| Jon Yeager 2004-12-28, 5:50 pm |
| "bobby" <nom@il.thanks> wrote in message
news:co1o6k$oa$1@ngspool-d02.news.aol.com...
quote:
> I've been playing H2 online over the past few nights, so I'm not expert on
> the whole thing yet, but is it just me that thinks the whole online setup
> stinks?
>
> Firstly, what's the difference between a Clan and a Party?
> Why cant I play the exact game I want to play? Why does the Lobby throw me
> into a CTF game, when I may just want to play an Assault game.
> Why cant I JUST play against my friends?
> Why are the instructions on how to play each game awful at best, or
> typically non-existant?
>
> If there is a way to achieve some of those mentioned above, please let me
> know.. I don't profess to being a H2 wiz, but I've spend nights trying to
> find out how to accomplish the above, and can't find it 
>
> Burnout 3 is the other main online game I play, and whilst EA servers may
> be ropey at best, the way you setup each race/crash can't be faulted.
Bungie themselves have stated that the Live set-up is the way it is so that
people can't cheat ranked games.
Example : Say you're awesome at CTF, and one map specifically, but suck at
everything else... you'd likely program nothing but CTF games on this one
map you know inside out and rise in the world rankings that way.
So why doesn't Bungie just let you do it? 2 reasons. First, it forces you to
be good at more than one thing. Two, it forces you to DISCOVER game modes
you never would have bothered trying otherwise.
I had Halo 1 for a year without ever bothering to try Oddball, for instance.
Well, I tried it once, didn't like it, and never tried it again. Halo 2
forces you to deal with Oddball (or "Teamball") and you know what? I grew to
like it in time. Ditto for maps I never would have given a second chance to
if I wasn't forced to.
In essence, Bungie has FORCED me to discover every aspect of this game, and
because I was forced to, I will keep playing much longer than I would have
if the game woulda let me play games against anonymous players on maps and
levels of my choosing.
Overall I like the Live implementation here... it's frankly ingenious. It's
specifically made to foster your addiction to the game. Hell, the whole
ranking idea is addictive on its own.
HOWEVER...
The one thing that bothers me is that I cannot set up a custom game and
instantly have players join me. I don't care if it's unranked, sometimes I
just want to play Blood Gulch CTF and there's no one in my friends list
online, and neither Halo or Halo 2 allow multiplayer bots.
That is the one drawback of an otherwise flawlessly designed Live
experience.
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