- gifty
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
If you people do not trust Bungie to make an excellent sequel to the original, then you probably should not consider yourselves true fans. I have played all three Marathon games and Halo. All have been excellently implemented. The concerns are understandable. However, I feel that it will all balance out in the end.
One of the biggest factors that could ruin the game for me is not allowing for split-screen play over system link or xbox live. There should atleast be the option to have 2 players on a tv, if not 4.
I am also a bit leary of the vehicle boarding aspect. It seems as if there will be certain corners in a level that you will have to take slowly. I can see people camping these spots just to snag your vehicle. In the warthog, it would really take a skilled gunner to know these hot spots and take appropriate action to kill those would-be boarders.
The boarding itself could get a little old. There should be a way to defend yourself against it or atleast counter the move. I can see two players constantly boarding the same vehicle to gain back control of it. If someone grabs your ride, then be damn sure to have a plasma grenade handy. Should the boarding system be implemented correctly, then you will be able to avoid most boarding situations if you are experienced. There will always be the implausible scenarios where your whole hog gets jacked by 3 enemies at once. Good times.
As for the rocket tracking... How I understand it is that the vehicles will be more vulnerable at their engine cores and whatnot. Most likely it would be more beneficial to attempt a well-placed shot vs. a randomly placed tracking shot. Unless, of course, it is your goal to launch the driver from the vehicle and unload a battle rifle on them. From the E3 video it seemed as if the tracking shots disabled the vehicle, but were far from utterly destroying it. Well, except for when the hog impacted on the ghost's reactor core. :)
From Gearbox's experiences with Halo PC online play, suffice it to say that some sort of anti-teamkilling system will be in place. Bungie has written notoriously bandwidth-heavy netcode in some of their games. I think the resources of some of Microsoft's top networking gurus will aid them in making relatively flawless netcode for Halo 2. Even if there are problems upon initial release they probably can and will be remedied through some sort of xbox live Halo 2 update. It's always difficult to release an online mutliplayer game and have it go off without a hitch. Bungie has been testing the multiplayer and netcode from the early phases. I have a feeling it will go smoothly.
I have heard many complaints about the stat tracking system on other xbox live games. There should be penalties for exiting a game before it is finished. Probably not before 1 or 2 minutes into the game, however. If your ping sucks and you can't play worth a -blam!-, then that's an extenuating circumstance for which an exception should be made.
Do you honestly believe they have not thought of these things? If so, then you are truly foolish.
[Edited on 7/2/2004 1:56:40 PM]