'Nu-Halo'

Games Other Halo
1

Lets be realistic.

Halo 4 is NOT an ‘Arena FPS’, this renders the core element of any previous (FPS) Halo games as extinct. Aspects such as Loadouts, Ordinance drops and Insta-spawn etc etc have dramatically changed the core features of ‘HALO’

Halo is now a new trilogy, with a new developer, for a new target audience and with new features.

The new trilogy is not really Halo it is ‘Nu-Halo’. (poor term I know, but it works well for this rationale)

The old trilogy ( or Saga,as Reach is probably the exception that proves the rule ) is in the past and the new and future titles will be very different.

Whether you personally view these facts as a positive or negative is irrelevant.

The quicker people realise that HALO is and will continue to be very different from its original form; the better for everyone one of us as a Halo fan.

My personal feelings aside on this issue, when we step back and try to look at Halo 4 from a un-biased viewpoint, it is apparent that HALO is now something the same but different.

Let me try and give an example:

I love the old Batman movies (Directed by Tim Burton). The black humour, campy costumes and geeky dialogue really appeal to me.

However, the new Batman movies appeal to a wider audience and made much much more revenue than the old ones.

Even though they both share the name ‘Batman’ they are completely different.

The same is true for Bungie’s Halo and 343’s Halo.

Very different from each other yet at the same time they share the same name and themes.

2

I know the base Halo 4 is different and will be different than the past trilogy…but that doesn’t mean the options can’t exist to create a more classic experience in this new world. Team Throwdown showed it was possible, just give people the ability to toggle off sprint, maybe set weapon damage perimeters, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

3

It doesn’t have to be imbalanced to be different.

4

Doesn’t mean one isn’t inferior to the other ; )

5

I fear that future titles may not cater towards those who desire a classic gametype if it does not prove worthy of investment.

No it does not mean either new or old is superior or inferior, just what the majority of the target audience finds preferable and thus more profitable. Standard business practice - find what sells best and sell it!

6

Halo needed to evolve. It is that simple. 2007 came and went, and H3 was fun for awhile but that formula has become stale and boring. Halo Reach was just what Halo needed, and H4 took that formula and made it better. The new direction of Halo is great and the people who don’t like it are free to play H3. I personally can’t go back to H3, the gameplay is just too boring. I like the changes, and I am more than pleased with what 343i has done.

7

> Halo needed to evolve. It is that simple. 2007 came and went, and H3 was fun for awhile but that formula has become stale and boring. Halo Reach was just what Halo needed, and H4 took that formula and made it better. The new direction of Halo is great and the people who don’t like it are free to play H3. I personally can’t go back to H3, the gameplay is just too boring. I like the changes, and I am more than pleased with what 343i has done.

So what would adding a more classic experience in the form of a single playlist hurt in Halo 4? No seriously, if you want to play this new “evolved” form of Halo, fine…but the option to play a more traditional experience would not hurt anything in the slightest.

8

> Halo needed to evolve. It is that simple. 2007 came and went, and H3 was fun for awhile but that formula has become stale and boring. Halo Reach was just what Halo needed, and H4 took that formula and made it better. The new direction of Halo is great and the people who don’t like it are free to play H3. I personally can’t go back to H3, the gameplay is just too boring. I like the changes, and I am more than pleased with what 343i has done.

So evolving=Becoming a part of the generic cesspool of Modern FPS games? The Modern FPS formula is 1 Million times more worn out than what the Halo formula is, EVERYONE since 2007 has attempted to use it.

343 didn’t innovate anything, all they did was remove many things that made Halo, Halo, then replaced those things with generic crap, further adding to the stagnation of the FPS genre.

The FPS genre is like the MMO genre, everyone tried to copy WoW and failed, everyone is trying to copy CoD some way or another, and have failed.

I don’t care if CoD didn’t invent these things, but it contains them ALL in the same game, and popularised them.

What made Halo 1-3 good was the fact that it stood out, and because Bungie created the games with no specific player base in mind, they just wanted to create a fun and balanced game, they mainly stuck to what they knew worked and as a result, created a highly revered Gaming series. Halo 4 hardly stands out now, the one major thing that stops the game from being a complete “generic Modern FPS” is the shielding system, 343 Fanboys would still defend the removal of the Shielding system and claim that “it’s still Halo”

9

I mean I guess a boring H3 playlist could be added. It wouldn’t hurt anything really. I can’t see it being as popular as Infinity Slayer, but if 343i feels that it would be a good idea I would’t oppose it. Plus it would hopefully stop all the -Yoinking!- about the “competitive” Halo of old.

10

> Lets be realistic.
>
> Halo 4 is NOT an ‘Arena FPS’, this renders the core element of any previous (FPS) Halo games as extinct. Aspects such as Loadouts, Ordinance drops and Insta-spawn etc etc have dramatically changed the core features of ‘HALO’

Well, for the record things like instant respawns and faster pacing make Halo 4 more of an arena shooter than previous Halo games. Now if we could only balance the sandbox, bring effective weapon range within the bounds of level design, significantly tone down power weapons, and level the vehicles out so they can be properly integrated into infantry combat we’ll be set (and on more than just the account of arena enthusiasts.)

11

I agree with OP. RIP Halo CE/H2/H3.
I dont like this Nu-Halo, today its irrelevant, they have my money… But when 343i launch their Nu-Halo2 my -70€ can be more “relevant”.

12

Nu-Halo is vomit inducing. I won’t flame on the game too hard anymore because I’ve moved onto other things, but yeah, Halo 4 ain’t Halo. Not worth my time.

13

To OP, Neo-Halo is perhaps a better term.

> I mean I guess a boring H3 playlist could be added. It wouldn’t hurt anything really. I can’t see it being as popular as Infinity Slayer, but if 343i feels that it would be a good idea I would’t oppose it. Plus it would hopefully stop all the -Yoinking!- about the “competitive” Halo of old.

Infinity slayer only has a high population because players have been forced to choose between it or not having a motion sensor. This has always been deliberate by 343 so they could artificially boost the numbers of infinity. If this game shipped with a classic playlist that had a motion sensor, infinity would of been run into the ground.

14

I’m one of the players who likes this new direction. It’s way more nuanced and exciting. The “old” Halo (pre-Reach) just feels stale and one dimensional in comparison.

Still, there seems to be enough of a desire from the community that 343 should consider this for H5. They could have a Nu Halo variant and a Classic variant. Maybe they will be the same as casual and competitive, since the competitive people seem the most adverse to change.

Seriously though: good luck on getting the classic/competitive fans to agree to anything. Methinks they won’t be happy unless they’re playing H2 or H3.

15

> I’m one of the players who likes this new direction. It’s way more <mark>nuanced</mark> and exciting.

Ah yes, nuanced, the current buzzword of the academy. You surely can’t be referring to the MP game play, as it would just be a fancy way of saying its class based with perks, and you wouldn’t be using fancy words to say simple things now would you.

Or maybe you mean the story in the campaign, the complexity of the characters. A evil for evil sake villain, an antagonistic for antagonistic sake captain, and a women behaving like a sexists depiction of a period.

Am having real trouble finding what’s so nuanced about halo 4

16

> Ah yes, nuanced, the current buzzword of the academy. …
> Am having real trouble finding what’s so nuanced about halo 4

I find your resposne to be unnecessarily aggressive but I’ll reply anyway. The academy comment is just ridiculous, though. I do agree in part with your campaign character statements. But no, I was referring strictly to the multiplayer play.

Nuance -noun. A subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.

The old Halo games now feel flat compared to H4. The extent of your gameplay in H3/H2 was strafing, jumping, and using whatever geographic advantages the maps gave you. Every encounter came down to adjusting for those variables. H3 mixed it up a little bit with equipment, but that’s just a simpler version of AAs.

In H4 you now have more freedom to move around the map and use not just the geography but the empty space as well. Your enemy is unique like you. He might see you coming from behind a wall, or drop on you with a jet pack. He might be packing more than the two grenades you always planed for. The dude riding the MG hog might not be so defenseless against your EMP. Your opponent might be carrying some heavy ordinance because they’re using priority and requestion.

These are considerations you now have to make when engaging your enemy. They should be thinking about it as well. Each encounter is now slightly different. The distinction in expression would be the nuance of how you play your character and use the loadouts. Your potential response to a given engagement would be another sign of nuance.

Hope that helps clarify things.

17

> > I’m one of the players who likes this new direction. It’s way more <mark>nuanced</mark> and exciting.
>
> Ah yes, nuanced, the current buzzword of the academy. You surely can’t be referring to the MP game play, as it would just be a fancy way of saying its class based with perks, and you wouldn’t be using fancy words to say simple things now would you.
>
> Or maybe you mean the story in the campaign, the complexity of the characters. A evil for evil sake villain, an antagonistic for antagonistic sake captain, and a women behaving like a sexists depiction of a period.
>
> Am having real trouble finding what’s so nuanced about halo 4

Well that’s because you apparently have trouble finding anything in this game. Take the didact. Does he just want to kill everyone because he’s evil? No. The last cutscene more or less slaps you across the face with this very basic point of the plot if nothing else did it for you. Also, do we have classes? -Yoink- no, the very, very basic point that we have customizable loadouts precludes there being disinct categories of players. Rainbow Six Vegas, Section 8, Space Marine, these have the same or similar loadout system and these are more certainly NOT class based games. The worst you can say about them and Halo 4 is that the number of combintations is finite but that’s a long way away from what you actually posted, now isn’t it? In fact it’s a more nuanced starting point from which gameplay can build.

18

> Take the didact. Does he just want to kill everyone because he’s evil? No. The last cutscene more or less slaps you across the face with this very basic point of the plot.

And the very basic point of the plot is ridiculously contrived. Humans are the greatest threat to all life in the galaxy? I’m supposed to take that seriously from an alien who just painfully turned millions of innocent men, women and children into homicidal killing machines?

19

> > Ah yes, nuanced, the current buzzword of the academy. …
> > Am having real trouble finding what’s so nuanced about halo 4
>
> I find your resposne to be unnecessarily aggressive but I’ll reply anyway. The academy comment is just ridiculous, though. I do agree in part with your campaign character statements. But no, I was referring strictly to the multiplayer play.
>
> Nuance -noun. A subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
>
> The old Halo games now feel flat compared to H4. The extent of your gameplay in H3/H2 was strafing, jumping, and using whatever geographic advantages the maps gave you. Every encounter came down to adjusting for those variables. H3 mixed it up a little bit with equipment, but that’s just a simpler version of AAs.
>
> In H4 you now have more freedom to move around the map and use not just the geography but the empty space as well. Your enemy is unique like you. He might see you coming from behind a wall, or drop on you with a jet pack. He might be packing more than the two grenades you always planed for. The dude riding the MG hog might not be so defenseless against your EMP. Your opponent might be carrying some heavy ordinance because they’re using priority and requestion.
>
> These are considerations you now have to make when engaging your enemy. They should be thinking about it as well. Each encounter is now slightly different. The distinction in expression would be the nuance of how you play your character and use the loadouts. Your potential response to a given engagement would be another sign of nuance.
>
> Hope that helps clarify things.

I don’t think you can sugar coat a game that compensates for a player’s lack of skill more than this and then take a bash at gameplay that was purely skill based and looking this fancy.

Of course, Halo 4 doesn’t always compensate for a player’s lack of skill, it pushes him/her down into the toilet more as well. It also helps the allready good player to do even better. I’m looking at you random ordnance.

20

I’m with you, he’s not nearly so well developed as he should have been. Big miss there.

But after some thought I’ve accepted him as a flawed character. The dude believes SO strongly that he’s the right person for the job that he becomes almost jihadist in his focus. He’s twisted in his belief and his harming of innocents underlies how blind his righteousness can be. Anyone who rationalizes those kinds of actions is not just evil but mentally unstable.

Still, I wish they had spent more time developing him. Killing him off H4 (before wrapping up the Forerunner Trilogy) seems very short sighted. The dude deserved way better in his video game debut.