Let me start by saying that I am very pleased with Halo 4. It is so polished and balanced in its gameplay; the multiplayer is amazing, and the campaign/spartan ops are great fun with very well written stories. My problem is that some of my favorite aspects of the Halo franchise seem to be downgraded from previous games.
Scroll down to the first reply for a "TL;DR"
Custom Games
When I first played Halo on launch day (not bragging, well maybe a little) I went straight to Campaign and enjoyed myself, followed by multiplayer.
When I got to the Custom Games, testing them in split screen, I was disappointed.
Lack of Customizability (is that a word?)
One of the best things about Halo is the Custom Gametypes. These are severely limited compared to Halo Reach.
I’m not saying Reach was better, but I would like the freedom to be as creative as people were in Reach but with the new gameplay. The lack of AA (armor abilities) adjustment and lack of control over objectives is a bit of a let down.
Flood Mode
Some of the best mini-games and gametypes came from customizing Infection. Don’t get me wrong, I love flood mode, but I would like the ability to create a variant where I could choose whether or not the zombies were using the flood model, or a spartan model with customizable appearance, a la every halo since 2.
The inability to play or re-create any of Darth Human’s most popular gametypes, is a major blow to the community. One of the biggest motivations for Forging was to create your own mini-game. I would like to see the return of the customization options from halo 3 and halo reach for infection.
Forge Mode
I love the new additions, and the maps to forge on are great, but the space is too limited.
The Pros of Forge World
Forge in Reach may have gotten a little stale near the end, but the variety in maps and games created was enormous.
Although Forge World was the only real way to Forge on Reach, it had variety in landscape and size. Size does matter (in Forge, well, and other things too…)
Without enough space, how are people going to create or recreate BTB or great puzzle maps? These things are in fact the life of Halo. When all of the maps get stale, the only thing carrying the life of a game, is the community, and in Halo, the community’s creations.
> For an in depth look at the current state of Forge, check out this thread, by the user: Eshcka.
More people play Custom Games than Online, and more Custom Games are played. Limiting this, is limiting the game.
The Race Dilemma
Race gets its own section for its importance.
Race has been popular since Halo started, with people racing in the campaigns and creating mods for racing gametypes/maps. Halo 3 had VIP which alowed for the creation of great gametypes like Pirates. However, Rocket Race and a more traditional Race mode were spawned from it in much the same way Duck Hunt came from infection or Grifball came from assault (VIP, infection variation, and assault are all gone now too, along with their mini-games)
Halo 3 and Reach saw most of its greatest forge creations designed for the Race mode. Now, a whole community of Racers are abandoned and a subsection of the Forge community and the custom game maker community are abandoned as well.
A lot of people have no “want” to forge anymore, without being able to forge race tracks. That being said, it is almost impossible to make a track now without the “structures” section of forge items available on most maps and a lack of any actual forging space on the supposed “Forge” maps.
343i took out one of the most fun games and biggest incentives to play other modes like forge and customs. Big, and I mean, Huge, mistake. Really…what were they thinking?
> edit:
> Powerups
> It has been brought to my attention that a staple in the franchise: powerups, are no longer available to forge with. So many great and popular (especially fun) modes were made with the Custom Powerup and Camo especially.
>
> The custom powerup allowed for much diversity and evolution within a game of Customs. Camo (and its edittability // not a word, I checked) also allowed for creative users to make truly fun modes.
>
> They do not even need to be in matchmaking, but why taking them away completely? Just makes no sense!
>
> <em>*thank you xxB3ARC1AWxx for this info (see page 3)</em>
Solutions
Custom Games
We know its possible to add in these features (How Insane gametypes were added into Reach, as well as CTF+SLayer combo. Which would be nice to return…hint, hint)
People even say its already planned to make more additions to the custom games options in the near future. I am just saying that Halo 4 will need these things back in it, or else it won’t last as long.
Forge
The new Forge additions are great, and amazing, but all of the forge creations will never reach their previous glory without the return of custom game options or a blank slate to forge on.
Perhaps a DLC map with more open space to allow people to recreate some of the best maps, or let their imagination and creativity to break new grounds. 343’s reputation will be better off for it. Could be Sandtrap/Sandbox-ish themed, UNSC themed (foundry) Snow themed or even another forge world. Just flat ground or no ground but a lot of air space is needed for this game to survive. The 3 forge maps we have now are great too, just limited in their possibilities.
Conclusion
The reply is a tl;dr
This is not a list of demands, this is a list of hopes and dreams to make this brilliant game stand the test of time. This would be the best Halo ever if it had the replayability of previous games.
More freedom in a forge environment and the return of the customization options we’ve all come to know and love.
That is as much a part of Halo as Master Chief and Cortana