I’ve felt very differently about this game than any other Halo game I’ve played. I just wanted to voice my thoughts and opinions about it in hopes of generating some discussion about the issues. Please know I’m not trying to be malicious or flame anyone who disagrees. I just wanted to see if there’s some fellow fans who feel the same way. Also, note that my thoughts focus solely on multiplayer, not campaign. (TL;DR at the bottom)
WHERE I COME FROM AS A HALO FAN
Just a little background of my Halo experience so you can get a clearer idea of what my perspective is. I was 17 at the time Halo: CE came out. I was well aware of the game and the Xbox before they came out, and I was ecstatic to get them. I loved the game, played it all the time, and hosted Halo LAN parties at my house.
I’ve enjoyed every Halo game since and have purchased each one on its release date. I’ve also managed to 100% the achievements for all the games (except Halo Wars), and will surely have 100% completion on Halo 4 in short time.
If you make a comment below, I’d be curious to know about your Halo background as well. How old you were when you first played, which game was your first, etc.
HALO 4 IS A GREAT GAME, BUT IT’S NOT A GREAT HALO GAME.
Lots of people seem to either love or hate Halo 4. I think I sit somewhere in the middle. I think the game works and plays well, and is an enjoyable experience. I will probably enjoy it for a long time to come. However, I will probably enjoy it least of all the Halo games thus far.
As Halo fans, we want a consistent game experience that feels like Halo always has. However, we also want something fresh and new. These two needs are very important and delicate concepts to balance together. Unfortunately, I believe that 343 has added too many new features while also, at the same time, stripping the game of important old features. This has led to a game that doesn’t quite play the same or have the same feel that previous Halo titles have had.
ADDING FEATURES VERSUS REMOVING FEATURES
There are many new features to the game: Having sprint plus another armor ability, the kill cams, being able to join mid match, Spartan Ops, armor enhancements and specializations, being able to earn ordnance drops, the point system, new gametypes, instant respawn, etc. I find that adding new features is requisite to continuing a franchise of any kind. I like some of these new features, I dislike some, and others I think need different degrees of tweaking.
For me, the even bigger problem I find with this game is the features they’ve removed. There are no static weapon spawns on the maps, you can’t pick up enemy grenades, there is no red “x” above your fallen teammates, weapons disappear super fast after you die, lots of gametypes are now changed or gone, firefight is gone, you can’t tell who’s partied up in the pre-game lobby, lots of menu UI changes, etc. There are TONS more of other little changes as well, many of which are minor changes to improve previous ideas implemented in older Halo games.
Most Halo games tend to build on previous game features. They add some new ones, and drop some of the clunkier or less popular ones. In Halo 4 there are three core ideas (IMO) to halo gameplay that they’ve removed: You now need a special perk to pick up enemy grenades, fallen player’s weapons disappear extremely fast and often before you can get to them, and There are no consistent weapon spawn locations on the map throughout a game. There are others that I’m sure are more or less important to many of you, but to me, these are the most important.
To me, these three are all HUGE changes and are paramount to Halo’s experience and feel. These three things have been consistently the same throughout ALL Halo games for the last 10 years! Removing them has, in my opinion, been the worst and most drastic change that came with Halo 4.
HALO 4 EVOLVED TOO QUICKLY?
I seem to recall a 343 employee saying that Halo fans don’t want a revolutionary game, they want an evolutionary game. I agree with this, and so perhaps the problem is that Halo 4 evolved too quickly. Each Halo game seems to add and change a few features, and that’s normal and expected. But Halo 4 feels like the changes happened too fast.
For example, imagine that with each Halo release the game changes (hypothetically) by about 20% from the previous game. So that would mean that Halo 2 is about 20% different than Halo 1, and Halo 3 is about 20% different than Halo 2, etc. Basically I feel that all the games have followed a somewhat consistent and similar pattern, but that Halo 4 had a 40-50% change instead of a 20% change. That’s just too much to take in one leap.
It’s as though someone had played Halo 1, and then skipped ahead to Halo 3 or Reach without playing any of the games in between. The contrasts would be so stark that it many not have the traditional Halo experience they wanted.
TO THOSE WHO STRONGLY LIKE OR DISLIKE THE GAME
To those who say, “Hey, I like this game, it’s the best Halo yet!” I respectfully say that I agree that it’s a great game. It’s fun to play. However, I just can’t quite enjoy it on the level I expected too, knowing that it’s a Halo game.
To those who say, “I hate this game, it’s the worst Halo yet!” I respectfully agree that it’s fallen short when compared and contrasted to previous Halo titles. It’s just not the same. However, although it’s different, I still say it’s a good game and can be enjoyed on its own merits.
Again, I want to reiterate that I like this game. I find it fun. I believe that 343 did a good job at creating an enjoyable game. However, I believe that they failed at creating a game that’s fun in the same way previous Halos were, and that’s what I really wanted the most out of this game. I would be in favor of tweaking or removing some of the new changes and reapplying some of the old gameplay components that were removed.
TOO LONG; DIDN’T READ
When compared to previous Halo games, there have been many drastic changes and features added to Halo 4. There have also been several core features of Halo games that were removed or drastically changed. With these two things happening at the same time, 343 has produced a solid, fun game, but not a game that’s consistent with the Halo “feel” we’ve enjoyed for the last 10 years.