First Thoughts on Halo
So, no spoilers. Mostly just thoughts on the game play element of it.
It plays fantastic. This should be expected of a Halo title but it is, after all, the first without franchise creators Bungie at the helm. But don't fret, 343 made themselves a game that's fun to play. The story seems a little odd, but I'm going to play through the whole thing before sharing my thoughts on that. Melissa and I are, I think, 3 missions in so far.
The guns all feel great. New sounds, new feeling. They feel heavy now, not kinda floaty. And by that I mean it actually feels like there's some force in your bullets. The weapon you're wielding, whichever it may be, feels strong and significant. There's a ton of new weapons but I feel there's a bit more repetition than variety. Forerunner weapons all serve the same purpose as their UNSC counterparts. There's an assault rifle, a shotgun, a pistol and sniper. They look freaking awesome, but as far as I can tell they function in the same manner. They all, essentially, shoot "light." From what I've noticed, the shotgun pellets will ricochet off the wall. That's the only unique trait I've really noticed. Still, they are quite fun to use.
I'm doing my first run solely with Melissa and on Normal. Nothing fancy, just enjoying the experience with the wife. Heroic, I'll save for you, Steve. There's a handful of achievements that can only be done on Heroic or higher, so I figure we'll knock those out together.
I even dove into a few matches of multiplayer. It's actually... more fun than previous Halos. "Halo Hopping" doesn't seem quite as effective. People still do it, but I think the weapons generally packing a bigger punch in combination with (I think) jump height not being quite as high makes it a more tolerable strategy to combat. I managed to hop on a ghost and clean up a bit in one match. I also got my hands on one of the new weapons, essentially an very accurate LMG, and got a good amount of kills with that before being taken out with a grenade.
I am disappointed with the lack of Firefight mode. Spartan Ops takes its place, and it's essentially a mini-campaign. I don't know why 343 would want to cut an entire mode like that but I'm going to miss it. I'm hoping for it in DLC but I'd bet just about anything the only DLC we'll see is map packs. Also: not buying the map pack that came with the Limited Edition of the game. 2000msp? No.
I'm looking forward to tinkering in Forge mode since in the videos I've watched they've really cleaned up the functionality of placing pieces. I don't have any ideas yet, though. I guess I temporarily used up all my creativity in Minecraft.
So, fun game. Steve, you will of course enjoy it.
It plays fantastic. This should be expected of a Halo title but it is, after all, the first without franchise creators Bungie at the helm. But don't fret, 343 made themselves a game that's fun to play. The story seems a little odd, but I'm going to play through the whole thing before sharing my thoughts on that. Melissa and I are, I think, 3 missions in so far.
The guns all feel great. New sounds, new feeling. They feel heavy now, not kinda floaty. And by that I mean it actually feels like there's some force in your bullets. The weapon you're wielding, whichever it may be, feels strong and significant. There's a ton of new weapons but I feel there's a bit more repetition than variety. Forerunner weapons all serve the same purpose as their UNSC counterparts. There's an assault rifle, a shotgun, a pistol and sniper. They look freaking awesome, but as far as I can tell they function in the same manner. They all, essentially, shoot "light." From what I've noticed, the shotgun pellets will ricochet off the wall. That's the only unique trait I've really noticed. Still, they are quite fun to use.
I'm doing my first run solely with Melissa and on Normal. Nothing fancy, just enjoying the experience with the wife. Heroic, I'll save for you, Steve. There's a handful of achievements that can only be done on Heroic or higher, so I figure we'll knock those out together.
I even dove into a few matches of multiplayer. It's actually... more fun than previous Halos. "Halo Hopping" doesn't seem quite as effective. People still do it, but I think the weapons generally packing a bigger punch in combination with (I think) jump height not being quite as high makes it a more tolerable strategy to combat. I managed to hop on a ghost and clean up a bit in one match. I also got my hands on one of the new weapons, essentially an very accurate LMG, and got a good amount of kills with that before being taken out with a grenade.
I am disappointed with the lack of Firefight mode. Spartan Ops takes its place, and it's essentially a mini-campaign. I don't know why 343 would want to cut an entire mode like that but I'm going to miss it. I'm hoping for it in DLC but I'd bet just about anything the only DLC we'll see is map packs. Also: not buying the map pack that came with the Limited Edition of the game. 2000msp? No.
I'm looking forward to tinkering in Forge mode since in the videos I've watched they've really cleaned up the functionality of placing pieces. I don't have any ideas yet, though. I guess I temporarily used up all my creativity in Minecraft.
So, fun game. Steve, you will of course enjoy it.