My first night with Halo 4, I sat down in front of my TV with a buddy of mine and we played multiplayer, split-screen, as we are so normally accustomed. Our very first game was, I think, Haven, and it was flat-out magical.
When Complex got involved, though, things weren’t so hot. The map was extremely difficult to play, with the frame rate dropping to extremely low levels if one of us would be looking toward the middle of the level (I’d say probably 15 FPS, which makes lining up shots difficult, frustratingly difficult, in fact). Complex was the only map that did this in Infinity Slayer.
After having the game for a while, I switched to Big Team. Exile played perfectly, Ragnarok played like a champ, Vortex looked great. Meltdown? Frame rate drops would occur sporadically depending upon where my buddy or I would be looking.
New maps come out, and Wreckage is mostly okay but has a couple areas that my friend and I completely avoid because the frame rate dips while we’re there. Shatter? Practically unplayable, using precision weaponry is insanely difficult through no reason other than poor coding or trying to get too many geometrical shapes or textures on two screens. With Shatter being picked a lot, I had no choice but to forego my playlist of choice and go back to regular Infinity Slayer.
I’ve been waiting, hoping, that this would be improved, but even the Forge map playlist has this issue. The very first game we played (I think it was on a map called Simplex), it’s like the game was running at 1/3rd the normal frame rate, it was impossible to land shots if my buddy or I were anywhere near the middle of the level. If these maps actually get added to the regular Infinity Slayer playlist, it will make the game practically unplayable for me, my wife and my roommate, and I already switched from my favorite playlist (Big Team) to regular Infinity Slayer, so making regular Infinity Slayer difficult to play and enjoy as well will leave me with little reason to continue playing this game.
Please tell me that there’s something that can be done about this. A low resolution texture pack for dual-screen players, something? I practically only play Halo with my wife and roommate, with only one of my real-life friends actually preferring to play on his own Xbox at home. In fact, most games of Halo go on at my apartment when someone gets knocked out of a game of Magic the Gathering, Battletech or board games. I’ve been waiting for a fix since the game’s release in November, please tell me there’s a fix on its way?