Love it when people use this as an argument to justify Halo copying gameplay traits from every other game.
Yes, games SHOULD evolve, but it’s how and in what direction they do it.
Take DOOM for example. The game has definitely evolved compared to the 1993 versions, an have evolved pretty significantly. But they kept their combat formula pretty much the same, which is move fast in all directions, flank enemies, blast them to pieces, repeat. High action, gunplay and speedy gameplay.
Halo went through all sorts of evolutions which deviated from it’s original gameplay loop, which is to make every single encounter a 30s chess-like encounter based loop, full mobility at all times, and a damage system revolving around flawlessly melding Gunplay, Melee and Grenades.
Up until Halo 3, we have had this same gameplay, with additions that evolved the gameplay like Dual Wielding and Equipment (Although Dual Wielding is still being debated by many as detracting from the gameplay combat loop than adding to it since it removed Melee and Grenades while in effect), but the core gameplay remained the same with these systems BUILT AROUND IT.
Halo Reach first featured armor abilities and loadouts, but these systems still lingered around the border of the gameplay and is cooldown limited which means after these abilities were expanded, players for the large part were reverted to playing the traditional Halo combat.
What Halo 4 essentially did with Loadouts and Killstreak drops is building an additional layer to the gameplay, trying to jam it right in the middle of Halo’s established gameplay loop. By enabling Loadouts and disregarding equal starts, people started with the best possible loadout which made them not willing to traverse the map to scavenge for weapons in order to gain an advantage.
I’ve lost count how many times H4 MP matches were just trench warfare with DMRs and Light Rifles shooting across an open space, and it got so boring cos Shields ensured no one insta died, and matches were long and tiring. Not to mention spawning with the Boltshot let you camp around corners and 1 shot people early in H4’s launch. By taking away people’s need to go out and scavenge weapons, a large part of maps were pretty much unused because a holdout point/objective is simply a better place to sit down and start blasting with your precision weapon/plasma pistol/plasma grenade start. One could argue that H4’s loadouts stagnated the gameplay.
H5 is the worst offender when it comes to MUTATING the series rather than EVOLVING it. 343 removed Loadouts thank the lords, but they decided immediately to disregard Halo’s traditional combat loop by jamming it with even more invasive systems with Spartan Abilities, making it so that the gameplay and balance revolved around that instead of players just running around shooting each other. A Spartan Ability user is definitely beating a non Spartan Ability user due to the added mobility and utility. Actually heck, if it was only mobility and utility, I can close an eye, but no Spartan Ability also added DAMAGE with Ground Pound and Spartan Charge. With these systems worked into the bone of H5, it barely resembled a Halo game anymore. It was essentially like Splitgate : a Halo-styled shooter, but with additional important systems worked into it which made it less like Halo and more like its own.
Now we have Infinite : Infinite did the absolute right thing reverting back to a more “simple” Spartan player. You can Shoot, Run, Jump, Grenade, Melee all within seconds of each other with nothing restricting you. Sprint felt good and necessary because it allowed Sliding which arguably is a decently good evolution in mobility compared to giving everyone Thruster Packs. Equipments were limited use and gave incentive to players to go and scavenge some on spawn, because it felt good to have one rather to not have one. All of Infinite’s systems built around the core gameplay and mobility was pushed up to encourage new ways to play instead of entirely relying on it as an all important feature which spelt a win or a loss.
If you want me to bring up more case studies on games which evolved correctly instead of mutating into a mess, you need only look at Mario vs Sonic.
How did Mario evolve from a 2D to 3D platformer yet retain its audience as well as introduce new systems all the time? Because it kept the core formula the same: Plump Mascot running about, jumping about, collecting coins, collecting stars, and everything added to the game worked toward this same endgoal. They didn’t suddenly give Mario a painthose in Sunshine for the sake of giving him one, they gave him one because they designed a level where these collecting activities needed one. Then we have Sonic which did everything possible to move away from its core gameplay which is simply running fast, collecting rings, and running even faster. That’s why people love Sonic Mania over all those 3D Sonic games which put walls and pitfalls everywhere so even Running Fast is punished.