Halo Reach,
A highly refined loadout system, and tighter balance really. That's it.
But that's not the point. The thing that draws me to Halo is the fact that it's every FPS that ever existed condensed into one with the skin pulled off. All flaws in gameplay are ironed out with each installment. It's not meant to be a different experience each time, it's meant to be an improvement and expansion upon the last. Plus, Halo, whether you like it or not, has the BROADEST core gameplay ever. Vehicular combat seamlessly blends in with ground combat, and the gametypes are so customizable, you don't even have to treat the game like an FPS.
Wanna race? Race.
Wanna have a monster truck ralley and drive other opponents off of a floating platform to fall to their death? do it.
Wanna have a gametype where everyone but one guy is standing on a giant floating jenga tower and has to dodge props thrown at them by the one guy? Do it.
Wanna have an obstacle course that requires perfect jumping and flawless grenade skills? Do it.
Want regular deathmatch? do it.
Want DeathRUN? do it. (in fact, that gives me some ideas for ForgeWorld)
Want to sculpt random shit out of building blocks in forge? Do it. (imma make a huge stone sculpture of a face)
Fuck, you want to play duckhunt with one team being launched out gravlifts and the other sniping them out of the air? Fuck, go ahead.
Halo 3 is the most customizable and variable FPS on the console market. Halo Reach will have even MORE options. Hands down. No contest. That's why I laugh when people say "hurr durr it';s teh same gaylooo" Because the game might as well be 30 games in one. I've played some custom gametypes in Halo 3 that I swear could be worth ten bucks if it was a game on it's own.
You see, the core is for better or worse the depiction of a "flawless" fps sandbox. I say this in quotes because it's subjective. All weapons have a niche and a purpose, and any one could beat another. A pistol could beat a shotty if the conditions were right (AND ONLY THEN). Everything is tuned just right so that only the better player can win (as long as no one spams. Sadly, there's no cure for spam)
Couple this with the fact that you can tweak every last thing about that balance to fit your needs, and you've got a winner.
Also, there are only a few FPSs games that have the conditions right for trick jumping. There's Half life 1, quake 1-3, the unreals, and...you guessed it, Halo. I'd say any console game that allows for trick jumping is pretty damn cool. Also, I recommend this vid to everyone, not just Halo defenders. Some of the shit in the vid is mind blowing regardless of what you think about the game that it takes place in.
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