- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Bungie is ridiculously talented and all its members are sexy. There you have it; now I may criticize your game freely without guilt. :) I'm extremely impressed with Halo 2, but I have managed to come across two main complaints thus far. Figured I'd voice my opinion in the small chance you might actually listen.
First and foremost, I must say that the decision to take radar off of *all* head-to-head gametypes simply doesn't make sense to me. I generally don't have any problem with any particular game variation (including no radar), but this one just stands out like a sore thumb. One of the most intense and depth-producing aspects of a one-on-one battle is the motion-detector, move/countermove, attack/counterattack sort of dance between the two players. A move is made, seen on the radar, countered, and that move is countered, so on and so on... where it really becomes an insanely deep, tactical, strategic battle of wits between the two players to attempt to find the best point of attack. That kind of gameplay really hooked me on head-to-head matchmaking. But now it's gone. Not just in *some* gametypes... but in ALL. Completely wiped clean. No balance, no variation, nothing. As I played head to head matches without it, I realized that now it's more of a luck-based, hit-and-miss style of gameplay... where you just better hope you're facing the right direction at the right time. You're constantly at risk without any chance of defending yourself if the opponent just so happens to spawn or unintentionally run behind you at the right time. The only real way around that kind of danger is to get the first kill and hide in the corner, which is a completely lame way to play the game, obviously. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt too much to remove radar from such games like oddball, king, and bigger sized head to head maps like Ascension. But I strongly suggest you consider adding it back to some of the appropriate gametypes... it would bring head to head back to its former glory.
My second complaint - the needler. I noticed in an old 2004 E3 video that its rate of fire was dramatically increased in order to revive it as a formidable weapon to wield. However, that move was clearly trashed. Why? The needler seems to have a laundry list full of drawbacks without any real benefit other than a weak lock-on feature. Not only does it have a damage delay (the time it takes for the needles to explode) giving the opponent that much more time to lay into you, its rate of fire is STILL extremely slow. So you fire your needles, some follow and some don't, then they take a while to reach your target, and once they do, they take ANOTHER while to actually do damage. In that span of time, you've probably been flattened by the other guns that DON'T have a damage delay and DON'T have a slow rate of fire. See my point? It just seems a bit too restrained to be a consistently effective weapon.
And there are the complaints. The other 99% of the game is brilliant. You have my approval, as I'm sure you've been desperately waiting for it. :) Thanks for your time.