Why Halo 3 Multiplayer (Matchmaking) Sucks

With Halo 3, Bungie had a chance to create a masterpiece. And, to an extent, Halo 3 is a masterpiece. Except that it sucks (in more than one regard). I'll explain...

Halo 3 multiplayer should have been really complex. Every object placement, spawn, weapon strength, map design, and gameplay detail should have had some meaning. Each should have contributed to the game's overall fairness, competitiveness, and overall degree of fun. And, again, Bungie did a pretty good job, or what would seem to be an excellent job. But anyone who has spent hours playing matchmaking knows how miserably frustrating it becomes... within minutes... or seconds...

But why? How does Halo 3 go from the best game around to the worst in such a short period of time? What did Bungie do (or didn't Bungie do) to make Halo 3 so painfully frustrating? It's simple, really. They made it for players with no skill.

Bungie had a choice to make: base Halo 3's gameplay around hardcore competitive fans, or, make it for the bulk of the market: bad players.

Now, that's not to say I have something against players who are absolutely atrocious. It's not like I think Bungie should ban really, really garbage players from playing matchmaking because they cause skillful teammates to lose constantly. But by targeting players with limited skill and attempting to make the game easier for them, I think Bungie made a huge mistake. Basically, they screwed over competitive players who take Halo matches seriously. Anyhow, let's begin with maps and weapon placement.

Maps
The first map we'll take a look at is Guardian. Guardian is based on the most successful Halo 2 map "Lockout." To put it simply, Lockout's design was flawless. On one side of the map existed the Sniper Rifle Tower, which, inevitably, possessed a sniper on the topmost part. On the opposite side of the map was what many call it the Battle Rifle Tower. Generally speaking, during team games (where players were actually playing seriously and to win), one team would control the Battle Rifle Tower while the other controlled the Sniper Rifle Tower. It was basically as if each team had a collective base which it had to both defend and use as a point of attack from afar. The weapons on the map were quite balanced, with only two destructive short range weapons, lots of dual wield weapons (SMG, Plasma Rifle, etc), two Battle Rifles, and one Sniper Rifle. All in all, it was indeed a balanced map in every way. More importantly, the map was designed to provide strategy. Now, let's take a look at Guardian. The first move Bungie made was to strip the map (Lockout, Guardian, whatever) of about 40% of its cover. Lockout, though small, was large at heart, with lots of cover, lots of places to post up, and, when needed, places to hide/escape. Guardian is significantly smaller (as far as surface area goes), and is stripped away of some of Lockout's key regions, many of which made the map so brilliant. For example, the so called Sniper Rifle Tower in Lockout is reduced to about half its original size. There's barley enough cover for two people, let alone four if you're playing a competitive team game. Likewise, an entire region where the shotgun previously lay at the very bottom of the map was completely done away with, and the blue lift region was removed of most of its cover and reduced to two large tree stumps coming out of the ground. If that wasn't enough, Bungie made sure the weapons on the map caused plenty more frustration. First off, Bungie mauled the map with Maulers (pardon the pun). The Mauler is an extremely short-range weapon with immense power when used correctly; unfortunately, correct use of the weapon takes very little skill or brain power to figure out. To put it as simply as it works, running up to an opponent, shooting him with the Mauler when about half a foot away, and then beating him down will ensure a kill 9/10 times (assuming he has no counter attack ready). (The 1/10 times it doesn't work can be accredited to the many wondrous glitches Bungie has let slip.) It's no surprise when you find the entire opposing team running around with Maulers, or better yet, crouching and hiding behind a wall waiting for your arrival, ready to get quick easy kills on you knowing that there's really nothing you can do to stop it. Mauler kills are arguably the easiest to get. Moving forward, one of the biggest disappointments with Guardian is the plain fact that Bungie moved the Sniper Rifle from atop the Sniper Rifle tower to underneath the middle platform; in other words, it's now on the bottom. With Lockout, one of the most important strategies was taking possession of the Sniper Rifle before the other team did. And, because of its location on the map, both teams had a chance at grabbing it at the start of every game. The competition made the map ever more fair and competitive. It was like you had to fight for a long-term advantage. This brilliance is completely done away with in Guardian. Now, simply your spawn point determines whether or not you're getting the Sniper at the start of the game. Anyhow, other weapons on Guardian include the Shotgun and the Gravity Hammer. Bungie added immense range and power to the Shotgun to ensure that whoever has it keeps it and gets many kills with it for extended periods of time. Likewise, simply pressing your RT trigger when close to an opponent when using the Gravity Hammer is slightly less effective than the Energy Sword. In other words, it's easy to use. Unfortunately, Bungie didn't stop here.

Two maps I personally despise are Epitaph and Snowbound. Both maps utilize the "fake walls" in doorways. Moreover, a Covenant shield that stops weapon shots and grenades but not players will block most passageways in both maps. Anyway, Epitaph features the Gravity Hammer, the Rocket Launcher, the Shotgun, and many, many Maulers. So, inevitably, this leaves players able to grab a close range weapon, camp behind an translucent wall, and wait for an opponent to pass through only to obliterate him in less time than he can figure out how he's about to die. Snowbound's gameplay is hardly different. But, in how it is different, it's worse. Snowbound's strategy is as follows: grab the Shotgun and camp under a base. This works for two reasons: 1, each base is guarded on every side by the Plasma Walls (the same ones in Epitaph), and 2, the Shotgun is so powerful that as soon as an opponent enters the base he'll almost surely die. When adding everything up, it's quite obvious that neither map has any real strategy. Again, Bungie made the game easier for players with limited to no skill.

The last map we'll examine is Isolation, though there isn't much examining to do. While conversing with a friend, Josh, he pointed out to me exactly what Isolation's strategy is: "roll in circles with your team." And sadly, he's exactly correct. Isolation, much like most of Halo 3's maps, has no base vs base strategy where either team is in control of a base and is attempting to slowly beat the other team. It's more or less just a clump of rocks, random walls, and a strange orange fungus type material that Bungie deemed a good map. The only way to win is to slowly move around the map with your team, keep control of the Battle Rifles, and team Battle Rifle opponents off their spawn. Strategy? You decide.

When summing all these feats up, it's plain to see that winning Halo 3 matches is too much a matter of power-weapon control. The team that grabs the powerful weapons first will almost surely win, regardless of the opposing team's collective skill level. When you're playing The Pit, and the other team has both Snipers, Rockets, Over Shield and Sword, you've really got no chance no matter how good you are.

Edit: As of late, Bungie has stripped some of the Maulers in Matchmaking.

Equipment
One of the most notable additions to the game is Equipment. Equipment offers players various items that, when picked up, can be dropped for the player's benefit. Equipment used by Bungie in Multiplayer includes the Bubble Shield, the Power Drain, the Trip Mine, the Grav Lift, the Regenerator, the Radar Jammer, and the Flare. To say the least, Equipment surely makes Multiplayer quite interesting. I'll start off by explaining what each piece of Equipment does.

Bubble Shield
The Bubble Shield, quite fittingly, when dropped, creates a circular "bubble" shield around the player that drops it. Said shield, much like the Plasma Walls found in Snowbound and Epitaph, stops both grenades and weapon shots from passing through on either side, but allows players to walk through without any hesitation. In other words, it temporarily protects those inside of it (assuming opponents stay out).
Power Drain
Also in coordination with its name, it very rapidly drains the shields of any players that enter its circular drain radius.
Trip Mine
When dropped, it will be detonated by physical contact of any sort (whether it be vehicle, grenade, weapon shots, or the foot of a player).
Grav Lift
Seemingly a useless item, it launches those who walk over it into the air about fifteen to twenty feet.
Regenerator
It creates a translucent green circular orb around it; upon entering it, your shields immediately regenerate rapidly. It's much like the Power Drain's counterpart.
Radar Jammer
When dropped, it screws with the radars of those in its vicinity (it shows multiple enemy red dots where no enemies actually exist).
Flare
It completely whitens the screens of those it's dropped in front of, basically leaving them temporarily blind.

With those defined, let's talk about what Equipment does for Matchmaking. To digress a bit from this editorial's main focus, I will admit that I like Equipment in Halo. It certainly changes up the gameplay and adds to it. True Halo fans know that what make Halo great are those advantages one player has over another in what he has on him. After all, it wouldn't be as fun if neither team ever had an advantage. That said, I'll now jump back on task. The mistake Bungie made with Equipment, much like the mistake they made with the Sniper Rifle's position on Guardian, is how it's obtained. Again, there is truly minimal competition, if any, for Equipment in Multiplayer. It's more or less a result of spawns. Let's say, for example, you're playing Team Slayer on Guardian. The game started not to long ago, and all you have is a Battle Rifle and an Assault Rifle. You charge an opponent running from the Flare room as he runs towards the Sniper Rifle tower, and you start firing Battle Rifle bursts into his head. And then, suddenly, when one more burst would have killed him for sure, he drops a Bubble Shield and saves his life. You continue to charge him through the Bubble Shield only to be devoured by a Mauler he just happened to have. And just like that, you were completely gypped out of a kill only because your opponent just happened to spawn closer to the Bubble Shield than did you. Fair? No, not really.

Again, let's take Isolation, for example. The start-of-the-game spawns on Isolation are always the same in Team Slayer games: each team spawns near one of the two Regenerators on the map. Now, I'll admit, this is more fair than one team spawning closer to one Regenerator. But still, where's the competition in this? Both teams just easily get to have a Regenerator at the start of every game on the map? How competitive is that? I say not whatsoever.

Similar to Equipment are Active Camo and the Overshield. In comparison to Halo 2, the Overshield is much weaker. And, while the Active Camo featured in Halo 2 made those who picked it up pretty hard to see, the Active Camo in Halo 3 renders a player almost completely invisible. Regardless, let's focus on placement. In Halo 2, Bungie essentially replicated Wizard (from Halo 1) and created Warlock. In it, they placed Active Camo. More importantly, they placed Active Camo in the mathematic center of the map. With the release of Halo 2, Bungie shipped a map called Ivory Tower. This map instead featured Overshield. Much like Warlock, however, said shield was placed in a closed tunnel that lead up to a Sniper Rifle Tower. This tunnel was completely pushed to one side of the map. Moreover, each team spawned the same distance from the Overshield. For both advantages, a battle took place. With Warlock's Active Camo in the middle and Ivory Tower's Overshield off to a side equidistant from both teams at the beginning a game, a battle almost always took place to obtain either. It was a matter of sheer competition: the initial winner rightfully won an advantage by means of a fair and equal battle (basically always). Now, let's take a look at Halo 3. Two maps that feature both Active Camo and Overshield in Halo 3 are Guardian and Snowbound. In both maps, the competition that previously existed in Halo 2 for said advantages no longer exists. In other words, spawns now determine what you're getting. In Guardian, the team that spawns on the elbow leading up to the Sniper Tower will always get Overshield, and the other team will always get Active Camo. Much the same in Snowbound, the team that spawns inside the Beam Rifle base will always get Overshield while the team that spawns inside the Spartan Laser base will always get Active Camo. Honestly, what's the point? Instead of "rush Camo/Overshield and don't let the other team get it" (as in Halo 2), you'll now find players saying, "when the other team gets Camo/Overshield..." Bungie has eliminated so much of the brilliant competition for advantages that made Halo 2 so wonderful.

Again, as I said earlier, I think both Equipment and Active Camo and Overshield are great commodities that add to the brilliance of the overall gameplay. But the lack of competition over them is grossly subtracting from how Matchmaking Multiplayer could be.

Spawns
The one thing that just about everyone could agree on concerning Halo 2 was how Bungie mapped out spawn points. To be blunt, Bungie nailed it. If I had to guess, I'd easily assume that Bungie fabricated a deep, complex algorithm to measure where dead players should spawn next. As it seemed, many factors determined where you'd spawn had you just died. To name a few, placement of enemies, placement of teammates, areas of recent deaths, and weapon locations were all considered. Overall, spawns were fairly and intelligently chosen. They were neither completely random nor in the same spot each time. With Halo 3, this is not the case. To a large degree, spawns in Halo 3 hurt the gameplay. So how exactly are they chosen? That's a great question; your guess is as good as mine. Other than at the start of each match, so far, it very much seems they are chosen completely at random. I know what you're thinking: Bungie, how could you?

Spawns in Halo 3 cause more frustration than any other feat. Consider, if you will, that you're in the middle of a Team Doubles match on Guardian. You and your teammate just rushed the other team at the Sniper Rifle Tower. You killed both of your opponents, and your shields are low. You just picked up the Sniper Rifle your opponent previously had, and you're shields are about to recharge. And just when you're about to get into a position that'd suit your sniping ability well, both opponents spawn at the elbow leading to the Sniper Rifle Tower. They both toss one grenade, and just like that, you explode. In a matter of seconds, you went from domination to death, from winning status to losing. And right then, when an ounce of hope tells you you might spawn at the same spot your opponents just did, the five second timer goes off, and you spawn on the bottom of the opposite side of the map, not far from the Shotgun. You fairly beat your opponents only to be unfairly killed seconds later, leaving you without the Sniper Rifle you just rightfully won over. Frustrated? I'd bet so.

One specific instance concerns Narrows. As I'm sure most everyone has experienced, it's not uncommon that your team will kill the opposing team in the back of one of the bases only to have that same team you just killed spawn right where you just killed them. And when you kill them again, they spawn at the same spot. From the Man Cannon side to the Flag Spawn side, back and forth, back and forth. After awhile, you're going to lose the battle, especially considering the fact that you're shields will be low after the first round of killings. Again, we find ourselves asking Bungie, why?

With the new spawns in Halo 3, situations like this are far from rare. Winning has become, again, much more a matter of sheer luck, and much less a matter of skill. And more than once a game, you're left wondering what you can possibly do because truly, there's really nothing you can other than hope the spawns work in your favor.

Miscellaneous
Other than the main flaws, there are some minor changes Bungie implemented to accomplish their initial goal. Here are few:

Players are slower: When I was really into Halo 2, I remember once thinking to myself, "man, spartans walk really slowly. I hope Bungie increases player speed at least a bit in Halo 3." Guess what! Bungie actually dropped player speed. Now, you're even slower, so getaways are that much harder.

Melees are just different: The melee is the most important gameplay factor for Halo as a whole. It truly changes the game, and makes it what it is. Two specific feats made the Halo 2 melee so powerful and usable. The first was that a jump-up-and-beat-down melee caused more damage unto an opponent than a straight forward melee. The second was that the player who hit first would get the kill, regardless of anything else (assuming both players were weak enough so as to be finished by a melee). Bungie changed both of these in Halo 3. Now, falling melees cause as much damage as straight forward ones, and now (this one kills me), it's not longer the player who melees first but the player with more shield at the time of near-simultaneous melees that will get the kill. Using your imagination, I'm sure you can decide how this severly alters the gameplay, and subtracts from those with skill. I know, because quick double kills using falling melees just no longer work.

The Oddball, Flag, and Bomb are now weapons: In Halo 2, carrying the Flag, Oddball, or Bomb made you quite vulnerable. You were slower, and didn't have a weapon ready. As soon as you picked up one of the three, it was your teammates' job to protect you. You'd always find yourself saying, "I've got the Flag, so protect me." Moreover, to kill an opponent with any of the three, one had to jump up and melee the opponent in the head/face. In Halo 3, any one of these three serves almost as a weapon. Now, the jump-up-beat-down technique is gone. This is simply because you're no longer required to jump and melee. Simply beating down an opponent at any angle will ensure a kill. Now, you'll find yourself saying, "I've got the Flag, a BR, and a pistol."

And the list goes on for a while, but I assume you get the point.

Conclusion
Halo 3 is a great game. In fact, it's my favorite game of all time (right up there with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory). But the adjustments Bungie has made in comparison to Halo 2 has truly put more than a damper on the gameplay. In all honesty, getting beat by players who have less skill than you, especially when you know it, hurts. It hurts even more when you know it's because of how the game was designed.

Fortunately for me, I already have my 50 in Team Slayer. Thus, I have to deal with this so much less.