If you are not interested in reading this, ‘Wall of Text’ please don’t bother, or comment either. Likewise don’t agree, please be respectful and feel free to post. Everyone’s opinion is as valid as anyone else’s.
Introduction
Halo was a defining aspect of the decade of the 2000s it was a cultural phenomenon. In just over a decade you go from a significant player base to a comparable pittance. Bad business practices by Microsoft aside 343 are either incompetent or clueless lacking either the clarity to see the repercussions of their vision/so called modernisation for Halo or unwilling to have humility and letting their pride blind them to alienating Halo’s fans and newcomer eps alike. The players play the game how they want to not the developer. I know many people bemoan the references to COD but I is still strong after so long. Changing a formulae is something you do with a petri dish and peer observation in a controlled environment or in the very least a scalpel, not a chainsaw and hope for the best. Its this sort of mind set that led to a colossal failure that was Halo 4 a controversial gamplay, campaign a failed mp mode and Spartan Ops, that little waste of data from Halo 5’s lead writer Halo 4’s only redeeming quality is some people’s eyes was the story. Many hated it it swapped genre from Action/Adventure, Black comedy with bad yoinkers galore to being a captive audience to a soppy Drama with frustrating enemy AI either bullet sponge yoinking or Psychic abilities.
Moving on
Halo MCC is still broken online mostly for people outside the United States, not that 343 even acknowledge the global player base ever.
Halo 5
non existent story development with Chief and Locke reduced to spectators as the Writers crush the Halo Universe into a can and throw in in the trash, the latest overhaul to humanity since 343 butchered everything we knew and loved.
So armour sets, something budgie stopped after Halo 2, combine this with a random generator and you have an unrewarding grind making it advantageous to any for unlocking additional items that make warzone fun to play, or giving your Spartan any sense of customisation/achievement as nothing is solely unlocked through playing alone, like helioskrill which is unlock able through winning the
arena was almost perfect, if 343 had made it the way it should have been, built the maps and gameplay around the formula then provided sprint and ground pound etc in a seperate playlist and for forge options then many complaints would cease to exist.
Warzone is a failed experiment, I leave games either angry enough to throw my controller at the wall or dissatisfied with the game, lag and Point distribution when fighting bosses give way to chance and luck not skill, something that people hated with Halo 4 ordinance drops. Random req cards are identical to ordanace drops, just as unfair and frustraigting. Many of the point people have made in other thread.
Evolution not Revolution
Why do Mario and Call of duty remain popular, it’s because they never let what makes them what they are Change. Cod is a twitch shooter which lets people who get the drop so to speak on other players feel a sense of satisfaction knowing they managed to do something. Advanced Warfare was a evolution as it still retained the core. Halo 5 does not. Halo was a game built around shoot, made, jump and drive, driving was an integral part not a gimmick or token like in Cods campaigns. Mario still has its sole its light hearted and fun it changes where it needed to like 2D-3D but kept its audience having fun.
Removing fun from Halo is a crime. 4-5 campaigns were soulless and funless, lack lustre chores for completions sack on legendary. No splits scren meant couch fun was gone. Warden the Enternally Recycled is a key example of the problems and lack of vision he was a revolution a boss but not an evolution. Each and every Halo 2 boss battle good or bad was unique. Facing multiple bullet sponges with Insta kill psychic weapons is not a recipe for fun. Forced Co-op, no one likes to lug around useless allies, and this is what they did, marine in Halo CE-3, Reach were fun, engaging and entertaining. Capable of holding their own against many enemies and displayed actual personalities, add going rouge on them if you wanted and swapping weapons, plus you could leave them behind. Even lugging a group of AI dead weights around I felt more alone than the library in CE, even 343’s name sake is more company. Although many of these things are gripes with Halo 5 it’s the revolution, not the evolution. Adding a greater voice lineup and things for the marines to say is an evolution. Taking aware and radically altering their design is revolution.
I hope 343 are capable of humility and willingness to come and discuss the revolutions they wish to implement and not just in the United States but globally. Genre swap is a revolution not an evolution.