"less health" well that's relevant to the rate damage the enemies actually deal, now I've played both Half Life 2 and Halo 2 (comparisons for similar release date and popularity) and enemies kill you so much quicker in Half Life 2, and if you end up surviving with low health you really have to work hard to survive after that. It's that challenge that can make the game so much more engaging.Ironic Pirate said:
You have to do things in Half life 2 like popping out from a corner firing a shotgun once, then popping back in just the pump the action, strafing in and out in sync with pumping the action. Ever had to do that in Halo? Can you even do that with gamepad controls, I personally don't find it very easy alternating strafe left and right quickly, again, this is why I prefer Keyboard and Mouse.
Don't underappreciate how so satisfying it is to find a health pack when you've survived a gunfight with a sliver of health and you know it'll mean you can get through the gunfights ahead, much more satisfying than just waiting in cover in a "time out". It encourages boldness for preservation. You STILL have to take cover and use cover very well but you cannot use cover as a crutch, hiding won't save you.
As to choosing your weapons in a tactical way, I don't see how you can do that in Halo, as at no point do you have access to ALL the previous weapons you've encountered and ALSO know what you will face ahead. You can only switch to another weapon you happen upon. That takes away so much enjoyment out of finding new weapons/ammo, as it leaves you with a zero-sum dilemma of having to give up one weapon to try another. You don't know if you'll be entering a wide open area where a shotgun+sub-gun combo would be a bad choice as an example. There is little tactical nor even strategic thinking you can do, you can only be general, try to have a long range and short range weapon and hope for the best.
"Halo isn't "dumbed down" because removing complexity..."
That is what I mean by "dumbed down", as in the complexity has been removed. But then again maybe that is the key to it's popularity. The thing about Halo's rebounding health and 2 weapon limit is it is very easy to get into as it is so simple and forgiving. That has made it very popular, but for FPS veterans it is a step in the wrong direction. Halo is not for people who were brought up on Quake and Half Life, that is clear. It's for people where the extend of their FPS experience isn't much beyond Goldeneye. Thing is today I probably like Goldeneye more than Halo as if you are going to have a simplified console FPS well you might as well go all the way...
Having to make complex weapons decisions QUICKLY WHILE UNDER PRESSURE is certainly more of a challenge than having to make inventory selection decisions well in advance with only the vaguest possible idea of the opposition ahead and being limited anyway by what weapons you happen to find available.
"You never have to plan for the future with your guns (with 9 weapons on keyboard) because you have all of them."
I don't know if you've ever gamed on PC but it's pretty suicidal to start reaching across the keyboard for quick-keys when circle-strafing a cyber-demon. You DO have to plan ahead and lean heavily on the "last weapon" function; select one weapon, then the next, so "last weapon" cycles between the two. In combat you fight with one weapon (a machine gun, good for general purpose) then when a target of opportunity appears (group of enemies) switch to last weapon with "last weapon" key (grenade launcher, blow up group). But if you find yourself overlooking a wide area, with just an inaccurate grenade launcher and machine gun, you can still select your sniper rifle from your inventory.
It's hardly "intelligent tactical decision making" to be forced to go hunting for a sniping weapon, or for the developer to "conveniently" place a sniper rifle in the area where you emerge into the open. It takes some time to select the sniper rifle from your inventory, wouldn't want to do it in combat, but far less frustrating than having to hunt for that one weapon and then take it back to the sniping position, all while giving up the great weapon combo you had.
You should never be too happy to have options taken away from you.
On consoles with the very limited controls it was welcome to simplify weapon inventory (Goldeneye style weapon switching, endlessly pressing B to cycle through, no no no) but it's an utter loss on PC because not only do we have the controls to quickly select between more than 2 weapons but generally (after the complexity of building/maintaining a PC) the demographic is more open to a more complex weapon inventory.
I think an acceptable compromise would have been something like Ocarina of Time, with a main inventory loading to a quick select inventory, Zelda had 3 items selected by 3 buttons, console FPS could limit that to 2 weapons alternated between by 1 button. See, it works.
