Game 66 - Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods - Week 107 - Jan 22

oom Eternal: Round 2

Battlegrounds

It's forgettable, and not Deathmatch. I played a few matches but really just felt it was lacking. I had a lot more fun with the beta in the original Doom 2016 (before it was ruined by the minigun autoaim in a twitch shooter). They should have kept death match in some form or snap map so the community could make it themselves. The multiplayer was dissapointing. 

Classic Doom

The best way to play Doom Eternal.

• Activate Powerup Mode: Overdrive (that classic Doom/Quake speed)
• Activate Famine (demons dont drop health/armour)
• Activate Party Mode and Quakecon if you feel like a good time 
• Switch difficulty to Nightmare
• Switch your weapon pose to classic
• Change doomguy skin to the OG

Warning! It'll be difficult to go back after getting use to this level of speed. 

Other optional

• Overdrive can be fun, but gets boring after a while - good option to ease yourself in 
• Infinite ammo if you don't want to worry about ammo management

Basically you'll want the enemies to hit as hard as possible and Slayer with everything maxed. This creates a dynamic where you start with it all, and you want to hold on for it as long as possible as you know it will slowly dwindle... weapon switching is required as you need the least amount of downtime between weapon cocks, recoil and reloads to maximize your kill time and reduce damage taken. Those platforming sections that use to be a minor reprieve, pacing out an intense shooter? Now a mission ending hazard. Every fall you make, every bullet you take makes the mission harder and harder.  And when you're down to that last 30 health and you're only half way through, my god does it capture a desperate feeling of intensity. It forces you to change the way you play the game. I switched my weapon away from the default. I bound the Super Shotgun, Ballista, Rocket Launcher to 2, 3 ,4 and practiced that combo. Minigun to Q for good measure. Set my Doom guy to his classic suit and pose, then off I went. The more I play the more I realize this isn't Doom 2016, it's an unashamed arcadey romp of gore, guts and guns. While I do think the story and campaign experience overall was superior in Doom 2016, I don't think the two need to be compared and can be accepted as two different experiences.

Doom Guy's Pop Vinyl Collection

<3

The Ancient Gods

God damn. It’s just non-stop fucking DOOM. If Doom Eternal said: "Here's all those toys, go play with them"; then the Ancient Gods says: "You think you've mastered those weapons? Ha! Here let me test you!". What made Eternal so great is dialled up to 12 or 13 here and it feels perfect.

Every encounter is just as difficult as it should be. Enemies that were boss fights or rare encounters in the first game, Baron of Hell, Cyberdemon, Doom Hunter, Arch-vile, even the infamous Marauder…. They do not shy aware from throwing multiple of each of these at you in every second fight. So rebind your keys, don that shotgun, ballista, rocket launcher and buckle up, as Hell Knights become Zombie-equivalent and Cyberdemons become Baron of Hell-equivalent. Looking back at the first part of this post, I can see just how much I was on the money with my "how to play" Classic Doom. While I changed back to the Prateor suit for story consistency (and changed it back immediately upon finishing), the quick swapping reminiscent of the Doom Deathmatch or Quake 3 days of old was the only correct move. This was: 

1. Shotgun
2. Super Shotgun
3. Balista
4. Rocket Launcher
5. Assault Rifle
6. Plasma Gun
Q. Minigun
X. BFG

The core mechanic of skipping reload animations upon swapping weapons is a game changer. Borne from this 2, 3 and 4 are centre stage as the bread and butter combo. Hell Baron in your face? Super Shotgun blast, Ballista, Super Shotgun, Repeat. Mancubus blasting you from a difference? Ballista removes a arm cannon, rocket launcher, ballista removes the other arm, repeat. In other words, short range, long range with the Ballista tying the two together. Then you have your minigun as a good default weapon especially when ammo is low (usually with the shield equipped). Shotgun, Plasma Gun and Assault Rifle are mostly reserved for certain enemies or situations (more on that later). While the Big Fucking Gun is the get out of jail free card. The enemies are so dangerous, you need to dash, jump and meat hook your way around constantly. Quick swapping all these weapons on the fly (quite literally flying around the arena), while comboing with flame belch, chainsaw, glory kills, grenades, freeze bombs and blood punch makes you feel like a gunslinging god. I'm glad the sword is gone, it felt a little like cheating and now every situation requires good old fashion twitch shooting skill. Even the BFG takes skill requiring you to change your perception of what to shoot at to where to shoot with the travel time doing more damage as more tendrils lash out. Easily fucked up with such high mobility. 

Bye bye little man.

I LOVE the new enemy types, both in Part 1 and 2. The only sin here (and it's a big one) is the Cursed Prowler. It poisons you, removes your lockon ability and slows you down. How do you remove the curse? Blood punch it. So you better hope it comes near you because you certainly won't be catching it. I'm not sure who thought of this but it might be even worse then the Marauder. "Hey, you know what's a good idea? Let's remove all that mobility that makes the game so much fun and give them no way to negate it outside of luck." Fuck off. Stupid. It's annoying that Id Software arrogantly double down and say that they're right, it shouldn't be altered drastically or removed. Both the Cursed Prowler and Marauder have been updated to make them easier to kill, but they're no more fun. The Prowler use to give you no extra blood punch, so if you were on empty you were literally fucked. What? Here's an idea, let us shoot him. In annoying enemy turns into a cheeky demon with a shit eating grin. I'm glad then that everything else is just so damn good. 

Spirit - probably my favourite. Possesses enemies, buffs them and you need to kill them and use the microwave beam to Ghostbust them. It lead to some just downright awesome moments. This felt more like a nemesis and more fun then the Marauder ever did. One encounter in particular had me facing off with spirit that I was just unable to Ghostbeam either due to nearby enemies putting me at mortal peril or not having enough ammo. I bounced around this map for easily 5+ minutes, killed the host of this Spirit 3 or 4 times before it settled in a.... god damn Marauder. This was so intense and I came close to death so many times. When I finally thrusted my Doom blade into its throat I exhaled and said "that was fucking awesome". 

A true nemesis. 

Blood Makyr - Like the Drone but stays at range and has strong attacks, during which it's vunerable. A well place Ballista shot took this down easy enough. But in moments where you were preoccupied it played a support role to the demonic hordes, making for a fun addition. 

Screecher Zombie - Kill it and it buffs enemies. So I didn't kill it. Didn't really experience this one. There was one stage in the final fight in Immora where it was spread out over the map so much that you couldn't avoid buffing other demons. I wonder if they should have made this harder to avoid. Throw groups of 5+ zombies with one of these in the middle and throw them at you. 

Stone Imp - This was dope. A stone imp that can only be killed with the Autogun attachement on the Shotgun made the weapon usable again. I negated the grenade launcher for the more powerful ballista or rocket launcher, so this brought it back into the fold for these pesky buggers. Although I realised in a little too late that the shotgun is the best weapon to line up demon fodder for a glory kill (one shot = glory kill). 

Armoured Baron - The baron with armour. He hits hard with an attack, similar to the makyr you need to hit this spot to drop his armour temporarily. Now he can be damage. The Hell Barons and Knights are always fun to fight and this guy is a welcome addition. He gives you another reason to use the precision attachment on the Assault Rifle. Along with the Spirit, Blood Makyr and Stone Imp they make weapons that were all but redundant usable again. This is where the gameplay in Ancient Gods feels like it comes full circle. I have a reason to switch to every single weapon now (instead of just 234,QX). A tool for every situation. If the intention was to have pieces that mirror your opponents move set, this has been completed here.  The fact that you first face him in a medieval town makes it all the more cool. 

Riot Soldier - Earth's finest. They have shields that make them invulnerable. So lob grenades or rockets behind them to take them out. You have 2 grenades and never face more than 6 of these guys. They're a nice mix up from the regular fodder totting a minigun, but I never struggled with them. 

Demonic Trooper - The final remnants of what Jekkad (hell) once was. These troopers form the fodder of Immora, the troopers and infantry of the Dark Lord. They look cool and are more thematic then anything. 

Turret - Persistent and ever watching. Aim at it for too long and it disappears. A well place rocket and charged up Arbalest shot will take it out. In packs they're deadly, and with allies they're either best avoided behind cover or taken out first. 

Giant Tentacle - this is just dope. Taking the tentacle and make it the size of a skyscraper. Carving this up with rocks and Ballista shots is always satisfying as you see the blood and guts fly everywhere.

The maps are absolutely gorgeous. Eternal was no slouch, especially on the Gore Nests and Hellscaped Earth, but they just went all out here with a slew of unique worlds. It proves that art design will trump graphical fidelity every single time. 

The UAC facility an enormous facility of towering structures held up against the ocean waves.

Seeing it crash and burn brings a whole new light; this world is still falling apart.

The underwater facility is beautiful and houses a few interesting monstrosities.

The Blood Swamp looks exactly as you'd imagine. Metal AF. 

The Swamp houses the seat of all creation Ingmore's Sanctum - which holds the life sphere of The Father and the Dark Lord.

Returning to Urdak is no chore - the once beautiful paradise is now corruption. 

The technological advanced Makyr's were created by The Father Dark Lord to find immortality for all his creations. 

The World Spear looks medieval and oh boy do I hope they do Quake next. The eyrie castle full of acid, traps and platforming made it clear that it could easily be set in Argent D'Nur. 

After we last saw it during the Invasion of Hell, seeing Earth Reclaimed showed us just how much damage Earth Suffered. Seeing the resistance fighting back and the Doom Slayer worshipped as a saviour was always a cool lore dynamic and fed the legend you inhabited. It's still the same here, with plenty of graffiti to be seen on signs of humans pushing the demons back - you gave them hope. 

Immora… oh boy did they go big. This was fucking awesome. Seeing the skulls of decaying demonic titans, or rusting giant mechs added a great scale and context to the invasion of Earth. And here you get to finally see them in action as you carve a path to the Dark Lord. The final battle was just - pure fan service - the perfect send off to the entire series. 

The encounters lead to some of the most intense moments in the game. And I enjoyed every one of them. Those top tier demons are thrown at you in packs and forces you to hone your skills and makes you feel like a demon slaying god. Part 2 had a lot more warnings at the start than Part 1 but a lot easier. Maybe because I have my flow down?That first Escalation Encounter is all like, second wave is optional, EXPERIENCED SLAYERS ONLY PROCEED IF YOU’RE GUD ONLY. It wasn’t hard. Talking to friends and reading online after the fact, it's quite apparent that Part 2 was a send off for fans and the story - while Part 1 was a balls to the walls not stop death march through hell. 

Looking back at my original review I pondered whether I would be able to go back to the orginal gameplay of 2016. It was great, always pushing forward with the new glory kill mechanic but Eternal took it to a whole other level, the freedom in options and enemy design how it forces you to navigate every combat scenario mastering the tools provided and using them at the right moments.. That being said I enjoyed 2016 in some regards; it was a tighter experience, the story took a backseat and beyond codex entries could be summed up as 'Doomguy angry, kill demons'. And oh boy that soundtrack, as my first dose of Mick Gordon this was the best and most memorable. Even listening to it now it still holds up as better, more pure undiluted Metal. If Doom Eternal feels like a next level evolution, 2016 was a streamlined faithful reimagining of the originals. After playing the Ancient Gods I now realise that I could go back. I'd enjoy the gameplay for what it was and in the context of Doomguy "warming up".  He’s been in stasis for god knows how long, surely he had to shake off the rust and get the blood boiling again. And at the end of Eternal it is the Slayer at his peak. Fully endowed and equipped. 

I love where the story went, even if it had a few hiccups. The silent protagonist is great. Doomguy says more than many could with his own eyes. He has the death stare of a thousand Medusas'. Those moments were he flips hell off are just so metal. The riffs and metal ramping up before a shotgun cock, as Doomguy enters the portal is always superb. Seeing the weak and frail scientists and interns look at you with there jaw gaping, incapable of saying or doing anything in your presence reflects the reality of what the Doom Slayer is. A weapon to be fired at demons, no matter how large. 

The story has a lot of background, previously reserved for the codex, the story is expanded upon in cutscenes more and more. The best Doom moments to me are acts of defiance. Like the Slayer bitch slapping Hayden's face away in the first game, proving to him that you can fire a super BFG cannon at the moon, or even now in his godlike angelic form, forgoing the resurrection of The Father and bringing back the Dark Lord to slay him and his followers once and for all. 

As for the rest of the story. It's pretty hit and miss. I liked the idea that Doomguy is a little extra, but he shouldn't be a demigod. He's meant to be just a guy. That's really good at killing demons. A weapon with a few modifications, notched directly at the heart of hell. The everyman. The underdog that defies all the odds. Instead the Dark Lord is you. What? The Dark Lord created all and was betrayed by The Father, not the other way around. What? The Dark Lord just sought immortality for everyone, at the price of destroying everything and creating hell. Okay that last part isn't so bad, the Dark Lord being the antithesis of the Slayer makes for an interesting adversary vs hero story. But him being the creator is unnecessary. Couldn't they just be the most badass of their respective realms rising to the top? Maybe he deposed the original Dark Lord that betrayed The Father? The twists feel a little contrived and very convoluted. Even now I question how much time I wasted reading Codex that were Makyr propaganda, lies and slander - rendered irrelevant by a last minute unnecessary twist. This is very apparent when speaking to friends they all have difference concepts of how it all falls together. 

A lot of people disliked the final fight. I thought it was great. He's the peak Marauder, as you're the peak Sentinel. And the final fight is a throwdown at the O.K. Coral. My biggest issue was that it was a little boring and lacked the intensity that I was hoping for in a fight. This is due to it requiring the same window of a Marauder to stun. Get in position, stun, damage, repeat. It's just easy. The drop in difficult is a big let down compared to the rest of Ancient Gods. This is the Dark Lord, why is it so easy? 

Oh and the soundtrack is still so damn good. It would not be the same without a heavy dose of metal. 

Battlemode 2.0

Horde

Game 65 - Halo: Infinite Multiplayer - Week 106 - Jan 22

alo: Infinite is not an experience I was expecting to have. Immediately, clear that 343 has stopped trying to steal and expand the Call of Duty audience and gone to the roots of what made Halo so great. In fact I think the gameplay is the most enjoyable of any Halo so far. The modern updates in Halo 2 Anniversary from 343 are on full display here. Hit markers, smooth shooter, perfect sound design for every weapon. They all feel the smooth to use and the most unique they been. Of course most important of all, 343 have answered my prayers and made not only the Assault Rifle the default weapon, but extremely viable. Enemies can be mowed down in one clip; the gun can be burst to control the recoil. It works hand in hand with the one-two pop the shield and melee combo. I always felt AR had this ridiculous wide recoil like the barrel was five times the size of any other gun (maybe that was just the crosshair) and the gun was shooting grunt's nails and M&Ms. It had no oomph. Here the feedback and impact is perfect. Instead of a throw away weapon once you come across something better, it’s as much a default as the AK47 or M4 in Counter Strike. The side-arm feels like just that, not the OP magnum pistol-sniper or underpowered pea shooters. It’s good for precision shooting, mid-range and popping headshots. Not to mention it has the quickest draw time of any weapon like an actual pistol. Depending on what weapon I’d find (close range or long range) I’d often swap out either one. The battle rifle feels great here, balanced, and precise. A map drop and not common – everyone wants one and you feel naked without one. You’ll fight over it and adapt your tactics when you know the enemy has one. It leads to far more interesting gameplay encounters then anything in the MCC. I find most the other weapons unique and interesting to use - even the Needler feels fun and viable to use again. The shotgun feels heavy, brutal and difficult to use. New weapons like heat seeking Hydra and the revolving one-two punch Mangler are great new additions. Stalker Rifle, Shock Rifle and Disruptor are Covenant weapons that take skill to use. The classic power weapons return while the Skewer and Cindershot are the new weapons to find. The former takes a lot of skill to drop a spartan but is oh so satisfying when you do, if you nail a vehicle with it however it becomes a ticking time bomb with the Doom mechanic. The Cindershot feels like something out of Destiny, an energy grenade launcher that explodes in a range of colours and disintegrates enemies into dust if killed. The plasma pistol RIP - really wish this would EMP or do uber damage to vehicles when charged up.

Hydra is my favourite new weapon. 

Sprint isn't overpowered and the power ups are fantastic. Pick them up and use them at your will instead of wasting them right away. Use overshield, camo and thrusters to knock enemies off maps – every time you have one you feel good about it. Except for the drop shield that is, this needs a buff as it only blocks a few bullets and you take more damage in the time it takes for you to put it down. To be fair it’s good against explosives and if you throw it around a corner you have some viability. It might be that it’s best for anti-explosives and snipers, I just haven’t clued onto using it effectively yet. A special mention is owed to the grappling hook. This is game changing. It’s not as basic as hook onto ledge and pull you there. No you can swing around ledges like Spiderman, use it as a get out of jail free card, latch onto and hijack vehicles, including ones in the air, latch weapons to you and so much more. It’s a power up with limited uses so it never gets op. The experimentation is infinite, but most important of all it’s just fun and feels great to use. If you asked me if Halo needed more mobility a year ago I would have said "fuck no", that’s Call of Duty and just look at the failure of Halo 4 and 5 as evidence with its inclusion of sprint, jetpacks and power ups. But between the power slide, limited sprint and finite grappling hook the mobility has the perfect level of compromise, enough to make you feel like you're slogging but not too much so that you feel like you can outrun a warthog. They make Spartans much more viable against vehicles too, especially if you prefer to shoot on foot like me. Vehicles feel a little off, you have an invisible shield while in the vehicle but they also feel paper thin (especially the Banshee). 

The maps and modes are all brilliant. I absolutely love the new additions and how they serve the gameplay. The big maps fit 16 players well and never feel too chaotic and out of your control. Fragmentation and Highpower, beside their dumb names stand up there with the greats. They have so much winding paths and verticality ripe for either vehicles, grappling hooks or snipers. Capture the Flag has never been so fun. Without the hook I might put them below Blood Gulch, but with it they’re absolutely above. The small game maps feel tight and intimate, and remind me a lot of Counter-Strike in their vertical and horizontal approaches to objectives. They’re fantastic. Behemoth is a favourite and reminds me a lot of Relic / Remnant, which vehicles on the outskirts and safe structures in the centre – they provide more of a passage way than a vantage point. But throw in man cannons and it’s easily the best map for my favourite mode – Capture the Flag. While the maps available are fantastic after a while you do feel starved for content. If this is all they had at release I really wish they dropped a few remakes of classic maps like Blood Gulch or Stonetown. Maybe even introducing them on a seasonal rotation from MCC based on the game (Halo 1-4). I love the classic modes: CTF, Oddball, Stronghold and Total Control (Domination). Slayer has never been my fancy as someone who likes to play objectives and strategy, but it’s still fun. Fiesta is novel at first but still utter chaos as everyone scrambles for power weapons. I would have much preferred a gun game mode that starts with a rock launcher and ends with a plasma pistol.  Stockpile is just bad and needs a complete rework. It’s not fun to lug 5 power cells back to base in a second-rate version of CTF. I just avoid the objective, go for the kills and have a lot more fun in that mode which is sad. The could have done some clever things with this mode, like a capture the flag meets domination and having the power cells ticks up your score. It would make stealing them from the enemy far more viable. The interactive elements from prior maps like Stonetown are sorely missed as well. 

There’s a lot of controversy around the progression and how much it costs to unlock cosmetics. While I understand the concerns, I don’t care. I played and enjoy Halo 2 Anniversary the most out of any MCC title, as I did back in the day and it has zero cosmetics. What is here, the core experience, is a brilliant and fun evolution of the Halo formula. I’m having a great time with the game and that’s all I care about, 343 did the unthinkable.

So, it’s sad that I’ve stopped playing for one reason alone. The net code is terrible. The game lags, has desync, you often trade in melee. Post-release in Australia I struggle to find a game below 100 ping. The game quite literally at this point is unplayable. The matchmaking focuses on finding a match quickly instead of a low ping match. Which seems like a massive oversight. It’s quite sad because I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun playing a competitive multiplayer game. One where I could experiment and learn the intricacies of its systems and map – feeling that sense of progression, not artificially from cosmetics and how my character looks, but in the skill and understanding the dynamics of the game. So I hope they fix the network ASAP before I move on entirely. Well done 343, you surprised everyone and delivered a great sequel to a beloved franchise after 10 years!

Game 62-4 - Halo: 2-4 Multiplayer - Week 106 - Jan 22

alo 2, 3 & 4 - Multiplayer

Halo 2

Along with CE I played Halo 2 as a kid but nowhere near as much. As with Halo CE it was a different experience playing splitscreen. Like Combat Evolved snipers have no recoil and are OP AF – but magnum has been nerfed thankfully. Dual wielding was an awesome addition, makes you feel like an absolute badass. Why they removed it in Reach beats me but it’s likely because they weren’t very viable. Every time I pick up the two needlers I expect to destroy but nope – it feels less impactful then one needler from CE. Still, I love to give it a shot and it makes you feel like a badass. Something tells me Dual Wielding is a lot more fun in non-sweaty splitscreen and the campaign. The weapons aren’t as well tuned – any automatic weapon pales in comparison to the default DMR making them and dual wielding obsolete as a result. Halo is it at its best with an AR and a pistol – long range weapons should be found on the map. CE did this the best, even if the magnum needed a hard nerf. I don’t feel like the maps are as good as CE – Zanzibar and Headlong are a lot of fun as fan favourites. Waterworks and Relic are okay. Tombstone is still just chaos as the name suggests – but this is a remake from CE. The best map is without a doubt Coagulation – which is a remake of Blood Gulch from CE. Blood Gulch is the De_Dust2 of Halo, that’s unquestionable in how much it has stood the test of time across games. Thought I do wonder if it would hold up in Halo Infinite with the new mechanics.

My poor needlers what did they do...

I’ve absolutely missed the boat on this one – every match has me stomped by sweaties with hundreds of hours practice. This becomes even more apparent when you play the Anniversary edition – which has far more fresh blood, compared to the hardcore purists that have stuck to Halo 2 and 3. There’s been a welcome makeover to gameplay; shooting feels smoother with quality-of-life features such as hit markers, weapon markers, etc. Also the sound design is so much better and more impactful – it might not sound like much but the DMR, sadly the weapon everyone uses, just sounds limp. I love every single map in this mode. Stonetown (a remake of Zanzibar) is a fan favourite. Bloodline (Bloodgulch) is as great as it ever was and has some welcome adjustments like bases being scalable in multiple ways and a bunker in the centre of the map, making it far more viable then the sniper bait that it was in previous iterations. I had a lot of fun with Remnant (Relic) too which I’ve never played before. Set on an island, the vantage point is in the centre of the island with several safe spots dotted on the outside. Teams will be naturally fighting for this centre point, which provides a fresh dynamic and way to play compared to the base vs base of Blood gulch or maps with no fixed base and rotating maps. 

It's back baby.

The game is beautiful to look at to boot – hats off to 343 here I enjoyed this far more than the base game. It was a faithful remake. The graphics and art design look so damn great. I don’t remember the last time I played a multiplayer game that stopped in my tracks as I stared at the beautiful backdrops, risking life and limb each time. Beautiful waves hitting the shore met by a Halo Ring on the horizon is just breathtaking…

Halo 3

Like Halo 2 I enjoyed this one the most outside of nostalgia factor (Halo CE is fun but issues with sniping and a side-arm becoming default primary is clear). However, I feel like I would need to spend a lot of time, like minimum 50-100 hours sucking at this game before I get good. PC MCC is full of sweaties and aim assist hardcore players that have been playing for years. And while I can occasionally hold my own, I definitely missed the boat on this one as I have no interest investing that much into this masterpiece now. Especially when you compare the two and the fact that Halo 3 is outdated, Infinite is so much more fun to play.

Halo 1 and 2 certainly had its issues with weapons – the magnum in 1, the power sword in 2 or the snipers in both are the most memorable examples. Well 3 is night perfect. The sniper is still an issue imo but everything else just feels right. It all synergises to the point that a player has no excuses when they die, they can’t blame an unbalanced weapon, pay-to-win, play-to-win (i.e. loadouts or loot) or bad map design. The gunplay is just as it should be – no sprint, no abilities, high time to kill, headshots and nades are king. Map control, awareness and grenades separate the wheat from the chaff. This was made all the more clear when I played with my friends frustrations. Snipers on PC have no recoil, it’s clear they weren’t designed with PC in mind (originally being a 360 exclusive). The game is still full of the most hardcore players, so anyone new is going to have a bad time. DMR still dominates. I’m convinced any Halo game dominated by DMRs I just will not enjoy as much – sadly this is the entire Master Chief collection. The Brute Spike is meh, but the Carbine, Brute Shot, Beam Rifle, Gravity Hammer are all sick new additions to the weapon roster. The spartan laser, I love this charge up weapon. Juxtaposed to the rocket launch, the lead is after you fire, here the lead is before with a long charge up. If you hit decimates anything it touches instantly. Bring it back for future games please!  Maps are great, especially Sandtrap, Sand Trap and Avalanche with its wide snowy valley on a mountainside, Valhalla a spiritual successor to Blood Gulch – which his fun but no where near as good as Bloodline in Halo 2 Anniversary. Finally Sandtrap is phenomenal with a bunch of sand movers on treads. Several players can pilot these giant vehicles and even battle on it, leading to some fantastic moments. Considering how high regard Halo 3 is held in, there are probably others but I wouldn’t know because that’s all anyone played.

Sandtrap might be the largest Halo map.

Halo 4

It’s just not Halo. Well, that’s not to say gameplay isn’t fun especially on open maps like Exile, Complex and Ragnarok – cluster fights are chaotic and Kinetic – exactly what you want from a shooter but it just doesn’t feel authentic. This is most clear on non-vehicle maps that often feel like casual shooters and one side gets murdered in their spawn. It’s a bore in the end and I removed it from the rotation. But the most part maps just feel like uninspired clusterfucks, there’s little notable or memorable about them. I even remember the bad maps from Halo like Tombstone, because there was something interesting that set them apart. Like the Tombstone corcrete pillars that gave you a tiny bit of cover but would more than likely mean death from a sniper. Some of them feel liks training levels or shooting ranges in a title like Titanfall. They’re just bland. The gunplay is still Halo, time to kill, shields, nade placements, emphasis on headshots, jumping, duking, weapon choice. It’s all here, and that’s most apparent when you are constantly hearing a “chh chh chh chh chh” noise. Yup, DMRs are still king. The maps feel more more intimate and as a result you can hear everyone shooting. Even the smaller maps on previous games I don’t remember shooting being this prominent. As a result, you get the constant DMR burst firing the somehow sounds words then the flat sound effect from the original games. Like a $2 off brand version – it’s hard to describe but it just sounds off – and you’ll be hearing it A LOT. 

Once a DMR fest, always a DMR fest...

At least the you have the BR pistol start again… oh wait never mind that’s just the default.. loadout? Wait a minute that’s not Halo, that’s no an arena shooter. Wait you can unlock new abilities like jetpacks and wall jacks, perks and you even get kill streaks? This isn’t Halo. Halo isn’t about what you bring to the table. I’m all for games innovating but this completely misunderstands the core of what Halo is. It’s everyone on the same equal footing, where skill, strategy and team coherency dominate. Not what you bring to the table or the amount of time you’ve spent with the game. The Forerunner weapons are okay but still just eh, they have this generic sci-fi feeling to them. But I suppose that is Halo, which has always been a facelift of great sci fi, with excellent execution. I do like the animations, how the break together like they’re held together by anti-gravity, just not the aesthetic. Even if the setting of Halo was generic, the weapons were ot. Needlers, plasma, even the human weapons had this bulky industrial look to them I hadn’t seen before. The magnum had a weird curvature, its design, clearly only fit for a Spartan to handle. Halo 4 attempts to innovate in all the wrong ways, I complete misdirection for the series by chasing trends. I can see why so many hated this. Unlike Halo 2 or Halo CE I don’t ever see myself feeling an itch for this one  

Halo 5

this isn't in the collection and I think that says all you need to know. The game seems like a natural progression of 4, building upon it’s changes including feedback of criticism. While slightly improved overall it still seems to be on the same casual path of Halo 4. An attempt at compromise for this new direction, which would never work considering the new direction is fundamentally incorrect.

Halo Multiplayer: Summary on the Franchise

I think the absence of Forge Mode hurts the MCC in a major way. From what I’ve seen this added a lot of fun replayability to Halo 3 and extended the life time of that game for dozens of hours for a lot of people. Perhaps I would have enjoyed 3 more in these maps.

Character customization has never been a big priority for me, I always used the default skins in CSGO. However the customization is nuts for Reach, 3 and 4. Spartans with swords and shields with arrows jutting from them. Disappointing that Infinite feels like such a reduction – at base has the same level of customization as Halo 2 requiring you to grind for anything more.

I had a lot of fun with every MCC game to different degree but its clearly outdated at this point. The fun factor I had with the Halo Franchise is as follows:

Infinite > 2 Anniversary > CE > 3 > Reach > 2 > 4

I have no doubt that 3 is better then 2 and CE, maybe even Infinite for it’s time. But not it’s full of hardcore sweaties and aim assist, it’s nigh impossible for a newbie to get into. Halo 2 Anniversary with it’s updated shooting but classic formula was the most fun to play for sure. I’ll be returning to Halo 2 Anniversary for that competitive classic Halo, while I’ll be sure to hit up Halo CE for that nostalgia dose every now and again. But Halo Infinite is the new king, one I’ll be keeping my eye on moving forward. 

Game 61 - Warhammer 40,000: Regicide - Week 106 - Jan 22

arhammer 40,000: Regicide is battle chess meets Warhammer 40k, what more could you want? Well Regicide, is a clever evolution of the classic (battle) chess formula. In short there’s a movement phase and initiative phase. Movement acts like classic chess and you can take a piece completely. While the initiative phase factors in the various stats, health, and abilities of each unit as you defend your pieces and whittle down the enemy with pot shots and various abilities. For example, the Devastator (Bishop) can lock into position and do more damage with its snapshot. The assault marine (Knight) can do a high damage attack after jumping next to an enemy. The Psyker (Queen) can send out shockwaves or lifesteal from enemies. The terminator (Rook) can shield itself with it’s crux. The abilities might seem small, but throw in the various stats, RNG rolls and squad abilities (can be used by anyone) and you have 4D chess. This feels like the natural evolution of the chess formula that would have occurred across 40 millennia. I can just imagine Guardsman sitting around the trench playing this game, or an Inquisitor challenging his acolytes. And that just makes it so much more real. The backdrops are fantastic and feel very 40k based on Dawn of War – gritty bunkers, deserts and snowy bombarded cities. Some of the sound effects are so on point like the chainsword or bolt guns. OMG. Perfect. But others like the Psyker’s lightning attacks sound like an electric eel’s wet fart. I don’t know how else to describe it, it’s pathetic. Every time I use this ability I expected to hear something badass but here anything but. Beyond that, the voices, the terminator stomping, explosives triggering, the assault cannon firing all cylinders, all sound on point.

Psykers have some cool animations, audio design is lacking however. 

Animations make this game. Seeing a Terminator bulldoze a pawn and splatter it into a gory red puddle with its power fist is gorious the first time you see it is just as amazing as the last time you see it. Tactical marines are actually tactical, dropping grenades to stagger large foes before moving in to strike the critical point. But a picture paints a thousand words so here's twelve: 

The campaign is mostly forgettable and just one long tutorial for Regicide skirmishes, with a bunch of different scenarios that are fun to play. Baldessar the Librarian is cool. I always preferred my Librarian with the helmet on, but I am biased and love the mark VII power armour (fucking Primaris Mark X armour) which is iconic and the symbol of 40k. The other marines act as expected. But Dracomedes seems like an idiot. They’re Orks and all he wants to do is charge them in battle. Isn’t that what the Codex says to never do? Shouldn’t tactics be employed here? Gabriel Angelos, chapter master of the Blood Ravens certainly thinks so as mentioned in Dawn of War 1. However the Blood Angels are known to be bloodthirsty. So stupidity might be their nature, as seen when they were almost wiped out by the entire chapter charging Tyrranids. How did they even survive the Horus Heresy? 

This isn't looking good...

The dialogue is pretty cool but the campaign story is mostly forgettable Blood Angel fan fair and “burn the orks”. I had three or four issues early on where it would freeze up on the enemy turn but beyond that nothing. My interest in the campaign definitely tapered off, loved the first act. In the second act the optional objectives become very tedious, I avoided almost all of them as they were not enjoyable. I’m yet to finish the third act because I’ve lost interest. Maybe I'll return to it, but for now I still enjoy the skirmishes for classic and regicide. 

Classic battle chess is great too.

To sum it up Regicide has managed to capture my imagination as a fun lore compliant board game played in the 40k universe and has also become my new favourite battle-chess game to boot. I’ll be returning to this one for a while.