game had. Halo was always about the campaign to me, but I’m utterly disappointed with the way they handled story progression. The characters know what a Didact is right off the bat, and that just leaves the players who haven’t read the books completely lost. Big moments like meeting another Spartan for the first time (something fans have been CLAMORING for) are also so mellowed out you’d think 343 has been making their own parallel line of Halo games where all of this stuff already happened to the characters. Need I say that there is no skulls to find as well? Nor any integrated campaign co-op matchmaking?
And on top of all this, interface bugs, challenge bugs, and a pointless unlock system that’s CLEARLY tailored to a ‘certain’ audience (you all know what game) makes this overall a huge disappointment that seems to try to profit by satiating the biggest audience it can. I could go on, elaborate on all the things that peeved me, but to conclude I simply can’t say I like the direction this game is heading in. You can count me out of the next sequel unless 343 get’s their act together and go back to the roots which made this series great.