The addition of the Sprint mechanic in Halo was controversial. To put it lightly. Any changes of fundamental game mechanics as basic as player movement will always come under scrutiny. And rightfully so. Changes like these can drastically change the way a game feels and flows. And if map design has to be modified to accommodate such changes this poses a problem since it can affect the viability of classic map remakes and change how they flow and function. This is kind of why I do not believe AAs such as the Jetpack should ever return as spawn abilities. Since they undoubtedly have this effect. Open vertical separation maps are one of Halos fortes, maps that are very hard to balance with jetpacks messing with the flow, without segmenting and isolating the verticality.
But Sprint, What effect does that have? It allows players to move faster than base movement speed but at the cost of having to lower their weapon. But the mechanic does not in of its self imply faster paced gameplay as often suggested. But rather a 2 tiered movement system. since a sprint mechanic is not a necessary needed to increase the pace of the game. As such I will be addressing both pacing and 2 tiered movement separately.
The purpose of the Sprint mechanic is to allow players to get in the action quickly, but at the same time, limit the player’s mobility once they find it. This has been implemented into many games because console controllers are notoriously less precise and difficult to aim with when compared to a PC mouse and as such developers implement features like aim assist, sprint, ADS… etc. to make it easier. Something I’m not sure Halo needs. In fact if anything I think base movement speed should be increased to promote strafe battles. I mean what is the point of drawn out battles if they don’t allow for a bit of trickery.
As with most game elements, pacing is a balancing act. Other game elements such as kill times, shield recovery times, number of players… have to be taken in to consideration. As well the power position meta-game of maps, player spawning and the territorial gain meta-game. Faster paced does not = better. Though you don’t want the game to be too slow… There is an ideal level and it’s somewhere in the middle. Halo 4 can be said to be fast paced but I mean… Onslaught, Warlock/Wizard, Midship all played faster paced then any Halo 4 game I’ve personally played in Matchmaking.
But as I think most of us know, the real reason why Sprint is here most likely is because a large proportion of the consumer demographic expect it to be there. Practically all FPSs have it and it just feels like it should be there, and people like it. It’s shallow reasoning I know, but it makes sense I guess. It helps players who have invested time in separate FPS games feel at home when playing Halo. And I suppose it does help balance infantry vs Vehicle movement in BTB, though this does kind of make the mongoose redundant, and it could have also been achieved through tweaking base movement.
Whilst I am opposed to the addition of Sprint since I feel it is fairly pointless, it uses up a button on the controls and it causes more problems than it fixes, I also suspect this is one of those features that 343 is unlikely to do a u-turn on. So with that said is there anything that can be done to improve the mechanic?
I’m going to throw out some suggestions but bear in mind this intended very much as an open discussion and feel free to add suggestions:
