In my opinion, Reach was a huge dissapointment, i preordered the game because i was a huge halo fan and now i have serious doubts about the success of halo. I hope in the future im playing more halo and less COD.
Consturctively speaking the gameplay has changed dramaticly from Halo 3 to Reach. Looking at Halo 3, to me... winning and having a great fun game is all about strategy and teamwork. For example playing valhalla, one person goes for the laser, one person gets the banshee, others maybe the warthog and you attempt to controll the map and weapons, where you just dominate the entire game. Another example of strategy is on construct where you can set and plan traps on the grav lift with the power drain, sword, or flame thrower (my favorite). Or how about the pit when you would attempt to control the rocket launcher and know excatly when it would spawn again or hiding and controlling the sword room,...The list goes on and on.
For halo reach however, the strategy involved is nearly completely gone!!!! By this i mean the game is completely based on skill. So the idea of Reach is to spawn with a DMR and run around and kill people. Thats it! Why even have other guns and vehicles in the game. No one can deny that the kill percentage with the DMR compared to other guns is far greater then with the BR in Halo 3 compared to other guns. They should have never done the stupid loadout classes where you choose what you want to play with, it takes away from the strategy, and would also have solved everyones issue with the armor lock that everyone hates. It would be different if they would have to fight to get those abilitys or guns instead of every single person starting with them. It causes the game to lack gameplay and sturcture and takes all the fun out of the game.
That type of gameplay is what SWAT is for but reach just fails to be much more than that, they should adjust the loadouts and setups of there maps and gametypes.
I hope Halo 4 is much better, and im gonna rent it first.
Ok 2 more quick items
1. Why not bring rocket race back, it was alot of fun
2. Why does Bungie or whoever have to be soo greedy, every time a map pack comes out, its required for nearly every lobby, so they are forcing you to give them money and buy the map pack or you cant play anymore, i would sure like to meet that guy in a dark alley, i cant begin to vent my frustration on video game companys greed. I also refuse to buy any game that requires a code to play online, I dont buy a car if i cant drive it first and i dont buy a game if i cant play it first. ( Battlefield 3 vent)