Hello, Waypoint. I don’t visit these forums much, so you probably don’t recognize me, but I’d like to share my opinions on Halo 4. Having been a fan of the series since Halo CE, I’m very nervous for where Halo is going. I’m neither a purist nor traditionalist in any sense of the word; I would like to see the series grow. Just not in the direction I feel 343i is planning. I won’t get much into that, though, as Halo 4 has just come out.
I feel like this game has the potential to be one of the best Halo games yet. Unfortunately, it’s as if 343i rushed every single aspect of it, leaving a bland taste in my mouth. There’s so much wrong. Allow me to go over the separate things I think this game needs.
1. Join in progress - it’s a mess. This is, hands down, the most frustrating aspect of Halo 4 yet. Not only is this system completely flawed from the ground up, it’s incredibly poorly executed in Halo 4. I recall an employee of 343i saying there’s a system in place to make sure you’re dropped into a game at appropriate times. What a lie. Almost half the games I try to join solo are already in progress, and more than half of those are games where my team is losing by a lot or where the game is nearly done.
What the hell? First of all, where’s the option for me to turn this off? I don’t WANT to be dropped into games that have started. I understand why they’d implement this feature - to supersede teammates that have left. What they don’t realize is by doing this, they’ve COMPLETELY increased the odds of people leaving. People will leave games now more than ever since they’re no longer punished. It’s just bad. Please remove this or severely overhaul it.
2. Sprint. Now, I think sprint in and of itself is fine (I sort of don’t enjoy it being in a Halo game), but sprint has had some negative impacts on Halo 4.
A. Maps are huge because of sprint. Say goodbye to beautiful maps like Midship, Lockout, The Pit, Warlock, Turf, Ascension, etc. The closest we’ve got is Haven (which is god awful since it’s chosen 80% of the time).
B. It’s a locked-in game feature. It can’t even be toggled in custom games. What the hell? This is really bad. Don’t get me wrong, I think the movement in Halo 4 feels wonderful, but the lack of options is sad and the maps are just way too big.
3. Custom game options. Now, I haven’t looked at them myself, but from what I’ve heard, it’s like 343i wants us to only play the game the way they designed it. I’ve heard that there are a LOT of things you can’t change or disable which is disappointing. The lack of Assault and Juggernaut is also disappointing.
4. Playlist Management. So far it’s been decent, but it’s getting boring fast. Where’s big team objective, team doubles, and regular FFA? This weekly hopper thing isn’t my favorite. I don’t want to only have access to my favorite playlists for a week. I don’t want to wait another month or so to be able to play it again. I completely understand 343i’s choice, though. I just hope this hopper thing is to gauge which playlists are more popular. I hope.
Oh, and how the hell do I play Extraction in match-making? This was one of the few things I was really excited about. Plots on steroid. 
5. Weapon respawn and personal ordnance. Firstly, why do my weapons despawn in 10 seconds upon death? I totally understand I should be punished for dying with a power weapon, but this entirely removes the push and pull of a map for the power weapons. This was one of the MAIN things I love about Halo’s multiplayer. It was always a battle to hold a part of a map or a weapon and whomever pushed the hardest was rewarded. Now players are rewarded for being lone wolves, camping, and just earning points. This brings me into personal ordnance. I feel like this system stagnates map movement and dis-promotes team work. I think it’s an interesting concept that needs dumbed down to 1 or 2 per game at the most. Perhaps with a LOT less weight on power weapons and no weight on power ups (which I feel should be placed on the map).
6. Active Camouflage. Fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it! Other than this one armor ability, I love how balanced the rest are. 343i did extremely well with decreasing the impact AAs have on Halo.
7. Proximity chat (or whatever). I miss hearing people yelling from my TV upon getting dumped on. Is it actually in this game? Oh, and this isn’t a gripe, I just wanted to touch on this.
8. Instant Respawning. Another one of my main complaints. Is it just me, or does this system kind of suck a little bit? I’ve gotten some crazy multi-kills in SWAT games of 4 versus 4. I’ve also been killed by the person I’d just killed because he insta-spawned near me and I had literally no time for cover to allow my shields to charge. It makes the game feels less melodic and more chaotic. I’d prefer this system to be removed or perhaps limited to a very few gametypes (is this even a custom game option)?
9. DMR. I almost forgot. Dumb this thing down. Holy hell, I can’t move around Ragnorok at all!
10. Scope flinch. Forgot this too. Uh, please re-introduce scope knock-out. Thanks.
Well, I suppose that’s all I have to say. I really do like Halo 4, but it could be SO much better than it is. It’s currently a diamond in the rough. Thanks for reading.