So I do like this game. And there are plenty of great things about it!
There are some issues for sure.
Some of my major gripes about gameplay:
Even with sprint, it just feels… slow? Especially with the oddball, or a grav hammer it suddenly feels like they put even bigger lead boots on. Yes, I know you’re supposed to be slowed when scoring with the ball - But the ready up time for the power weapons is already so slow, the added slowdown makes me want to stay away from power weapons completely. By the time I get close enough to get a grav hammer kill, I’m dead before I can finish the swing. Make a mad rush for the rocket launcher, but I can’t even get a shot off before I’m dead because it takes forever to ready up. A little speed increase here would go a long way
Speaking of power weapons: Why doesn’t the rocket launcher lock on to flying vehicles?
Makes the banshee and the hornet just majorly unbalanced when you can’t effectively counter with ground weapons and they’re spamming rockets on your wasp spawn.
The weapons themselves are unbalanced… the shotgun is now a 2 hit down, making it very poor to counter the sword, but the sword is as lethal as it has ever been. Finding any weapon to counter the sword seems hard because the spawn timers are slow. Weapon balance fixes I know will be coming, but not soon enough, in my opinion.
Also the grenade throw distance for anything besides the frags needs to be buffed. It’s really hard to gauge a sticky or spike grenade when you barely send them 10 feet.
Also having different armor cores? Like just let me put anything I unlock on my spartan - It makes the customization seem very limited even if there are plenty of permutations to unlock, when not being able to mix and match the Noble armor with the new armor is kind of sad. I want to use the new armor, but I also want my ODST helmet.
The color pallets are… weird. Having prefabbed color schemes just feels boring. It sure makes early game seem very boring with all the Spartans looking the same or all the level 5’s on the BP lookin like spiderman.
Everyone has already mentioned the battle pass pay walls and the XP leveling system so I’m not gunna bother besides saying I agree.
In big team battles, it never puts my fireteam in the same fireteam in game??
Also the sound of enemy foot steps needs to be WAY louder.
The spawn time of 10 seconds is EXTREMLY unbalance on small objective based maps.
There needs to be a search for custom games! Or at the very least queue for specific game types.
Need me some Infection!
I would really like to see a more vibrant shield crack sound and animation. Currently when you break shields, it’s not always obvious.
I really miss assassinations!
Now for the good parts:
It’s really gorgeous! The atmosphere just feels like Halo! I love the new enemy\friend outlines that define teams! It is a MAJOR upgrade from the previous titles! I love that I can keep my armor color no matter what team I’m on!
Sprint! Love!
ADS is very similar to the other Halo games and I love!
The sound design is immaculate! It makes combat feel so much more adrenaline filled when I hear the theme when we hit half way though the score! I The guns sound like they could actually break shields, the explosions sound like mil-spec high explosives! The engines are guttural and angry! I can listen to the game all day! It’s just fantastic!
I really enjoy the new weapons, they’re interesting and fit right in! It makes me want to use them, as much as I love the AR!
I like the fire team inclusion in big team battle, makes me feel like pushing objectives and supporting my squad a little more than usual!
I love the equipment we see in game! I’m a little sad to see the thruster pack as equipment, I liked the dodge mechanics of always having them, but I think having sprint and climb makes up for it.
As infuriating as getting gunned down 4 times in a row is… It’s still fun to just get right back in and start cracking heads! The game is just fun! Playing with all my buddies makes feel like a kid again when Halo 2/3 came out and all we did was crank out slayer game after slayer game! I know it’s still in beta, but the game is really quite polished for what we have seen, I’ve had only 3 game breaking crashes and there’s a lot things I really enjoy that will definitely keep me playing after the official launch - But: There are certainly still issues that may affect just how much time I put into playing.