am what some people here would call a “conservative” Halo player. Complete honesty here, I was about to faint when I saw the gameplay reveal, my 15 year old blankie and incense made of my grand mother’s cookie being the only thing that managed to keep me conscious after a bout of crushed nostalgia.
After thinking about it for several hours, hands sweating and all of that, I came to the conclusion that these changes are not wrong. Does not mean that they are right either, what it means is that I need to calm the -Yoink- down in order to be able to give a thorough analysis on how these changes will affect Halo
Before I start however, I must get two things out of the way
First of all, for the conservative players:
Brethren, calm your -Yoink!-, they are big and swollen and the grunts do not require feeding. I know you are upset but putting dumb -Yoink- like “Halo is dead” is not going to fix ANYTHING. If you want to make yourselves be heard; if you think your points are more valid than the other side of Halo players regarding the matter at hand then explain them in a smart and thorough way. Over ventilating and outright moaning won’t help your cause. If anything, it will make you look unreasonable, worse still when we are supposed to give constructive feedback at this time
To the other kind of halo players. Don’t call us “Purists” (Jupiter’s -Yoink-, I hate that label). No, we don’t want Carbon copies of Halo 2/3 and stop telling us that we have no say in future Halos because of the MCC. We want future titles to improve on the core gameplay, we want actual change and good features that go well with what made Halo well, Halo. Not generic FPS elements just because it is “modern” or (how some people contradictorily say) “innovative”
Well, now that I have got that out of my chest, lets begin analysing these features. I won’t bother with smart scope because it is basically Zoom with a different look (How 343i expected to pull this out without people complaining I have no idea).
What concerns me the most are the movement mechanics introduced (Clamering, Infinite Sprint, all that stuff) so I am going to try to ask this in the most objective way possible
How are they better than fast movement speed and good jump height?
What I see from my point of view is unnecessary gimmicks: By putting these elements you are doing the complete opposite. You are slowing doing gameplay because you are separating movement from gunplay. In earlier Halo titles these were both linked (effectively making it Run AND Gun) so by having people move and climb in already enlarged maps to accommodate this mechanic, you are basically making it the same as players in games where you DON’T have these mechanics in regular sized spaces, the key difference being that the latter can shoot and move about the map at the same time as opposed to putting yourself in a completely vulnerable position just so you can effectively traverse the map
This is why people liked the thruster pack, but not sprint. Because the thruster pack allowed you to, for example, move defensively when trying to avoid a warthog running you over or offensively, such as closing the gap with an energy sword. The thing about the thruster pack is that it does not separate you from the action (Thruster packs are meant to be used in combat as they are instantaneous, unlike sprint) for the expense of moving about faster.
- By “separating you from action” I meant that you can’t shoot your gun mid-sprint or do anything useful during combat, sure, you could melee the guy who’s shooting you by closing the gap but you can also do that by using a thruster
The same can be said for ledge climbing and jumping, to which I know some are going to say: “But you can spartan-charge”. But honestly, How situational is that?
Again, Why not have fast base speed and good jump height in appropriately sized maps? How are these mechanics more practical in any way?
Discuss