The Internet conversation on the announcement of “Halo 3: Recon” is a noisy one.  Halo is a title that has such a strong following that it put an entire company worth of platforms on the map.  There would be no Xbox 360 had Halo not happened, and now, in the vein of Mario beforehand, questions as to what is an acceptable use of the characters is a growing debate.  My own opinion is rather negative.

I realize that it probably isn’t fair to try beating on a game before it’s launched, but I would argue that it’s just as fucking fair as someone convincing me how good the damned thing will be before launch– which is exactly what Microsoft, Bungie, and legions of mindless Flood-like fans aim to ram down my throat over the course of the next year.  What ground do I stand on?  First, let me say that I fully embrace Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the finest games I have ever played.  It took the world of scripted-event first person shooters and instead of making it about puzzles said: “no, this is a shooter“.  It celebrates the simple joy of kicking ass.  While the level design in single player has some flaws, overall the experience is one of pure bliss– the simple joy of tossing a pistol whip between shots being without peer in gaming terms.  The cooperative play was a revelation, and I would take the time I spent in rooms with four Xboxes and sixteen controllers fighting over flags in Blood Gulch over nearly any LAN experience I’ve had. Halo 2 is a mixed bag.  The single player is too short and features lamer enemies as the game progresses– but the Arbiter, new vehicles gave some new ground to cover.  The multiplayer is terribly imbalanced around the weapon location and the suck of duel wielding, while the new maps were a joy.  Halo 3 seemed to throw out everything we’d been promised– no more Arbiter, no real warfare occurring on Earth, and a fight that felt about as “Finished” as the Iraq War.  While I’m still playing the multiplayer, I’m still upset that Bungie, like Blizzard, feels that they are smarter than me– “no, you don’t need that classic map, we’ll make you a better one instead”.  I’m not a child, and sometimes I actually DO know what I want.

The announcement of Halo 3: Recon begs many, many questions.  This is an “expansion”… do I download it?  What all content am I getting, and for what price?  I fully expect there to be some exclusive multiplayer content lurking with this title, requiring those who are uninterested in the single player aspect to pony up and buy the whole thing to get the parts they want.  More than any other question rings that as to what the game will offer as the first title to not headline with the Master Chief, instead forcing us to control some rando [sic] marine.  Personally, for me there is a lot of Halo that relies heavily on “playing Spartan”.  I find Halo and having fun to go hand-in-hand when I run into battle, blasting away enemies on a reasonable difficulty setting.  I don’t expect to be able to trample all of my opponents, but I DO expect to be able to leap into the fray guns blazing, without spending half of my gaming experience crouching behind rocks trying not to get shot.  If I wanted to hide, I’d play some damned Splinter Cell.  This new game, however, doesn’t have me playing Spartan, so the looming question as to if the health system, speed, jumps, etc. will be negatively impacted by this change in lead character is valid.  Coupled with the diminishing returns of this slagging single player franchise, there’s even more cause for concern.  I mean, I enjoyed Halo 3’s final escape drive… but all it did was mimic and intensify that of the first game.  The second game’s ending boss fight was pathetic.  What can we honestly expect to be pulled out in this game?  And what stakes exist in a SEQUEL PREQUEL?  I mean… we know what happened before and after.  Not like this lead marine can save the world or anything… already taken care of! 

Sure, there’s the outside chance that this will be the single player experience that Halo 3 lacked, giving us the warfare promised in the game’s own promotional materials.  I don’t expect it.  Instead, on top of all the other questions I have, there sits one of Star Wars proportions: how much crap can you dump on people before they finally stop paying for it?