Edit:TLDR at the bottom you lazy, lazy person.
My love of Halo dates back to Halo:CE. It has been an exciting experience to grow, learn and watch the changes made to the industry because of this franchise. Although my days harken back to pre-Nintendo, I have never lost touch with the gaming industry.
Halo is arguably the most influential franchise known to the console if not gaming in general. Love it or hate it, you cannot deny the fan base that it has spurned. The concept of Halo, its universe, lore, and characters is nothing short of a masterpiece comparable to Star Wars. It is also in that comparison that I would like to make my point.
Halo I believe is also one of the most horribly mismanaged franchises known to console gaming. Perhaps I stand alone when I say that the potential Halo had for a deep rich connection with its player base over the years, is far and above what was attained. Over the years it has become painfully apparent the sacrifices made to pander to a broader range of players, and saturate the player base with gimmicks and trade tricks to keep them loyal or at the very least playing. At the expense of the experience.
That ladies and gentlemen is my point. MP has become the sole focus. This board and its many posts demonstrate that. As did the reach forum, and the halo 3 forums before that, and the halo 2(arguably the worst I might add).
This is not to say that all of halo has sucked since the inception. By no means. Let me illustrate.
Halo:CE
=The first experience. Back in the day of gaming we were introduced to a universe we neither recognized nor understood. You got swept away immediately and we liked it, and wanted more.
Halo 2
=I swear after that game I wanted to throw my Xbox out my window. Even today people who played that game you can barely say (halo 2) and not see people wince. Multiplayer was both great and horrible due to bugs. However what we were promised was not delivered. Master chief was a side note, To the arbiter and other characters. Which would have been fine had the MC actually done something noteworthy.
Halo 3
=Due to the issues experienced between bungie and Microsoft. Halo 3 was to be what 2 was not. It was to be better, richer, advanced. To a certain extent it was. However it was painful to play and know you were not getting the ride you expected. Halo 3 pushed no boundaries, not in storyline, not in character development, not in anything that brought you closer or closure to the halo story arc. So much went missing.
Halo Wars
=Oye I don’t have all day. Suffice it to say. Awesome cinematic but cheap thrills. RTS on a console…yeaaaa no.
Halo ODST
=I don’t care what anyone says. The story and the characters of ODST was imho flawlessly executed. Predictable as it was, You loved every character and cliché’. You bonded with them, you felt connected again. I can prove this.
Halo reach
=wtf guys, wtf. Halo Reach was beautiful to behold, and irritating to watch. They tried to make the same connection to the characters the exact same way as in ODST(see even bungie knew the formula worked)but in a more real way with loss and triumph. And it crashed and burned giving you the finger the whoooole way down. Cannon was trashed completely. It wasn’t even an afterthought. If you are going to trash cannon you better have a damn good reason in the game. Like why the hell a Spartan II is assigned to a Spartan III outfit. And the characters lacked hardcore. Everyone loved Jorge, when he died, you didn’t miss him, and was waiting for some others to die sooner. And the one guy we wanted to see more of (skully) was mindlessly absent.
Sigh, when multiplayer is the lifeblood of a game, what motivation does the industry have to keep the core storyline/single player experience alive and exciting.
I know so many people with so little respect for Halo and its fans. MP is a beast all its own and deserves its due credit and attention. But when you sacrifice the heart and soul of your creation to cater to the experience that should bear no effect on campaign play, Your just a sell out like all the rest. And like the endless shame train that has become so many other over used franchises (Zelda, Mario, ect)Halo has a new trilogy that I can see no effort by the player base to hold it to the standard it deserves.
TLDR:
343 Give us back our deep rich and engaging campaign. And give mp the cutting edge it needs to give you the longevity you need for future campaigns. Stop screwing up the Cannon, Stop basterdizing the Spartans and the armor. Leave the BS gimmicks and power up play crap in MP. And give us back our hardcore experience that made us love Halo in the first place. You guys have more money than the Vatican, there is no excuse to not be able to make this happen. And the only ones to truely blame for this is the players, fan base im looking at you.
If no one else will say it i will. Give us Master Chief. Lots of him. Properly with plenty of rich story, and awesome cinimatics. Stop the gimmicks and you better have damn good reasons for what has been changed. (Like why all of a sudden does he have a jetpack, he used one in space to maneuver, in the books. Thats allllllllll a spartan would use it for. None of us are 5 years old going, man i wish i had a jet pack).
I dare say if Masterchief could stand up and say something it would most like be “I feel dirty”. Fix it.
