Champions Bundle DLC

[DangerousDave]

So it's out, I've already decked out my Spartan in Mark V and steampunk weaponry, it is glorious.

The Pit is actually a lot more colorful than I expected, at least they've added some really nice accents to it--while it's definitely less vibrant, it's also less drab, if that makes any sense.

Ricochet seems to me like a group of people got together and discussed how much they liked oddball and CTF, but were frustrated by how often games would end with low scoring or tied. So like Americans tired of soccer, they invented American football, complete with slightly nonsensical point structuring. But it works.

Haven't yet had a chance to play on the new map, hoping that at least the concept of environmental hazards and interactive features makes a bigger return in the future and this is the harbinger.

[craZboy557]

Haven't gotten to try out any of the gameplay yet, but I definitely like the new skins. Seems like they doubled the ammount of stances, as well, and now I don't need to max out any serious endgame commendations for some good ones.
I'm inclined to say that Ricochet is more no-skill bullshit, but I haven't played it yet so I should probably hold out on that.

Lastly.... I've finally got my ODST helmet, but...... it looks like part of a mega blocks set. A MEGA BLOCKS SET, for god's sake.
343.... why would you do this to me?......

[DangerousDave]

Haven't gotten to try out any of the gameplay yet, but I definitely like the new skins. Seems like they doubled the ammount of stances, as well, and now I don't need to max out any serious endgame commendations for some good ones.
I'm inclined to say that Ricochet is more no-skill bullshit, but I haven't played it yet so I should probably hold out on that.

Lastly.... I've finally got my ODST helmet, but...... it looks like part of a mega blocks set. A MEGA BLOCKS SET, for god's sake.
343.... why would you do this to me?......

I think the ODST helmet looks really nice, personally. The overall armor aspect of the Spartan-IVs means that the MkV chestpiece looks a little too small on character models, but overall I think including the Ricochet armor set these are some of the nicest ones in the game.

[craZboy557]

You really think so? Excluding the Ricochet armor, these new ones are missing the texture that all the others have. All smooth as a Ken doll's nether region. Makes them look ridiculous, like they're in the uncanny valley for armor.

[DangerousDave]

You really think so? Excluding the Ricochet armor, these new ones are missing the texture that all the others have. All smooth as a Ken doll's nether region. Makes them look ridiculous, like they're in the uncanny valley for armor.

Well, that's personal tastes. I really like the cleaner silhouettes and smoother, brighter treatment of the armor in Halo 3, and thus probably like the armor more as a consequence. A lot of the skins don't read well because the armor is so busy (such as my Web CIO.)

[Capac Amaru]

I didn't see any ads for this when I booted my xbox to watch tv last night... I'll have to take another look.

[Postmortem]

You really think so? Excluding the Ricochet armor, these new ones are missing the texture that all the others have. All smooth as a Ken doll's nether region. Makes them look ridiculous, like they're in the uncanny valley for armor.

Yeah... I have to agree with this 100%. It's not that I dislike the smooth and clean look, it's just that it really doesn't blend well with the other armor out there which has far more details. Although I am still happy that they introduced the three armors that they did.

Some of the weapon skins are cool and work. Other ones just look ridiculous and break the canon so much it makes my head hurt. I don't like it, as a general rule, even if individually they look nice. I mean yeah... it's a simulation and all that... but still...

Most interesting thing from the bundle thus far is actually Vertigo. At first I thought 343 was getting lazy and was just replacing Forerunner weather structures with human ones, but if you actually look closely at the map you can see that's it's showing us a new aspect of UNSC power generation that we haven't seen before. I was playing with TDSpiral last night, and we both agree that it's cool to see something that's a little more scifi introduced into the human arsenal again.

[DangerousDave]

If we want to talk canon-breaking, armor permutations past Halo 3 did all the damage. If people in a simulation want to run around with golden guns, I say awesome.

[craZboy557]

Yes, but consider that you can also use those guns in SpOps.

[DangerousDave]

Yes, but consider that you can also use those guns in SpOps.

Actually you can't.

[Capac Amaru]

Wha? Gun skins work in spops...

Also the bundle reset the 'looked at' counter on all of my unlocked stuff...

Its all much of a muchness. Still waiting on single player / campaign DLC... been waiting 9 years even.

[DangerousDave]

Wha? Gun skins work in spops...

Also the bundle reset the 'looked at' counter on all of my unlocked stuff...

Its all much of a muchness. Still waiting on single player / campaign DLC... been waiting 9 years even.

I think that would require A) an increase in the caliber of Halo's storytelling, and B) changing the habits of Halo users who won't even buy DLC in great numbers.

Bioshock can justify a story-alone DLC, but I can't think of any others--not counting things like Skyrim because the story is really pretty irrelevant to the whole quests and dragons and stuff.

[Capac Amaru]

They have plenty of story that they could just rip off. Cut and paste a chunk of the comics or the novels, build a stand alone campaign level, record 20mins of dialog. Done.

[DangerousDave]

They have plenty of story that they could just rip off. Cut and paste a chunk of the comics or the novels, build a stand alone campaign level, record 20mins of dialog. Done.

Not saying there isn't plenty of fodder--if I didn't like Halo's story or lore why the hell am I here--just that from a business proposition I think it would be hard to say that a story expansion would make money, especially as DLC.

[Capac Amaru]

But anything that has Halo stamped on it makes money.

Its more like they can produce multi-player content for cheaper, and virtually require that anyone who plays multi-player has it, and make more money that way. I'd stop buying map packs in protest if I weren't a. a sucker and b. convinced it wouldn't impact a market driven by frat boys.