It’s probably an issue wih the split screen as far as the co-op goes. And same old gimmicks? The features they have added are awesome and just awestriking in a few cases.
Campaign scoring – A good reason to play campaign more than once. Makes it a challenge, (going for speed, turning on skull effects, medal kills etc) to achieve the highest score.
Gametypes – The ability to change about any and all settings of a particular gametype from the lobby. No having to go back out and make a new gametype.
Appearance – Ability to customize your armor and emblem. Not just three difference colors each and addition of new emblems, but by completing certain achievements or playing through campaign, you unlock new pieces of armor.
The Forge – Nice for editting a map to cater to a certain gametype. Plus fun to goof around in.
Theater – Now this is by far the most amazing thing by far. You can go back through the last 20 games you played and watch them. Sounds kinda lame at first. But the game actually re-renders the entire game. You can switch between players, moving the camera around them, or do a free fly-by in a spectator cam. Just so you can see how bad you really owned those guys. Or see strategy flaws and etc. In addition to that, you can take screenshots and upload them to your slot in Bungie as well as save the film yourself.. and then go download it onto your computer for video editting later.
And honeslty, as far as multiplayer goes, all the maps are fun. You just have to play with more people. Just because you only have 4 people to play with doesn’t mean the maps are bad. Go find more people to play with. My favorite maps now are Epitaph, Construct, and Guardian. And all the weapons are balanced and have a realistic feel (recoil and such).
This game is far better than Halo 2, reminiscent of Halo 1, and just shows what’s capable on the 360 alongside the support from the developers. Bungie provides a lot of services for their community on this one, you have to give them props for that.