SHMUPGurus said:
2)To anyone else that want to use posts from Bungie.net forums, please don't. 1)Even when Halo 3 released people just couldn't stop complaining. Just a bunch of spoiled kids there...
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1) If my memory is correct their was not much complaining and their were only two flaws mentioned on the forums The game felt slow compared to Halo 2 and the map were not that great compared to Halo2..Honestly their was not much else to complain about considering Halo 3 = Halo 2 extra's
2)Then listen to the people on a random gaming forum who possible only protect Halo Reach because it is an X360 exclusive (maybe even not own the game) or hate it because it is not on their console?.
On Bungie.net it does not matter if you 8 or 25, if you post everyone can see what you did in Halo Reach and yes I give those posters more credit than I do on a random gaming forum..
Maybe my example of an Bungie.net poster was not a good one then let me post the opinion of a Halo Reach owner and Bungie.net member who played more than 13.000 games on Halo 3.
http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=52545453
Let me start this thread off by saying, I do not hate Reach. But, unlike the other Halo games, I do not love it either. I'm completely neutral on this game. I also want to point out that I am not a CoD fanboy either. Infact, I rather despise MW2, and I won't be picking up Black Op's when it releases either.
I've been a Halo gamer since '03, when I first started playing Halo. I was just a little boy then, and it was my first FPS. It's what converted me into a Microsoft fan, and I no longer exclusively played Nintendo. It opened my eyes to the Halo realm and I couldn't help but love the game. It just blew me away.
Halo CE brought so many innovations to the gaming world that it was hard not to love it. The multiplayer maps were great. The campaign was long and the story was flawless. The gameplay was solid, and the better player would always win. There wasn't much randomness, and the vehicular combat was key to Halo's larger maps.
In 2004, I played Halo 2 for the first time. It improved on Halo CE in nearly every way. I can remember the first time I played through Halo 2, it was a beautiful game and I didn't have any complaints.
The multiplayer maps were the best of any other Halo series, and the addition of online play was a huge step for console gaming. Halo 2 added so much to the Halo CE formula, that the amount of change was more than enough to keep players glued to the game.
Halo 2 added duel wielding, a feature that I loved and felt fit into Halo perfectly. It also added hijacking, which added a new spin on the vehicle gameplay and made vehicles less "overkill." Halo 2 also added many options for custom games, and with online play this proved to be a key point for the series. The ranking system was solid, and is arguably the best in the series.
Halo 3 brought even more innovation to the table. With the addition of Four player co-op, the campaign because much more replayable. Custom games expanded even more, and forge was the first time for many players to actually edit maps for their FPS's. This allowed for endless custom games, something that I personally loved. I have over 5000 custom games in Halo 3, actually. And, Halo 3 added Theater Mode, which allowed friends to watch videos and take pictures they could share with each other. They could watch a film and figure out where they went wrong, and how player A killed Player B.
Halo 3 managed to get almost everything right. I often complained that I didn't like Halo 3 as much as Halo 2, but looking back on it, I really did love that game alot. Halo 3 didn't take away ANYTHING from Halo 2. It only expanded. Halo 3 didn't have as good of maps, or as long of a campaign, but it's DLC made up for the original poor maps, and the short campaign is excused because the campaign maps were fun to play with friends. File share browsing was great, and the ranking system wasn't that bad, even if rank locking was horrible.
ODST was a failure in many players eyes'. But I loved the game alot. I didn't get as much play time out of it, because it lacked competitive multiplayer. But ODST did alot right. It's campaign brought alot to the table. The open world of New Mombasa was amazing, and I've spent hours upon hours just wandering around it killing covenant and listening to Sadies story over and over again. Firefight was a great addition to the Halo formula, and it's something so many fans wanted to see done. VISR Mode was also a welcome addition.
Reach failed to bring anything new to the table. Reach simply "improved" on the features the previous games introduced. Halo 2 had matchmaking, Halo 3 had Forge and Theater, and ODST had Firefight. Reach didn't have anything new.
When I played the Halo 3 beta, I loved every second of it, and I played it every day until it was gone. With the Halo Reach beta, I could only play it for the first week before I began to play it less and less, until the final days where I didn't even play it at all. Something about Reach just didn't feel as fun as the previous games.
Reach brought many new gameplay adjustments. Many of them just aren't good for Halo, however.
Reticle Bloom makes the game feel too random. I could time my shots perfectly, every time, and there's still a large chance that I'll loose to someone who spams the trigger. The bloom should only belong on automatic weapons. For the pistol or the DMR, it doesn't belong. The bloom doesn't "add more skill," it makes close range fights a toss up between luck and skill. Long range the bloom is ok, but much of Reach takes place CQC, thanks to Armor Abilities.
Armor Abilities just don't work well. Sprint, Evade, and Jetpack speed gameplay up, and feel as if they belong in Halo. It allows for better map movement, and makes getting to power weapons less of a hassle. Nobody uses Camo, because it's underpowered. Hologram is generally ignored, and Drop shield is in too few gametypes. The real issue is Armor Lock.
On it's own, Armor Lock isn't so bad. It becomes horrible when more than 50% of players use it. Armor lock makes Reach feel too repetitive. I shouldn't have to expect someone will have armor lock, but I have too because I know the instant I throw a grenade the opponent will simply armor lock and survive it's blast. Armor lock slows gameplay down, ALOT. It is used as a "press AA button and delay my death," ability. People will use it to block a melee, use Armor Lock, which takes the other players melee, and they will come out and melee again. Or, even more frustrating, an entire team will use Armor Lock, which forces you to use it in order to counter them. Which does not make for good gameplay.
The Armory was a good addition to Reach, but the rank cap forced me to look down upon the armory. That, and the ridiculous amount of time needed to climb the later ranks to buy armors that Halo 3 would have given me for unlocking certain achievements. The armory also makes it near impossible for Machinima directors to have many armors on multiple accounts for local filming.(Which they wouldn't have to do if Bungie had just allowed us to lower our guns online.)
The only good addition I really enjoy is assassinations. They feel great with the Halo feel, and my only complaint is how often a team mate will "yoink" me.
Reach took away many things Halo 3 had. VIP was removed, Assault isn't in matchmaking, and certain custom game options that were previously there are missing. I've played only a handful of custom games in Reach, because they just aren't as fun as they used to be.
I feel as if everything I do in Reach, I could have more fun doing on Halo 3. It's not because "I need to adapt," it's because the bloom and AA just make the game feel slower and less fun.
Another complaint is how pointless "Firefight" is outside of matchmaking. Bungie gave us the tools to create Firefight gametypes, but they took away the ability to earn commendation progress or challenges with it. I know it would be abused, but why should I play firefight in a custom game, if I could earn so many more credits playing it in matchmaking.
The campaign for Reach was also lackluster. Bungie sacrificed canon integrity to create a story that the casuals could better understand. I feel as if Bungie threw their canon fan's to the curb, and then they act as if they didn't create any canon breaks! In the legendary commentary they say that everything in Reach fits other canon "like a puzzle piece." Yet, there are so many mistakes that they refuse to address.
Reach's mutliplayer maps are just not fun. Reach has only 8 multiplayer maps, the lowest in the series. Many of the multiplayer maps are dull, and Bungie argues that the 5 forge world maps in matchmaking count just as much as the other 8 maps they built, they really don't count. Looking at the same bland forerunner scenery is boring, and playing in the same spaces over and over again(campaign, Firefight, and multiplayer) isn't fun.
And finally, Reach's Theater mode and file sharing seems like a downgrade. Yes, I can rewind films, but that's not worth the loss of four player Theater mode. And fileshares can't be navigated in matchmaking lobbies, which is where I used to look at pictures.
I've tried my best to enjoy Reach, but I know that I'd have more fun going back to Halo 3 or ODST. I feel that Bungie didn't deliver with Reach, and alot of other players agree with me. Reach is fun, but it doesn't share the replay value Halo 3 had.
I played more than 13,000 games of Halo 3, and I didn't begin to get bored until the third year of playing. It's only 2 months into Reach and I'm already bored. I feel that I've done everything already. In the one year I had Halo 2 online, I played more than 6,000 games of it.
Bungie needs to stop believing they did a perfect job with Reach, and stop forcing their fanbase away with things like ignoring canon breaks, and not addressing the armor lock issues. When that happens, maybe Reach can become fun again, but until then, I'm left to play Reach only for the daily challenges, and then wander back to Fable III or Dead Rising 2 until the Noble Pack releases, which will hopefully bring some variety into Reach.
-TL;DR - Reach is too repetitive, Armor Abilities and bloom don't belong, and Halo 3 felt more fun than Reach.
