Alright, so I just got done reading the Game Informer article for the new Call of Duty. The weird part is that it was in the 26th century, you play as spartans, and there’s some aliens. Other than that your playing the sci-fi version of CoD.
Now hopefully the people reading this know that I’m actually talking about the downfall to the Halo series’ multiplayer, Halo 4. Now before I began my rage at 343 let me tell you my Halo experience. Since day one of the Xbox and Halo:CE I have loved and cherished the Halo series. I’ve played each game thousands of times and love them very much. Now even though there has been innovation in each new Halo game the core of the game is always there. But from what I can tell from Game Informer’s article is that the core Halo experience has been whisked away by 343.
Now the rank system in the Halo series has never been the same thing twice. It changes every game. But this time around it sounds more like a CoD look alike. From what I took from the article is that you level up similar to Reach with Spartan points. Now at first I figured this would be like credits you use to by armor for your spartan, but I was wrong. When you level up you unlock abilities for a custom class…WHAT! Custom classes are for CoD and Battlefield and such it sounds nothing like the core Halo experience. Also those Spartan points you get after games go towards buying those abilities for your custom classes. Anyone else smell Treyarch around here?
Sprint. Sprint was a armor ability in Halo:Reach that I most commonly used over all other abilities. Not to say I do/did not hate the other armor abilities or the abilities in general; I thought they brought a different feel to the game while keeping the core of Halo. Now a days sprint is no longer an ability but something you use all the time like in Call of Duty or Battlefield. Sigh is there anymore bad news about the multiplayer? Yes.
I’ll just get straight to the point with these ones. The weapon spawns are now random, a new mode called Spartan ops(copy of Spec ops) which replaces firefight, and no confirmation on forge. Now I don’t know how many of you watch or have heard of MLG, but what it is is Major League Gaming; which has professional 4 player Halo teams compete against each other in tournaments all year long. One of the key aspects of these games are the weapon spawns. Tournaments have been decided by who knew when the new Rocket Launcher would spawn, where it was, and who got there first. With random weapon spawns that key to professional gaming is diminished. The article also stated that 343 did this so experienced players wouldn’t have the advantage; they are completely missing the point. If they want noobs to buy there games this late in the Halo series you don’t make it easy for them by dropping a rocket launcher a there feet that they don’t even know how to shoot. If they hop into any game series a noob they better expect to get crushed by veterans; but that shouldn’t mean they stop playing. What you do is you keep playing until you finally learned where the sniper or rockets spawn and you get there first and use that against the veterans. Developers always say they want a new audience but when they try for a new one they lose there old ones. Noobs shouldn’t get priority during development the long time fans should.
Now heres my final three points and I’ll be on my way. Spartan ops, Firefight, and forge. I’ll start with forge. Now out of all the mistakes you’ve already made 343, not including forge could be one the biggest. I trust you will have enough intelligence as to why it should be included but if not heres why. Forge is a huge way the community interacts with the developer. Previously mapes from fans made in forge have lead to them becoming playable maps in multiplayer, being a great custom game to play with friends, and of course on Rooster Teeth’s Horse from Achievement Hunter. There are also many artists in the Halo series that use forge to create beautiful recreations of,for example, the Prophet of Truth, Master Chief, the Arbiter and many many more.
Now onto Spartan ops and Firefight. Firefight has been around for only two games in the Halo series but the concept and the fun of it is a lot larger. The wave based survival concept has/is been put into every big name franchise out there: Halo, CoD, Gears of War, Mass Effect 3 etc. During it’s introduction in Halo 3: ODST I was not to fond of it as I like Gears of War’s version better(Horde mode). But in Reach it came out with a bang and it is now my favorite wave base survival mode. Now from the sounds of it Spartans ops is Spec ops with Halo’s spin to it. Now do I ever really play Spec ops in CoD? No. But a good amount of people do for this to be a smart move. But, if you, 343, do put Spartan ops in there whats the harm of putting in Firefight? Firefight is already a loved Halo feature and a loved feature in all the gaming industries games. Modern Warfare 3 made a smart move by having both Spec ops and Survival in the same game and it was/is really succesful for them together so why not do the same?
Before I post this and read the comments of some 343 lover boy bashing on me because I hate innovation or that the Halo series needs this because there hasn’t been innovation in the series this is not the case. Power ups in Halo 3, armor abilities in Reach, addition of certain weapons that changed the game forever are just a few I will name and I enjoyed them all. Using a bubble shield to save myself from dying or a power drain to kill an enemy, Halo 3’s power ups changed how the game was played in the series. The armor abilities in Reach did the same. Whether it was using sprint to run from enemy gunfire or armor lock to destroy an oncoming vehicle armor abilities once again changed up the game. But we could go back even farther to the good ole days of Halo in Halo:CE and Halo 2. The weapons that were added in Halo 2 changed Halo forever. Halo:CE didn’t really have a rifle. Yes there was the pistol which was a BR equivalent and the sniper rifle but no real rifle. The BR (Battle Rifle) changed that. With a rifle in place in the series it became the iconic weapon for multiplayer and as Master Chief. Now I could explain or you could go pop your classic Halo games in the disc tray and compare and experience the huge change for yourself.
Now there’s no question I will buy this game. Halo is my favorite game series of all time and I could never abandon it even though it seems it has been kidnapped by bad people who are brainwashing it. I originally had the utmost confidence in 343 Industries; I mean come on half the team is ex-Bungie. Like I said at the beginning of this novel sized forum post when Bungie changed things the game the core Halo experience was still there. 343 wants to put there own touch on Halo which I completely support and understand but if they change Halo so much that the original core experience vanishes, I may be buying this game and all future 343 Halo games JUST for the campaign.