After settling down with the game for just over a week now, i feel i have managed to taste what the new multiplayer is all about.
It feels, at its core, very halo… grab the dmr and jump and shoot, it feels just as accessible as Halo should be.
The things i feel have improved the gameplay are:
Weekly additions.
Spartan Ops has been received with mixed views, so i’ll concentrate on fact. Every week we will be getting new episodes to play, with some wonderfully rendered videos to bring the story to life. As a follower of the halo universe, anything adding to it is a real goldmine.
It’s free, and fresh every monday for a total of 9 weeks after release day… did i mention it was free? In a time where everyone is trying to steal 1200MSP out of you for 3 maps, this is incredible.
Also, i was VERY happy to see swat back, and now with two weapons, we see a new combat dynamic, it feels like SWAT on steroids.
Instant respawn/Friendly Respwaning.
The first thing i had to get my head around is how long the games felt at first, the time limit has not been increased, but due to the new dynamic respawning, you are right back into the action, and the hot spots.
From what i have played, it seems so strange that the team games still feel as if they have designated base zones, despite the ability to spawn everywhere. Best of both worlds and very well implemented.
Assist scoring.
I’m a Ghost Recon fan… which means… i am a team-work fan through and through… so when all the guys hopped over and had a massive halo session (Cold shoulders from the GF’s) i was really happy to see that on Ragnarok one would scream MANTIIISS!!! and everyone would concentrate on taking that mantis down… and everyone would be awarded more points for assisting the takedown than they would have got for getting a clean normal kill. Bravo! this leads me to my next point.
Game winning criteria.
We all still shout out “They are 5 kills ahead/behind” but we know that having team games based on score means Assist really do count for something good… again team work will win. No lone wolves here, such a great focus to lesser the pain of Assists and make it actually feel rewarding… which no other game i have played does this… Bravo.
Ordnance.
Without diminishing skill too much, these seem to have lowered the gap between casual gamers and they guys who know each map by heart.
This has made the game hugely satisfying to pick up and play, usual choke points on the halo 3 Valhalla map feel so much more different, and i feel it is all down to the Ordnance.
If we could see combat heat maps, i’m sure we would see a healthy and dynamic spread of action, and that is what we want as gamers, good action, all the time, non stop.
I admit, this does feel like a ripp from the COD Care package, but i loved that, it really bought a change to the game, you have to change your strategy depending on what you got in your package… Also, try to imagine it more of a nod to the ordnance drops in the halo campaigns, and maybe Halo Wars.
The sound…
Oh my…
How do you know when someone is charging a Plasma Pistol behind you? This is amazing… every gun sounds so distinctive that you know exactly what it is before you can see it… i am in awe with every game that i play, just how well the sound gives you situational awarness. The sound of footsteps are themselves so fantastic! a real plus for playing games like SWAT with no motion trakers.
Loadouts.
We saw them in Reach, and barely remembered to change them! It was a good move by 343 to analyse the reach gameplay to find nearly everybody opted for sprint, nice easy default. From this they gave us sprint as standard, which is a nice touch to help maintain a good pace of action without any downtime.
The armour abilities within the loadouts feels very well thought-out, it is clear that for every ability, there is a counter ability… and some funny moments too 
It has to be said though, even with all the loadouts and abilities, it is so easy to forget you have them, or forget to use them, which shows the addition of this feature has not changed the core gameplay… and still, if you dont like these abilities/upgrades then there is even something for you… the 2x primary weapon ability, what a cool alternative.
All in all, i think the changes have been great! I’m not too happy with my performance as my kill/death ratio shows, but there is a lot to learn about this game and how best to use all the new tools, many people call this imbalance… i just think each weapon/ability has its own specific role, and we just need to evolve our gameplay into the new generation of Halo.
Oh, and i wish fileshare worked 