So, I was lucky enough to play Flight 1, and I loved almost everything about it. If I had to criticise, the AR range was a bit heavy, and combined with Bots hyper awareness to make scope flinch very punishing.
But all in all, I was a happy spawn camper. Movement felt silky smooth, weapons, regardless of balance, felt meaty and fun, bots were awesome and gameplay was solid.
Now. I don’t want to jump in too soon: the second Flight is not yet over.
But somehow, we’ve gone from that to… This.
This is actively painful. This, is not (for me, or folks I’ve been singing the praises of Flight 1 to) fun.
I’m not entirely sure why. I’ll freely admit to not being an elite level Halo player, and I’m willing to entertain that I’m just being matched against my betters. Exclusively.
But that ain’t all of it. So here are some issues, I, and some friends, are seeing. I am putting this here because to us, this Flight feels like a certain crowd has been prioritised over others, and one friend said it best when he suggested that, at launch, we’ll play campaign, dip our toes into multiplayer, be put off by this particular focus, and return months to a year later, when that particular crowd has moved on to “the next big thing” and Halo has pivoted back to catering to what we (rightly or wrongly) identify as the core crowd, the crowd that still plays Halo while the other runs off to whatever is new.
The same as happened with H5, and if memory serves, H4.
I might sound a bit… Antagonistic, entitled, miffed. I apologise. I really liked the first Flight, I am saddened that I can see friends who didn’t play that, already turning off.
And it’s all subjective. I get that. So here are my, personal, subjective takes.
Without further ado…
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spawns. Really enjoy spawning surrounded by enemies. Or, when we’ve been holding a narrow lead, spawning piecemeal near enemies, seeing that score flip hopelessly because we’ve suddenly been made fish in a barrel.
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what I assume to be proximity to host server advantage? I’m on a decent connection and I’m not alone in experiencing these issues. There’s a bit of a list here, and it doesn’t happen all the time, but more than three quarters of the time:
2a) teleporting of myself or opponents about a metre or two - makes firefights problematic at the least - it’s a Flight, so, you know. Hopefully a non issue.
2b) noticeably different engagement ranges for melee charge/hammer effectiveness, seriously, I wish my hammer worked at the range some people’s do when I have full shields, it isn’t even that effective when they’re already weakened!
2c) duels rarely feel equal. I’m not talking about positioning or weapons. I’m talking about: two players can shoot each other equally, but one is at an unidentified disadvantage. I routinely land more shots (according to my screen), but die suddenly. I routinely pop shields and make a melee, but the other guy melees me to death, having, at best, knocked my shields by a quarter.
2d) regularly getting shot (even hammered one time) through walls.
2 washup) I hold my hands up. I am not the best Halo player, but it feels “unfair” in that I am being told my input equals or exceeds my opponents, but the result most often favours my opponent. My friends report the same experience. Now, this is perceptual, but the perception is what matters. Whether it’s right or wrong, the feedback we receive is that we’re being taken for a ride.
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the Warthog feels… Awful. Personal opinion, but that ain’t my hog. Handling is not even close to prior games. Plus, what the heck happened to the horn?! It sounds like… A family car.
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once upon a time, in Halo, a clever player could engage multiple players and pull it off. You still can, and obviously better players do, but TTK feels so sharp and swift that I feel less like I’m playing Halo, and more Modern Warfare.
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it feels like keyboard and mouse has a dramatic and unassailable advantage over controllers. Maybe I’m an idiot and I’m not even able to face such opponents in this Flight, but I’ve heard key clacking, and it gels with what I’m seeing.
So. I’m braced for the inevitable “get good” response. Honestly, I’m entirely ready to hang up my Xbox, buy a rocking chair, build a porch and yell at derned kids at this point.
But I love Halo. My friends do too. I loved the First Flight. An hour or two of this, we went to play Halo 5.
I believe Infinite could be something special. That first Flight was stunning. I offer this feedback only because I care.