Deputy Moonman
Member
It happened - 343 fixed the Master Chief Collection, and, as far as I can tell, it's working pretty well, aside from region lock issues. While I have some complaints about the Social Slayer playlist basically being a Halo 3 slayer playlist ( dumb weightings!), overall, I'm really having a good time in matchmaking. One of the cool things about being able to play Halo 1-4 and H2A all together in one session is that it allows one to really get a feel for how the different multiplayers stack up against each other. The maps, the graphics, the weapon sandbox, the physics and movement, abilities, etc. So I've been recently thinking about how I'd rank the halo multiplayer from best to worst.
- Halo: CE - This has always been my all-time favorite. You'd think with outdated graphics and being over 15 years old the game wouldn't hold up anymore. Wrong. The pistol is the best starting weapon ever. Overshield and Invis are straight forward power-ups, and there is no additional BS to deal with. Some of the button glitches were and still are really sweet (and not game breaking). Double melee's and instant reload glitch. Unsurprisingly, and after playing a bunch of TMCC, it's still my favorite Halo multiplayer experience and I spend the majority of my time in the HCE Arena playlist. Unfortunately, yes, bad spawns do hurt the experience, and teams can spawn camp the heck out of randoms on maps like Prisoner, Hang'em High and Derelict. Also, where the heck is Boarding Action? Awesome map for 4v4 slayer. It shows as being in the CE playlist but never comes up.
- H2A - Next in line? Halo 2 Anniversary. Halo 2 was THE xbox live game when it came out; it has the best maps of the series; the BR is hitscan, so there is no "maybe i hit him maybe i didn't" nonsense. H2A take the original and cleans it up, adds some tweaks to the movement and sandbox, but stays faithful to the original. It looks amazing and that's why it comes in at number 2. I'd spend more time in the social slayer playlist if H2A and anything but Halo 3 came up more often.
- Halo 4 - I'm actually surprised by this pick. Seriously, getting Halo 4 in the social slayer playlist actually makes me happy and I get excited. It just plays so dang well. One word - "smooth." The movement is like butter. If it wasn't for the random ordnance and assortment of abilities, I would honestly put Halo 4 above H2A. The weapons like the BR and the DMR are on point, and even the pistol is serviceable. Maps aren't nearly as good but i'm not going to complain. Aside from abilities, it is such a polished entry imo.
- Halo 2 - the original xbox live Halo. The graphics are a bit dated, and don't hold up as well since 343 released H2A. Yet it still plays like the original and has some of the best Objective games in all of Halo 1-bomb and 1-flag on asymmetrical maps were so good back in the day. Then you throw in the quality of the BTB maps like Terminal, Waterworks, Containment, Headlong, Zanzibar, Relic, and Burial Mounds. There has yet to be a better BTB offering since Halo 2, and no I don't count Halo 3 with its obnoxious vehicle combat.
- Halo 5 - So, I for one did enjoy Halo 5. Not the campaign so much, but the matchmaking was refreshing with abilities standard and no randomness to the game. I'm not a fan of sprint, but sprint does not detract from the experience at all. Warzone, while very polarizing, was fun in my opinion. I also appreciated the pistol being fairly powerful again. It's a step up from Reach and well above Halo 3 for me. There is something funky going on with Halo 5's aiming, and 343 tried to alleviate the problem by giving some more advanced aim settings. But overall, it's still well below Halo 2 and Halo CE, and the gunplay isn't as smooth as Halo 4.
- Halo Reach - not included in TMCC, but after getting stuck playing Halo 3 over and over again in the Social Slayer playlist, I'm reminded that even Reach with its bloom and extra abilities is better than Halo 3. BR spread can't be controlled, but bloom can. I don't like it but i can adjust to the aim and mechanics. The pistol in Halo Reach is the first pistol to be halfway decent since Halo CE. Abilities suck, especially armor lock. Can't believe Bungie actually thought that that was a great idea. I still remember the video with Luke Smith saying how amazing armor lock was. It didn't prepare players for how lame armor lock would be. Still, I actually enjoyed using the jet pack quite a bit and that was one of the few abilities that didn't annoy me. Some solid forge maps were also made, something that Halo 5 never accomplished.
- Halo 3 - So, yeah. Getting stuck playing Halo 3 in TMCC has been a drag. It's depressing to see the game pop up in social slayer so often. The look of 3 for one is such a turn off. Then you have BR spread. Then you have the halo 3 pistol and assault rifle - two of Halo's worst weapons ever made in the series. The maps aren't nearly as good. Playing BTB reminded me how awful the vehicles are. Even two sticky grenades is not a guarantee that a vehicle will be destroyed, which is pathetic. I remember people just dominating with vehicles in BTB and it was a joke. That's why some people loved it so much, but i viewed as cheap ways to get kills. You could barely survive if you weren't willing to prostitute yourself to a warthog or some other vehicle. So I hate Halo 3, and not just BTB. The game crawls as far as pacing is concerned. Every other halo game has better movement. And so i'm SO glad we're passed that era. Let's just move along and never go back. Haters can hate all they want, but this is just my opinion: Halo 3 is bad. That being said, it did bring a lot of other cool things to the table though, and I'll give it credit where it's due - Theater, Customization (not the ugly stuff we got with Halo 5), and Forge. Amazing additions that made the experience passable.
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, but I updated the OP with Halo 5, putting it below Halo CE, 2, 2A, and Halo 4, but above Reach and Halo 3. I'm still really enjoying TMCC quite a bit, but I think the game would be even better with a team slayer/arena playlist where you can only queue solo. Looooooooooooooong overdue 343.