Hopped on Behemoth for the first time, thought it was awesome, both design and gameplay wise.
When I saw the giant towers and ring running around the map, I thought it would be an amazing setup to make a custom Duck Hunt game mode in forge some day.
(sniper up on the tower and ducks running obstacles on the ring and avoiding the sniper shots) Only to realize that if you try to get on the ring or climb the towers you get a countdown to your insta-death.
On Live Fire it looks like you should be able to get up on top of the towers and onto many different ledges. But instead, there’s just invisible walls blocking you everywhere.
On Bazaar there are so many invisible walls blocking cool grapple shots its become my least liked map.
I get that there needs to be a barrier eventually. But if these areas are gonna be designed to look like they SHOULD be accessible but aren’t, then the design needs to change.
I think on Live Fire you should be able to get up on top of the towers and buildings. Most of them are visible to people on the ground and would make the map way more interesting. For the tall towers in the middle I think there should be a way for people without equipment to get up there and take out campers.
I think on Behemoth if the towers/roofs and outer ring aren’t accessible they shouldn’t even be on the map, that simple. They just look too cool and I want to climb them and punishing me for exploring and getting out there just feels wrong.
I think on Bazaar, just throw up some nice, VISIBLE energy shields so people know you cant go over certain roof tops.
In general I think all the maps are very good MP shooter maps, but these three in particular are not so great Halo maps. 343i are putting up barriers, both in the game and on the creativity of the players.
There’s a reason so many Halo 3 custom maps and game modes are remembered. If you could see it, you could reach it. And if the Devs didn’t want you to reach it they had things like the mines outside Sandtrap or sentry towers on Sandbox to point you back in the right direction. Even then you could avoid these warning methods for a good amount of time.
With launch getting closer and closer and so many big features being put off till after launch.(Forge, Theater, MP Campaign) this design philosophy has me really worried for the future of this game. I understand that with the new equipment this idea becomes harder to achieve. But I believe 343 can do it, and I believe if they do it, this will be the best Halo ever.