I am and avid player of halo and always have been. I never used to get frusterated with halo 2 or even 3 much because if someone beat me, they were just better than me. I could get into a 2 on 1 firefight and come out on top a lot of the time. But there is just no reward for being skilled in Halo anymore. Everything has been dumbed down to cater to everybody so now everyones a winner. I still enjoy the game and the campaign is incredible but the multiplayer threw us long time halo fans under the buss and ran us over and over and over. heres why:
Larger hit boxes - We can shoot five feet up down or left to right away from an enemy and shots ALWAYS register
Headshots dont matter untill the sheild is down - i know the "ohhhh its the future thats how shields would be" excuse explains this. but now there is no point in pinpoint accuracy that we have practiced tirelessly to attain anymore.
Sprint - Now if you get into a decent one on one for a change in this game, as soon as someone starts loosing, off they go. nobody fights back much anymore
ordinance - now instead of risking your life to get a power weapon, you and your team can hunker down and get allll the oversheilds and power weapons you want
Armor abilities and perks - they were broken in reach WHY bring them back WITH the addtion of call of duty-like perks.
You die faster - I remember in past halos i could fight with someone for about 30 seconds jumping, strafing, beating, cutting corners and whatnot. theres is none of that now eveybody dies so fast and the movement doesnt help, either barely move or full sprint.
And have you tried to defeat anybody that out numbers you?? dear lord its next to impossible. ask any long time halo fan it NEVER used to be this hard to defeat multiple people. the addition of all this listed above ruins any chance of that or even winning a one on one if you get shot first. I HATE HATE HATE to say this but it pacing and the "first to shoot wins" style of gameplay really reminds me way too much of call of duty. in which case they do all of the above better so whty bother with a game that copies it??
I used to love halo because it stood alone from what everything else was trying to be. If someone practiced and did their homework they would always come out on top as a reward for their time and efforts. But now it's just another online shooter that everybody can play and be a winner. It works when i want to sit back and laugh with my friends, but when i want to put to use what I've practiced so hard to master over all of these years, this games multiplayer completly overshadows it for the casual gamers sake.
Its an amazing game but its just not halo. I am very dissapointed with the direction 343 decided to go with the multiplayer. but hey as long as you snag a couple of COD fans its worth it right?