I apologize if this is a bit rambly and long, or uncoordinated. These are the notes I took over the course of the flight and I tried to clean them up when they flight ended.
I will probably need to use replies because I typed a LOT.
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Okay, based on this first flight it looks to me like a really good game with lots of smaller problems that build up rather than one or two huge glaring problems. Once Recharge came out I started absolutely loving this game, not the hugest fan of Live Fire but it is still already a very memorable map visually, and the best part about these maps is I feel like I will remember their name and layout for years, I struggle to remember the names of many maps post-Halo 3, but the fact that I already know the names of these Infinite maps like the back of my hand is a VERY good thing. Give your map designers a raise. I’m also surprised by how balanced this game is, for this being a flight.
- Sound
I feel like the multiplayer “suspense” music is VERY well done. It’s very subtle yet suspenseful, not annoying and distracting like Halo 4’s, and the music leading up to Jeff saying the game is half over is super cool, satisfying and already memorable. You were right to be proud of the multiplayer music.
The menu music when customizing my Spartan and stuff is great music, but way too loud and fast for something as laid back as chilling in a bunker, customizing my Spartan. Shoegaze / post rock is a slightly weird direction to take a Halo soundtrack, but I’m all for it, just dial the loud drums and guitar back a little when I’m chilling in the menu.
I say you should turn off or heavily lower the volume of the hitmarker noises. I didn’t even realize there were hitmarker noises, but when I disabled them the game sounded a lot less cluttered.
The gunshots sound a bit too quiet thought it seems like, not necessarily by design, but just the sound mixing.
Another problem is they don’t sound good when they’re supposed to be echoing across the map. Instead of gunshot sounds echoing or bouncing thru the walls from far away, the faraway gunshots and dialogue kinda sounded like it was just muffled Xbox game chat audio, or like the faraway gunshots were inside a plastic cup right next to me. This only seemed to occur on Live Fire however.
I love the sound the spike grenade makes when it’s about to explode.
The sound effects for plasma grenades are a little lacking, they used to make a super high pitched whizzing noise when they landed and when they stuck to things, I can barely hear them now.
All of the guns sound pretty great, but my problem with them is many of them lack the punch and a little of the identity that they should have. The sound design in this game is really damn good, but I feel like the game is relying too much on realistic gunshot sounds rather than immediately identifiable gunshot sounds. The sounds are good but there are some guns where if you played just its audio I don’t know if I could identify it off sound alone, whereas the sounds of some of the old halo guns were more immediately identifiable.
This effects gameplay.
You should be able to hear a gun cross map and identify just by its sound what gun it is, ESPECIALLY the needler, and the needler doesn’t have that identifiable ringing sound it usually has. in Halo 3 specifically you could hear the crackling of the BR from far away and identity it, and DOES apply with this game’s BR, but not all its guns.
The sound the AR makes would be perfect if it was less powerful (which it should be), but its sound doesn’t have enough punch to convey how actually deadly it is in this build anyway. I say keep its current sound and just Nerf the gun.
The sidekick sounds good, but again the gunshots from the sidekick need a little more punch or weight. Not a ton, so that you don’t think it’s more powerful than it is, but just a bit more kick to the sound effects of the sidekick, and maybe sound slightly more high pitched when it shoots.
The pulse rifle, SPNKR, plasma pistol, Heatwave, skewer, Ravager, and battle rifle sound basically perfect.
I don’t know how to say this other than the bulldog needs to sound…a little more like a shotgun? I don’t know. Needs a little bit of a lingering sound behind its shots to give its shots more impact and identifiable as a shotgun, but not too much. It takes more shots to kill someone with the bulldog than a normal Halo shotgun, so it doesn’t need to sound as much of a pop as the original shotgun, but I think it could sound a teensy bit less like a generic gunshot, no offense because it still sounds really good and meaty.
The needler sounds off. It sounds WAAYYY too much like a plasma weapon, when it’s so much more than that. It needs that ringing sound, that sounds like the needles rattling around inside the gun as it shoots like in Halo 3. (Halo 3 had by far the ugliest needler, but the best sound). That chime sound that it used to have when shooting it. You should be able to hear a needler without seeing it and think “oh -Yoink-, that’s a needler”. There needs to be a way more noticeable supercombine noise too
Thank you for taking the filter off Jeff Steitzer’s voice and letting him calm down a bit. Absolutely love how Jeff sounds in this game. Less is more
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I just…I think a ping system is more than enough and it seemed like waayyyyy too much in-game dialogue was going on during the multiplayer match that it was distracting and annoying, despite how Jeff Steitzer has been dialed back some. I’m hearing Jeff Steitzer then I’m hearing my A.I. and then I’m hearing the spartans, it’s a bit much. The Spartans shouldn’t necessarily be dead serious like Halo 5, but they’re a little bit too enthusiastic and silly and babble a bit too much.
on the map Bazaar are way taller than the 7 foot tall Spartans.