Funkmon ranks Halo campaigns. (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Friday, April 22, 2016, 01:32 (3381 days ago) @ Funkmon

Halo: Reach, to me, was just boring and irritating. Weird story element after weird story element took its toll, and I just became annoyed while playing it. Despite having a totally boss space mission and flying mission, which I would put up there with the best moments in the series, the rest of it was just blah. The game seemed like it tried too hard to be modern while keeping the old feel. Halo 4 did the same thing. They just weren't my types of games.

So is your opinion based on story, gameplay, or both? I thought the story for Reach was good enough, if not great, but I loved the gameplay. And I think it has really great level design, which is what I love about it. I liked the armor abilities, and I think it's my favorite Halo, aesthetically. It still looks like Halo, but it's a little more . . . I'm honestly not sure what the right descriptor is there, but it's got something special, I think in terms of art design.

Both. Reach just really rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like the levels. I was kind of frustrated finding a good spot to kill people in Reach. It forced me into playing a way I didn't like. In Halo, I usually go for slower engagement, but it was too difficult for me to play how I wanted.

It's funny, Reach is by far my favourite campaign (in terms of gameplay) specifically because I never felt cornered into a specific approach or playstyle. I like a challenge, so I always lay the Halo campaigns on Heroic or Legendary. While playing every other Halo campaign, I'd frequently hit points where I'd feel like the encounter was funnelling me down a specific path in order to get through it. Like there would be 1 specific way for me to get through alive, and if I didn't nail the plan perfectly I'd be screwed. "As soon as the door opens, I need to throw a sticky and kill that elite, then get to those rocks before the wraith blasts me, then... Oh, the wraith got me. Revert. Ok, door opens, throw sticky... Missed the elite. Revert..." etc. With Reach, I never got stuck in a loop like that. I always had options. I think the real trick was that the various encounter "arenas" were large enough that you always had space to pull back, rotate around, and try a different approach. In the other campaigns, you'd enter a room, a door would shut behind you, and you're stuck. Nowhere to pull back to if things don't go exactly as planned (especially 4... H4 was the worst in this regard).