Promethean vision is definitely useful. It's the only ability I use and my stats are amazing. Regenerator isn't as bad as you're making it since anyone can walk in that bubble, and many retreat from it because they don't want to die. It makes you a prime target, and once you get routed out it's fair game to the other team.

Definitely the most fun I've had with Halo MP this early on. I would argue though that it's mainly in part to the maps not being designed by the blind. Balance is going to be a big issue somewhere down the line. But their biggest challenge is fixing matchmaking. Hopping into a match that's already going on when you're down 3 players is NOT good. It's like Bungie patented good matchmaking or something.

Well, after six campaign missions I'm finding that portion of the game to be a bit of a mixed bag personally. It's certainly not a bad game, but I find that it starts to drag a bit towards the middle. Those sparse bits of action connected by all too slow and all too automated travel. There's a bit too much corridor and platform nonsense and not enough open level design as well. I've yet to really be struct by a sense of scale in Halo 4. To top it off, you're mostly stuck with the game's worst weapons throughout large portions of it. But it's a relatively solid first person shooter. From a strictly gameplay oriented point of view, it's not my favorite Halo campaign though, that's for sure.

I don't think I've really enjoyed using a single Promethean weapon either.

I'll dive into multiplayer tomorrow. The unlock structure and other call-of-dutyisms don't excite me very much, but I'm sure I'll have some fun. DMR+Magnum+wallhack are easy to see working well early. Especially since so many of the other AA's seem pretty dull at first glance.

I really like the DMR and pistol.

I don't disagree. Gameplay definitely seemed better to me, but being stuck inside Forerunner buildings didn't get me excited. It's hard imagining trying to traverse the levels with 4 players without knocking someone off in some cases. Spartan Ops does have more areas familiar to Halo, but it re-uses the maps from the one open outdoor campaign mission.

Another complaint: The control schemes in this game are terrible. I'm going to use default since they've killed off anything resembling Halo 3 or Reach.I'm not really getting that, and I wonder if you will when the novelty of it wears off. You spend a big chunk of the campaign with awful weapons (really, they're some of the worst Halo weapons ever), plodding through corridors, or worse yet, viewing a rather boring set piece on the back of an elephant whilst moving at about 5mph. None of that amounts to "better gameplay" to me. The laser targeting bits are some of the most uninspired and uninteractive bits of campaign design I've seen in some time.

The control schemes are terrible. I'm plodding through Recon because I don't know how else to play Halo at this point. Sprinting was nice, but it threw off the whole damn controller dynamic.

Some of the worst Halo weapons ever? Binary Rifle, Scattershot and Light Rifle are beasts. Only Promethean weapon I detested was the Bolt pistol and that was because I didn't know it could fire a charged shot like a shotgun until MP.

This is the best the Assault Rifle has been since Halo 1, and given that I've had that on virtually every mission in the game I was never conflicted. And I don't think the idea was to stay on the Mammoth. They kept telling me to get off and kill something whist wearing a jetpack. Levels may be spotty but the enemies and weapons make this game. Having just replayed Halo 3 a few weeks ago I didn't even want to go back to Reach, so I'm definitely sure the gameplay is better.

Yea I can't say I agree. I'm sticking to Promethean weapons being awful and that's a fine example of the game's poor pacing. Especially in co-op. I really don't think the enemy encounters are better either. I'm just not seeing the "better" bits at all. Heck, the new Covy weapons aren't very good. The BR even sorta sucks compared to previous versions (and this games DMR). This mostly annoys me because I expected the campaign to hold this game up for me.

This is strictly concerning campaign and co-op gameplay. This game is *actually* about its fancy narrative. That stuff is handled really well. Even if 343's idea of a cool rampancy story is listening to Cortana talk about her emo feelings.

I agree for the most part, except the Diadact part. My more detailed comments are at B3D but the SP is pure awesome IMO. Great presentation, solid story and writing, etc. A bit of the "lets just push buttons!" gameplay objectives, but oh well. I LIKE the return to LARGE sandboxes where you can split up. I replayed the campaign in coop last night and 2 players on Heroic was a blast.

MP so far is the best yet IMO. They fixed the AR--343i deserves a lot of credit there. A DMR/BR will not beat an AR up close any more. Like the loadouts and whatnot. Still Halo but the ability to sprint AND have an AA is great. No major out of balance issues or crap weapons (Bungie always had a knack for 1 or 2 "must ahve" weapons and some totally useless ones).

I am VERY Happy with Halo 4.

Oh, and visually 343i did an exceptional job. One area of concern is they should have color coded the Premethians (Yellow, Red, Blue, etc) to denote class. Bungie did a GOOD job in Reach in making various rank structures. I missed this element.

Hey Pants hit me up for some games when you get a chance. I think we will have fun destroying noobs.

The game would be better if Pants would play with me instead of bailing for the goofball brigade. Oh well, I think Mr. Phaethon saw my Waypoint stats and is afraid of getting pwn'd and would need to swap sigs.

Or maybe if you weren't too good to play with us it wouldn't matter.

Pants leads the goofball brigade. He's the loudest and most obnoxious motherfucker in the group.. until Vehemence shows up. It was actually a little jarring for me. As soon as I started playing, Phaethon was immediately on my nuts. He's pretty calm and reserved when he plays with my clan, so I did not know he was going to revert to an Xbox Live state of mind. Maybe it's the other people we play with.. couldn't tell ya.

You literally dipped in for 20 seconds and then bailed. We were talking about a funny thing on the news. Sorry if we offended you. :|

My first night was a bit rough. I felt pretty behind the unlock curve. Pretty awesome to feel that in a Halo game for the first time. The only map I think I know so far is Haven, and it's no coincidence that it's the only map I've been able to really enjoy so far. I don't like the levels in big team, but it may change once I know them better.

I played a few objective types too and was actually finding that a bit better. Infinity injects entirely too much random into the game for my liking. Especially on BTB. The game becomes awash in power weapons. It's a bit annoying the unconfirmed.

I'm going to do a bit of exploring on the BTB maps especially. Want classic playlists yesterday. I think it's funny that everyone was all, "there will be classic playlists! you don't have to play infinity!" etc.. and then the game ships without any classic slayer playlists :|

I bailed because there was too much smoke in the room :|

Just giving you a hard time. Lobbies with a ton of people yapping loudly and "Xbox live style" isn't really my cup of tea. I am an old PC fart, I like to coordinate and discuss the game. Some small chit chat is ok but now that I only have one ear for hearing the really rambunctious lobbies grate.

That being said once you warm up and get a 2:1 KDR you and Pants need to come hang with me.

Oh, and the unlocks are overrated. I am now like lvl 20 but the unlocks haven't made much of a difference. It is nice to reload faster and a little quicker shield recharge but those are not game changers. Starting with Plasma nades IS a big deal, but anyone can unlock that after 1hr of play.

Ps- I wish I had had saved the game file, I was on Vallhalah this morning and me and a friend were heading from the Mt. Base to the center. My friend took the creek route and I went toward the center of the hill. I took out a couple guys just before the crest of the hill. One of the dudes dropped a spartan laser so I picked it and saw on my wall-hack there was a fully loaded hog coming from the ocean base. I sprinted to the side of the cliff while charging but they past under me so I did a 180 in the air and blew it up for a triple kill. My friend who was in the creek was in the path of the hog in the creek and saw this all happened. That went over nicely in party chat ;)

I find I really like to flip the vision on and off to get a quick idea of where people are so I can get a jump on them.

Not really mine either. They kept asking me why I was so quiet last night. Mostly because you're all too fucking loud.I have to continue to disagree. I think it's fundamentally bad game design. Heck, the two perks you chose to gloss over both alter game balance. You can say that it's insignificant, but if that's the case, then why is it there at all?

I also hate infinity. Phaethon like's to argue against "weapon camping" in previous Halos. So what we're doing is replacing strategy and tactics with randomness. Neat-o. Plus, the ability to see item markers on the 3D HUD is like an extra (I think we're up to 3) wallhack. You can now camp weapon locations without even looking at them. That's not for me either. Any of it.

I can't imagine sticking to this game for too long. It is rife with Call of Duty-isms. Even the people defending them aren't denying that. I'm mostly here to meet up with some old Halo buddies.Alrighty. It may take me a few extra nights to catch up in unlocks. And ya know, hone my skills, since I don't cheat like some people ;)

It's funny because to me that whole scenario sounds like bullshit. :D Yay wallhack.

I think it's amusing when people try to explain to me their rationalization for the wallhack. It usually starts off with a description of why it's fair and then ventures into how awesome it is to abuse it.

Cake. Eat it too. Etc.

The wallhack alone was enough to make me quit Blacklight Retribution after a single session. I'm giving Halo a lot of leeway.

You are on a roll. Next:

Radar -- Cheating since 2001.

Actually he already has.

Oh and don't show Grift this, guys. He will flip!

I will flip because it is awesome.I was counting that as one of the game's three wallhacks ;) Especially with the ability to extend its range. I mean, come on...

I wish you guys (Phaethon) would play some different gametypes. Everyone gave up on CTF almost instantly. It's sad.

Big Team Infinity blows. Little Team Infinity is somewhat better. I like Slayer Pro (much more) but you all freaked out without radar.

Agreed.