The following is a copy/paste of my thread on another site’s forums:
So I just copy/pasted a bunch of my posts from multiple threads… didn’t feel like summarizing (with detail) everything all over again. This stuff mostly has to do with Sprint, instant respawns, and ordinance drops. Other miscellaneous analysis scattered throughout, as well. Also, I am editing this OP to add in everything I say in replies to rebuttals, even within this thread.
But I will tell you what’s exciting. It’s exciting to know that if you die, you will wait 3 seconds before you spawn. If you die, you are giving your opponent the chance to grab weapons, to create a counter offensive in an objective based game, to seize control of the map and effectively make it harder for your teammates, whom are now down to 3 players as you are still spawning, to keep a cool and stay alive. What matters is that you’re dead, and your teammates need you more than ever because of this.
sprinting slows down the game and is a “Casual mechanic.” People will try to sprint away from aggressors whom they believe have an advantage over them (either because they’ve had the first shot, you’re screwing up, or they’ve caught you by surprise, etc). So in the end you try and escape - you try and prolong the inevitable. Sprint slows down the game in this sense. Sprint would also be completely stupid to use as an offensive method. Rushing into the enemy won’t give you any sort of advantage. It’ll get you killed. There’s a higher chance the opponent has an ally next to him. Not only that but when you sprint you’re offense-less and in most cases, especially in gametypes with radar, you will get shot first as you sprint.
Sprint is a horribad addition to the series.
Also, AA are most definitely not substitutes for Halo 3’s equipment. You had to grab the equipment from its spawn area. Here you spawn every time with some ability. Two different things.
_
Skill is an important factor when determining sprint’s (and instant respawns) legitimacy. Why should you be given the chance to escape a death you deserve? Why should your enemy have to suffer from a 2 v 1 when actually you spawned far enough that his 1 v 1 was a potential success (if you didn’t have sprint)? In this sense, in fact, it is hard to make good decisions when taking the offensive: you never know when an opponent is going to come at you, when normally, without sprint (and instant respawns), you were able to correctly understand the tensions on the map, where your enemies could be, and how much time you have to pursue someone or something. Instant respawning only helps sprint in this respect (in fact instant respawning is as responsible or even more so in this regard). Again, this analysis supports the classic run-and-gun freestyle chaos of a FPS that Halo never was until today.
Weapons don’t spawn on map and only at the beginning with signs telling you where they are for everyone. Ordinance drops rewards players. Not only that but it creates randomness and chaotic matches. Map control becomes irrelevant at this point. Sprint for the casuals as well. Armor abilities, you know the deal: they need to be eliminated.
_
Also, the incentive for teamwork is to win a match, not to scrap “points.” This is some superficial aspect forced on Halo since Reach (with all the glorifying of medals and -blam!-). Selfish ambition doesn’t always equate to mutual efforts. In fact it really is the other way around, encouraging players to do things on their own in pursuit of personal satisfaction. Winning? Who cares about winning in Halo 4? All you need to do to advance is to play.
_
the new game design since reach has encouraged players to give their teammates the middle finger when asked to play cooperatively. I remember saying this in a thread about hating Halo 4 if you disliked Halo Reach.
It’s so sad. Halo 4 went even further into this direction. As a long time admirer of Halo, I can’t help but say that I was right at the time, and that I am right today.
Halo 4 has the potential to be good, just like the review said. It just needs to take away and/or severely tweak these new game designs. Ordnance drops…instant respawns…no weapon spawns…armor abilities. People who think this is good don’t know what Halo was and why it was praised.
Revisit Halo 2 to check on that run speed. There’s an unnoticeable difference. I don’t even think it’s faster than CE’s, and if it’s faster than 3’s, barely. And that’s not enough to warrant some incredibly game changing mechanic like sprint. (Honestly it just doesn’t belong in this series).
And what genre are you trying to take Halo as? It’s a motherucking FPS. You don’t need to be next to the opponent to be “in the action.” You spawn at Banshee on Ascension and you are visible from both towers of the map. That’s the great thing about Halo multiplayer. The maps are well designed in that you take advantage of its layout and what’s in it. Constantly engaged, but constantly just arms length away from protection. Sprint is totally unnecessary.
Sprint increases the pace of the game, meaning that things are happening very quickly. “Rushing” occurs very often (run-and-gun). People are constantly heading in and out of battle and things are chaotic. That’s what I mean by fast. The sense of slowing down is in the case of chasing/dueling. Solid dueling encounters (better man wins scenarios) are less frequent and kills in this regard are prolonged. Without sprint, the pace of the game is slower. Coordination as a team becomes more prevalent and engagements are a steady pace.
What people don’t seem to understand about what made Halo Halo was the fact that everything was a fight. With regards to AA’s, these are not found in the map to be picked up and used by the player. In stead, you are free to use it at almost any time at will to give yourself an advantage over your opponent - this is, to the very core, unfair. What would make it different is that you had to fight for that advantage.
In Halo 3 you had equipment scattered in various maps such as bubble shield, or power drainer, or regenerators. Yes, if you have them, you have an offensive or defense advantage, depending on what you picked up. But what must be understood here is that that piece of equipment wasn’t given to you, it was fought over by you and your opponent (generic case). You both have equal opportunity. It’s the showdown of personal skill and/or team work. Assessment of the map and grabbing the upper hand is all in the process. That’s the skill and hence the balance that makes Halo as a FPS triumph.
Please, if you support the ideas posed here, “thank.” the post. Comment as well. IF you have threads pertaining to ideas relevant to this OP, post them here as well for others to see. I personally will read them, and depending on what is said, I will act accordingly to let others know about your thread.
