Mult, buddy. Halo 4 had so much. So much stuff in it. But it was just that. Stuff. You had to tear away nearly everything the multiplayer held in its grasp before you managed to find some semblance of what Halo was. You're basing your statement on one thing: content. The game had plenty of content. Reach had plenty of content. But the games were garbage. What's the point of being given a game like that? You had to search Fileshares, go into obscure and low populated playlists, find the most updated gametypes and maps, or go to the point of finding a mod, just in order to play something without all that extra gunky butt sauce in the way. Why the hell would I waste my time buying a game that I wouldn't even play how it's merchandised because the default game was just an avalanche of half-baked ideas? You know what? **** your statement. I can give nothing else but resentment to the statement you have made. It will probably be the only thing I will dislike from a cool guy like you, but c'mon man. Halo 4 was the lowest point of the series' career. Halo 5, while having shallow content from the start, is epitomes above that horrible mish mash. Hell, if I can play the default game and have a damn good time because it's finally getting back to what I enjoyed, then there must be something the devs are doing right. Either that, or I'm crazy. So, there's my two cents. Have a good day.
I'm going to rate off of popularity/success at their respective time. Halo CE - 8 Halo 2 - 9 Halo 3 - 10 Halo Reach - 7 Halo 4 - 4 Halo 5 - 6 Now Competitive... Halo CE - 10 Halo 2 - 9 Halo 3 - 8 Halo Reach - 6 Halo 4 - 4 Halo 5 - 5
Halo Reach had armor lock and jetpack, but it also had legendary slayer (ability free Halo) in matchmaking. Halo 5 forces armor abilities, and an over saturation of terrible utility weapons that are all (balanced) well, but why are they all there in the first place? CE - Pistol H2 - BR/Carbine H3 - BR/Carbine HR - DMR/Needle Rifle H4 - BR/DMR/Carbine/Lightrifle H5 - BR/DMR/Carbine/Light Rifle/Magnum/CE Pistol/H2 BR/Boltshot/Assault Rifle "Halo 5 is SO WELL BALANCED" - Ask yourself, "Do we need 9 utility weapons when competitive core Halo only used 1 or 2 for 10 years?"
Halo 4 is a "better game" than Halo 5 in the sense that it was "done" when it shipped. I know, it's shocking that a game being "done" when it ships is worth recognizing these days, but we live in an age where developers are working with tighter deadlines and weird ass hardware hurdles (and occasionally lousy management). But I digress. If that's your benchmark, then I can see that. But Halo 4 had a lot more problems than being "less competitive" than Halo 5. The menus were trash, basic features like Campaign and Spartan Ops scoring were completely missing, while Ranks and File Shares arrived months later (much later than Halo 5). The DLC maps collectively were pretty good, but their lack of availability in the playlist was embarrassing. And don't even get me started on the aesthetic of the game. The sounds and the art left a lot to be desired coming off of Reach. Perhaps the game's only saving grace was its Turbo update, but 343 wasn't fully able to address the issues with the sandbox and it ultimately fell short of its potential. If I had to describe Halo 4 in one sentence, it'd be "A decent game that was driven in the wrong direction using a roadmap with holes in it." 343 had every opportunity to make a great Halo and they choked. Everyone thought Halo 5 would right that wrong, and in many ways it has. The game is obviously not perfect: I find all of the maps sterile, forgettable and boring. Warzone stopped being interesting after the first week. The gameplay still has issues and their handling of matchmaking playlists still leaves much to be desired. As a whole, I'll probably play Halo 5 a whole lot less than I played Halo 4, and most of my playtime in Halo 4 is concentrated in the DLC playlists, which was one of the only high points in that game for me. The highs in this game however are significantly higher than they were in Halo 4. I don't like any of the playlists in this game so I can't sit in Squad DLC like I used to, but Customs are usually chill. With a few sandbox tweaks and an overhaul to the spawning engine, I could see myself putting much more time into the game. I'm stuck in this one niche of 2v2 customs, but I don't think that's really a bad thing. If I can get 1000 hours out of one part of a game, then cool. Also, Forge. Forge alone puts the last twenty Halo games to shame. I'd go down on Tom French but it probably looks like his beard so I'll just have to settle for patting him and his team on the back for the work they do in Forge. 343 should just fire the 43 and keep those 3 guys there, because the Forge team makes this game worth playing.
CE: 6.5 H2: 7 H3: 10,000 Reach: 8 H4: 6 H5: 8 I'm simply basing this off what I play the most and enjoy the most. Even my least favorite Halo game is more enjoyable than any other game. I just love the Halo franchise. Fun Fact: I literally have well over 1,000+ hours of playing competitive H3 MLG 2v2 with my family. And by family I mean me and my mom vs my brother and my dad. And yes, my dad could snipe and my mom could strafe with a BR. Things would get really heated and at times we wouldn't speak to each other for awhile.
fact noun a thing that is indisputably the case. o·pin·ion noun a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Ok, so my opinions are not really based upon the great deal of understanding I have about all mechanics, competitive stuff and maps and such but more about the casual fun I had playing Halo. But these topics are always interesting because everyone has it's own experiences and loves Halo for different reasons. So for who's interested, these are mine; CAMPAIGN CE 9,5 Great story with lots of mystery and with the perfectly timed, brilliant music it felt heroic at times, like you really made a difference. You felt unique, one of a kind. Loved the fact that you could only carry 2 weapons and vehicles were so much fun, Also the AI was great at that time. Coop was fantastic, so much fun. The ancient epic alien structures and architecture blew my mind. ODST 9+ Yeah I'm one of those strange cats who absolutely loved ODST, the story was great imo, finding clues at night in a film noir like setting with the wonderful music and then changing to the other characters for some great action. Firefight was sick. H3 9 Very nice ending of the trilogy, my favourite Halo overall. Some great missions but also had one of the worst, Cortana. H2 8 Kinda dissapointed at first, balance of missions was awkward, Chief was good but Arbiter missions usually meh. Ending sucked and I also hated the rushing of the games release. Texture refreshing on dead aliens for example, awful. But still a great game don't get me wrong. (H2A was much better, less dark and less dessorientating. Cutscenes were amazing.) REACH 7+ Campaign was good, Spartans never looked better imo, more military themed. Mostly good missions and nice ending. Some of Noble teams deaths were cool. H4 7 Campaign was not bad at all, epilogue is amazing, but an ok story. Enemies are not fun. H5 6 Needed more Chief. Weapons are way better than H4 and the sound design is beautiful. Missions were boring as hell. Cortana and Locke are both meh. Still a bit curious about H6 though... MULTIPLAYER H3 9,5 Like I said my favourite Halo overall. I absolutely loved H3 multiplayer, so much fun with something for everybody. Great maps, great community, great support, great ranking system and the top of montage making imo. Still watch them from time to time. H2 9 I don't have to explain here what H2 did for console multiplayer but this game was so far ahead of it's time. Good memories. The drunken LAN parties with my best friends is something I will cherish forever. (H2A multiplayer looked absolutely amazing. I've just played it not enough.) CE 8 Very fun. Some great maps and supercompetitive. That pistol though REACH 7,5 Yes I had tons of fun in this game with my real friends and a huge deal of online buddies at that time. Custom options were good, armor custimization also. AA's were a mess, I only used sprint. Bloom and bleedthrough were awful. Like I said, I'm judging by fun factor and had lots of fun on REACH. Love the credit system. H5 7 Love the equal starts and weapon balance, Spartan abilities are ok I guess, but kinda gimmicky. I don't like Warzone at all but Arena is cool. A bit too competitive for me. Not supergreat but a big step up from H4. H4 5 I don't like H4. Awful experience. Perks, loadouts, AA's and ordnance were all so awful imo. Never had any fun. Just a bad multiplayer imo.
Halo CE: 0 Halo 2: 9.5 Halo 3: 9 Halo reach: 3 Reach post update: 5 Halo 4: 6 H2a: 6 Halo 5: 8 Edit, I can't in good conscience give halo CE a 1... That game almost made me never play a first person shooter again. And I reevaluated some of the other in perspective to that.
I figured I’d go ahead and rate the campaigns too (out of 4) Halo CE - 2 Halo 2 - 3 Halo 3 - 3 Halo 3: ODST - 4 Halo Reach - 3 Halo 4 - 4 (This is the standard against which other campaigns should be judged) Halo 5- 1
Campaign: H5 < H2 < Reach < CE < H4 < ODST < H3 Multiplayer: (4v4) H4 < CE < H5 < Reach < H3 < H2 Multiplayer: (2v2) H4 < H3 < H2 < H5 < Reach < CE Cooperative: Warzone Firefight < Spartan Ops < Firefight (Reach) < Firefight (ODST)
There's not one redeeming quality about that game and personally, I'd rather stick my hand in a blender and never game again if the franchise continued in that direction. I even attempted to give it a chance in MCC since I thought maybe my taste had changed and it was a struggle to get through the horrifyingly terrible campaign and the multiple was anything but fun even when I was stomping on the dreams of all the 5 year olds that now populate halo. That being said, I liked the community and the design philosophy that was influenced from its maps, just not the maps themselves.