I was certainly a bit naive to think that Bungie would somehow fix all the glaring problems with Halo 2 and at the same time not add to the problems it’s game play has. On reflection of this I should have realized what we would get simply by the fact that Halo 3 was always going to be a mod of Halo 2.
Three years in the making and I somehow can’t quite fathom what the hell these guys did with all that time, money and resources. Halo 3 looks great. It’s packed with extra features, but what good is the best looking car on the street when it runs like a Yugo.
[b]Weapons.[/b]
Like most areas of Halo 3 it’s just Halo 2 with some very basic and ordinary upgrades. Now don’t get me wrong, many changes are very good. However they were so glaring how could they not have been fixed. Take the Shotgun as an example. The weapon failed so miserably in Halo 2 it would have been inconceivable to think that Bungie couldn’t fix this weapon.
There are many weapons that have been made how they should have in Halo 2. The sniper now feels so much better thanks to decreased auto aim and weapon recoil. The Needler is actually useful and feels well balanced with ranges of dominance and uselessness. Looking at these weapons alone makes me smile a bit. Bungie must just need a couple of chances to get it right.
While some things have been improved beyond doubt it’s the simple addition of new weapons into the fold that has meant for every step forwards Bungie takes they seem to take a step back.
An underlying problem with game play for Halo 2 was the “spray” weapon component. Duel wielding and an over abundance of automatic spray weaponry meant a change in game play from Halo 1. This change caused a decrease in the diversity of most encounters between players. The distance between fights decreased for the most part. Well, certainly when playing the game as Bungie intended.
Bungie tried hard to overcome this obvious problem. Duel wielding was weakened. The sword was balanced better and a new and improved starting weapon in the Assault Rifle was brought back and improved on from Halo 1.
It was about this time that Bungie started making some negative steps in weapons for Halo 3. Of all the weapons they added and could have tried out they made one decision which undid every right decision they made up to this point in time. Enter the Mauler.
On its own the Mauler is bad enough. Added liberally around default map set ups and coupled with a melee system that is broken it’s really just another Shotgun with a different skin.
Other weapons add something to the game play at times and take away at others. To couple with the Sword we now have a giant hammer all the more increasing this close counter fighting and camping style that Bungie seems to like. All the more decreasing the skill level of a game already lacking in creative game play.
One thing that makes me want to get on a plane and visit these guys is the new pistol. Trying to appeal to the disgruntled fans of Halo 1 is something. Adding a completely useless weapon into the game is another. Shame Bungie, shame.
[b]Melee[/b]
The rule of three was something that I now firmly believe Bungie stumbled upon with Halo 1. After all just look at Halo 2 as it was released originally (pre update 1.1). This just confirmed that Bungie had no idea how this supposed “rule” worked.
The melee system is wrong in Halo 3. Too many kills are being achieved by melee and too many weapons are being over powered by it like the Mauler. A randomness which a game like Halo 3 doesn’t need has now been added.
How can anyone really believe it works? It’s now to powerful and means kill times with many combinations of weapons and melee is too small.
[b]Maps[/b]
From the transition of Halo 1 to Halo 2 I was disappointed. Now I’m just furious. Halo 3’s maps are boring. There’s no other word to describe them. They lack any sort of creativeness that Bungie once had and it’s sad to say they are much worse then Halo 2.
Problems exist in many areas but in the end they just aren’t diverse enough as a whole and don’t offer diverse enough game play individually.
I found it amazing that Bungie could now fully do away with teleporters. Restricting game play options and board travel considerably. Halo 2 was already butchered in this area but Halo 3 has been killed completely. Not one teleporter in any map and at the same time they add this feature to Forge. It’s like my wife wearing lingerie and then telling me not to touch her. It’s the biggest gaming tease I’ve ever witnessed.
What has happened is most maps have been repetitive to travel over and lost so much in terms of game play options that it’s enough to make me cry. The maps are dull and like most things Bungie they get obsessed with something so much they think its better then anything else. How on earth can they kill of the teleporter and then think Shield doors add to game play. All they do is scream CAMP. A word that I would have thought Bungie would try hard to get rid of when people think of Halo 3.
Bungie also shows that they don’t know how to properly incorporate multi leveled maps in Halo 3. Construct is so big that the game play becomes painful. Getting from top to bottom is either a long walk or a death defying grav lift. It just doesn’t work.
[b]You can’t run, but you can hide.[/b]
Finally here it is. Perhaps the most frustrating problem with Halo 3. It’s strange that you moved fast in Halo 1 but jumper low. Then moved about the same speed in Halo 2 but jumped high. Now you move slowest of all but jump like you’re on the moon. What is up with this crap? How on earth did they think this would improve game play?
It’s too late to fix the jumping aspect. Many of the maps it’s quite necessary to navigate. However the speed in which you move is quite obviously broken. It restricts game play in terms of evasion for a start. It also makes camping an even more attractive alternative way to much of the time.
I think Bungie might have done this as something to compensate for the decreased AA. They seem to be hell bent on keeping the game easy when it would have still been easy enough and much more enjoyable had speed be at about 120%. Again Bungie gives us this option in custom games like a tease.
[b]Conclusion[/b]
Bungie referred to the problems with Halo 2 as lack of a “polishing” period. In all honesty I still see none of it here. All I see is a lot of work done on graphic (which are amazing) and a huge amount of work on features like Forge, Theater and web site stats etc. I would like to see the beak up of Bungie staff and exactly how many people are in which basket. Because quite simply the game play and multi player team either is under staffed or a bunch of bad Halo players who think getting a kill with the Spartan Laser means you’re good. The only polishing I can tell happened at Bungie involved their dominate hands down each others pants.
Many things should have been different. A health bar added to the shield like Halo 1. Or at least an increased shield with only the BR, Carbine and Snipers damage increased. These changes would have made a difference in the melee and weapon set and decreased the effectiveness of things like the AR six shot and melee kill which is a real problem.
What can be changed? Not a lot now. Some of it’s right there in game options and Forge but becomes irrelevant because of Bungies obsession with making us play the game their way. We were once baited with promises of “XBL Public” a way in which we could play the setting we liked publicly with others outside of our friends list. However like most great Bungie promises this fell though.
We can increase the speed, decrease gravity. We can nurf Maulers and hammers from the map. We can even change respawns and add teleporters. We just can’t play like this outside of our friends list.
Shame!