Thanks, I worked pretty hard on that piece, 'cause it's a series I care about a lot. But, I mean, deep analysis stuff is basically the gig I have right now at Kotaku, so I try to keep all my stuff up to snuff.
With the gameplay stuff... I could have done an entire piece, so I kept it as objective as I could: the amount of hits I'm doing should be downing enemies the way they used to, but they don't. The enemies seem to be taking more damage, while I seem to be taking less. The amount of one-shot kills I took in that game was ridiculous compared to, uh... every other Halo. I liked it better when the only one-shots came from guys with swords who were very easy to see and prioritize, y'know? But, like... I could go forever on this angle.
I really appreciated the article, and some of your thoughts I agree with, I think something of the mystery and therefore the heroism has been lost in the development of the series, but I also acknowledge that you need some resolution otherwise you end up like the end of lost.
The campaign of H5 was such a good campaign (it had some points I didn't like, some of the cutscenes could have been done in gameplay and would have been better for it) but in terms of dynamic action I think you may be playing it a certain way and expecting something very different from what it actually offers.
The moment to moment gameplay loop is actually the best (imo) in a Halo game.
You can move so quickly, have so many offensive options, and also have a team to revive you if the plan doesn't work out so when you say bullet sponge enemies I have to think you played a different game to me (apart from the warden, but even then there is a specific way to play him that renders him a moving target not a sponge).
Again I appreciate the article, well written and obviously sent with love, and I agree that more character development should occur (blue team the lost missions between the end of fall of reach and now, Lockes Oni ninja death days before he was a spartan, Buck rocking some more ODST missions) but the central point of the game is for me the juxtaposition of the very personal (getting Cortana) and the massive sci fi concept ( what if AI's ruled the weapons?), so for me it worked. But I always wanted more from gaming in terms of looking at big concepts so for me that works.
Looks great and I have that helmet too. Love it.
