Halo Reach
Halo Reach has been out for about two months now, so I thought I would talk about it now that I've had ample time to play.
I love Firefight matchmaking, especially since the recent update that made it longer. However, I do not like a bonus round with Hunters. DO NOT WANT! I understand Grunts are pretty easy kills and Bungie wants us to be challenged, but they could have used Jackals or Skirmishers instead. Or even Brutes.
I don't play multiplayer as much. I think it's more fun when you have at least one person you know playing with you, and I don't have too many friends on my XBL Friend List that still play Reach consistently. So I typically only play multiplayer with Frank, and we go into Team Slayer and Invasion.
People have a lot of complaints about Reach. But, I love it. My only complaint is the maps. They suck. Especially compared to maps of earlier Halo games. I'm going to discuss all of them now.
Asylum - This is a Forge World remake of Sanctuary from Halo 2, and one of the only symmetrical maps. I can't be sure but I think it's a little smaller than the original. At least it feels that way. Maybe it's just because the colors are different. Anyway, I rather enjoy this map. It's just the right size for Team Slayer and Team Objective, and even for Rumble Pit. So I guess that means it's about an 8 player map, maybe 10. It definitely would not work for BTB, though.
Boardwalk - I really dislike this map. It's too big for Team Slayer/Team Objective and I feel as though it should only be in BTB. The multiple levels really don't get much use, as most people get to the sniper and stay on top, picking people off.
Boneyard - Another big map. One of the BTB team spawns is a little unfair, as it is nearly right next to the tank and all the other vehicles as well. I have seen far too many one-sided BTB matches on this map. In Invasion, the Elite spawn in the first round is awful. The Spartans have DMRs where they spawn and there's not a whole lot of cover in between where the Elites spawn and where they need to go.
The Cage - Another Forge World map. I don't hate it, but it's never my first choice in the voting. The layout of the map makes the Jet Pack one of the better armor abilities to go with. I don't like it for Infection, though, as most of the walkways are narrow and it's too easy to roll off the edge when you're a zombie.
Countdown - This is a small map. It's decent for Team Slayer but too small for BTB. I don't have too many problems with this map, although the small confines do tend to make it easier for people to dominate with the sword or shotgun. It's definitely not a map for gametypes with the sniper rifle.
Pinnacle - This is a Forge World remake of Ascension from Halo 2. Not much has changed, although they did take the Banshee out. I really don't get to play this map very much, but there's nothing I really hate about it.
Powerhouse - This is probably my favorite of the Reach maps. It's not symmetrical, but the fights happen all over the map, which is cool. There's not one certain spot that tends to get all the action. There are good lines of sight for shooting with distance weapons. I don't particularly like this map for Infection, though, as people tend to camp in the little bathroom or on one of the ledges, picking off the zombies easily. I really like this map for Elite Slayer. Haven't played that many objective games on it, so I can't really say how it is for that. It's a small map, good for Team Slayer, but it wouldn't work for BTB.
Reflection - a remake of Ivory Tower from Halo 2. I don't have much to say on this map. It plays pretty much the same, as far as I can tell.
Spire - I really only like this map in Invasion. In BTB and Invasion Slayer, people dominate too much with vehicles, especially the Banshees and Falcons. I also hate that if you go up the Spire, unless you have a jetpack it's really hard to get back down without dying.
Sword Base - This map was clearly built to show off the Armor Abilities. The center of the map favors the jetpack, while the inner areas encourage active camo or armor lock, especially in Elite Slayer. Hologram is also really awesome when used by skilled players. I've only played against one team that didn't camp the lift. That was a strange match, actually, since I wasn't used to that. I don't like this map for Rumble Pit because it's a bit large and sometimes hard to find people. It's big enough for BTB but because it's all indoors, I don't actually think it would be a good BTB map. It's good for Team Slayer, though, and Team Objective. I don't particularly like it for Infection, though, either, since it's another map that's easy to camp on.
Zealot - I don't really have any issues with this map. They made the top out of bounds, so it stopped people from camping up there.
They are adding new multiplayer maps later this month, and from what I've seen they look pretty awesome (and I think at least one of them is symmetrical!) so I am looking forward to them.
Atom - I really like this map. It's just the right size for Team Slayer. The different levels almost make jet packs necessary, but if you don't mind walking a bit, I've seen people use Hologram really effectively as well. A lot of people also use Sprint to run up and melee people to death. This is too small of a map for BTB, though, and probably not a good sniper map either, since there's not a lot of cover.
Cliffhanger - I also really like this map. Jet pack and hologram are my armor abilities of choice. Too small of a map for BTB, but works very well for Team Slayer and Team Objective.
Beachhead - I absolutely love this map, especially for Sniperfight. There's quite a few good places to jetpack to and have a good vantage point. This map is also one of the only ones with vehicles.
Corvette - This map is pretty good for Rocketfight, especially now that they disabled Friendly Fire. I don't like it as much for Sniperfight. Regular Firefight would also work pretty well.
Courtyard - I like this map for all of the Firefight gametypes. Rocketfight is probably my favorite, though. I like getting splatters by hitting the forklift with a rocket and having it fall over onto the grunts.
Glacier - My favorite gametype on this map is Sniperfight. There's a spot with a really good vantage point. I got a Killionare there once. ^_^ This map has Ghosts if you can steal them from the enemies, so that's fun sometimes.
Holdout - This is a good map for all types of Firefight as well. I also enjoy shooting the Banshee out of the air when it appears.
Outpost - another good map for all Firefight types. I enjoy Sniperfight the most. This map also has vehicles if you can steal them from the enemy.
Overlook - Has some nice places to snipe from in Sniperfight.
Waterfront - The only firefight map I hate. There are jackals that sit on an out of bounds ledge and fire at you with the Focus Rifle. In Sniperfight they are not that hard to take out, but it's difficult in the other game types.
I hope at some point they add a map like Lost Platoon from ODST. That was an awesome Firefight map. It was big and had lots of vehicles.
I love Firefight matchmaking, especially since the recent update that made it longer. However, I do not like a bonus round with Hunters. DO NOT WANT! I understand Grunts are pretty easy kills and Bungie wants us to be challenged, but they could have used Jackals or Skirmishers instead. Or even Brutes.
I don't play multiplayer as much. I think it's more fun when you have at least one person you know playing with you, and I don't have too many friends on my XBL Friend List that still play Reach consistently. So I typically only play multiplayer with Frank, and we go into Team Slayer and Invasion.
People have a lot of complaints about Reach. But, I love it. My only complaint is the maps. They suck. Especially compared to maps of earlier Halo games. I'm going to discuss all of them now.
Asylum - This is a Forge World remake of Sanctuary from Halo 2, and one of the only symmetrical maps. I can't be sure but I think it's a little smaller than the original. At least it feels that way. Maybe it's just because the colors are different. Anyway, I rather enjoy this map. It's just the right size for Team Slayer and Team Objective, and even for Rumble Pit. So I guess that means it's about an 8 player map, maybe 10. It definitely would not work for BTB, though.
Boardwalk - I really dislike this map. It's too big for Team Slayer/Team Objective and I feel as though it should only be in BTB. The multiple levels really don't get much use, as most people get to the sniper and stay on top, picking people off.
Boneyard - Another big map. One of the BTB team spawns is a little unfair, as it is nearly right next to the tank and all the other vehicles as well. I have seen far too many one-sided BTB matches on this map. In Invasion, the Elite spawn in the first round is awful. The Spartans have DMRs where they spawn and there's not a whole lot of cover in between where the Elites spawn and where they need to go.
The Cage - Another Forge World map. I don't hate it, but it's never my first choice in the voting. The layout of the map makes the Jet Pack one of the better armor abilities to go with. I don't like it for Infection, though, as most of the walkways are narrow and it's too easy to roll off the edge when you're a zombie.
Countdown - This is a small map. It's decent for Team Slayer but too small for BTB. I don't have too many problems with this map, although the small confines do tend to make it easier for people to dominate with the sword or shotgun. It's definitely not a map for gametypes with the sniper rifle.
Pinnacle - This is a Forge World remake of Ascension from Halo 2. Not much has changed, although they did take the Banshee out. I really don't get to play this map very much, but there's nothing I really hate about it.
Powerhouse - This is probably my favorite of the Reach maps. It's not symmetrical, but the fights happen all over the map, which is cool. There's not one certain spot that tends to get all the action. There are good lines of sight for shooting with distance weapons. I don't particularly like this map for Infection, though, as people tend to camp in the little bathroom or on one of the ledges, picking off the zombies easily. I really like this map for Elite Slayer. Haven't played that many objective games on it, so I can't really say how it is for that. It's a small map, good for Team Slayer, but it wouldn't work for BTB.
Reflection - a remake of Ivory Tower from Halo 2. I don't have much to say on this map. It plays pretty much the same, as far as I can tell.
Spire - I really only like this map in Invasion. In BTB and Invasion Slayer, people dominate too much with vehicles, especially the Banshees and Falcons. I also hate that if you go up the Spire, unless you have a jetpack it's really hard to get back down without dying.
Sword Base - This map was clearly built to show off the Armor Abilities. The center of the map favors the jetpack, while the inner areas encourage active camo or armor lock, especially in Elite Slayer. Hologram is also really awesome when used by skilled players. I've only played against one team that didn't camp the lift. That was a strange match, actually, since I wasn't used to that. I don't like this map for Rumble Pit because it's a bit large and sometimes hard to find people. It's big enough for BTB but because it's all indoors, I don't actually think it would be a good BTB map. It's good for Team Slayer, though, and Team Objective. I don't particularly like it for Infection, though, either, since it's another map that's easy to camp on.
Zealot - I don't really have any issues with this map. They made the top out of bounds, so it stopped people from camping up there.
They are adding new multiplayer maps later this month, and from what I've seen they look pretty awesome (and I think at least one of them is symmetrical!) so I am looking forward to them.
Atom - I really like this map. It's just the right size for Team Slayer. The different levels almost make jet packs necessary, but if you don't mind walking a bit, I've seen people use Hologram really effectively as well. A lot of people also use Sprint to run up and melee people to death. This is too small of a map for BTB, though, and probably not a good sniper map either, since there's not a lot of cover.
Cliffhanger - I also really like this map. Jet pack and hologram are my armor abilities of choice. Too small of a map for BTB, but works very well for Team Slayer and Team Objective.
Beachhead - I absolutely love this map, especially for Sniperfight. There's quite a few good places to jetpack to and have a good vantage point. This map is also one of the only ones with vehicles.
Corvette - This map is pretty good for Rocketfight, especially now that they disabled Friendly Fire. I don't like it as much for Sniperfight. Regular Firefight would also work pretty well.
Courtyard - I like this map for all of the Firefight gametypes. Rocketfight is probably my favorite, though. I like getting splatters by hitting the forklift with a rocket and having it fall over onto the grunts.
Glacier - My favorite gametype on this map is Sniperfight. There's a spot with a really good vantage point. I got a Killionare there once. ^_^ This map has Ghosts if you can steal them from the enemies, so that's fun sometimes.
Holdout - This is a good map for all types of Firefight as well. I also enjoy shooting the Banshee out of the air when it appears.
Outpost - another good map for all Firefight types. I enjoy Sniperfight the most. This map also has vehicles if you can steal them from the enemy.
Overlook - Has some nice places to snipe from in Sniperfight.
Waterfront - The only firefight map I hate. There are jackals that sit on an out of bounds ledge and fire at you with the Focus Rifle. In Sniperfight they are not that hard to take out, but it's difficult in the other game types.
I hope at some point they add a map like Lost Platoon from ODST. That was an awesome Firefight map. It was big and had lots of vehicles.