Review by rainbowdinosawr

"An Honest Review of the Multiplayer Side of the Game."

Matchmaking, if not the backbone of the Halo franchise, is a major core of its gameplay. It has shaped the series. This review will cover that aspect of Bungie's last addition to the Halo universe.

The Addition of Armor Abilities:
I believe that this has been a great addition to the game. It adds a fun factor for the casuals who play while adding another layer of strategy for competitive play. However, I believe that, at certain playlists, certain Armor Abilities are not suitable. Armor Lock, for example, slows down the gameplay during slayer matches.

The weapons are very familiar and do their job. The biggest difference from other Halo games is the lack of the dominance of the BR. The DMR is simply not as handy as the BR and it is a good thing. It makes power weapons much more useful as holders cannot be thwarted by one gun. Another noticeable addition to weapons is the Reticle Bloom. The idea behind it was to have players pace their shots, but due to random factors under bloom, we can simply spam the trigger and get lucky headshots. If Bungie made it so that when your reticle is expanding your shots cannot hit the center of the reticle due to dumb luck factor, this Bloom-System would have been better excecuted. Melee has also been revamped to make Double Beatdowns the way to go. Due to the fact that melee no longer bleeds through shields and into health, after putting three DMR bullets into a guy if you melee each other, he won't die, it actually gives him ann advantage because you both have no shields and he can easily go for a double beatdown. Guns are obsolete compared to fists.

The maps, in general, are horrible. They have poor spawn placement and have unreasonable weapon placements as well. The maps no longer promote map control and are mostly one sided. An example is Boneyard where Red Team constantly spawns at the same spot. This leaves the team open for spawn trapping and gives the Blue Team an unfair advantage that they did not really work for. DLC is also a rip off, seeing how we can recreate maps using Forge World.

The Playlists:
This is the one aspect I believe Bungie failed to execute properly. The voting idea may seem great on paper but the excess of variety in certain playlists. You go into playlists and end up playing something you had not intention of playing. Arena takes too long to put people in divisions for that it's a chore. Arena, unlike casual Competitive, lacks variety. There's simply too little, where is Team Snipers, Lone Wolves or Squad Battle? Why not limit a certain Armor Abilities for one person so that you don't run into a team of Armor Lockers who slow the game down and add even more strategy into gameplay? Why not give Elite Slayer its own playlist or even get Elite Objectives? Also why not give Classic Slayer a classic feel? Have people move faster, jump higher and remove Armor Abilities and let them play on Forge World remakes of classic maps such as Lockout from Halo 2?

Overall, a solid game that was poorly executed. Let Bungie give it time and it should grow. They haven't tinkered with the customization enough to give us deep and fun gameplay for casuals, hardcores and pros, a 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 10/27/10

Game Release: Halo: Reach (US, 09/14/10)

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