I’ve been holding back from submitting a thorough review of this game until I had completed the Battle Pass. I’ve now completed it without using any purchased level skips, also completing all but one weekly challenge.
I haven’t played any previous Halo games, and I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did, however most problems don’t become apparent until BP 50+.
The BP: I play on steam, which has a BP 100 unlock. To date, 0.4% of the steam pop has unlocked this which tells me that it’s most likely no one is buying it.
Let’s start with BP:
XP System
In games that utilize XP, only a certain demographic really enjoys grinding
This isn’t really a grindy game, it’s dynamic and generally fun. XP becomes a chore where it should be secondary to the gameplay. When paired with the product, I can still enjoy the game but my drive to play is different. I’ll really only play until I finish the weekly, then a few games per day until XP boost fades. It doesn’t make sense to waste Xp boost on regular matches, so I just stop playing for a few days.
Weeklies
As the only means of generating lots of XP, weeklies are very detrimental to gameplay
In a game with an emphasis on team-based matches, weekly challenges do not drive incentives to win matches. If I need 10 kills with the heatwave, I’m going to focus on those 10 kills, but I’m constantly looking for the heatwave, not focusing on the match. This becomes more of an issue with complex challenges. Get 10 assists means that I’m half-attacking players hoping to get only an assist, and not a kill. You can call me a bad team player, that’s fine. I’m looking out for me, following the paths available.
“Return 3 Flags” requires them to be captured, so I’m not going to defend the flag. I’m just going to hope someone takes it. Same for “Kill X Oddball carriers”
Weeklies should be generally accessible and difficult, not circumstantial
They generally are not challenging, but the lack of circumstance in which they are even possible is a real pain. There was a weekly to grapple from one wasp to another wasp. This requires the right map, and that your team doesn’t blow a wasp from the sky. This isn’t a game with tons of wasps.
Rewards:
This is a mess. Not only are parts exclusive to frames, but the “Kits” are a waste of space when they aren’t even compatible with the rewards for the same set. Most “Kits” have one part that doesn’t belong to a part category, like cloth, knife etc. Most offer very little value.
There should be armor tiers which unlock across all armors. Helmet 1a & 1b then helmet 2a and 2b etc, instead of Helmet 1a, Chest 2b, etc. Someone should be able to play Mark V, and show off their armor if that’s the aesthetic they want.
I went through 95 levels to get flaming shoulders, then two more levels for a flaming head, but they are mutually exclusive and cannot be equipped at the same time. Shut the front door. I want to equip parts that demonstrate my accomplishments, and I get to flaunt my shoulder effect for 2 levels before It’s worthless? How are these not both selectable?
Weekly Swap rewards: Remove these. This is 343 admitting that some weeklies are such a bad match that we shouldn’t even try. I level up 1000 xp so that I could skip something like “Return 3 flags”.
These issues are then compounded by additional design flaws:
Fiesta
One of everyone’s favorite modes, it’s also clear that there’s no real design. You can go multiple matches without being spawned with a rocket launcher which is one of the best ways to quickly catch up on kills. This can be a power weapon mode, but right now random() isn’t working.
BTB
It’s as if the interns are running the product. How has BTB been down for more than a day? I don’t really care that it’s a holiday. I’d be working at midnight in my company if a critical component of the product went offline. This is a joke.
The actual Gameplay
Playlists:
Keep them but let us filter to our desired maps. A number of weeklies require specific maps. If I’m forced to rotate through non-vehicle maps and I need a vehicle, I’m just waiting for the match to end. Playlists just require me to play through maps I don’t desire.
Ranked
Instead of designing balanced maps with a variety of weaponry, ranked strips everything down to BR. BR is only good when everyone else has the BR but as a weapon amongst others, the burst fire isn’t actually that great. So instead of us competing across an even playing field, we’re playing using a gimped loadout with an overrated weapon.
The “Algorithm” is lazy, ineffective for anything that isn’t Team Slayer. Ranking by K/D is supremely stupid when considering:
- A teammate drops, so you’re going to get slaughtered and then derank
- You do obscenely well and don’t rank up because despite carrying the team, you didn’t win. Or even worse, you did very well, did win and didn’t rank up.
- If someone drops on my team, I’ll also drop because I don’t want to derank.
- Outside of team slayer, focusing on K/D means no one is focusing on the objective.
- If Ranked includes objective-based matches, it should account for strategic gameplay. In Oddball, it’s helpful to be a distraction and intentionally die a bunch if it means holding back the other team. In CTF, no one plays defense. In Capture and Hold modes, no one defends. It’s counter-productive to increase K/D because you’re more likely to be overwhelmed.
Remove the algo. It’s the laziest thing I’ve ever seen when compared to all these redonkulously creative medals.
Combat:
Melee is a mess. Hammers and Swords often don’t make contact. Even projectiles have issues - Rockets go through the ground. I’ve even shot the sniper rifle only to see no bullets. I have no other latency with player movement but it’s amazing how often the hammer does nothing at 5 ft, or kills someone 20 ft away.
The melee fist-tiebreaker is lazy as well. When two fists collide, wherever has more HP&Shield survives. If two punches collide, both should just break shields. This mechanic is arbitrary, remove it.
Summary
Good products are simple. They are effective and people use them because of that. Halo’s hidden mechanics are unintuitive and the conflicting goals remove the emphasis on teamplay that should exist. The BP conflicts with weeklies, which conflict with everything.
The netcode and broken gameplay modes should be an on-call P0. If you want people to buy stuff from the store, or the BP, the game needs to work flawlessly.
I have no idea how, with the inconsistencies in combat that this can ever be the eSport that 343 seems to desire.
