- Sliding Ghost
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Last updated 7/27/2012
Campaigns:
CE -> 10/10
Though the last 4 levels are a clear sign that Bungie was going to -blam!- up the Halo series with the 3 Rs (randomness, repetition, and ridiculous), CE's gameplay made up for it for the most part.
I liked how H1 actually focused on the AI instead of just making them bullet sponges with lethal guns.
H2 -> 9.5/10
-Elites still felt like Elites; superior and efficient and cunning. There are times where they sneak on me but they don't attack until I notice them. Sneaky!
-Flood levels were painful but terrifying, retaining what made Flood so convincing in CE
-Brutes were uninteresting but conveyed emotion better than in H2's successors
-exploration was godly
-lots of Elite rank = variety which is good
-Elite army = badass
-marine army = making of a decent CE successor
-collecting H2 skulls was a feat itself
-IWHBYD challenge is great
-SLASO is a whole new level of punishment
My qualms with H2:
1. the sandbox
The BR dominates it, the rest are just meh. Also, the BR exclusively has more than one button combos. Besides the sword, I don't really find much weapons attractive, though it is fun seeing Elites and Grunts using their weapons to dominate. Giving Grunts rocket launchers is one hell of a feature.
2. difficulty emphasis
The level of bs is fortunately nowhere as it is in H3 or Reach but it's still a great departure. Jackal snipers rip marines to shreds. Enemies are designed with only the player in mind, meaning friendly AI can get badly beaten. Often the player is placed in the open at the start of a mission with barely any time to find cover/react to enemies. With the Heretic boss, expect to die at least 12 times before you find sufficient cover.
Yet there are plenty of fun, advantageous skulls (in H3/ODST/Reach, there are only 4 fun skulls and none of them are really advantageous or interesting. Cowbell = dumbed down Sputnik, Grunt Birthday Party = lame compared to what could be done with Elites in H2). Marines can kick ass without the player's assistance. AI driving was strictly scripted and worked very well.
Only in H2, was there actual development in the checkpoint system: provisions (dying 5 times to revert to second last checkpoint) for getting stuck in infinite checkpoint loops and you can now delay checkpoints by meleeing.
3. the generic AI
Animations are just mediocre compared to CE animations. There are a lot of Elite ranks. This is great but they hardly have any major distinctions other than their weapons. Heretics are the least interesting Covies. Heretic Elites are pretty easy to deal with while Heretic Grunts are intimidating but dull.
4. graphics emphasis
The FoV is small, even smaller in H2 Vista. The draw distance is smaller and AI get deleted if you outdistance them. Though one of the things that H2 did well was including our weapons in the cutscene instead of making Chief hold the AR every single time. The loss of the AR might have been a good thing.
H3
4/10
The bane of my existence. I'd rather not dig up my buried dislikes as they're far too obscene. Personally, I'd give H3 a 1. But there are a few likable things about it.
It has the most consistent vehicle physics (meaning you don't get splattered by mere touch like in CE and Reach or by your own vehicle like in H2). It also introduced several new AI animations to fill the lost void. And there is AI collection potential. There is nothing more sweet than taking a troop transport Hog filled with rocket launcher marines.
ODST
2/10
Improved from H3 but gameplay was still too similar to H3.
It feels like Halo: Anniversary. Just a graphical update. The pistol and SMG are identified as silenced, but they don't have the effect. Also, marines don't have the regular pistol or SMG. Wouldn't it have made more sense to equate their ammo with the silenced version?
A lot of it was rushed. Mombasa Streets was quite tedious. Only Ghosts and Mongoose?
I didn't get to spend much time with ODST's campaign so I'm not too familiar with the story. But it was definitely not worth $60. Nice going M$.
Reach
0/10
Absolute disaster
[Edited on 07.28.2012 11:26 AM PDT]