I’m almost beside myself with how happy I am with the flight this past weekend. I’m seeing a lot of complaints about the controls and aiming but I didn’t have any issue at all. I use an Elite 2 controller with 5/5 sens and 5 accel as well as stacking on a custom response curve from the dashboard controller options. Feels snappy and although I’m just a lowly 1.0 KD player I had no problem feeling like I’m right within my expectations for how well I can acquire and dispose of targets.
WHAT I LOVED:
- The maps, I really enjoyed all the maps, I was just starting to get the hang of all weapon and equipment locations by the end of the weekend and it all felt great and flowed really well for my taste. CTF was excellent on bazaar. and Behemoth gave me all the OG halo feels.
- The weapons - There honestly wasn’t a single weapon I didn’t want to pick up. I never really got used to the heatwave or red goo gun, but all of the kinetic weapons felt awesome to me. Even the pistol felt like it was a great secondary and I used it to clean up many kills at long range. AWESOME
- The movement - I was very excited to see the FOV slider and I thought the movement was fast, agile and intuitive. Some of this was the exaggerated feel from running a 120 FOV but I honestly I always felt like i was in complete control and that it was a good mix of feeling fast but not over the top. I turned off all blurs and effects FYI.
- Weapons Training - LOVE IT - I spent many hours in the weapons training. I honestly think that if people are struggling it’s because they didn’t spend enough time learning the guns capabilities and rhythms. I know there seems to be a consensus on problems with controls and aiming but I think some of that is just getting used to what each gun excels and removing some preconceived notions about what guns used to be and learning what they are now. For example if you’re having trouble with the needler then you’re using it wrong. I’m not discounting that there seems to be agreement that the controls need refining but I’m unfortunately here to tell you that i had ZERO issues.
- Graphics - These didnt’ blow me away but I dont really care. I thought it looked crisp and clean and ran well on my XSX. nothing to write home about and I feel like the maps could use a little more details and “life” but overall I’m not caring. I’m much more interested in mechanics, balance, modes and weapon feel.
- Sound - same as graphics, I wasn’t blown away but I didn’t have any issues at all with footstep audio and I thought all the guns sounded excellent. I feel like there might be just a general final “coat of paint” to be done but I was never confused about enemy location or incoming damage so for all intents and purposes it works well and sounds good to me. Music is top notch. However I dont need my AI telling me about guns I’ve picked up or whatever.
-Radar - Again I read a lot of gripes with the radar. For me personally I have no issues with it. I definitely got snuck up on a few times and I’m fine with it… It seems like it’s less useful than the past but again I think that’s a good thing.
- Melee - Another area that seems to be in contention, however I like the lunge range and the general feel and mechanics of it…maybe my memory is failing me but it feels exactly like it used to in Halo 2 which i love. It’s a small chess match to gap control your enemy and its still very possible to achieve a reversal if your movement is good.
WHAT I HATED:
Nothing, honestly I’m shocked to say this. There wasn’t a single thing that bothered me enough to hate it. There’s a couple screen effects that could be polished like when two people melee each other at the same time where it seems to flash full white-out on the screen and is a little disorienting but I’m struggling to have any major gripes. I’m not usually an optimist and I’m usually quite critical of things that I don’t like so its rare for me to give such a glowing review. Im sorry if you have problems or disagree with me but I just really do love the overall feel of the game so far and I’m very excited for release.