Halo has been around for over a decade now, and with each new release, there is always a group of players that say the certain titles don’t feel like Halo to them without explaining what that means. For example, with the release of the Halo 5 beta, there are people saying “eeesh, this game isn’t Halo… It doesn’t play or feel like Halo! screw this!” etc. So I just want to know how everyone is personally defining the Halo experience.
For me, I think Halo has broken into two categories at this point; “Classic Halo” and “Modern Halo.”
Classic Halo: This is a bare-bones arena shooter with rechargeable shields, where everyone enters on an even playing field (same starting weapons, same health, same movement speed, etc.), and players are separated only by their skill in the game.
Features:
*Fast kill times (when compared to Modern Halo games)
*Small 4v4 maps, and large 8v8 maps
*Powerups on the map
*Minimal Multiplayer Announcer (only announces sprees, multikills, and legendary medals)
*moderate learning curve with mentally timing powerups/ power weapons
*Minimal game indicators (plain red dots are shown on radars, arrows over your teammates are displayed, and objectives are also displayed)
Modern Halo: This type of Halo attempts to draw its player base in through flashy, and often borrowed ideas (sprinting, armor abilities, and loadouts to name a few). This type also often draws more influence from the game’s lore to create weapons, abilities, and maps. For the most part, players are on an even playing field, but loadouts do come into play with certain titles.
Features:
*Slower kill times (when compared to Classic Halo games)
*Medium sized 4v4 maps, Large 8v8 maps
*Armor/ Spartan Abilities
*Sprint
*Maximum Multiplayer Announcer (announces almost every medal)
*Maximum game indicators (radars now indicate verticality and vehicles, teammate names are displayed, objective indicators are shown even showing flags/ oddballs when held, power up/ weapon indicators and announcements are also in abundance)
That’s how I define Halo gameplay off the top of my head, but I’m sure there is a better way to go about this. So, how do you guys distinguish that Halo feel? Maybe list some gametypes from specific Halo titles that both do and do not fit your personal definitions of that Halo feel, would be a good way to go about this. I’m genuinely curious about this.