Question: why the hell has no developer come close to matching the community features seen in Halo 3? It has been well over a year since we all played the Beta, which means for that long at the very least developers have known that Halo 3’s amazing video swapping, stat-tracking and Forge features would be the standard by which their titles will be judged. Yet none of them have picked up the ball and run with it.
In fact, you could even argue that no developer has even matched last generation’s Halo 2, which came out almost four years ago, let alone its sequel. Although its features weren’t as advanced as what we’ve seen in Halo 3, the use of the website stat-tracking, its lobby system and matchmaking ability still wipes the floor with most of today’s shooters.
It just blows our minds that what these community features are worth to the success of Halo hasn’t been picked up by other developers. Halo 2’s single player was decidedly average: it did nothing to fix the flaws of the original (in particular our pet hate: repetitive level design), it was unfinished, and it was buggier than a bull ant nest. Yet it shipped 8 million copies and is considered one of the best FPS games of all time. Why? Cause of its bloody multiplayer community, filled with the fanboyiest fanboys in the history of fanboyism who have their need for an all conquering love-in met by the features Bungie supply.
Indeed, without Bungie’s community features Halo would’ve been a so-so FPS with promising but unspectacular Gears of War level sales. It’s fun and it has the controls down pat, but what keeps gamers coming back for more, and thus an active player base always willing to take on a battle, is its community feature set. We’ve seen other games come and go with superior single player experiences and equally as enjoyable multiplayer components – from Project Snowblind to Far Cry – but without a means of providing a virtual campfire for gamers to crowd around for warmth and security they’ve peaked and troughed in a matter of weeks.
You’re never out of the Halo community. There is always a video to check out on youtube, or someone’s kill count to ogle on the website: your console may be miles away, but Halo is always in your face. In addition, Bungie speaks directly to its community constantly with weekly updates. They even go as far as to send representatives to major community events, such as MLG pro gaming tournaments and big LANs. Halo fans can feel secure in the knowledge there is a human aspect to the developer to which they can communicate, and they can even be rewarded for their loyalty by making Bungie’s Favourites list.
