As someone who walked into a store and picked up the game without having been on the hype wagon or having any developer expectation (never played or cared to play HALO), I can only conclude that the game is getting an extra dosage of shit from the media because of all these things that actually have nothing to do with the product itself.
Is this really fair though? Lets pretend for a second that it came out of nowhere from a newly formed developer no one ever heard of. Would it still get 6/10s and even lower scores? Would it still be target of so much venom from a vocal part of its "community" or fence sitters that just want to pile on? Would the high polish, fine tuned gameplay and fantastic assets still result in a general sense of disappointment?
Yeah I don't think so.
Does it have issues? Sure, the lore is poorly presented and as an entry to a world they intend to build and add stuff for years, they failed to give it any sense of conclusion or coherence. There are also some issues with the loot drop and its limited mission structure.
That said. The art direction is absolutely gorgeous. The music is phenomenal. Customization and gear offer enough depth and variety to encourage exploration and experimentation. Vehicles are fun. It has a healthy amount of gameplay modes that actually impact your progression in the campaign, and more importantly the gameplay is smooth and extremely satisfying. Controls and mechanics offer enough variety and depth that once you quickly master it you will be zipping through maps and air killing enemies or other players intuitively .
This is vanilla Diablo (sans the auction house) all over again. Its a first step into a long term, evolving project and its being accused of not offering the same content as similar social, level-up based games that had years to be built into what they are today.
BE PATIENT PEOPLE! If you were expecting more than an entry title to what they hope is a long lived IP, you should have waited!
Also, hype is poison. Judge it for what it is, not what you imagined or were told to expect it to be
Here, pictures just because...
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