Make or Break: Key issues a game NEEDS to have in order to be a game you will like, or even buy.
Paradox's 'Make or Break' issues:
- The AI in the game need to be drastically improved from Halo 3
I've seen a few topics on this already. The basic summary is:
A.
A real battle needs to take place even if you aren't there.
a(1) Teammates need to be of real use
a(2) Enemies need to actually be a threat and seem scary, think Halo 1 energy sword guys or halo 2 brutes charging at you.
B. Enemies AND friendlies need to make intelligent moves, hiding behind stuff when damaged, cornering you, throwing a grenade at you if you crouch behind a corner instead of standing there like an idiot waiting for you to come out...
Think Halo 1 AI at the very least.
- Difficulty modes
Ideal difficulty setting increase:
- = 1\5 -- =2\5 --- = 3\5 etc.
Normal mode;
Health bar |---|
Intelligence |-|
Rate of fire\damage given |---|
Heroic mode
Health bar |----|
Intelligence |---|
Rate of fire\damage given |----|
Legendary mode
Health bar |----|
Intelligence |-----|
Rate of fire\damage given |-----|
____________________________
BAD difficulty setting increase:
- = 1\5 -- =2\5 --- = 3\5 etc.
Normal mode;
Health bar |-|
Intelligence |-|
Rate of fire\damage given |--|
Heroic mode
Health bar |-----|
Intelligence |-|
Rate of fire\damage given |----|
Legendary mode
Health bar |-------| 7\5?!
Intelligence |-|
Rate of fire\damage given |-----|
See the difference?
- No useless weapons.
Halo 1, again, was a good example of accomplishing this.
Needler? Awesome! Plasma rifle? Awesome! Assault rifle? Awesome! Plasma pistol? Awesome!
Halo 2 was the worst
Needler? meh. Pistol? meh. Battle rifle? Awesome!
See where I'm going with this?
For some reason weak weapons are put in the game... It's just clutter. It really is. The only time this is valid is in older games where you collect stronger and stronger weapons added to your enormous arsenal as you progress through the game.
Halo on the other hand, you see almost every weapon in the first level. There is no need for weaker weapons, it just causes clutter. Dual wielded weapons should be considerably strong. Dual plasma rifles, dual spikers... only very narrowly beat the AR. The only combo that really justified their existence was the fact that you could combine them, the plasma rifle-spiker combo was closer to what is needed.
Halo 3 actually did a fairly good job on this. EXCEPT: It needed to either remove or up the power of spikers, magnums, and plasma rifles.
-The rest: the obvious
Story that makes sense
Good multiplayer like the rest of the Halo series
New stuff, new gameplay elements.
Needing the feel of epicness: If I'm in a huge battle, I want to be in a huge battle. I want so many fights going on at one time that I cannot possibly take part in all of them, the battle needs to happen AROUND you, not BECAUSE of you. Both Halo 2 and 3 sucked hard at that. I loved the games, but only because of the multiplayer. I STILL play the Halo 1 campaign however, which says something.
__________
One key thing I will be looking for in terms of weaponry for Reach:
Strong plasma rifles.
They really CANNOT be duel wield-able, they have to be nerfed that way. A real accurate powerful plasma rifle is what the game really needs. I'm tired of firing plasma bullets and seeing one fly off at a 45 degree angle to the side, it will be the main weapon used against us, and it is a RIFLE. It should be bigger, and even a match for the battle rifle.
[Edited on 11.06.2009 3:14 PM PST]