Whats up everybody?
This is The Act Man here!
And today, were going to discuss quite possibly the most heated topic amongst the Halo community.
A topic so fiercely argued across the stars, internet forums.
A subject debated throughout history, and Time itself.
Im talking of course, JENKINS!
About Which Halo game had the best multiplayer?!
So grab yourself a nice hot cup of Joe, or a cold glass of whiskey if its that time,
because were gonna take a look at all the different multiplayers throughout these mainline
Halo games, to find out which one was the best!
Now without even getting 30 seconds into this video, theres gonna be people in the comments
throwing out their favorites!
So you know what, lets play a little game.
Comment which one you think is the best or do a list from best to worst.
Then when you finish watching the video edit your comment and let me know if your thoughts
have changed or if they havent.
There are so many variables that make up a Halo multiplayer, it might seem daunting to
really look at them in-depth, but I believe Ive narrowed down the most important categories
here.
One: Map Design, Map Selection, and Movement.
Two: Weapons, Vehicles, Balancing & Controls, Three: Variety, Game Modes, Playlists, Custom
Game options, Forge.
Four: Skill Gap and Learning Curve.
Five: Innovation, DLC, & Time of Release.
This basically means, how did the game launch?
What was the gaming industry like at the time?
Did the multiplayer innovate in a positive way overall?
And was the DLC, if it had any, of good quality and worth the price?
And number six: the Overall Fun Factor Well judge each game based on these focal
points and give them a grade from 1 to 10.
Of course, this will be entirely, uhhhh ummmm whats the word again?
SUBJECTIVE!
So try not to get your jet pack all in a bunch.
At the end, Ill stack them up against each other and give you the order from worst to
best.
Im not claiming to be an expert game designer, Im not claiming to have all the answers.
But I will say I have played each one of these games a hefty amount and I think Im in a position
to judge them.
Im down for all types of discussion because I could very well be wrong with some of the
things I say.
One last thing, were gonna be taking off those NOSTALGIA GOGGLES!
And Im going to look at each game as objectively as I possibly can.
So lets set up a LAN Party, get on Xbox Live for the first time, smash people with a hammer,
armor lock like a little bitch, spawn with a boltshot, and ground pound our way straight
into this.
First up, Halo Combat Evolved.
This is where it all started!
Not just the Halo Series, but console FPS games in general.
Without CE, who knows how long it wouldve taken for first person shooters to actually
become viable on consoles.
Because of the ground it broke, the integration of LAN parties and 4 player splitscreen, Combat
Evolved gets an automatic 10 in Category 5.
As the Xbox version never had any DLC and was released during a time when games were
sold when they were actually complete!
YOU REMEMBER THOSE DAYS?!
Halo 1 had 13 Maps plus 6 on the PC version.
So to be clear, Im judging the original Xbox version, as PC did bring a new type of warthog
along with the flamethrower and fuel rod which were great additions but again, not in the
original.
Now seeing as how this game couldve flopped and had no Xbox Live to support its multiplayer,
I believe those are the reasons why CE has some of the most unique maps in the franchise.
No other Halo Game has a level like Chiron TL34, with its maze like design, the many
rooms and teleporters.
Or Boarding Action, with two vertical platforms separated by an abyss.
The game had a great variety of small, middle, and large scale maps.
CE had a heavy emphasis on power weapons, powerups and map control.
Only issue is spawning could be pretty bad at times.
And granted, that could be because Im playing the MCC right now.
Even though this was the new frontier, the spawning problems become especially apparent
when going against skilled players.
The only real issue with the maps, through no real fault of their own, was actually getting
enough people to play on them, the way they were intended.
So unless you knew 15 other people, and understood how to hook up a LAN party, chances are with
only 4 people, youd just stick to the small to medium maps.
Meaning the bigger ones were hardly played.
Because of these potentially unplayable maps, and the spawning, we gotta knock two points
off.
Giving it 8/10 in category one What made CE unique from other shooters was
the incorporation of vehicles.
Once again, moving into new territory for the FPS genre.
There was nothing more fun than getting 3 people to ride around in a warthog shooting
everything that moves, and still to this day that is true.
The weapons were all fun to use and unique.
But of course, and some might disagree, the balancing was far from perfect.
In a normal game, if you spawn with two weapons and everytime you switch to your secondary,
thats a problem with balancing.
In multiplayer, the pistol is just way better than the Assault rifle even up close.
Course you cant talk vehicles without bringing up their hilarious physics.
I die laughing everytime a vehicle with the slightest momentum possible manages to kill
someone.
You might think I should knock a point off or two, but I consider this a part of CEs
gameplay and charm.
You gotta do your goddamn best to not touch a moving vehicle.
Controls are fluid, responsive and to this day feel quite good.
Category two 9/10 As far as variety goes, Combat Evolved had
so many different ways to play.
Side note, one of my favorite parts about CE is how hilarious the custom game descriptions
are.
I mean, instead of writing exactly what changes based on the settings, somebody actually took
the time to write through and add some character here.
Compared to later games, the 5 modes and custom options might seem primitive, but this was
the 1st in the series.
And I feel the same way about its variety back then as I do now.
I never felt like the game didnt have enough content.
It has and always will be a fun as hell party game to play with friends.
Category three 10/10 Playing this game with your buddies, chances
are nobody is gonna be a pro and itll all be good fun.
However if you play against someone that knows the game, someone that can do this type of
shit!
Well youre as good fucked.
The skill gap and learning curve can be BRUTAL.
But this is only an issue that arises on MCC.
The game can be super competitive, and also great casual fun.
Its easy to pick up, and extremely hard to be a pro.
Category four 9/10 Combat Evolved is as I said before, is a fucking
masterpiece, and the multiplayer is no exception.
Not since Starcraft Brood War, has a games multiplayer been so old yet so replayable
and fun.
Id give the multiplayer a 10/10, but realistically, I think back to those days of hopelessly WISHING
I could play the bigger maps with more than 4 people, the frustration of the overpowered
pistol.
And to be true to myself, Combat Evolved gets a 9/10 in the Fun Factor.
Real pretty.
Friend of yours?
Nah, we just met.
Halo 2, The Older Brother.
No doubt those of us that played this game on OG Xbox Live back in the day, have memories
so good theyre hard to describe.
Halo 2, like the original, innovated in a way that changed the gaming industry.
This time for online play.
Halo 2 basically launched Xbox Live nobody can deny that.
And if you think Im being generous here, the DLC map packs were made free just 2 months
after they were released, with the Bonus Map Pack being free outright.
That type of generosity is UNHEARD of in todays gaming industry.
It should be noted, that many players at launch had trouble finding games.
Now I dont have personal experience on the matter, and I know there were many bugs in
game like rocket-sword flying, superbounces, but I think because this was stepping into
new territory at the time, it was gonna be a bit rocky.
Still, Halo 2 narrowly avoids a perfect score in this category because of its launch issues.
9.5 out of 10 in category 5.
So without the DLC, Halo 2 had 12 maps at release.
And talk about variety!
You got remakes of the classic Blood Gulch, there was Elongation, based off of Longest.
All time favorites would be added, like Zanzibar, Ivory Tower, Lockout, Ascension AND THE ALMIGHTY
MIDSHIP!
Having been remade 4 times in later games, this map is an all time classic.
Not to mention my favorite and coincidentally underrated map in Halo 2, Backwash.
A remake of the final section of 343 Guilty Spark.
The map variety is nothing short of spectacular, building upon the Foundation the 1st game
set, and making the bigger maps more accessible through Xbox Live.
10/10 in Category 1 Halo 2 expanded the sandbox for vehicles,
weapons, turrets, and also added one of the greatest features known to man.
DUAL-WIELDING!!!
Theres something just so badass about holding two guns at the same time, I dont know why
more games dont do this.
But theres something about Halo 2s gameplay that is just so smooth.
The control is basically perfect, it plays so well and back then, a game this fluid mixed
with online play was quite impressive.
Although ghost melees were a problem.
I absolutely loved being able to pilot a Wraith and the Spectre.
Though not utilized as much in multiplayer, Covenant themed game types were a nice change
of pace.
And the addition of playable elites opened up a lot of doors for creativity.
Balancing was a bit more off this time.
Rocket Launcher was basically a guaranteed kill against vehicles.
The sword had insane range and infinite ammo.
And modded controllers, button combos and exploits were rampant.
Dual wielding some weapons was good in campaign but multiplayer, ehhhhhhhhh.
Category two 9/10 The variety was expanded upon in every way,
more custom game options, more modes, and a nice selection of playlists.
Race was left out, which was a bummer but not too terrible a loss considering it was
pretty archaic in Combat Evolved.
Not much to say here, the game improved and added onto what was offered in the 1st. 10/10
Category 3 Now the skill gap in Halo 2 is pretty big.
Many will argue button combos are part of the game, and I kind of agree.
But to the casual player, they wouldnt have known or understood them.
Meaning that if you could pull off some of these ridiculous combos, youd have a HUGE
advantage over those that couldnt.
There was more than just the BXR, alright.
And this could really suck the fun outta the game for new players because these mechanics
are not told or shown to them.
So people would get destroyed in a flash and not have the slightest clue why.
This happened to me a lot when I was younger and it could be very frustrating.
Making the learning curve especially brutal this time around.
But on the flipside, this was another layer of depth in Halos gameplay that made the competitive
side THRIVE, and made it so entertaining to watch!
Category four 8/10 Halo 2 has one of the greatest multiplayers
of all time.
Improving what the 1st game set up, and adding onto the variety.
Theres something so hilariously fun about having a Needler only fight, or swords only.
Assault was a great game mode and Halo 2 offered a lot of asymmetric game types.
You know, one bomb, one flag.
Just like the original, this multiplayer is fun no matter how many years have passed since
its release.
Really the only downside is how oppressive the game could be to casual players and of
course the launch issues.
Even playing custom games now on MCC, I think its way more fun to play without the combos.
But thats just me.
Because of this, Halo 2 dodges a perfect fun factor and gets a 9/10 overall.
Would it help if I said please?
Halo 3, The Record Setter I dont think theres any doubt that just about
everyone loves Halo 3s Multiplayer.
I mean, how could you not?
But on the real, Halo 3 broke so many records on release and theres a reason for that.
So lets take a closer look at it.
Map Variety for Halo 3 is kind of tricky, as this game launched with fewer maps than
both of the previous ones.
Snowbound and Isolations (for reasons I never quite understood) would be viewed as the two
ugly ducklings amongst Halo fans.
On a positive note, the game did remake some older maps, but Bungie made them in a way
that they basically became entirely new maps with the same formula.
Guardian is the same style of map as Lockout.
Valhalla is a different take on Blood Gulch.
Narrows once again, being reminiscent of Elongation and Longest.
And my personal favorite map out of all the games, Sand Trap.
Because those two elephants offered so many awesome, unique moments in gaming and to this
day I have not seen or heard of a map quite like Sand Trap.
Halo 3s map design was so creative with each level offering a different type of experience.
Mancannons and Mongooses added fun ways to traverse the map, movement overall was pretty
solid and simple.
Although I personally think every map at release was great, a lot of fans didnt.
Meaning the selection of good maps was roughly 9.
But matchmaking was vastly improved this time around with a simple system.
The veto.
Dont like a map?
Veto it and hopefully get one you do like?
Had Halo 3 launched with 2 more high quality maps especially FOUNDRY.
Id give it a 10 and without the veto system itd be 8 so naturally, category one 9/10.
The sandbox and balancing were at its best in Halo 3.
Older weapons had been updated and refined to work better.
We got the Gravity Hammer, Spartan Laser, Hornet, the mongoose, and probably the coolest
vehicle, the chopper!
Heavy weapons were added, giving the game another layer of depth.
And equipment, though not perfect, was a welcome and fun addition that spiced up the gameplay.
One of the biggest issues people had was with the battle rifle.
I admit, back in the day I was accustomed to Halo 2 and this time around the battle
rifle threw me off.
I felt like my shots should have been hitting my opponents when they werent.
And this was because the change from hitscan to projectile really changed the mechanics
of the weapon.
Seeing as how its the universal go to gun, this was a huge hurdle for many players to
overcome and understand.
The control wasnt quite as good as Halo 2, and Im sure most people had the same problem
I did of throwing their equipment out when they meant to reload.
As the 360 controller had two bumpers which took a lot of time getting used to.
The field of view for some, was too close.
But overall the gameplay is great, weapon balance was refined to near perfection, everything
had a level of counterplay to it.
And the game offered a stunning amount of new vehicles, weapons and sandbox elements
to play around with.
Category two 10/10 The variety of gameplay options that Halo
3 offered is something VERY few games have managed to achieve.
Not only had the previous modes returned, they also added VIP and fan favorite Infection.
Also for Fan service and as a nod to Red Vs. Blue, Bungie made Grifball a full-fledged
game mode, adding it into the Action Sack playlist.
Along with MASSIVE additions to custom game options.
You could tweak and change anything!
This would be good enough on its own, but Bungie came out with something incredible.
Forge.
No, no not that guy.
THIS!
In my opinion, the most important addition the Halo series ever had.
What you could play in Halo 3, was only limited to your imagination.
And theater was almost equally as important, but not really relevant to multiplayer.
Though it did allow people to create their own videos, montages, or just save their favorite
clips.
This was Halos community at its absolute peak.
With so many things to do, game modes to play, the variety Halo 3 offered was the reason
its one of the most beloved games in the series.
Of course the online portion of the game had several playlists, a ranking system with XP
for competitive players, armor customization, achievements.
The list goes on and on.
Category three 10/10 In terms of skill gap and learning curve,
this is when Halo was once again, at its best in my opinion.
The nerfs to the BR made it so cross mapping people wasnt as easy as it was with the pistol
and battle rifle in Halo 2.
The limit to 2 nades each lowered the amount of grenade spam.
But the game still was very competitive!
And it wasnt as punishing as the last two, it was more about knowing who to shoot, when,
and from what position, rather than who could exploit bad spawns or button combos the best.
Players could go into forge to see everything about the map.
Where weapons spawn, how long the timer is, where players respawn.
All this important information about every single map was available to everyone, so if
you did research youd have a leg up!
Your average or mediocre player could in almost all cases, contribute to the team.
Yet, a person who knew what they were doing, could still kick some serious ass!
Its very difficult to make a game both accessible and fun on a casual and competitive level.
And Halo 3 nailed that perfectly!
Category four 10/10 As I said earlier, Halo 3 made massive innovations
with Forge, Theater, armor customization, and multiplayer ranking.
Theres no doubt the game brought with it many good changes.
And at its release it was one of, if not the best game on the market.
So its time of release was great.
It didnt suffer from any game breaking issues as far as I remember.
But its when we get the DLC thats when things get a little muddled.
You see, Halo 2s map pack not only brought 9 new maps.Two months later was made free,
but it also updated the game for those who didnt have a connection to Xbox Live or the
internet.
Halo 3 on the other hand, had, 4 map packs each priced at $10
Now many people didnt have a problem with paying for these maps, I didnt as they are
all quite good and expanded upon Halo 3s gameplay opportunities.
But at this point it really seemed like Microsoft was really milking Halo 3 for all it was worth.
Lot of people were upset and even Arby & the Chief had a meaningful discussion on it.
Do you think the maps were worth 10 dollars?
Ya who dusnt hav ten dol3rz?
I wipe my ass with 10 dol3rz!1 Thats not what I asked.
I think a big concern was Halo 3 didnt launch with a dedicated Forge Map, you know just
a blank canvas that could take advantage of the new feature.
It wasnt until the heroic map pack came out that they even offered that and you had to
pay for it.
I think the biggest concern was the more map packs came out, the more segmented the population
became.
Youd be locked out of certain playlists if you didnt pay for em.
Halo 3 did nearly everything right, but for DLC, they really did piss a lot of people
off.
Still, the innovations made across the board make me give it a 9/10 in category 5.
Overall, Halo 3 offers some of the best FPS multiplayer experiences ever.
It had loads of content, so many ways to play.
And there was something for everyone be it competitive, casual, map creation, video production.
Maps like Last Resort were so intense when playing One bomb or one flag.
Sand Trap was one of the best the series has to offer.
Theres so many reasons and I cant list them all, that make me give Halo 3 a perfect 10/10
fun factor.
YES!
YES!
Then they must love the smell of bulgary.
Yeah Im doing a little product placement.
I gotta get paid too!
Halo: Reach The Finale
And now we come to Bungies last, and most controversial addition in the Halo franchise.
This is where a lot of people thought they dropped the ball, but many others loved it
for its return to the more traditional formula found in the first game.
But lets go ahead and put Reach under the microscope.
Map design and selection is definitely not Reachs strong suit.
Dont get me wrong, I think the maps themselves are great, but theres a few critical problems
here.
First off, the game only launched with 9 multiplayer maps, add onto this two of those are remakes
and it doesnt look good at first glance.
Although the game had 17 maps total including the Firefight ones, the biggest issue is all
these locations are ripped straight from the campaign.
Its not a bad idea to have a few maps like this.
But that doesnt make it ok for the entire selection to be like that!
Gamers were seeing and playing through the same locations in the campaign, firefight
and multiplayer!
And that can get pretty tiring.
2nd issue is the Spartan abilities radically change the way each player moves around.
So the maps had to be made for campaign AND multiplayer which then had to be balanced
with sprint, jet packs, evade, all this shit had to be taken into account and it overcomplicated
the design.
The game got rid of the veto system and instead added straight up voting.
Which meant oftentimes youd be replaying the same game types in the same locations over
and over again.
And lastly, Reach depended too much on forged maps, which arent bad but just cant match
real dev made maps.
Though these are, in my eyes pretty big flaws, Reach is able to partially make up for this
because the maps are competent and fun and because of Forge World, Spire & Boneyard.
Bungies greatest, biggest, and most versatile maps.
Were it not for Forge World, Reach wouldve lost A LOT more points here.
Category 1 7/10 For weapons, vehicles, and balancing this
is where the game is a lot different than its predecessors.
Its a prequel, which means the technology is going to be quite a bit different.
Well since Bungie wanted to return to where they started, they try to recreate a game
similar to Combat Evolved.
Health packs are back, and dual-wielding is gone.
I remember my disappointment with the lack of dual-wielding.
And to this day I still think it was the wrong move.
If Halo 3 could balance equipment and dual wielding, Reach couldve done the same with
Armor Abilities.
Reach was the first game in the series to actually take away more sandbox elements than
it added.
Which is disappointing no matter which way you slice it.
Reach was the 1st game in the series, to take away more weapons and vehicles than it added,
which is disappointing no matter which way you slice it.
We lost the chopper, hornet, prowler, elephant, and in return got the Revenant, Falcon and
Rocket Hog.
We lost the mauler, Beam Rifle, Brute Shot, Missile Pod, Spike & Firebomb Grenades, Carbine,
SMG, BR, Sentinel beam, and Flamethrower.
In return we got the Plasma Launcher, Concussion, Focus, and Needle Rifles, Plasma Repeater,
Grenade Launcher and DMR.
Being the last Halo game made by Bungie, it was stupid that it didnt have as many sandbox
elements as 3.
With so many possibilities, with one last hurrah, they really shouldve gone all out
here.
But again, what Reach does have is all extremely fun to use, the falcon is without a doubt,
one of the coolest vehicles in video game history.
And I think we can agree the needle rifle and grenade launcher are two of the best things
Reach added.
Balancing was another problem people had, as I said, the maps had to accommodate all
the different armor abilities.
Which is hard to do!
Not to mention the dreaded fucking armor lock.
Probably the worst decision Bungie ever made.
Its a cool idea in theory and it works in the campaign, but to have gun fights completely
stop in their tracks is one of the most infuriating things about the multiplayer.
The inclusion of reticule Bloom caused a big stir as well as an element of chance when
engaging in a firefight, because sometimes you could just spam shots and get lucky.
And if you didnt pace your shots, it was really annoying for the weapon to lose SO much accuracy.
And to have your opponent get away.
If you look at Reach as its own game, the balancing isnt terrible, but its not what
people expected from a new Halo game, and I gotta take that into account.
Control in this game is just as good as others, but not as fluid as Halo 2.
Reach struggles in a few areas and weapons, vehicles, and balance are arguably the most
important.
Category two 7/10 Oh but all the smack I been talking on Reach
thus far is gonna be flipped on its head.
Because the game offers the most variety out of any of the Halos!
They went all out here, nearly every game mode from the last 3 entries is back in full
force with a couple new ones.
Custom game options were somehow increased and firefight was fully customizable.
You could play it on the most ridiculous imaginable and thats something no other Halo game has.
And who could forget the armor customization?
I couldnt tell you how much time I spent looking over my Spartan mixing and matching pieces,
colors, emblems.
Saving up for something I really wanted only to level up and see another piece of armor
I wanted to save for.
The only disappointing part was Reach didnt offer a lot of Elite customization.
Forge was even more refined, new objects there and Forge World is just the coolest most versatile
map ever created in the franchise.
And Invasion is one of the more unique and fun game modes Halo has ever had.
Ill quickly mention the UI here even though its not necessarily related, but its flawless.
Navigating the menus, seeing your friends online on the sidebar, I mean it all flows
together to create this gaming experience that offers an incredible amount of content
and an easy way to access it all.
Its hard to say anything bad about what Reach offered as a game, because theres no denying
it had more content than all the others.
Despite it cutting a lot of sandbox elements.
Reach EASILY gets a 10/10 in category 3 The skill gap and learning curve, you know
the competitive and casual sides of the game were dumbed down quite a bit.
Its not Halo 4 esque, but its not as difficult to be really good at the game.
You always have a get out of jail card in your armor ability.
The lack of even starts was a big controversy amongst the hardcore fanbase.
Bloom kind of fucked competitive play, and with no ranked playlists or ranking system,
the game was mostly a casual experience.
Now it does get points for not being brutally oppressive, but at the same time, it doesnt
gain points because high level play just wasnt as interesting as Halo 2 & 3.
Seeing as how players can sprint and jet pack all over the place, or hide with active camo
meant map control was less important.
Category four, 6/10
Reachs DLC basically had the same problem as 3, except for the fact that the game didnt
force you to pay for a dedicated forge map.
Anniversary map pack was really freakin sweet if you were a big fan of CE and down to drop
the money.
Unlike Halo 2, and Halo 5 the game launched with all the features intact and working properly.
Had it not been missing a few genuine competitive playlists and legit ranking system, Id call
it a perfect launch.
The issue in this category is Innovation.
The game simply took away more sandbox elements than it added.
And I think most people would agree, even if you think Reach is the best, it didnt improve
upon Halo 3s formula.
Rather, it changed it.
Its a prequel so it has somewhat of an excuse.
At the same time, its the follow up game to Halo 3 and thus it was expected Reach would
innovate and add just like the last two games.
So in category 5, Reach gets a 7/10 The overall fun factor for Reach greatly depends
on whether or not you enjoy the gameplay.
That sounds obvious, but this time its a more relevant point.
Because of the sheer variety it has.
The game suffered in the competitive scene with the skill gap, and map selection.
And matchmaking forced players to choose armor abilities and loadouts.
But you cant ignore that Reach simply offers far too many ways to play.
Nor could you forget the refined forge, custom game options and all of that.
Overall Fun Factor for Halo: Reach 7.5/10 Beautiful.
Someone should take a picture.
Nice work by the way.
Halo 4, The Experiment Woof.
So now we arrive at the black sheep and boy oh boy do I have some things to say about
it.
To be fair for just a moment, were this a new IP, it wouldnt have had nearly as bad
a wrap.
At this point Bungie was gone and 343 had taken over.
Giving us a brand new Halo just two short years after Reach, and man that extra year
wouldve helped them out a LOT.
You thought Reachs map were bad?
Halo 4 will make you cringe.
Dont get me wrong there are some really cool maps here, Exile, Haven, Longbow.
The biggest weakness of Halo 4s selection, ties into category 2, which is that the weapon
and grenade spawns are completely fucking random.
The maps feel barren, empty because theres hardly ever a reason to go looking for weapons,
powerups or anything.
Also because of loadouts, not even basic weapons are on the maps and because of this, map control,
power positions are nearly nonexistent.
So it turned Halo 4 into a cheap Call of Duty game where 99% of the time youre just looking
for someone to shoot.
It really is a chain reaction of bad decisions because now that specific weapons dont spawn
on the map, they start to blend together and all feel the same.
The sword at the top of midship.
The Spartan laser in the middle of standoff.
The rockets on top of the pillar in Chill out.
The simple placement of these guns is what made Halos maps feel unique, special and different,
because you knew these weapons were on the map and where they would spawn thus making
them highly contested areas.
BTB really suffered here, because even the large maps felt enclosed for vehicle combat.
Exile is great, but just look at how little room you have to navigate.
I mean, they feel cramped.
How is it the maps in Combat Evolved felt so much more expansive than this.
Another misstep was lack of asymmetrical maps, you know like Last Resort, High ground, which
made the selection ever worse.
Movement in the other Halo games was pretty much the same except for Reach.
But this time every player has sprint and armor abilities.
And any remakes of past maps are ruined because they arent to scale.
Not to mention sprinting is so weird in Halo 4, you just feel like youre sliding all over
the place.
A first person shooter can only be so fun if it doesnt have good, replayable and unique
maps.
And thats where Halo 4 utterly dropped the ball
Category one 3/10 Where did you go wrong, Halo 4?
Where did you GO WRONG?!
Well lets talk positives here.
The Sticky Detonator is really cool.
The mantis was a fucking awesome addition to the vehicle selection and the rail gun
made ya feel pretty badass.
Uhhhh thats about it.
I cant remember a game that created so many new weapons that looked awesome, only for
them to fall flat on their face.
The weapon selection is atrociously BAD.
A big part of that is you can spawn with anything that isnt a power weapon.
This was the thing I hated most about 4, every gun fight is plagued by precision weapons
and the goddamn boltshot.
They were fucking everywhere, and trying to use anything else or experiment with different
combos was simply not viable because the balance was fucked.
I mean they were fun to use for the first couple weeks, but everyone soon realized how
shallow they were and the gameplay overall.
I will say, the new armor abilities were pretty cool, satisfying to use, had the rest of the
game been made well, better.
I think this element would have shined a lot brighter.
A minor but important note, the sound effects are nothing alike what they were in the past.
Making the game feel and sound like something that just isnt Halo.
And whats worse is we lost even more weapons and vehicles than we did in Reach!
Not to mention being able to spawn with a plasma pistol pretty fucked up vehicle combat
entirely.
I dont care that theres perks to help with that, its shitty design.
And thats another thing, you might remember when you hit a certain level youd unlock a
specialization, right?
What the fuck is that about?!
You play the game longer than other players and suddenly youre given an advantage simply
for putting more in time?
Are you SERIOUS?
And then loadoust, man.
Loadouts.
To be honest, this is nice idea on paper, the idea of killstreaks in Halo is something
I had always hoped for.
But not like this.
If you want loadouts and killstreaks in a Halo game?
Have one or two modes, thats it and the rest of the game plays without them.
Bungie shouldve done this, 343 shouldve done this.
So the majority of the guns arent fun to use OR balanced, the game lacks more sandbox elements
than both the previous games, and the map design is centered around random weapon spawns,
making Halo 4s gunplay the worst in the series.
Theres hardly any saving graces here, its just fucking bad.
Category two a pitiful 2.5/10 Im not gonna knock points off for variety
because Halo 4 doesnt match or improve upon Reach.
I give 343 a bit of a pass because they were making a new Halo game and you its unrealistic
to expect a brand new developer to match the success of a seasoned veteran.
That being said, Halo 4s variety in terms of gameplay is not bad, Id say its about average
in terms of the core multiplayer.
It wasnt until about a year later that Forge Island was released, which really screwed
with the forge community and custom games overall.
Dominion is definitely Halo 4s highlight though, without a doubt the best thing it has to offer.
Its so good, I was actually disappointed not to see it in Halo 5.
Since Spartan Ops was something you could play with your buddies, Ill include it here.
Lemme just say to replace firefight with THIS.
Was not worth it at all.
Its not terrible, you can have some casual fun playing with your buddies.
Now at first it was fun to customize your loadouts, perks, whatnot.
Again, the good elements of the COD series couldve worked well here, but the more you
look at it, the more shallow it becomes.
But apart from that, Halo 4 doesnt really offer much that will WOW you.
Its kind of at the baseline average of what youd expect from a Halo game.
Cateogry three 6/10 Skill gap?
Learning curve?
PFFT!
Pick up a boltshot and a precision weapon, youre good to go!
3/10 The way Halo 4 innovated was infinitely worse
than anything Reach had done.
Customizable loadouts couldve worked for 1 or two modes, but being the core of the multiplayer?
That messed up the whole game!
And you wanna talk sprint?
Thats another thing!
Just look at all the commotion sprint has caused in the Halo community.
Apart from that nearly everything new Halo 4 tried to do only made the game worse.
They even somehow managed to ruin infection by giving the infected these ridiculous designs
and forcing them to use a sword at all times.
It launched in a functional state, but the game was notorious for how quickly its population
fell.
And its belief, the decisions made for Halo 4s multiplayer are the biggest reasons the
series has had a fall from grace.
Category five, 2/10 Despite all of this, Halo 4s multiplayer can
still be fun.
Mostly at the casual level though, its not the type of game that could maintain a playerbase
and Id be lying if I told you I didnt have fun at all playing this back when it came
out.
This is a Halo game, the pieces are all there so it still does have value.
What you can say about Halo 4 is it switched up the formula and give us something new.
Might not be much, but its some praise Im willing to give.
You could also argue 343 just continued what Bungie set up in Reach.
However if 343 had paid attention to the criticisms made about Reach, they wouldnt have made those
same mistakes in 4.
Unfortunately the decisions to copy CODs formula, while ditching the staples of the previous
games left Halo 4 in a pretty unremarkable spot.
Dominion is enjoyable, but the other games are just way more fun.
Overall fun factor 4/10 I dont know about you, but I usually like
a little more intel with my intel.
Halo 5: Guardians, The Revival?
So now we move onto the last game, and 343s most recent entry.
Its hard to judge Halo 5 at any one point in time because the game has had far more
changes and updates to it than ever before.
But lets take a look.
Maps in Halo 5 were decent.
But the game tried so hard to be competitive it often made maps without the unique elements
of previous games.
It also has no developer made BTB maps which is a real letdown and pretty much killed my
desire to play that.
Halo 5 heavily relied on remixes, and recycled content to give the impression of a larger
selection.
Now later in the games lifespan 343 created many more unique maps, but they werent there
at launch so thats gonna affect the score.
Movement is much more fluid, free.
Sprint is no longer like ice skating.
And the Spartan abilities offer a lot of unique movement opportunities.
Though as noted, these movement abilities are a nightmare to balance within the map
design.
Id give Warzone some big points here but the problem is it launched with 3 maps and it
took far too long for new Warzone maps to come out so I quickly got tired of the mode.
Category one 6/10 Weapons and vehicles have a lot of good and
bad here.
On one hand, the game had a buttload of variants for forge and Warzone.
On the other hand, there was only one truly new vehicle, and all these variants added
a lot of redundancy and complication.
So much of the sandbox was locked behind req packs and it took a long time for them to
put all the different variants into Forge.
Halo 5 was able to balance the weapons from Halo 4 in a way that didnt make them overpowered
or completely useless.
Though the binary rifle is far inferior to the other two snipers.
Suppressor, Boltshot, and Incineration Cannon were given lock on capabilities, which seems
pretty redundant.
The game was very much balanced, but the control is where Halo 5 suffers.
Without an elite controller it simply feels like youre at a disadvantage.
Trying to manage thrusters, melee, reload, jumping, everything, it was the most complex
in terms of control.
Though with the amount of crazy awesome weapons you can use and how creative they got with
them, Halo 5 gets an 8/10 in category 2 Variety is where the game shines and falters.
Again, after all the updates the features everyone expected were trickling in.
Warzone was REALLY fun for the first couple months but lost its luster without the map
variety to back it up.
BTB was terrible, Theater became an absolute joke, and no splitscreen severely limited
players abilities to enjoy the game with friends.
But the biggest issue here, is the inconsistency in variety.
Throughout its lifespan, Halo 5 has never been able to settle on a selection of playlists,
maps, and game modes.
Instead opting for adding, and removing them at a whim.
For a month or two we had shotty snipes and team snipers, then they were gone.
This has happened 100 times within the games lifespan.
Maps have been consistently tweaked, added, removed.
Making it nearly impossible to get accustomed to them and understand where all weapons spawn.
It was hard to ever feel contentment, like there was a point where Halo 5 was the way
it was meant to be.
The MASSIVE improvements to forge can only go so far in providing new ways to play, and
they cant cover the pitfalls of the multiplayer as a whole.
Still, it is able to recoup from an otherwise bad score here.
Category 3 7/10 Halo 5 returns to the competitive roots of
Combat Evolved and Halo 2, but it does so with a much too heavy emphasis.
The game is really not accessible to casual players and if you take a break it takes a
lot of time to readjust to the controls and flow of the game.
Halo 5 succeeded in creating a very competitive game with a huge skill gap and learning curve,
but at the cost of sacrificing a lot of casual fun.
Where Halo 2 could be just as fun for casuals as it was for competitive players, Halo 5
isnt able to recapture that perfect balance between two audiences.
And thus it gets a 7/10 in category 4.
Now this is where shit gets rough.
Aside from MCC, Halo 5 launched in a worse state than any of the previous games.
Not because it was broken, but because it had barely any content.
You couldnt even consider it barebones, it was more like the dust of bones.
To put things in perspective.
Combat Evolved launched with 5 game modes, Halo 5 launched with 4.
It doesnt matter which way you spin it, all the progress, features, content that the series
had built up to this point, was just gone at release.
What are fans supposed to think when all their favorite features theyve been playing for
over a decade are just gone?
Theres no longer splitscreen, AND microtransactions have been added?
Well it left a pretty shit taste in my mouth for many months.
I still played the game and had fun, but that was accompanied by feelings of when is the
next update, when are we getting Infection, grifball, etc.
Any potential innovation in the mechanics or gameplay was heavily overshadowed by the
games sheer lack of anything.
And oftentimes, updates would break features or cause even more glitches to pop up.
The fluidity of the gameplay, the 60FPS, returning to Combat Evolveds roots it can only go so
far when massive amounts of content and features are either totally missing or totally broken.
MCC being literally unplayable is as bad as it gets, but this is the next worse thing.
Being nearly devoid of all the reasons people buy and play the Halo games.
That is why it should come to no surprise Halo 5 gets a 2/10 in this category.
If you enjoy Halo 5s gameplay at its core, all the new abilities, then youll be able
to enjoy a fiercely competitive game with a lot of nuanced strategies.
Warzone was really fun and experimental.
Breakout was cool, we got competitive ranking back.
And many other good things would come in time through the updates.
But thats really, Halo 5s biggest flaw.
It relied so much on upcoming content that people started to lose interest.
And the inconsistent variety is something I just cant get over.
Its these things that made Halo 5s multiplayer at odds with itself.
An ultra competitive game that could never find the right balance.
I always have enjoyed Halo 5 despite all the videos Ive made criticizing it.
But thats exactly the point, there is far too much of this game to criticize.
Overall fun factor, 7/10 Im not so much hunting a Spartan, as I am
hunting THE Spartan.
So now its time to stack these all up against each other and find out, Which Halo Has The
Best Multiplayer?
#6 Halo 4 because of its overall bad design, radical change in formula for the worse.
And attempt to steal CODs audience.
Without a doubt, Halo 4 has the worst multiplayer in the franchise.
#5 This is going to cause some controversy, Halo 5 takes the 5th spot.
Even though the game is in a MUCH better state now, with all the updates.
When you consider that as a series, the Halo games should build upon and add to the previous
games, or at the very least match the content of Halo 3, to see this game pull a massive
180 backwards in terms of content just sucked.
The removal of splitscreen co-op is unacceptable.
AND game-changing microtransactions, made the game worse.
Ideally, I wanted to put Halo 5 in the 2nd or 3rd best spot, but realistically it had
so many problems that distracted from its great, core gameplay.
#4 Halo: Reach Reach suffers because of its map design & selection, lack of ranking system
and its departure from the fundamental designs of Halo, which shaped the series for the future.
But it makes up for it by providing the greatest variety out of all the games AT LAUNCH!
And the way it managed to refine each and every one of these features, making it more
accessibility, is why the game is at Number 4.
Many people dont like the gameplay, but I feel the sheer variety it offered and t improvements
it made for all modes, earns it the 4th best multiplayer.
#3 Combat Evolved This little guy changed the industry!
It proved First person shooters could work to great success on consoles.
To this day, its still one of the best party games to play with a group of friends.
And many argue it has the most competitive multiplayer.
CE is a classic, and nobody can argue the foundation it laid for FPS games.
However, its beaten by its older brothers.
#2 Halo 2 CE might have changed consoles, but Halo 2 changed online gaming.
Xbox Live was so crazy to experience back in the day, and it paved way for future FPS
series to take root.
It was majorly responsible for the success of MLG and the origins of competitive eSports
could definitely be traced back to Halo 2.
Add onto this the playable elites, new sandbox elements and incredible map design, and Halo
2 rightfully earns spot number 2.
And finally, the best multiplayer in the Halo franchise is none other than Halo 3 because
of its incredible innovations with forge, theater, custom games.
The addicting ranking system, incredible maps, additions to game modes, sandbox elements,
customization, EVERYTHING!
Halo 3 simply has the most bang for buck out of the series.
It is a close call between this and Halo 2.
But when you consider that the skill gap in H2 heavily relies on exploits, and button
combos, its somewhat faulty launch, and balancing issues.
Halo 3 just narrowly manages to beat it for the top spot!
So thats my analysis of every Halo multiplayer and how they stack up against each other!
To avoid making this video being absurdly long, I cant cover literally everything about
all the games, but let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below!
Thats all I got for today, this is The Act Man signing out.
PEACE!
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