Where's the Innovation? Read.

Games Other Halo
1

People ask why Halo isn’t top dog anymore. Some say it because the game turned into a CoD wannabe and lost it’s niche, others say the market has changed and people don’t want Halo anymore.

While those arguments may be true, I believe the reason everything has gone downhill since Halo Reach is because of the lack of innovation.

Halo CE - Obvious. Successful because it brought FPS to the console.

Halo 2 - Brought online FPS’s to light with Xbox LIVE. Other features such as clan matches, a ranking system and a slew of customizable options.

Halo 3 - Theatre and Forge - two ENORMOUS extensions to a game. Also File browser and balanced changes such as equipment. Lastly, with Halo 3: ODST we have Firefight.

Halo Reach - Uhhh… Nothing really…

Halo 4 - Nothing. In fact, many things were removed from the game.

Sure you can say that things like Spartan Ops were additions to the game, but I’m talking fundamental features that the new game brings. There has been no innovation for years now.

No wonder this game is no longer top. I love Halo, but you have to open your eyes. Halo 4 brings nothing to the table and that is why the population is going fast. There are other games being released now that are doing what the original trilogy did - innovate. People would rather play a game that brings something to the table, and Halo 4 is not that game.

2

This so much this. I have some differing opinions, but this in fact is very true. Thank you for your well thought out post.

3

> This so much this. I have some differing opinions, but this in fact is very true. Thank you for your well thought out post.

You’re welcome! :slight_smile:

4

Wouldn’t consistent episodic content (Spartan Ops) count? I mean, it’s a pretty big thing and even excels the level of the walking dead game as the whole game of that is episodic, yet this is a side to the game along with a large amount of other stuff alongside. That, imo, is pretty innovative. I mean, Spartan Ops is what bumped Halo 4 to be 16gb in size. I mean, how many FPS games have you seen do something like Spartan Ops and succeed with it? Pretty much none. If you can name me at least three I’ll accept your statement that Spops isn’t innovative as correct. Otherwise, in my eyes, Spartan Ops is this innovative feature that you’ve been talking about.

5

Spartan Ops absolutely does not count!

Recycling maps from multiplayer and campaign and placing cannon fodder on them and A to B/B to A objectives and then reapeating the exact same thing each week is innovating and game changing? Please… it’s just a waste of space that could have been used for a longer campaign or more multiplayer maps.
Spartan ops is the opposite of innovation in reality.

Halo 5 better bring some real innovation or I really think that will be it for Halo.

6

I’d call Spartan Ops innovative. The execution is a bit off but… Halo 3 Forge wasn’t that exceptional from the get-go either. You could change weapon spawns and player spawns around a bit, nothing too exciting. Even when Foundry launched it wasn’t a huge game changer. You could move boxes around to create small arena maps that all had the same aesthetic - better map editors have existed for a long time. Forge didn’t really reach legendary status until… Reach.

I think Spartan Ops has potential… which is my opinion on a lot of things about Halo 4. We started to see some of it in the later episodes… perhaps 6-10 will allow Spartan Ops to truly shine. We’ll see though.

By the way, Halo: CE wasn’t innovative for bringing FPS to the console, since there had been console FPSs before, it was innovative for popularizing DUAL STICK shooters. Strafing was pretty tough to pull off on consoles before movement and look were separated off into two separate sticks.

7

i guess you can say reach brought sprint and armor abilities. not nothing.

8

reach brought sprint and AA’s

4 brought custom loadouts, spartan ops, ordinance drops

9

> reach brought sprint and AA’s
>
> 4 brought custom loadouts, spartan ops, ordinance drops

All those are imitations, except SpOps and AA’s, those are perhaps the more innovative things.

Loadouts actually limits players

Ordnance Drops as they currently are break map balance.

Oh, you forgot

-JiP
-Killcams
-Instaspawn
-QTE’s for campaign

10

> > reach brought sprint and AA’s
> >
> > 4 brought custom loadouts, spartan ops, ordinance drops
>
> All those are imitations, except SpOps and AA’s, those are perhaps the more innovative things.
>
> Loadouts actually limits players
>
> Ordnance Drops as they currently are break map balance.
>
> Oh, you forgot
>
> -JiP
> -Killcams
> -Instaspawn
> -QTE’s for campaign

I would not say loadouts limit players.

I also would not say ordnance break map balance either.

11

> I would not say loadouts limit players.
>
> I also would not say ordnance break map balance either.

Actually they do.

With no loadouts, the only thing limiting players is their own personal skill.

Loadouts wouldn’t be a problem if it was weapons and AA’s only and AA’s were swappable without dying. However “perks” actually have that kind of impact on the game that they can limit a player.

If I choose a loadout to play a defensive role but decide to play a more aggresive offensive way, then my perks can limit my abilities to do so efficiently as opposed to a loadout designed for an offensive playstyle.

No one can activley change their playstyle without limitations because of the loadout they’ve chosen.

If your loadout is made for sniping, you won’t be as good in a vehicle while using another loadout that was made for just that purpose.

With no perks, the only limits of how good you are in a role is your own personal skill. With perks, your limits is what you’ve chosen for a specific role as well as your skill.

See what I mean?

As for Random Ordnance Drops.

Balance is when all players in a game are treated equally. That’s not to say that the game is unfair, Halo 4 is fair in the aspect that all players have the same chances of getting whatever they can get in a map. However, balance comes in on how they are actually treated.

What Random Ordnance drop does is that it treat players and teams differently, giving them different weapons based on a random factor.

I think we can both agree that power weapons play a large role on the outcome of the game, right? You do know that random ordnance spawns semi random power weapons at a set random time intervall at semi random locations, as well as giving players random power weapons through personal drops.

One team can get equipment that benefits their situation while the other does not, through randomness, not through player interaction. Thus luck is a part of the outcome of the match.

When two equal teams fight, the better team won’t always win, but the team which was luckier, as in getting the equipment that benefited their situation.

That is not balanced.

12

So, uh, what idiot wants the same thing to be in the top for years and years on end? Not me. That brings stagnation, and way too much of the same thing. (Some would say see Call of Duty for an example. [Though they do change up the settings)

Also, you can’t list firefight and not count spartan ops. (Which is a second and apparently to be a bit more expansive campaign more then the more personal one MC had.)

13

> S<mark>o, uh, what idiot wants the same thing to be in the top for years and years on end? Not me. That brings stagnation, and way too much of the same thing. (Some would say see Call of Duty for an example. [Though they do change up the settings)</mark>
>
> Also, you can’t list firefight and not count spartan ops. (Which is a second and apparently to be a bit more expansive campaign more then the more personal one MC had.)

this thread is about innovation

facepalm

14

Wow what a biased post. You intentionally left out things from Reach and halo 4 in order to make your initially argument stronger.

There are plenty of things both games innovated and changed but regardless you won’t recognize them because it defeats your argument.

Good going OP but anyone can see what you’re doing.

15

Halo 4 was never about being innovactive, just updated.

hell, they said it themselves in one of the early vidocs: “we/I believe that great game design is evolutionary, not revolutionary” or something to that effect.

16

I considered suggesting AA’s as a feature for 4 & reach. But those are more of a blight than an innovation.

17

> Halo 4 was never about being innovactive, just updated.
>
> hell, they said it themselves in one of the early vidocs: “we/I believe that great game design is evolutionary, not revolutionary” or something to that effect.

And the evolution wasnt a natural one (in my opinion cant believe i have to say this but people cant infer crap anymore.)All the additions feel like they were forced in with no real thought behind them. Just put in there for the sake of it being there. And i would love to know how an arena shooter evolves into a classed based one.

On topic innovation is something that is lacking greatly for fps’s. It is all imitation recently, and a lack of variety in the types of games we can chose. Im not sure about anyone else but with games like halo 4 just conforming to the current trend ive given up hope for the fps on console.

18

> > S<mark>o, uh, what idiot wants the same thing to be in the top for years and years on end? Not me. That brings stagnation, and way too much of the same thing. (Some would say see Call of Duty for an example. [Though they do change up the settings)</mark>
> >
> > Also, you can’t list firefight and not count spartan ops. (Which is a second and apparently to be a bit more expansive campaign more then the more personal one MC had.)
>
> this thread is about innovation
>
> facepalm

No, it’s not.

19

I found the innovation!
It’s in the toilet.

20

By your logic, Halo 5 should became mainstream again (Next-gen possibilities).

I surely hope so.