*Partially.

I think lumping the Bubble Shield in with Armour Lock does the former a massive disservice.

One of these makes you an immobile brick on-demand, the other provides a one-time chance to dynamically alter the environment you're fighting in.

I don't expect you to agree with me that it was a welcome addition to the sandbox, you've already made it clear you feel otherwise, but c'mon; Armour Lock as a concept was so much worse.

Armor Lock was, on balance, worse than Bubble Shield for the simple fact that it was far more ubiquitous. Bubble Shield at least pretended to be a power weapon, although in practice it was more common than it should have been. And on maps that also spawned Regen you had a "Press X to not die" twofer.

These are the ones I enjoyed: Assembly, Avalanche, Longshore, Citadel, Rat's Nest, Epitaph, Cold Storage, Sandtrap, Sandbox, Standoff, Foundry, Ghost Town, Guardian, The Pit, Heretic, and of course, Valhalla.

All winners.

In fact, looking at the list of maps again, the only one that I remember disliking when it popped up in the queue was Isolation. It was just a little too easy to get caught out in some area without nearby cover. Also, flood-themed environments 🤢

I think lumping the Bubble Shield in with Armour Lock does the former a massive disservice.

One of these makes you an immobile brick on-demand, the other provides a one-time chance to dynamically alter the environment you're fighting in.

I don't expect you to agree with me that it was a welcome addition to the sandbox, you've already made it clear you feel otherwise, but c'mon; Armour Lock as a concept was so much worse.

Definitely still better than bloom though, yeah.

*Power drain is arguable here.

The original fortnite building mechanic. Just ruining all the fun.

Fond memories but I'd say I had more fun playing Reach. And that's despite bloom, which may have been the single worst element intentionally introduced into any Halo game from any studio.

Are we talking reticle bloom in Reach, or light bloom in 5?

The former. Bullet spread was of course present in automatic weapons since Halo 1, but in Reach a huge amount of it was baked into the bread-and-butter semi-auto precision weapon of the game. Unforgivable.

It's not inherently bad. I'd have thought you'd have liked it since it adds a skill element of shot pacing, and decision making / risk assessment for when to go for a quick second shot.

I suck at multiplayer--except on Snowbound for some reason. That reason was probably why most people didn't like it.

It's the proliferation of those transparent shield doors. They wrecked the pace of the game and turned indoor engagements into awkward dances involving footsies and grenades, punctuated by frenzied and random CQC.

The pacing element is a big reason why armor lock and bubble shield were such disasters too. There is a flow to the Halo MP gameplay: the way you move around the map, the way you engage enemies, the sightlines you prioritize, etc.

On top of being cheap "You fucked up, press X to not die!" mechanics, things like bubble shield and armor lock wreck this flow when deployed. You cleared the left side, cleared the right side, grabbed a weapon, crossed the catwalk, moved into a good position, you have an idea where the enemy might be based on where your team is, and as expected you get the jump on an enemy who's under-armed and out of place. You open fire, confident in the kill and already thinking about where his buddies might appear to avenge his death and... he pops the bubble shield or locks his armor and is invincible.

Now the game stops and the game-within-the-game starts. Now you're doing this awkward dance where the enemy can leave his protective shell at will, weakened but with a full clip, while you have a half-empty clip and his buddies can (and probably will) show up at some point from some location you can't really prepare for while maintaining your advantage on the idiot you should have killed. Bubble shield and armor lock are the most clear examples of this, but throw enough shield doors into enclosed areas and you'll get the same effect. The greatest sin isn't so much the denial of justice for people who should be dead, it's the abrupt transformation (for the worse) in how the game plays.

I had fun with bubble shield, and I never really minded Snowbound. To this day, Isolation should never be played or be in any MCC or LAN rotation imo. Like the Flood, that map needs to be killed with fire.

So many of H3's original MP maps were just weak and forgettable. For every strong entry (Valhalla, High Ground, The Pit) you have at least two stinkers (Isolation, Epitaph, Snowbound, Longshore, Rat's Nest, etc).

Guardian was alright but never lived up to its billing as the next Lockout.

Fond memories but I'd say I had more fun playing Reach. And that's despite bloom, which may have been the single worst element intentionally introduced into any Halo game from any studio.

Are we talking reticle bloom in Reach, or light bloom in 5?

The former. Bullet spread was of course present in automatic weapons since Halo 1, but in Reach a huge amount of it was baked into the bread-and-butter semi-auto precision weapon of the game. Unforgivable.

343 reduced it in later patches, but the rest of the sandbox and maps weren't rebalanced to account for the change. Just a mess.

It's fun and easy to remember the good times:

• Great cutscenes
  
• Stellar musical score
  
• Thematic heft and narrative completeness
  
• Valhalla
  
• Forge
  
• 4-player co-op
  
• Theater
  
• File share
  
• Terminals
  
• Grifball

Your excellent list made me remember the 24 hour Bungie Day gaming for Recon times. Which eventually led to Steak gaming in Reach? Awesome times!! Gotta veto for Colonnade!

But our praise means little if it's not given with honest sobriety. And to that end we should acknowledge the low points:

• Hit detection sucked
  
• Regen equipment sucked
  
• Bubble shield sucked
  
• Isolation
  
• Snowbound
  
• Initial transformation of Cortana from "sassy and helpful partner" to "schizo girlfriend who needs saving before she ruins the galactic dinner party"
  
• Hit detection sucked

Fond memories but I'd say I had more fun playing Reach. And that's despite bloom, which may have been the single worst element intentionally introduced into any Halo game from any studio.

I had fun with bubble shield, and I never really minded Snowbound. To this day, Isolation should never be played or be in any MCC or LAN rotation imo. Like the Flood, that map needs to be killed with fire.