Xbox |OT|

[trunkswd]

Ryuu96 said:

Agreed with you on Gears but I disagree on Halo.

For Gears, the Skiff was fine and the cool lightning effects but other than that there wasn't anything to do and of course since characters in Gears move slowly, the Skiff is the only solution to get around a large area. The idea felt half finished, one foot in the door, it felt like they wanted to test the reception to open-world Gears first before fully committing to it.

Then the Gears 5 Expansion came out which from what I've heard is linear fully, so I guess they've made their mind up. Gears should stay linear Imo, it's simply too slow paced for an open-world in terms of character movement, it's scarier as a linear title and feels more action compact, linear lends itself better to Gears cover based action.

I also think the multi-choice was a mistake, I get the vibe that The Coalition will regret it as well. Wonder if it was Rod's decision, Lol. They should change the name back to Gears of War as well. Anyway, I did think Gears 5 was great, I enjoyed the story, I liked the character growth, I liked the lean more into the horror aspects, I enjoyed the linear levels, etc.

Don't think Halo Infinite's open-world was a mistake though, I really hope the next Halo still has an open-world environment, Infinite blended it well by having a main open hub but still had its main missions be linear. Halo's sandbox & physics are simply 10x more deeper (and fun) than Gears is which allows them to go crazier with open-world environments and throw you a dozen vehicles and mechanics to easily get around and populate it with more stuff.

Infinite's biggest mistake was a lack of environments and no large scale battles, both easily fixable when building on it, I really wanted to fight Scarabs on Zeta Halo and like take my crew of Marines with me to go take one down, Lol. All the environmental reactions as well such as enemy chatter was great too and the day/night cycle (although I wish night was darker).

I didn't mind the open areas from Gears 5. The issue was the lack of stuff to do in them. If there was more content, like guns on the vehicle and dealing with the Locust while still on the vehicle could be cool. Also yes I realize they aren't called Locust in Gears 5. I just forgot their name. As far as the Hivebusters DLC. It was a really fun 3 hour experience with a lot of variety.

I do agree about keeping Halo open-world. The issue with Infinite as you pointed out was the lack of variety in the environments with the open-world, as well as with the linear missions. Open area was JUST the level Halo from Halo: CE. It would have been cool if there was a snow area (Assault on the Control Room inspired), desert area, swamp area (similar to 343 Guilty Spark level), etc. After over 20 years Halo CE is by far my favorite Halo due to the level design. Even if I don't like The Library. Though, storywise Halo 2 has the best story IMO in the franchise, while it has my 2nd least favorite level design behind only Halo 5.