Since COMBAT EVOLVED there has been a way to change how your spartan looked. was it good? no, but it was something. changing the solid color of your spartan, yeah you could only see the change in FFA but again, it was something. you can see ‘oh that yello dude is good’ or ‘oh that sage bloke is a -Yoink!-’ something to tell who is who
Halo 2 updated it with primary and secondary colors along with being able to play as a split lip. the colors again have the issue of only being able to be seen in FFA but now you can see ‘that sodding elite prefered species is good’ but admittedly in team based games you couldn’t tell the difference that much since it was a 50/50 for the most part
Halo 3 updated it ten fold. now, even in teams, you can tell what player is who because they’re unique. pri, sec, and tertiary colors are available. AND armor customization. now you can see ‘oh god, that ODST helmet, EOD and security shoulders lad is briliant’ and same with the elites ‘pilot squid face’. you can tell who is who in a teams, despite it being RVB. from the helmet to the shoulders and chest piece. everyone felt unique. all be it, it was a lot harder, having to do specific achievements to get the armor pieces, but you could get a good amount just by PLAYING THE CAMPAIGN
Halo Reach updated it more and a lil less. elites now have preset armor as the in universe ranks, unfortunately can’t be mixed and matched. tertiary colors were removed, but the spartan armor was updated ten folder. aside from helmets, chest and shoulders. you had utility, visors, armor effects knee guards, and wrist attachments. now you felt even MORE UNIQUE along side others, be it for FFA or Teamed. in teams you don’t have to look at the color set, you can just go ‘that blue flamed -Yoink!- is trash’ or ‘that MK6, security and comando, prosthetic having -Yoink!- -Yoink!-’ you can tell that player is that spartan, that is their space barbie that they were rewarded with FOR PLAYING THE GAME. sure it could be cheesed… BUT, you could earn the armor through getting CR by playing the multiplayer, more if you win, and more FOR DOING GOOD. yeah you got a lot more for doing the weeklys, but they weren’t required. you were rewarded for spending your time playing the game, and teased to keep playing, seeing the armor you could get.
or if you wanted to get some quickly, you could get specific achievements for Reach and ODST, head on over to waypoint and get 2 helmets and a chest piece for really no time at all, akin to 3
Halo 3 ODST didn’t have much… but what you did get, was Firefight characters based off of the campaign characters. and you got them THROUGH PLAYING THE STORY
Halo 4 kinda removed a lot that Reach had. but did have the addition of arms and legs to be customized, which is nice. and you earn them through ranking up by playing the multiplayer and weekly challenges
Halo 5, worst of the lot. only helmet, visor, body, weapon skins and assignation animation. VERY lacking compared to the other games… but you can earn the currency THROUGH PLAYING THE GAME and earn the armor
Halo infinite does offer a good amount of armor stuff. but most is locked behind a paywall. sure you could get some from the campaign… but it’s kinda underwhelming. and what you can customize is very limited. no more is there primary and secondary colors the player can choose, now there’s armor coatings. no more can you have last gen and current gen armor pieces like in halo 3 and Reach. now they’re locked behind armor cores… you want a armor piece that’s on a certain kit? well i guess you’re gunna have to be that preset to have that armor piece. it ain’t good at all
‘oh, but other games like call of duty do this tooo!’
true, but halo and CoD do so for different reasons, and CoD has an excuse, halo doesn’t
Halo has aloud players to customize since DAY 1. CoD really hasn’t, you’re just faceless soldiers on a battle field
CoD really only had weapon skins. and player customization only really started as of recent. Halo has been doing this forever. it makes sense for CoD to put cosmetics behind a paywall, since not many cares about that in CoD. Halo on the other hand has players caring about that since the launch of CE, and forever bettering customization in future games, making it feel unique from the other games. which is why it feels like 343 are only doing this for the money, and are trying to make every excuse in the book to justify it. Halo isn’t Call of Duty, we gotta remember this people
‘oh but it doesn’t effect gameplay’ you’re right, but it does effect some player attention. people love the feeling of being rewarded. and without that? they feel like they’re wasting their time and will leave
