Yes, I’ve accepted there is a big difference between Bungie Halo and 343i Halo. I’ve loved both. I currently own all, have beaten all many many times. I get so blinded by my love for Halo, that I forget that it’s been changing over the years. So “respect the past, embrace the future” and all other overused sayings aside, I’m basing this off of the direction Halo has been heading. I’ll relive some games then get to my main point at the very end.
I really began to dive into the franchise when Halo 3 launched. It was epic and beautiful. I don’t have many bad memories with it at all. However, Halo: Reach was where my multiplayer experience kicked off. So I have the awesome Campaign to relive with a decent amount of variations. It is the coolest thing that my own Spartan was in the Campaign and the cutscenes. Insert heart emoji. Spartan abilities were cool to an extent. Also the multiplayer was a blast, even though it was hard to win. Especially if you handed me a Grenade Launcher (still my favorite gun). Forge was expanded on and had great new features. Firefight was really fun thanks to the customization. You could change the enemies and also the perks and strength for you and them. So many options for replayability. Yet none of it was monetized… Pretty sweet.
Halo 4 was good. It had my childhood hero brought back from oblivion. I really got to explore multiplayer more that ever. Customization was a new toy in itself. Forge is one of the biggest draws to the game for me so I was drooling over the new Forge features. There wasn’t much more for me to get into though. I replayed the Campaign maybe 3 times which is typical I guess. I suppose that’s what Spartan Ops was for but that never really caught fire. So even though I played multiplayer over and over (which is a good thing, even though I never had a negative KD yet I was almost always on the losing team) and played Forge for countless hours, even though not many would ever see the maps, that was about all I did. That and play dress up with the cool armor. The worst thing about the game was just handing us the skulls, but we got that fixed nowadays.
Halo 5 gave us a somewhat decent single local player Campaign with not much of a reason to replay it. There is a boss you have to fight like 4 or 5 times though. They put a lot of care into multiplayer and I haven’t got a complaint about the Spartan Abilities. They’re actually quite fitting and I feel like a super soldier now. There is one thing… something that has perplexed my mind for years now. Why do we de-scoped when we’re shot? No one has ever explained it to me and no other games do it. I would like to be able to shoot that crawler that’s 500 meters away but his aim is perfect and I can’t zoom in like the big bad super soldier that I am. Warzone apparently has it’s ups and downs. I love big team style multiplayer. That’s my main mode with any shooter. So when Halo was getting an even bigger mode I was all over it. I don’t have much to really say about the regular Warzone as I do the Warzone Firefight modes. It’s clear it’s not the old Firefight were you had freedom and ammo. I could go on and on about it but if I had to make one point about it, I would want to have more reserve ammo for my Reqs. I’d call in a Sniper but only be able to kill hardly 3 Soldiers with it. Basically, use a vehicle if you want a bunch of kills. Or maybe just “get good.” I know they want some incentive for us to buy Reqs but geez let actually use our weapon Reqs for more than 10 seconds. I digress. You can sprint indefinitely now. So be it. On to Forge. It’s impeccable but wasn’t out at launch so once I beat the Campaign I really could only play regular Warzone or WZ Assault. Out of all of this 2015 game that was all I could do. Sure I could try the smaller arena style modes that I personally don’t like. So I could play the Campaign again, play small modes, play the big modes, and that was all. That seems to be a trend games have been following these days - simplifying the game a little too much. I love to customize things. This game should have a much more improved Spartan customization system than all the preceding games. Instead it was simplified and they vomitted armor options that are very hard to sort through. Just me, it should be quality over quantity. I know they want us to keep buying those packs as long as possible but I miss the days where I could customize my emblem and have legs different from my torso. Maybe attachments were a cool thing. Sorry I just have to get it all off my chest. We’re healing here. Overall it’s apparent it’s the next-gen Halo. I just hope it’s not the standard.
I know “Halo 6” will most likely have some form of micro transactions, and that’s okay. I don’t care too much about those in any game really. They need to make money to keep going so they’re going to happen in some form. So let’s just hope for the best. Cool? Cool.
I’m not better than anyone. I don’t hate Halo now. I got a shelf still covered in merch. I know it’s been a rough journey and that 343i is trying to please… well everyone. I know their listening to the community and making improvements. There’s always going to be things someone likes or doesn’t like. I want to keep supporting my favorite franchise but I may skip the next one if things aren’t looking up. When I think of games of the modern day, I want to believe their works of art and are massive and are way ahead of the games that came out ten years ago. While the tech get’s better with each generation we somehow keep getting games that aren’t all that vast. To me, Halo has begun to feel more like a service that needs to be slapped together every 3 years. It’s like companies have a checklist, and as long as a game hits the points that every shooter game should meet (come up with some story, get them hooked on multiplayer, micro transactions) then it’s instantly ready to get shipped out. Halo needs to be more than that. Here’s what I am hoping for in the next Halo game:
- A well written story made with all the care in the world. Halo’s universe is beautiful so let’s not spoil that. Don’t put the game out if the story isn’t the best it can be. - Big team multiplayer modes, Forge, and another cooperative mode available from day one. A good cooperative mode at that. Maybe some more new ways to experience the game. Give us stuff to actually do and explore. - No forced descoping when I take damage. It’s that much of a headache I’m sorry I don’t get it. - Better customization. Just an idea: maybe throw back in some helmet, leg and forearm attachments to collect instead of 300 full body sets. I was hoping I could choose where to place my emblem(customized) on my armor set by this point in time. Anything IS possible these days. If not any of that, make our Spartan experience personal. Make me want to keep coming back and care for my career as a Spartan. Hoorah!I know some people don’t care about these things. Everyone’s view on this stuff is different. Well that’s just fine. I could be asking for too much but oh well. I’m just putting my 2 cents in. I hope everyone sees the reasoning behind my concern. If not… okay. I love you Halo!
