> A tl;dr will be in the first reply after the cases
I am going to start off explaining myself:
I love Halo (like many others) and have had it be a part of my life growing up since Halo 1.
I want the Xbox One to do well because I believe it has innovative ideas and games that I want.
I (and I assume many others) bought an Xbox 360 almost solely for Halo 3, even after Gears of War became big. Halo 3 is ranked up with some of the most highly respected games that I consider masterpieces on their own and most of those contain a significant nostalgia factor now.
Halo 5 can be the next Halo to make people want to buy a console just to play it.
Examining the previous Halo games:
Halo was revolutionary and introduced great aspects to the industry. I won’t need to say much else here, except that the maps for multiplayer were expansive, and had a certain element of awe in their design that helped to make the overall experience fun and enjoyable.
Halo 2 refined many things and introduced fun weapons and dual wielding which made firefights a little more creative in some instances. The only got some balancing issues wrong with the sword and it’s infinite use and the rocket launcher in some cases.
Halo 3 was the first Halo on that gen of consoles and offered such a complete experience, it was a must have and must play. I still play it every now and then.
Halo 3: ODST introduced firefight, which had some great potential, but was still fun in it’s own right. The campaign was interesting and fresh, even if it was short.
Halo Reach got some improvements right and some things lost their magic, but the Forge in this game and Forge World, when combined with custom games made some of the best elements of the franchise (and ones that were key to Halo 3’s success) even better.
Halo 4. I don’t have much to say here. Spartan Ops is a good idea, but the execution could have been better. Lack of features from previous games still haunts this one.
Finally, what I have to say:
Halo 5 will need to replicate the strategy that made Halo 3 into the classic it is (regardless of your opinion on it).
This means:
- Forge needs to not be changed, but given the necessary resources to allow creativity
- Campaign needs to be hearty and satisfying
- Multiplayer needs to be flexible, varied, and have lasting appeal.
- Custom Games need to be given the love they deserve
- Overall package should be so complete, people need to feel like they get more than their money’s worth
Following will be the cases, which will take up a few posts.
Case 1: Forge
Reach made the improvements that allowed so much creativity, that Halo once again found itself being surprised by the community (after the Foundry creations in Halo 3)
The only problem people had with it in Reach is that Forge World was all that was viable for their ambition and the pallet became monotonous.
Shortly after Reach came out, and people started diving into Forge World, I created a few threads about a Forge DLC that could expand upon things much like Foundry or Sandbox did as DLC for Halo 3.
A 3 Legged Goat (a prominent member of the Bungie forum community) had a thread pinned that discussed a “Forge City” map. I had an idea to bring diversity to the environment.
Here’s on of my threads: http://www.bungie.net/en-US/Forum/Post?id=2628012
The community loved ideas like those. But, Halo Reach came and went, and Halo 4 never picked up on those ideas either. Halo 4 was limited in Forging Spaces until Forge Island. That may have come a little bit too late, however.
Ever since Halo 2, custom games have been a major part of the Halo experience, and Halo 4 also lacked in that department.
Forge Solution:
Maps like Forge Halo and Forge City would be enough to satisfy most people (I assume) and another generic Forge World type map would be great as well, but not prioritized.
Case 2: Campaign
The problem with Halo Reach’s campaign was the lack of memorable or amazing set pieces and encounters.
Halo 1 had mystery, and the surprise of the Flood, while 2 had some great moments, both cinematic and fun.
Halo 3 had epic encounters and a wide variety of gameplay.
They all had a good story, but the original trilogy is what should be looked at for the overall gameplay and experience.
Another element of all Halos is the enemies. The original trilogy and ODST had a wide range of enemies and encounters. Halo 5 did an amazing thing with people from Retro studios (Metroid Prime makers, that franchise considered to be Masterpieces and some of the best games ever made) to use their acclaimed ability to make fun enemies and combat mechanics to design enemies that were fun to face.
However, Halo 5 didn’t have many different enemies or new things. Fighting the same 3 types of enemies for 75% of the game can be tiresome.
Bosses are another part of Halo games that are underwhelming. The final boss in Halo 4, Guilt Spark in Halo 3, and the final boss in Halo 2 were all less than stellar. No offense. I suggest taking a que from Retro studios again and look at the Metroid Prime series which has some of the most acclaimed and well respected bosses and boss fights.
Campaign Solution:
All Halo 5 has to do, is provide sections of gameplay utilizing many different aspects of gameplay. Flying sections, driving, exploring, combat (long, short, large scale, small scale). It always helps to have diverse environments, too. The story is something that 343i is doing great with, but the campaign should be a decent length, and have a lot of replayability.
I would suggest not having the skulls unlocked from the get-go, as that was always a fun experience. The more hidden things in the campaign, the better and more replayable it will be.
Keep the enemies varied, or at least the way you fight them. Grunts can fill many rolls, from close quarters combat to sniping duels. But, the Forerunners in 5, while great to fight, became too repetitive in their use and how you fought them. Maybe a look at the Half Life series in how fights aren’t all the same and never play out like other ones (due to combinations of different enemies, environments, and weapons the player has).
If there are going to be bosses, I suggest taking a look at how Metroid Prime bosses play out, or even taking a look at Shadow of the Colossus (another game heralded as a masterpiece)
