Dec 10 2009
Multiplayer Showdown: Halo 3 vs. Modern Warfare 2
This is a compare and contrast column like we used to write in English class breaking down two games very near and dear to my heart, Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2. Both are champions of online multiplayer, drawing in an absolute ass-ton of players every day around the world. Halo 3 has been running strong for years, whereas Call of Duty is the new kid on the block, so to speak, but carries a rich tradition behind it.
I’m writing this from the perspective of a somewhat casual player. I’ve maxed out my skill at 35 in Halo 3 and I’m currently like, 25-253 in Call of Duty, but that’s just because I play a lot of free for alls. I’m not great, but I ain’t bad either, and I feel like once you start getting into the “pro” levels of either of these games, things just stop being fun as everyone is just constantly running around with the same gun shooting everyone else between the eyes before you can even blink.
Each game has pros and cons, and I’ve picked three of each as the main points to argue each side. There’s more that can be said for sure, but that’s up to you guys in the comments.
Halo 3
The Good:
DID YOU SEE THAT?! – There are many moments in Halo where a turn of events is so insane, that it simply must be seen again on replay to be believe (which ironically is where a killcam would be much more useful). You can stick a Warthog as it flies over you in the air, and kill someone else with the burning wreckage once it lands. You can launch yourself off a grav lift and no scope someone driving a mongoose on the other side of a map. You can swing a hammer at a rocket and deflect it into an unsuspecting passerby. These kinds of moments are infinite, and happen on a pretty consistent basis if you play the game. It makes the action in COD just seem tame.
Level Playing Field – The lack of unlockables in Halo is actually a pro in this sense. Everyone is on the same playing field in terms of equipment. There are no level 50 generals who have weapons that no one else can use yet, there are no rewards that give peoplewith kill streaks even MORE kills. Everyone has access to the same set of weapons, and in the end it’s just your reflexes that decides who wins and who loses.
Vehicles – Sure, pros don’t use vehicles since their too busy battle rifling their brains out, but there is nothing more fun that going on a 25 kill run with a Warthog or splattering a dozen people with a ghost. In my opnion, vehicles can be the most fun part of any Halo match, and it’s something that COD only briefly touches on when you can hop into the gunseat of an attack helicopter or an AC 130.
The Bad:
Goofy action – For as exciting as gameplay can get, when it comes down to it, you’re a bunch of spacemen jumping around ten feet in the air shooting guns that fire green bullets or pink needles. Not exactly a great sense of realism.
Matchmaking – It takes longer to find games, and is harder to find one that’s evenly matched without people dropping in and out and or not playing at all. I have had no such problem with COD so far, as every game has a lightning quick setup, and if you lose a team member, they’ll sub you in a new one from the outside.
Ranking System – Is complete and utter shit. It’s most definitely the most broken aspect of the multiplayer in my mind. I’m not positive a series of unlockables like COD has is the answer, but the way the numbers work is just maddening. You can win six games in a row and not go up a level. Or you can get 26 kills but lose, and you’ll drop a level just like that. I’ve spent the last three years hovering around level 30 in team slayer, ultimately never moving much up or down. Sure, maybe it’s telling me my skill level is just 30, and I can never be any better than that, but it’s just frustrating to not feel like you’re moving forward.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Good:
Ultra-realism – The game just feels like real life combat, or what I imagine real life combat would feel like. No one is jumping around all the time, all the guns shoot bullets, and two or three shots and you are down for the count. The levels feel pulled from movie sets and all of the weapons are actual real-world pieces you could find in a tent at an Alabama gun show.
Ranking System – The exceptionally elaborate system of achievements and unlockables give the player a reason to keep playing other that just “it’s fun.” The prestige system is a bit maddening as everything you’ve just done resets, but it gives you a reason to keep pushing forward. And there is no up/down numbers nonsense like in Halo, it’s all about XP, and even if you’re not a pro, you can get all the top feats just by pure persistence.
Customization – My favorite part of the game by far, it’s a lot of fun to mix and match a million different weapon, equipment and perk combinations into various classes that suit your needs. I’ve got a custom vehicle destroying class, an unlimited stamina shotgunner and a completely silent sniper, and I swap in and out depending on the level. I was worried that there was no reason to be some of the classes when I first started, but through playing around with them, I’ve found that absolutely all of them can be useful with enough time and thought put into what attachments and perks work best with them.
The Bad:
Shot in the back – There is a certain feeling of helplessness that accompanies most Call of Duty matches. About half the battles are you matching wits with your opponents, and someone throws a clever grenade or gets a clutch headshot and is the victor. Contrastingly, the other half the battles are you running around a corner and someone shooting you in the back with absolutely shit all you could do about it. It makes you feel like most of your deaths are completely unpreventable.
Reward the Rich – The game rewards players of higher levels by giving them more perks, more weapons to choose from, and most significantly of all, players killing a ton of people are given killstreaks that can kill even MORE people, something that can turn a close game into a complete landslide almost instantly. Killstreaks are awesome when YOU get them, but when you spawn and you’re immediately drilled in the head by a predator missile, that sinking feeling of helplessness comes back once again.
Same ‘ol, Same ‘ol – Even if it is fun run around killing older soldiers with various types of bullet shooting weapons, it doesn’t really seem like there’s a whole lot to do that you haven’t seen before after about 20 hours or so. Whereas some ridiculous games of Halo can produce kills that defy all laws of physics and reason, the coolest thing you can do in COD is what? Throw a throwing knife really far? Get a double headshot? Cool in their own right, but epic? Not so much.
So what’s the verdict? Which is better? Honestly, I don’t think I have an answer. Despite both being first person shooters, the two games have practically nothing else in common, so much so that I almost don’t think it’s fair to compare the two. I think each have their own purposes, where as Halo is more rah rah shoot em up non-stop action, and Call of Duty is more strategic skulking around with occasional bursts of gunfire, I think that each have their own time and place.
I will say that I have been playing Halo 3 for years now, whereas I couldn’t get into the original Modern Warfare or any of it’s WWII predecessor because I thought it just got repetitive after a while. But I’m currently hooked on the new version, which has more to offer than any previous iteration, and who knows how long my enthusiasm for unlockables will carry me.
In short, if you have an Xbox, you should own both of them. And if you own a PS3, you should buy an Xbox, Killzone sucks.
More Unreal Posts
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- When All Schools Have a Video Game Curriculum, What Should the Classes Be?
- The Halo Reach Journal: Day 1
- Debate of the Day: How Much Do You/Will You Let Your Kids Game?
I personally prefer Ground War (mix of Domination and Deathmatch) and HQ Pro, in the respect that Domination & HQ Pro gives you an actual object to head toward instead of just “kill kill kill”. Makes a world of difference when playing the game. FFA is just too chaotic for my taste, I don’t see in 8 directions, I avoid the game where it forces me to look at all 8 at the same time
Oh I was talking about MW2 btw
Wow, good work Paul. You just described my situation to a T.
Veteran Halo Player, Hovering around 30, didn’t like previous MW, currently hooked on MW2.
I have to agree with you that these games really shouldn’t be compared to each other. They truly are completely different games.
I’m glad they came out staggered like they did as I get the chance to play both of them. When they are competing for my time Halo will always win as I just find it more fun.
I hope they add a similar drop out / replace with new character type of matchmaking to the next Halo.
LMAO KILLZONE DOES SUCK
This pretty much echoes my thoughts, as well. One thing that I see as a negative for MW2 is the way it handles lag. Pretty frequently, the game will lag without ever “showing” lag, except on Killcams. I will often get into a gunfight, fire 3 or 4 shots into the guy and then die from a single shot. The killcam then shows it as if I only fired a single shot, and he was firing at me for a good 2-3 seconds. Halo isn’t much better, but at least I can actually tell it is lagging in that game.
Also, you used “their” instead of “they’re” in the Halo Vehicles section. I don’t mean to be a grammar Nazi, I just thought you’d like to know.
Spot on, spot on. Both games are great – but Halo is definitely more “fun”, and with the radar, you’re not getting shot in the back every 3 seconds.
The one thing I’ll add is that I have both an Xbox360 and a PS3. I got CoD:MW2 for my PS3 because I have a friend who’s all into CoD and he just has a PS3. And I SUCK at it, and it’s because I’m used to the MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE Xbox360 controller! I know I could OWN folks in CoD:MW2 if I had it on Xbox360 … but alas, I am stuck with mediocre skills on my PS3.
But I can’t complain too much – seeing how I have an Xbox360 AND a PS3
WTF!
MW2 is the biggest fail ever!
Either goto the official IW forums or here :
http://www.modernwarfail2.com/
I’ve been playing halo for a looong as time too.
Only game I had (or ever wanted for a long time)
played over 6,000 total games (granted 1/3 are custom games from me just forging a map)
but I made it to a 45 (After being stuck at a 44 for a year) and your so right, it stops being fun. Everyone is too competitive and you don’t ever play anyone who isn’t like that.
Now im done playing it (other then once in a while just for fun)
and think my main game will be cod.
However I don’t think i’ll prestige untill way later when Im bored of it\.
[...] Multiplayer Showdown: Halo 3 vs. Modern Warfare 2 [...]
im sick of people complaining about killstreaks, if i got 11 kills i would want a reward, what do you want a chopper gunner after 11 consecutive deaths? thats just my opinion though
[...] ♣ Multiplayer Showdown: Halo 3 vs. Modern Warfare 2 [Unreality Mag] [...]
Blanka, He’s talking about the X-Box version, not PC. There is a massive difference.
I have a lot more fun playing MW2 but all the “bad” things are true….and don’t forget, MW2 shows replays but doesn’t let you save your awesome match-winning kill replay
U ALL SUCK!! it depends if u like the game or not these games r not realy comparable, one is realistic and the other is fiction/unreal
@ kt: You didn’t read the article…did you?
Killzone sucks? I have never played it, but i do have reason to disagree with you….
http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/07/03/unreal-game-review-killzone-2/
All your points are relatively valid. One I must contest is that CoD is realistic. More realistic than Halo, sure, but Halo is a scifi game. CoD is trying to be realistic, and yet you can shoot a guy in the face with a pistol and not kill him. US Army Rangers can be seen sprinting around blind corners to get knife kills. The least Modern gun in the game is also the best, with a massive cone of fire and one hit kills, and oh yeah, you can dual wield them!
I of course agree that rewarding the rich is a broken system too, with the added side effect of promoting camping. And what is the most effective tactic in the game? Camping in a dark corner or hole that was clearly specifically designed to infuriate anyone not in that hole.
I disagree that CoD has tighter multiplayer. If play alone you can find matches right away, sure, but anyone who has entered in a party knows what an astoundingly glitchy affair that can be. You can also join games that are one second away from being over. Why was that not prevented? Was it REALLY not anticipated? As far as gameplay goes, no one in Halo 3 glitches or cheats. MW2 however, is riddled with broken geometry, secret ways out of the map, cheap glitches that involve tricking the feeble engine, manipulated game lobbies, objectives that all focus around particular points on the map (further promoting camping), and most of all unbalanced play. If the game attempts to match by skill, it fails miserably. A MW2 lobby should only show players around the same NUMBER rank as you, to even out the equipment. A friend of mine said Halo is more twitch based, but when it only takes one or two bullets to kill you, clearly the better reflexes win. Or whichever guy has a darker hiding spot.
Obviously Halo 3 is still the king in my mind. I can justify this with endless facts and comparisons, but it mostly comes down to which is more fun. Both games require skill, but in MW2 no amount of skill can protect you from the multitude of stupid deaths that you are constantly at risk of. In Halo, I only get mad if someone is so much better than me that they just make me look like a fool, for instance if I get the jump on someone but through pure skill they are able to turn the fight around and kill me regardless. In Call of Duty, that almost never happens. In CoD, I can also be hit across the map by an M203, be pinned in a corner surrounded by dark or elevated positions, respawn on a grenade, and of course be gunned down while trying to reach an objective so many times that the enemy – who is NOT going for the objective – is rewarded with air support to further rape you.
The only reason I like CoD is the unlocks and customization. They did this pretty well, improving on CoD4 in every way and making most questionable unlocks dismissible as gameplay balance. Halo 3 is only slightly changed from Halo 2 because it did what it had to do – take solid gameplay and fix the handful of glitches – and it still stands strong as the most engaging and action packed FPS out there.
The very few cons to Halo cannot be outweighed by the massive cons of Call of Duty. I’ll start with the basics.
Matchmaking – Messy, no sense of solidity or connectivity. You can lose friends halfway through matchmaking, for no apparent reason, and not be aware of it. The sloppy way it is presented on the right side of the screen, spammed with colorful titles, emblems and worthless clan tags makes it nearly impossible to keep track of people. It can take ages to find a match, and sometimes when you DO find a match, you are launched into a game 1 point away from being won by the other team because the people ABOUT to lose had quit and you got to fill their spot! As far as equal playing field? I have never once gotten the sense that the matchmaking is paired based on level in any sense. Halo makes a particular effort to pair you against similar levels, which doesn’t always work, but by god man, putting a level 3 in the same room as a 3rd prestige level 62? People that did not buy the game it came out are instantly at a disadvantage and will not instead be tossed in with a room of other people new to the game, but with people who have unlocked everything including massively destructive weapons. In short, the matchmakign is slow, it is uneven, buggy, frustrating and can even launch you into a game that is basically over.
Weapons and Killstreaks – The weapons, no matter how much people think they are balanced, AREN’T. Obvious example, the ACR is just a better version of the m4, in every single way. So people not fortunate to have put up with the game to level 48 are at a significant disadvantage. In Halo, people argue that the ‘power’ weapons are too powerful. Sure, but they’re limited, respawn slowly, and are competed for so it’s not like one team is just given them or STARTS with the damn thing. I don’t care if people ‘deserve’ these new unlocks for playing, stop putting them in the same game as someone who cannot possibly beat this person if put in a room facing each other, it’s so unfair. Killstreaks are so overpowered. There are counters for the air vehicles, the stingers and javelins, but even then, your team is mowed down heavily before you can get 1 or 2 people to take it down, by which time, they have an even more powerful killstreak reward. You get the sense that one team spends half of its time taking down killstreaks, and often, killstreaks decide a game, and there is no coming back. More often than not, if a team is in the lead THEY STAY IN THE LEAD.
Gameplay – Three major faults, helplessness of being shot in the back, camping, cheapness. We’ve all dealt with the marathon/lightweight shotgun player. It’s not very ‘modern’ or realistic if you ask me. So people claiming this game is realistic, are you stupid or have you just never played multiplayer? Running and gunning works so well, it is basically the alternative to camping. The javelin glitch was a major problem, that was fixed about a WEEK after being discovered, and they didn’t address very many other glitches… Camping is a god awful strategy. In a game where you are killed in a few hits, camping seems like the ultimate way to never die, and it basically is. But my god is it frustrating, stupid, time consuming and idiotic. The lack of action isn’t because people are being sneaky and careful, it’s because everyone is sitting the same spot the entire game. You get the sense that there are very little fights fought face to face. The alternative to camping is playing like a real person, but then of course, you get shot in the back which leads me to my next problem -
Maps – They promote bullshit, all of them. All of them make a gracious effort to MAKE SURE YOU CAN CAMP AS EFFICIENTLY AS YOU WANT. Every map is just a grid of boxes and towers with stairs to camp up on. There are maybe 1 or 2 maps that are not basically interchangeable with the next. All of them feature the same kinds of hallways, scenery, cover, etc. They’re all the same, they’re all retarded and all of them make sure players that are tired of playing the real way can camp and be cheap all they want. It is almost as if the designers deliberately wanted the maps to be filled with people hiding around every box. There is no sense of teamsmanship because every map is so jumbled with random paths and places to hide that there is no way to stay together, cover each other or anything else mildly realistic. You can never stick together and push forward as a team, because the instant you do, A) You’re all killed by one predator, thumper, or m203. Or B) You kill one person on the enemy team, which then spawns behind you, or anywhere else randomly on the map. There is no sense of order, no sense of bases or defense spots, everyone is thrown in and sent to scramble around and forced to camp the most likely spots a person is likely to straggle down because he doesn’t know where to go because he was spawned in some random spot on the map in no relation to teammates or objectives.
Let’s face it, the only reason most people stick around is to keep unlocking things. To what end? To prestige and start over? I will admit that is clever, because if you let people keep their stuff, they would not be as inclined to keep playing. So basically it’s a repetitive system in order to keep your mind thinking you are interested and having fun, when in reality you are probably playing to unlock and in the mean time, sometimes do good, when someone doesn’t abuse the game as much as you and you have the advantage.
Halo has a few problems, it also has had the virtue of being out longer, but let’s not forget that Halo had very few problems when first released… Call of Duty I suspect will be fixing glitches and changing things due to complaints for a very long time… the reason people stick with Halo is obviously not unlocks, they stick with it because it is fun, mildly predictable, fair, organized, promotes teamplay, incorporates a lot of fun aspects and is supremely enjoyable. Trust me, I tried to like Call of Duty, it’s just that in the real world, it doesn’t seem to work.
After I finally realized the only reason I was putting up the fact that 90% of the games I played were not fun, and rather a camp fest and bullshit fest of people running around with shotguns, I decided getting to level 70 only to put up with the same bullshit again but with one more class, just wasn’t worth it
Beat me to it Iceman. My farthest advance in FPS type games was Marathon on my old Apple back in the beginning of the decade. I pretty much reached my gaming limit on Res Evil 3. Yeah, I know, I suck. There are so many games that look awesome, but I can’t justify the expense when I may as well just get a monkey to mash the buttons for me, and he’ll probably do better.
I’m glad you guys/gals have fun, though.
MY choice is probably halo3 only because COD MW2 is anoyying some of my friends have it and when i play it i really dont like the weapons and it is 2 easy also u have to choose a class with special guns on halo 3 u just pick guns up. BUT these 2 games arent really compareable cuz halo 3 (is better) and it is 2 different types of games GO HALO 3!!!!!!!!!!!!! HURAHH!!!!!!!! XBOXLIVE gamertag= Acestro504
I have been playing halo 3 for a while and have hit 45, and i like that the other kids are just as good or better. It makes for great games and when you and your TEAM play team slayer or a MLG game with good team work and dominate the other team, it makes the win that much better. I like modern warfare 2 a lot and have gotten pretty addicted to it, but I like halo 3 more because a person who has just picked up the game in modern warfare 2 can come up and get a lucky shot and kill you. In halo 3 a person just picking up the game is not going to have the chance to because one, they won’t be matched with you so they can play with kids in the same skill range, and it actually takes some skill to kill a person in halo 3 unlike modern warfare. Two, the matchmaking in Halo 3 is ten times better because just like i said before, in MW2 players are just thrown together, so you join a match and sit there and play against kids who have all the guns and things that you don’t have so its not that fair.
MW2 is just gay
Well written article, very unbiased and informative. I agree, it comes down to realism. If you like sci-fi action, Halo is great. If you prefer realism, MW2 is your choice. If you love FPS’s of all kinds, get both. That’s really all there is to consider, both games are great.
Dunno how much Killzone 2 actually sucks but I doubt it being better than Halo 3 multiplayer. Love it or hate it, you can’t deny Halo 3 is wicked fun in multiplayer. But yes, the ranking system is dumb, which is why the social playlists are always more packed than their ranked counterparts.
Well, Both games are good and it is hard to come to a conclusion. In fact both games are so good the only way to sum up each game is good. I agree with your statement that halo is more action and call of duty is more stradegy, it makes the decision harder. So they are equal
I leave Halo for my kids, and when I got time to myself I breakout MW2.
I gotta agree with the majority of posters. I wouldn’t go to far in saying that mw2 is totally realistic, cause it isn’t. But it is more realistic then halo.
I personally like the fact that you are thrown into a match with people better than you, its how you get better. And then eventually, you get to be the overpowered dick who owns all the supposed noobs.
i think Cod because its more funner it has special opps better and more realistic campaign and the live is awsome. you can customize ur weapon by unlocking it and earn new achievments. and u can call ur own airplanes,care pacegess,a missle be a pilot in in tghe game. halo doesnt have a kill streak award which sucks, and u can get an awsome nuke which ends the game and u most likely win
I suspect CoD players have a lower average IQ, as johnny here has kindly demonstrated.
So just bought call of duty MW2 five days ago and already logged 21 hours (slow 4 day weekend). I don’t know about it… I didn’t like it at all at first then after I started getting better it’s a little more fun. The carepackage glitch is frustrating as hell!
Here’s ye thing I am good at halo. I mean give me a battle rifle and 90% of the time I will out BR you and taking I am very confident taking on two people at once.
So switching over to call of duty I found very annoying. I found myself getting shot from behind every corner until I played each level to realize where people hide. The amount of camping slows the game down and it’s boring, but I found to stay alive you have to be cautious. It’s fun, just different. I don’t think I would play after I prestiged the first time though. I mean the game is the same thing over and over and it doesn’t matter if you’re good or bot you’re going to gain XP to prestige which is the point of multiplyer.
Halo on the other hand is more team orientated. I mean you set yourself up in a party of people an you get to know how people play. The goal is to win and not to gain XP. It makes each match more meaningful. H3 has the military ranking fr XP, which to me doesn’t mean shit. A general is nothing unless he’s a 50, it just means he played more games. But like COD it let’s noobs feel important.
Only gripe I have about H3 is all the maps you have to buy and the maps suck. They are horrible levels to play on.
And I know this is all nosensical rambling, but like mentioned above it takes skill to kill people on halo and not a BS knife or shotgun blast in COD. In halo atleast you can sidestep the shotgun and punch him (although doesn’t work as well as in halo 2). The fact is there’s more things you can do in halo.
i have played all the halos and mw2 and i have to say that mw2 sucks in comparison
I dont think we need to fight about which of these is better there both about equal, but its obvious that 360s are better then ps3s
Killzone 2 sucks? Please. It completely destroys both Halo 3 & MW2. Killzone 2 has a much better campaign than both games, much better team based multiplayer, better online stat tracking, better clan support, awesome squad support, I could go on and on.
Article was obviously written by an Xbox fanboy, with a inferiority complex.
Y’all niggas are dumb
Call of duty Mw2 is way better then GAYlo 3.
cod mw2= a broken, camper-based fps. The gameplay is a bunch of people with no skill camping to earn killstreaks so they can nuke you and waste another 5 minutes of your life. If you dare move, you will get shot and die instantly, then respawn only to die in 2 seconds from spawn killers.
Halo 3= a scifi, skill based fps. The gameplay is balanced, without killstreaks getting you shot repeatedly by some dick in a helicopter. The guns are balanced and it contains useful vehicles. And if you get in a fight you can win if you are good.
when little kids heard that mw2 was a noob friendly game, they all went to play it. Now Halo doesn’t have that annoying experience, but mw2 has another stupid feature.
maybe the geniuses should have had a beta.
oh and fatnugg1g, you just helped prove the mw2 players have a low iq theory. and the white kids act black theory.
I play both games. i enjoy halo because everyone is even, it comes down to either who shoots first, or who finds the bigger gun. whereas COD some level 70 spawns witha great weapon and owns your shit before you even know what happens. Halo is fun except for all the glitches that happen..it gets old when you kill someone and 10 seconds later you die randomly from the lag. plus the long waiting period for the game. one other thing is when your teammates leave, its 5 on 2. you and your bud. your fucking doomed, its nice the COD subs people in ya know? But Halo is bad in the sense it takes a clip to kill someone…whereas COD is more reallistic. The thing that really gets me about COD, the suppose “Hardcore” no killcam. BS. when you get killed in hardcore. you always know where the dude is that killed you. the cam kinda tilts in his direction. which means (for a sniper like me) your FUCKED. But like the guy said, two very different games, with completely different settings. thats just what i think. and right now i’m torn between the two lol.
hi mw2 is W A Y better halo fails bad!!!!!