I’ve been playing since Halo 1 was the only game released, playing splitscreen and lan parties with my best friends. We played Halo 1 for years on the xbox.
Halo 2 released on November 9th. Following its release came an experience that will always be close to my heart with super bouncing/glitching clans, competitive matchmaking, and competitive/recreational custom games. This seemed to go on forever, there was always new things to do whether it was exploring the campaign, exploring the multiplayer maps, or timing double shots and BXRs.
Me being such a fan of Halo 2, I was a bit disappointed in Halo 3 at the start but later on got even more into competitive gameplay and less into the glitching/custom game aspect. I stayed away from forge and focused on timing my battle rifle as well as my sniper shots.
I always ended up going back to Halo 2, superbouncing with my friends, and filming videos. Then the Halo 2 servers went down, and ever since then I felt like a part of me died.
Halo 3 lived on, normally with custom games, occasional sniper games, or whatever else in matchmaking I felt like doing at the time. MLG and montages always got me and my friends pumped up to play, for us to do our best and to get footage. After awhile we abandoned Halo 3 in anticipation for Halo Reach.
When Halo Reach was announced, I didn’t know what to think. I thought I would be playing what I read in the book “Fall Of Reach” but then it was confirmed that it was just a made up storyline that had nothing to do with the books chronologically. I looked past this and played the game on legendary from the start and completed it on my own.
Playing Halo Reach for as long and as consistent as I have, I feel a kind of frustration I never felt with any of the other Halo games. The armor abilities make me feel like you’re given infinite overshield/camo from the start along with jetpack. I don’t believe these abilities would be as bad if they were pickups on the map instead of being apart of the loadout. Also, giving camo a radar jammer just seems too overpowered not to mention being able to use it at will. Jetpack is another thing you shouldn’t have at the start because midair battles and getting unfair advantages to gaining power weapons depending on where you spawn is just plain ridiculous.
My take on the No Bloom/Bloom deal is quite complicated. I like and dislike both of them to an extent.
I’ve grown accustomed to pacing my shots and come to realize that no matter what with bloom there is a random factor depending on how far or close an opponent is. Usually you would think that the closer you are to an opponent, the better chance at timing a perfect five shot. Sometimes it seems that at different times spamming shots as fast as possible give almost the same chance.
With no bloom, It’s nice to be able to concentrate firing your shots over pacing them but with the DMR being a single shot weapon, it seems that strafing and making sure your shots hit is so much more aggravating and not enjoyable at all, almost as if the DMR needs the burst that the Battle Rifle has or maybe a lower firing rate to make no bloom feel better.
Halo Reach’s multiplayer maps are very disappointing with how all the default maps are ripped straight from the Campaign or they’re made on Forge World with framerate issues and exploits.
I feel that most of the playlists would be much more enjoyable if little changes would be made, such as the lowering of speed in MLG and Anniversary or maybe if some of the existing maps were modified to contain a better framerate.
Me being a Halo Veteran, I have experienced every playlist Reach has to offer, and to me, not one playlist brings that true classic Halo feel. In Anniversary, the magnum is a spam-o-death where trying to use the DMR is almost laughable. I don’t mind using the magnum but with the added speed, it makes strafing like a game of wack-a-mole. In MLG, they also have that added speed. Sometimes I wish the playlists wouldn’t have sprint because, with the DMR, the most important shot is the final one. When you put all of your shots into someone they sprint away giving a greater chance for them to be cleaned up. Snipers, Squad, Swat, and Arena are okay playlists but you still have to deal with the abilities as well as the flaws that the DMR gives you with both bloom and non bloom.
For Halo 4, I hope 343industries thinks about looking into a map editing system similar to Farcry 2. I’ve seen some nearly perfect recreations that would be beautiful to play on even thought many of my friends have confirmed that Farcry 2 isn’t a good game. (lol)
Right now, I play Halo Reach but I am not satisfied or happy with it. I have my faith that 343 will bring back a more natural Halo experience or maybe, they will bring back Halo 2 as they did with Halo Anniversary. I may find myself going to Halo 3 now and then, but there isn’t nearly enough players to have an enjoyable experience as it used to give.
There is much more I could say, but I think I’ll leave it at this. I hope some of you feel the same and I’m sure many of you will the opposite. Thank you for if you read all of this.