Okay so I have been playing a lot of halo 4. Just as much as i played halo 2, CE, 3, and reach and i got to say halo 4 is the “Fedex” child. 343 wanted to try something different. Make a faster paced multiplayer with more options. But they didn’t stop to think how this would change EVERYTHING.
**If you haven’t seem Egoraptors video on Castlevania 4 you should look at it. It sums up some of the basic complaints about halo 4.
LINK: http://youtu.be/ww_PjqYQi5E
What 343 has done right:
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Game feel:
Im sure everyone can agree this is the best looking halo to date. The graphics are really nice, the spartans are looking great with res models and textures. -
Nerfed Armor Abilities:
In reach your armor ability defined you as a player. All the armor abilities DRASTICALLY changed how you played. In halo 4 they really cut down the time you could use an ability and now the armor abilities just don’t feel quite as potent in gameplay.
EX: Hardlight shield blows compared to Armor Lock, and Jetpack hardly boost you in the air, and thruster pack doesn’t do anything compared to dodge. Except Active camo… that -Yoink- OP lol.
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Sounds:
The reworked sounds for all the weapons and vehicles just sound better. The crisp bangs and bops from all the weapons sound great. My favorite is how well the Ghost sounds while boosting.
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Needler:
Just saying glad its somewhat of a power weapon now. Been waiting on that for a long time.
What 343 has done WRONG:
- PACING:
This is by far my worst complaint and really makes the game feel like it isn’t halo anymore. 343 opted to go for a more call of duty feel. You die a lot faster, guns shoot faster, your movement speed is faster. Everything in this game has just gotten to be much faster. Gone are the days when you could survive most engagements just by running to your teammates or hiding.
The starting guns shoot much faster and are able to kill someone much more quickly, there isnt any bloom on the dmr so you can spam it. There are more one shot power weapons in this halo than you can shake a stick at.
- Ease of play:
The amount of auto-aim and bullet magnetism is quite much. I mean look at the sniper. If you only use the first zoom, omg its a death cannon. Its really hard to miss head shots. Most of the starting weapons now feel like power weapons from past games. The dmr has insane auto lock range. You couldn’t down someone cross map with a dmr in reach could you? You would have to waste a few clips into a moving target because the auto aim range wasn’t godly and there was significant bloom.
In reach if you wanted to engage from long distances you HAD TO HAVE A SNIPER and even then it took much more skill to land head shots compared to halo 4.
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Customizable loadouts:
Be honest here… How many times have you used the suppressor… The problem with being able to choose our starting weapon is that the OP ones rise to the top aka the dmr. Why not just give everyone a dmr in that playlist or an AR or something. The fact that no one uses the automatic rifles is a glaring issue and shows that Reach did it right. In reach everyone had the same primary weapon (except for a few playlists) and you chose your armor ability. This is great and doesn’t waste our time with other weapons. You shouldn’t get punished for picking a primary weapon that is VASTLY inferior to the dmr. -
Join in progress / Rage Quitting:
There isn’t any punishment for leaving a match… This promotes people leaving games and leaving a team nerfed without any consequences what so ever. In halo 3, you would lose a rank. In reach you lost credits and could be put on probation. This is incentive to stick it out with your team and play through til the end o they don’t get punished by your actions.
Joining in progress sucks too. Instead of starting off a game fresh and balanced you get thrown into a game with the opposite team probably winning significantly, and they are decked out with few too many power weapons.
- Ordnance:
This gimmick doesn’t even feel like halo. Instead of having timed weapon spawns like every other halo 343 decided to put up random weapon spawns. WTF?!? So instead of strategizing with your team to control a certain area at a certain time to grab rockets. They just spawn randomly and everyone has to dash to it? and chances are someone is already close by the random drop and they get a binary rifle just for being there and by luck.
There shouldn’t be a luck factor in video games. Everything should be precise, and predictable. By adding luck it gives someone with less skill a better chance of killing someone with more skill. AKA it reduces the skill gap significantly.
AND -Yoink- HALF THE TIME THE WAYPOINTS ARE WRONG OR THEY DON’T EVEN SHOW UP!!!
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Personal Ordnance:
This -Yoink- is taken straight from COD. Lets not lie here. This really breaks the game feel and promotes camping. Can’t tell you how many games I’ve spent just sitting on the same rock with active camo and a sniper. I’ve spent entire BTB games just sitting in the same 10m vicinity sniping people, and calling down another sniper. Why leave my spot to grab a power weapon when -Yoink- I CAN JUST CALL ONE DOWN RIGHT BESIDE ME!! This breaks the traditional halo flow of moving to where the weapons are. In halo 4 you might as well just pitch a tent and roast some -Yoinking!- marshmallows and wait for the next binary rifle you can call down right beside you. -
Default Sprint:
Again taken from COD. In reach it was really nice that you could choose to sprint, but at a cost of using another armor ability. Default sprint means faster games, faster engagement, faster deaths. Which isnt always bad per se, but halo is slower paced. EVERYTHING IN PAST HALO GAMES HAS BEEN REVOLVED AROUND POSITIONING. Halo 4 is more about getting the faster jump on someone and just overall a much more COD feel. Its just personal preference but i feel like default sprint should be switched for an armor ability like in reach. It just felt better.
OVERALL:
Do i feel like Halo 4 is a bad game? No. I feel like its an ungraceful game just like how Egoraptor talks about Castlevania 4. I bought Halo to play Halo and get into the feel of Halo. Not to play the love child of reach and COD MW3…
