WARNING: The article that I am going to post is VERY VERY long. Do NOT post in this thread and say something like "TOOOO LONG, didn't read it!" I would only like to hear from folks that read all or part of it, and have thoughts/opinions based on what it says. Off topic posts will be deleted.
This is from the blog Ascendant Justice, which has been featured in Bungie.net's weekly update this week. I have been reading this blog for quite some time, simply because it offers intellectual discussion about the Halo world in general.
That said, I found this article to not only be entertaining, but very informative. The author and owner of the blog, Vociferous, was able to put to words some things that I have always thought about Halo, yet he articulates them in a phenomenal and respectable way. I would love to hear some discussion about this article from fans past and present of the Halo series. It is definitely a conversation starter. Without anything further.. enjoy the article:
Source.
A brief and opinionated look at the evolution of Halo’s time-honored multiplayer - its twists, its turns and its future…
Despite many attempts by other game developers to emulate the combat system displayed in the Halo trilogy, Bungie’s multiplayer experience remains unmatched, no less improved upon. From top to bottom, whether you’re talking about the ground-level faculties like movement speed and sandbox diversity or the broad-based aspects like matchmaking and load balancing, Halo’s multiplayer component is arguably the best of our generation. As of late, however, its community is fraught with an ambiguous and problematic malaise. There is an exodus of sorts and the culmination of seven years worth of evolution in Halo multiplayer is in question - perhaps even in jeopardy.
Why doesn’t it feel the same as it did before?
A legitimate question for any fan to ask when the quality of what they hold dear suddenly becomes suspect. But to understand what is wrong, we must know what was right: How had Bungie tapped into a fleshy pulse - that living catalyst - which drove gamers to unflinchingly dedicate the last seven years of their lives to a single franchise. We could spend hours pouring over the various reasons that Halo’s current matchmaking system, seamless user interface, saved films/screenshots and overall customization options trump almost every other gaming product in feature scale and size, but I want to focus on what makes any game essentially fun - in particular, what makes Halo’s combat evolved.
To do this we have travel back in time to around 2003 and squeeze into my previous thousand square foot apartment where there are four large standard definition televisions conjoining two rooms and sixteen loud-mouthed friends murdering each other for fun. They’ve bonded together from just about every race, creed and walk of life, but their solitary form of entertainment tonight is mutually resonant.
In their tightly-clinched palms are a variety of original Xbox controllers. You remember these: the iconic Duke, the S-Controller and its own litany of jewel-encased variants. Amidst the clamor of gun fire and grenade explosions, one can hear the elaborate profanity, the vitriol-laden taunts and the promise of violent reciprocity. Afterwards, I lie in bed as my wife prepares divorce papers next to me (I kid). I recall the events of the virtual internecine which had come to an end. And when the lights go out, I stare up at the ceiling playing out the battles in my mind, scene-by-scene and moment-by-moment - bullets, grenades and glory.
This was Halo: Combat Evolved and it was halcyon days of Halo’s combat system. While this is where we started, it is far removed from where we are now. Many have suggested that the differences between this title and Halo 2 were so substantial that they could literally be considered separate games. This may be true from a purist’s hardliner perspective, but Halo is still Halo to most people. Although there were very big changes, people recognize this series’ emblematic gameplay whether it be Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 or our current platform, Halo 3.
But if we are now lost, the most obvious place to find our way back home would be to start at the beginning, right?
The first game of the trilogy had an unbelievable following at a grounds-roots level, reverberating even still to this day. Despite, at the time, receiving petulant barbs from PC gamers who believed that the game was simply just another first-person shooter, thousands of gamers kept the title on the top ten retail lists for years and week-in/week-out they brought their hefty black machines to each others’ houses for the legendary LAN-play. Whether you agree with its superiority on the first-person scene, Halo: Combat Evolved’s multiplayer popularity was irrevocably undeniable.
But what engendered this? Why was it such a powerful experience?
While not revolutionary and perhaps even somewhat borrowed, Halo: Combat Evolved’s core mechanics and gameplay was a hodgepodge of right choices. The two weapon system forced players to move around the map and generated a strategic element in each enemy encounter. The balance of the sandbox also permeated, and while oft-contended, Halo: Combat Evolved’s legendary pistol, the M6D, seemed to level the playing field for any and everyone, giving the player who spawned into misfortune a fighting chance at survival rather than a swift burial. Vehicle combat was practically without transition and played like a natural extension of its on-foot brother. Everything from the responsive movement and cunning map design to the game’s intriguing and often entertaining physics made Halo: Combat Evolved unforgettable.
If that was the case, why did Halo 2 depart from it so emphatically?
There were a lot of reasons offered by Bungie, but perhaps the most obvious was Xbox Live. Halo 2 would have online play through Microsoft’s online gaming service, something its forerunner did not. This meant that not only would the population of players be larger, but it would also offer sanctuary to both the seasoned veterans of the MLG circuit and the witless nubbery of someone who simply liked the game’s box art. The skill disparity would be more diverse and the networking conditions would be more strained - so, Bungie determined, there would need to be considerable changes going into multiplayer.
And there were…
Though Halo 2 saw the succession of several of the original game’s weapons, all had considerable changes and several were removed including the default starting weapons, the MA5B assault rifle and the legendary M6D pistol. The rocket launcher now easily homed in on vehicles all but guaranteeing a kill, player’s melee attacks sent them careening toward their enemies, the ultimate close-quarters power weapon was introduced in the unquenchable and omnipotent energy sword, fall damage was removed and the poor ol’ M90 shotgun underwent a vasectomy. Many also noticed the alteration of vehicle physics due to their enhanced destructibility. Auto-aim and aim assist systems were exponentially increased, presumably to mollify any potential networking issues. One of the biggest changes, however, was a new style of short-range combat: dual-wielding (the ability to carry and fire two weapons simultaneously). From this change, the M7 SMG became the new default starting weapon; dual-wieldable and including an extremely low amount of efficacy, range and for a lot of people, fun.
Even well after the 1.1 update in April after the game’s release, many hardcore fans still disliked the new approach no matter what explanations were offered in its wake. They despised the coddling of Bungie toward lesser skilled players and scoffed at the claims of networking limitations. Through all of their squalor, many failed to really account for what was great about Halo 2 - only now has it become so vividly clear.
Apart from the brilliance of the innovative matchmaking system, there were a number of uncontested combat elements which were head and shoulders above the previous iteration. Halo 2’s overall weapon/vehicle sandbox was bountifully larger, including the entertaining use of turret emplacements from a third-person perspective. With the increased size of the sandbox, players were afforded with more choices on the battlefield - and choice is extremely important in multiplayer. The game also saw the addition of boarding (players could hijack vehicles being operated by the enemy), which gave the infantryman an opportunity to counter what had previously been a practically unchecked vehicular rampage.