Alright, I left some feedback in the PC Feedback thread but wanted to write something more thorough that goes over as many individual elements as I can fit. I have a few notes to guide this along, but stupid me got swept up in the game and didn’t write everything down lol. Before all of that though, I wanted to thank the team at 343i for their hard work and the opportunity they gave us all to play this insanely fun game! It’s been a long six years since Halo 5, but it’s really feeling worth the wait! That said, let’s jump into it!
I figured I’d start with bots since they were the primary focus of the test, presumably aside from backend / stability stuff (I’ll get to the bugs later but most of them are known issues). These were definitely some quirky enemies were up against, one moment throwing dead on grenades has Halo CE spec ops elites flashbacks, the next they were staring into the sky spinning in circles. I think if the kinks are worked out so they aren’t bugging out confused, like the random moments they would just stop and start spinning around, or looking straight up or down, they’ll make for a decent warm up. If they could be changed to try holding priority locations, like weapon spawns and such too, that would be great. The biggest issue I see, aside form them bugging out, is that they can’t simulate player strategy. Actual players consider control points of a map, and metas change over time, so the best I could think is the bots locking down weapon and item spawns, or spots with great vantage points, rather than just running around the map. They can be deadly little fellas, and have some great aim at a distant with even the starting weapons, but there were only a handful of matches I played where they scored over 20 kills and I believe that’s due to their limited behaviors. Throwing in some strafes, crouches, and jumps is good for micro-plays, but I’m talking simulating the macro stuff, like how to lock a map, at least on Spartan difficulty. (Also I really think the difficulty should follow the campaign difficulty naming. Call me a sucker for legendary lol)
Next up are the maps. I loved the aesthetics of all three! Bazaar was likely my favorite overall, though I think the precision weapon spawns should be moved to the lower level of the map so that those that grab them aren’t already in a safe location with decent sights of the entrances on the enemy side of the map. Also, while I’m not sure where one would relocate it, laying down the “shotgun” type weapon pad below the rockets seems a little off since the rocket can then secure the lower weapon pad. Otherwise, I loved the map. I didn’t find any of these issues to be too overwhelming thus far, but can imagine they will be in time. Recharge similarly might benefit from moving the precision weapons from the locations they most benefit from. One should need to grab the weapon, then secure the vantage points, then grab ammo against once it’s low to stop map locks form being too powerful. (Gives a few windows at least to escape a lock if they run out of ammo). I think the Ravager here is stronger than the hammer, not that that’s bad thing, but that weapon is absurdly strong and will undoubtedly be stronger when the charge shot is working properly. Another great map though! Live Fire, this map is chaos, at least is was for me when playing those 2 hours of PvP! Again, this isn’t a bad thing, but locking the map, while I’m sure will be possible, seems to be a bit of hassle here due to the size of the map wide array of spawn points. I can see Live Fire being an insane Free For All map! Weapons wise, I think this one is pretty solid.
For base gameplay, I think the gun play is extremely fun and I truly appreciate how most of the weapons feel viable. The black sheep for me was the Plasma Carbine. It’s undoubtedly strong, but feels like the easiest weapon to escape. Too far and you can reach cover, too close and you can dodge the bolts. It’s feels like a longer range (about mid range) needler to me. You need to be in that sweet spot to get real results. The Skewer could be pretty hard to aim, but that just seems like design philosophy around a sniperish, long range power weapon. Even so I landed a fair number of shots with it which was quite satisfying. Bulldog and Heatwave are viable shotgun alternatives. With the sword and hammer already filling the “up close one hit kill” role I think it was sensible to make these weapons more effective at applying pressure at mid range or finishing someone off quick up close. Now, I tried both inputs, and I know there’s debate on, but just to throw my two cents in, I do think controller could use the slightest bump in aim assist or some other fine tuning for the sake of precision weapons outside the Battle Rifle. The Commando and Sidekick will undoubtedly be imperative weapons and currently they do feel almost exclusive to kb&m or high performance controller players (side kick at range, up close it’s still solid). I found they were far easier on kb&m, and while I could still get work done with them on my controller, they were nigh unusable to some others i played with. If the game is going to support crossplay it needs to support it fully in that both sides should bring things to the table. As is, aiming could feel off at times with controller which I think might make it unapproachable to many incoming players. That said, I wouldn’t want anything drastic so as to not jeopardize the competitive integrity of the game. It felt almost perfect, but I think just a smidge of a bump might help things along, especially if (just a prediction) an HCS crossplay playlist eventually shows up. The game should have that high skill curve, but the skill floor needs to be accessible to new players of all inputs, and support the average players as well. That all said, the Commando and Sidekick were really fun weapons that feel as though they’ll dominate the “meta” when the game establishes one. The Battle Rifle is still ol’ faithful. The jack of all trades lives lol. I don’t have too much to say about the sniper other than it felt like most of the past snipers to me. Admittedly, I let a friend grab it more often because he likes playing the team sniper. The assault rifle is a solid starter in this game, a good gun for anyone to mess around with and effective enough to play crutch to newcomers. Grenades felt fine though I do wish each type of grenade was displayed all at once rather than flipping through them. Equipment similarly all felt pretty good to me. I’m sure people are going to go crazy with sick grapple montages!
Running out of words here so I’ll try to summarize the next few bits. Customization has never been a big factor to me, but I did like what was there and don’t mind the coating system. If the Battle Passes and leveling work in game, I think they’ll be fine. The new team overlays were solid enough that I could tell who was a teammate and who was an enemy with ease. The academy is a good place to get a feel for each gun. While it doesn’t properly simulate what it’s like using those weapons while under fire, I think it’s a keeper. Good mode to just play with the tools.
As for the most prevalent bugs and performance issues. Most common was black screen into menu, game crashes, melee that didn’t register, and stuttering on PC. Nothing profound or unknown from what I’ve read. With these last few words I just wanted to thank everyone at 343i again for this awesome experience!