Halo 4 poorly made multiplayer maps

Games Other Halo
1

Hello all,

This is my first post on the forums here so don’t flame me too much. :slight_smile:

I’ve been playing the game for a few days (5max) and am loving every minute of it, the campaign is amazing, the story, the graphics, the multiplayer style. SWAT! everything about the game for me is complete, but i have 1 issue:

The Halo 4 Multiplayer Maps.

What were 343i thinking?

The maps are just horrible, so cluttered, illogical level design, just bad overall, from my point of view.

Take Abandon for example, Asymmetrical map ( that’s not a bad thing for it )

Lets look at the beach or the most open point of the map. Random boxes placed around, trees blocking any angles to hit the back of the map, all the tree branches or rocks cover your view to the right left and middle of the map.

Now take the point of view from the other side of the map, so looking out towards beach, the left or longest pathway is useless and gives no sort of advantage at all, it has some tree roots and vines for cover, but feels like its just thrown in there.

furthermore, the middle of the map doesn’t give you many advantages as a height advantage goes, due to so much cover being placed reducing the chance to shoot at people or be shot.

Lets move on to a more ‘Popular’ map - Haven.

Top mid = Horrible, the pockets on top mid are a nice touch, but the top mid feels so bulky, not leaving much room to shoot the offending noobs who rush top mid.

Bottom mid = Has the same problem as above. ^

The closed side looking either left or right (red/blue for any mlg callers) has the 4 sets of poles to use as easy cover to walk up to top closed, and the same goes for the bottom streams.

This second gripe is with the community, i will set the scene.

Game of 4v4 slayer (infinity or pro) map choices, solace / adrift / haven.

Guess which map will be picked 9/10… Haven.

Why does everybody and their dog feel the need to play haven? Game after game?

This is partly 343i’s fault, since their are only a handful of maps that are in rotation for 4v4’s, the same goes for 8v8, in my experience, once Ragnarok (the worst halo 3 map to remake) is up for selection at least 12 people vote to play it.

Come on people, variety have you ever heard of it?

Overall i have a great feeling of disatisfaction with the multiplayer maps, they feel so chunky, cluttered and poorly made, where are the free flowing maps, with more action and open hallways to take down teams, not getting lucky that your nade went past the box and they pooped out to be shot.

Although i have dished some hate on Ragnarok (Valhalla)- this map feels extremely good in the Halo 4 engine / play style, granted the vehicles can be annoying but they are easy to take down. The whole map flow works with all the open aspects and nice ability to take players down without too much cover or clutter.

Thanks for anyone who read.

if not here is a TL;DR version.

Halo 4 level design for multiplayer is bad - need more free flowing open maps,eg guardian esque or the pit style maps. Less clutter and crap filling them up for ‘cover’

Community needs to experience other maps and participate in some different map picking not just the norms of haven and ragnarock on btb.

2

You are weird. Halo Reach map were by far the worst one. I prefer Halo 4 map than anything Halo Reach could come with honestly.

Cover are more than needed with all the precision weapon and power weapon at the player disposition.

3

I find the Halo 4 maps fun to be honest. My only complaint is that they didn’t make enough, so I keep getting the same maps all the time.

4

> I find the Halo 4 maps fun to be honest. My only complaint is that they didn’t make enough, so I keep getting the same maps all the time.

Ahah old complaint for every Halo so far. Not like we got that much map for past game. But I agree we should have more map at launch.

5

I agree. The Halo 4 maps are sub par. My main issues with them are the cluttered feel and overuse of textures and graphics. When it comes to map design Simple and clean beats out complicated flashy artwork. 343 seems obsessed with making everything textured and having a ton of flashing lights and colors everywhere… IMO it just takes away from the core game-play and is distracting. Add the cool details and artwork to the skybox and keep the playable area simple.

6

Personally, i never played halo reach, but some players may prefer halo reach maps.

For me, these maps are a complete turn off, its not a matter of being bad at them either, just the cluttered maps are frustrating.

I want some more open close combat maps.

I do wish more maps were in multiplayer, heck why aren’t the forge maps in their already? they should have made some to give players more variety.

7

Man, I totally disagree that Ragnarok was the worst map from Halo 3 to remake. I love these maps. The one thing I’ll agree with you on is the fact that the selections are slim and everyone will vote Ragnarok/Haven over and over. But, it’s the first week, they’ll release more maps soon.

8

Halo 2 and 3 had great maps. But then again Halo 2 and 3 didn’t have AA’s did they? They were designed around armor abilities for the millionth time. The guy from IGN who did the map walkthroughs with 343 asked that also, and 343 stated that the maps were designed to accomendate the AA’s and sprint. Reach’s were by the the worst of any Halo game. Except Forge World’s.

9

> I agree. The Halo 4 maps are sub par. My main issues with them are the cluttered feel and overuse of textures and graphics. When it comes to map design Simple and clean beats out complicated flashy artwork. 343 seems obsessed with making everything textured and having a ton of flashing lights and colors everywhere… IMO it just takes away from the core game-play and is distracting. Add the cool details and artwork to the skybox and keep the playable area simple.

Totally agree.

10

> Halo 2 and 3 had great maps. But then again Halo 2 and 3 didn’t have AA’s did they? They were designed around armor abilities for the millionth time. The guy from IGN who did the map walkthroughs with 343 asked that also, and 343 stated that the maps were designed to accomendate the AA’s and sprint. Reach’s were by the the worst of any Halo game. Except Forge World’s.

True that halo 2/3 didn’t have AA’s but the maps shouldn’t suffer for the use of AA’s, i believe they could make less cluttered maps and still be able to have effective AA use, promethian vision wouldn’t be hindered if the maps were cleaner and less junk clogging the maps, it would still work the same enabling round the corner views etc…

11

Halo 4 maps are pretty epic. Give maps like Haven, Abandon, and Adrift some time and they’ll grown on you…

12

Learn how to make a fair poll: You’ve loaded it by providing 3 broad answers that support your opinion, but only providing one (very definite) answer that disagrees with your opinion.

Furthermore, you are basing your opinions on the base maps that came with Halo 4; we still have another nine maps to come, 3 of which come sometime next month. How do you know what those will be like?

EDIT: AND there will likely be a bunch of Forged maps included from the Forging community at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Also, 343 had SOME hand in developing these maps, however, Certain Affinity was also contracted to contribute.

Anyway, I like the maps in Halo 4 - each has it’s own feel, allows a variety of game-play styles, and makes use of the new vehicles, weapons, and Armor Abilities.

Obviously a lot of people in this thread are going to be negative about this, but that’s partly because you have geared it that way.

13

I personally find Halo 4 maps to be fun.

14

I have enjoyed all of the maps. I just wish there were more.

That’s what map packs are for I suppose.

15

I like the maps.
I’m just sick to death of people picking Ragnarok all the time.

16

I actually like the Halo 4 maps. My biggest problem is the spawning and the lack of red Xs. It feels like CoD where I’m wandering around aimlessly.

I really don’t like the voting system. I wish it was just like halo 2 where it picks the map for you. I could live with a Halo 3 style veto though.

Halo 2 maps however are the best MP maps ever made. They only work in Halo 2 though. Remakes just aren’t the same.

17

> Halo 4 maps are pretty epic. Give maps like Haven, Abandon, and Adrift some time and they’ll grown on you…

Notice what each of these maps does quite well? Verticality. They are relatively small maps with several layers. You can dive right in to the middle of the action, or you can skirt the craziness and pick people off from the edges.

They work very well for everything from infinity slayer and KoTH, to oddball, ctf, and Flood.

18

On the whole I disagree. Haven may actually be my favourite Halo map to date. However I do agree about Abandon, it’s a terrible, terrible map.

19

> On the whole I disagree. Haven may actually be my favourite Halo map to date. However I do agree about Abandon, it’s a terrible, terrible map.

The two maps i outlined above were just examples, i didnt feel the need to critique every map with the downfalls that i had seen or felt existed.

20

Not a fan of the maps at all. All are generally forgettable and none seem to have much flow.

Maybe i’m just looking for someone to blame, but I generally put down the poor map quality to the lead multiplayer map designer behind H4. Seemingly 90% of his experience comes from doing level design behind a couple of Metroid games and most recently before H4, Donkey Kong Country Returns.

The guy is obviously talented, but I really don’t think he has the kind of background or experience necessary for taking on such a role on a franchise like Halo, which has spawned arguably some of the most iconic maps in FPS history.