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| Mothergoat's Second Opinion of Halo 2 | |
| Posted By: mothergoat | Date: 12/1/04 8:15 p.m. |
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I love you all. This is the best community ever. You guys have really supported my anthems and music. I thank you so much for that. This is a long read. But it's my essay expressing my quandaries with Halo 2. Keep in mind that I love Halo 2 as a video game. Just...not as a Halo game. Also keep in mind these are merely opinions. And this is just a video game. :) Of course, it's a video game that I loved very, very much :) --------
Bungie, with Microsoft’s huge push no doubt, has delivered a marketing juggernaut that has successfully blinded many casual fans and critics with hype. This creation is Halo 2, an obviously rushed title that over-promised and under-delivered. This doesn’t boil down to some simple pistol debate or 11-year-old flaming forum thread. I am going to argue that Bungie may not really understand why Halo 1 was as great as it was. The truth is in Halo 2 and the baffling changes, including uninspired level design (both single and multiplayer), how dual wielding ruins single wielding and many, many other things. Halo has lost a lot of its "jaded crowd" feel. Halo has lost a lot of its identity. “We are the jaded crowd.” -Jason Jones Reviewers of Autumn Bungie invited the most popular critics from EGM to IGN out to the west coast to spend a week with Halo 2 as their time to review the game for their respective publications. Unlike every other game, where we critics get advanced reviewable copies of games, either retail or debug, Bungie didn’t let anyone important have a copy in their hands until November 8. This was a bit fishy. Of course, this was under the guise of “protecting the story.” Really? None of the aforementioned publications’ reviews contained spoilers because of a strict embargo, anyway. By this time, the reviews were already written, not reflecting on in depth time spent with the title. It was this odd review process that I believe made Bungie hope that the big time critics would not get the chance to experience the rushed aspects and the impact of the deeper changes in the game. Plus, the hype was huge. Halo 2 getting insanely high scores sells magazines. Period. We gave it a 90 out of 100 and man did we get hate mail for an A- score. Hollow “You could fit all of Halo 1 into a canyon of Halo2.” -Bungie
The length definitely won’t be spent standing around in awe at the grand landscapes. Halo 2’s repeated corridors, weirdly cartoony jungle environments, confusing layouts yet linear design don’t ever seem to try to touch such architecture, purpose, landscapes and playscapes of Halo 1 levels like Halo, Assault on the Control Room, Silent Cartographer or Truth and Reconciliation. I felt claustrophobic on too many of the levels of Halo 2. Especially the outdoor levels, ironically. Truth and Rehabilitation “It will be released when it’s done.” -Bungie
The only excuse that Bungie may have (that would still be poor) is that Microsoft decided that Halo 3 has to be an Xbox Next release title, which is a mere one year away. So Bungie would’ve had to scrap most of the ideas for Halo 2 to save them for 3, rushing that title out as well. It’s a popular theory right now, but doesn’t excuse many other changes. Read on. Silent Denominator Much of Halo 2 multiplayer caters to casual gamers who can’t aim. Halo 1 catered to people who wanted to get better. I’m not going to drone on about the dumbing down of the pistol. (Despite too long of a range, the pistol’s accuracy and power is one of Halo 1’s great assets that set it apart in a good way. And no Noguchi, I was NOT one of the pistol sniping whores. I hardly used the pistol.) However, why Bungie chose to dumb down good weapons instead of bring others up is beyond me. Catering to the lowest common denominator could only be a motivation of fear that Halo 2 wouldn’t sell nearly as many copies. Ironically, the only reason Halo 2 is selling so well is BECAUSE of how Halo 1 played, not in spite of. The rocket is nowhere near as effective, even though homing is a nice touch. The Battle Rifle and Carbine are no substitute for the pistol. Most weapons you will encounter are based on spraying and praying. It’s clear that Bungie wants the game dynamics this way since you always spawn with the SMG. No longer is the dynamic focused on who can aim better, glorifying Halo’s wonderfully tight controls, but rather who can get the reticule to turn red and pull the trigger first. It’s as if Bungie made Halo 2 multiplayer for Quake, Doom and Unreal fans rather than Halo fans. We didn’t need another spray and pray multiplayer. These changes were supposed to “balance” gameplay for more “fun.” But the fantastic ranking system on XBL does a great job of pairing you with like skill anyway, so why mess with the weapon playscape? Those who love to run around with bullet hoses won’t be as good and will be paired with like players. Those who excel and like to aim will get better and rise in the rankings, being paired with their like skill. With so much focus on spray and pray, the rankings will become less accurate, undermining the purpose of the rankings system. Assault on the Grenade Boom The change that is not recoverable via download and the one change that dampened much of the satisfaction I got from playing Halo 1 single and multiplayer is the newly nerfed physics engine. Puzzling. Disappointing. This is the one area that Bungie was absolutely silent about changing. Did Bungie really think we wouldn’t notice? Not only is the blast radius of a grenade and rocket severely and reduced for no good reason, but the force with which they impact a vehicle is not only unsatisfying but hardly existent. I remember Blood Gulch (Halo 1). I saw an enemy warthog incoming. I threw an accurately placed grenade to detonate on the backside of the moving hog. The hog would gloriously fly with correct trajectory, killing some or all of the passengers while a great deal of rewarding satisfaction came over me as the wonderful explosion animation full of dirt and grass subsided. In Halo 2, the hog keeps on going, not flinching. In fact, place a grenade by any non-moving vehicle. It hardly moves. Makes sense for tanks and Wraiths just like Halo 1, but grenades and the physics have lost almost all of their fun factor. The minute I saw that Bungie was using the Havok physics engine I knew I should probably prepare for the reduction in fun but with exaggerated body movements. So was it so that the net code would be smoother? If so, it still wasn’t a good tradeoff. Halo lost a ton of personality with the physics changes. 343 Lonely Spartan I am all about playing as the Arbiter. Great twist! But the human element of Earth’s destruction is non-existent. We’ve been led on with “Earth will never be the same” for the sole purpose of setting us up for the big twist. Earth is neglected almost entirely. The ending sets up a second level on Earth, but of course, the credits start to roll. I wanted to learn about Chief. The story seems way too rushed and convoluted. This really lends a lot to the Halo 3 next year theory. Since Halo 2 essentially ends where we thought it would start. The Asymmetry [Something like] “When you see a map, you’ll say ‘hey, that reminds me of a single-player location.’” – Bungie Somehow, Bungie listened to the wrong people. Since when does asymmetry = better? It may look like a more “realistic” locale, but what does realism have to do with a game that features aliens, cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers, slipspace jumps and ring-shaped planets? Aside from the fact that there are ridiculously few multiplayer maps to begin with, most of them are really, really, dull. Although more graphically detailed, the overall design in both symmetrical and asymmetrical maps leaves much to be desired. Aside from Lockout, Midship and Headlong, Halo 1, Gearbox’s Halo PC maps and some select maps from the Halo CE community kick these maps in the rear. Why? These maps had “fun” in mind first and foremost. I remember visiting Gearbox in Dallas before Halo CE was released. We were talking about what makes a good multiplayer map since I planned on diving into mapmaking. I’ll never forget what I believe is the best advice for any aspiring developer. “Multiplayer maps are all about moments. You have to build moments into your map or it will be boring.” So true. Gearbox did a magnificent job with their PC maps. Perfectly moment-crafted and perfect for Halo. Halo 2 makes another dip into the dull and ordinary with many moment-less maps. What also makes the 11 Halo 2 maps (Foundation doesn’t even count), feel even less in number is that time wasn’t taken to make them friendly for all gametypes. I could play almost any gametype on any Halo 1 map and feel it was fun. Halo 2, not so much. While this isn’t necessarily a horrible thing, the fact that it exists should’ve prompted Bungie to release at least twice the maps with the shipped version of Halo 2. The Halo 2 maps just don’t scream Halo. “Real” Betrayals It’s apparent from the DVD extras that much time and money was spent on making some of Halo 2 seem more “real.” There are endless cries and defenses on several Halo forums citing “well at least it’s more real” as a valid defense for the weapons debate, multiplayer maps and so on. Let’s get this straight. Reality is boring. That is why video games excel. Games are NOT reality and can transport you into a fictional world full of fun. Instead of making Halo more “Halo,” Bungie chose to make the weapons and mp landscapes more “real” in a sci-fi world full of aliens and ring worlds. So in real life, a bullet hose would cause so much force that you couldn’t keep it level. Okay. So what happened to the superhuman strength of a Spartan? Apparently those SMGs pack so much punch that even Chief has a hard time keeping ‘em down. Why make the most common gun have such a drawback when it’s the weakest to begin with? Screw reality. Exalt fun. Keys Vehicles. Poof! They’re gone. We get to drive a Wraith and a Spectre now. Okay, cool. What? That’s it? Where is the human answer to the Banshee? The Kestrel was there. Ready to go. Perfectly in place as a cool new air ride. Not even in single player. Couldn’t tame the ATV? I don’t buy it. It flipped too much? So does the new ‘hog. But there is a rolling assistance that usually gets the ‘hog back on its wheels. Could’ve done the same with the ATV. The new Banshee handling is bad. It can no longer hover. Worried about Banshee camping? Just make it more fragile. It wasn’t that bad in PC at all. Even with the fuel rod pulse bomb thing. I played PC religiously and NEVER was Banshee whoring a factor in non-noob games. The new warthog isn’t as fun, either. In Halo 1, the ‘hog would always automatically compensate for wherever the reticule was pointing despite the swervy wervy-ness of it. Whoever said that the Warthog handling needed to change was wrong. It was easy to get used to. Now it’s wound so tight that it’s hardly fun to use anymore even with the e-brake. Even using ramps isn’t as fun. The air it gets feels stale and ordinary…like the UT 2004 vehicle physics. Blah. The Paws Dual wielding is a great idea on paper and works really well in single player. But in multiplayer when you always spawn with one short range bullet hose, especially the uber-weak SMG, it’s off to the races to find at least something else. Single wielding a dual-capable weapon is an immediate imbalance. By making dual wielding a focus, you immediately cut the usability of just one of those weapons in half. Instead of concentrating on strategy or defending your flag when you respawn, you have the added task of finding something useful to dual wield so that when you engage in the spray and pray battle, you have at least a hope. Let me say, again, that there was no reason to make the pistol weaker. Just make the other weapons stronger. One of Halo 1’s awesome assets that set it apart from spray and pray shooters was the weapon set. That is all but lost. And for the love of God, Bungie, give the ranked gamers a medium range weapon to spawn with. Legendary I think Halo 2 is a great game. It’s definitely the best Xbox Live title by leaps and bounds. I only critique Halo 2 against its legendary predecessor. It’s pretty unfair, I know. But at the same time, I find it a big bummer that Bungie seems to have fixed what was never broken, rushed a timeless property and created a game that pales under Halo 1’s shining example of how to be different. Aside from boarding, most of the changes were not for the best, in my humble opinion. Halo 2 takes the series closer to the feel of Unreal, Quake, etc. It should’ve been the exact opposite. I hope Halo 3 redeems the series and regains that awesome identity we know and love from Halo 1. In the end, I will be playing a lot of Halo 2 on XBL because Halo 1 isn’t on there. I guarantee you that if Halo 1 was re-released with the same Xbox Live capabilities, more people would prefer Halo 1. No doubt in my mind.
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