This is a long post. TL:DR is at the bottom. I’m sorry :c
to get a grasp of my position, here is some info on me:
Halo multiplayer for me was enjoyable with friends, now all my friends that grew up with Halo either can’t afford the new console, no longer play video games on consoles, or simply moved on because of life opportunities. So naturally I play alone more often then I used to, at least for the past couple years. I started playing Halo at 11, in 2001, so were all my friends the same age when they played. The multiplayer was ok, Custom games were the best, but the Campaign was always more enjoyable. Halo reach and (mostly)4 tuned me into a solo multiplayer junkie. It was the only multiplayer I enjoyed on any game, I loved it. Moving along…
SO HERES MY DEAL: Reach was pretty good and Halo 5 feels too competitive, So I believe that Halo 4 is the best, I even went back to playing it on the 360, but my favorite playlist was taken out: just “infinity slayer” now it’s just slayer. It was the most fun I ever had playing Halo multiplayer, but they removed all the crazy fun features from the launch. Ordinance and armor abilities mixed with enhancements made the game feel like reach, but more refined, especially with custom loadouts. The options made it feel more balenced. Play YOUR way. Not having to rely on map control or teammates was the best. Halo 5 feels too much like Halo 3, too much of the “get good” mentality went into this game and nothing outside of warzone feels appealing to me, and warzone only works because of the high variety of weapons to choose from.
I’d like to leave Halo 5 and just play Halo 4 infinity slayer again, but because the community is both overflowing with super competitive players and doesn’t like change 343 was pushed to remove the fun new elements out of infinity slayer, so now I can’t even do that.
I for the first time ever am experiencing what people have been making threads about since Halo 3, I feel marooned, Stuck between Halo games I like with features removed and Halo games I don’t like with Better game modes.
Reach is still GOOD, But it’s not as much fun As Halo 4, sure there were some things each one does better, like the radar in reach, but I overall I liked Halo 4’s infinity slayer (and said mechanics) a lot more. That and reach feels too slow without sprint being a natural element.
I know a lot of people say that’s the point of firefight or Warzone is for people like me, and I know a lot of people think infinity slayer is unbalanced, but that just sounds like a try hardy excuse to justify over competitive game mechanics, backed up by a community over populated by extremely competitive players and not the original core audience. Halo was about change, being Arcadey and random, and about feeling good when you blew someone up with something over powered and looked awesome, and Halo 5 feels like a step back to Halo 3, and that’s not a good thing in my opinion.
In short: I liked Halo 4 (before all the changes) better than Halo 5 or Reach, and removing the infinity slayer elements from 4 and making Halo 5 more like “traditional Halo” feels like I was shot in the leg and left to limp behind the rest of the community. I wish Halo 5 was more like Halo 4.
I know a lot of you won’t agree, and many will say “leave”, I’ve seen it hundreds of times in this and other forums about these games. I don’t know what upsets me more, that a social community that used to want more change has now a competitive community that wants less features, or that leaving Halo has never felt more like a viable option at this point alone. Forever alone.
I spent a long time typing this out, but I don’t think I covered all the details as well as I wanted to, but I think my point is made. Hopefully I can revise this later. Anyway, that’s my 2 cents on the last 3 major games.
edit: sorry for various typos.