You Got Halo: Combat Evolved's Sandbox All WRONG

[@TheVengefulVadam]

Thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring today's video. Go to strms.net/expressvpn_thevengefulvadam to get your first 3 months free! #ad

[@lytatroan]

As much as i hate sponsors i am so glad you separated it so its easier to skip

[@TheVengefulVadam]

Should be common practice tbh

[@SAF-Chronicles-97]

great video lad, this is why i still love halo but i cant wait for you final uncut of halo 2 and i hope you and ruby could work together on halo 2 lore expanded and rebalanced

[@leadfaun]

I’d love to hear you talk about Infinite’s sandbox, if you care to.

[@goatleg8927]

How is halo 2 uncut going

[@RubyofBlue]

Hearing you talk about Halo weapon attributes never gets old.

[@zrexx9428]

Basically Halo CE is the only game in the franchise I seriously like, and that's because the weapons feel so strong, yet they have so many interesting characteristics that give strategy and also create a sense of "flow" when switching between weapons in combat. Even though you can only two weapons at a time, the variety and usefulness of each of the weapons forces you to make constant choices. Not only is it choosing the right weapon for a situation and deciding what you want in a loadout, but even just the combat rhythm of using the two weapons in synchronization, finding ways they complement each other and adapting your combat strategy when you think quickly swapping to the other gun might be useful. Halo CE feels almost like an arcade shooter. Like it really just is an advanced oldschool-style shooter. Bobbing and weaving to avoid attacks and having such a perfect flow through combat. You might have to reload or recharge your shields but you feel like you're always doing something. You're able to multi-task by moving or focusing on whatever threat. My favorite level is the Maw. Just having this big meaty shotgun while you move through these hallways. Each enemy having telegraphed patterns and thinking of your movement strategy and the different weapon strategies you can use and having to be mindful about each of the different enemy types being tackled on you in a group, knowing which enemies to take out in what order or working in different strategies for each. I love shotgunning the hunter in their weak spot as they lunge, plasma rifling multiple sentinels in quick succession, throwing grenades at flood forms. The problem I have with Halo 2, 3, Reach, and onward, is they very much feel like budget modern FPS games. Even though they weren't budget titles, the combat just feels overly simple and slow and too much focused around trial-and-error and/or cover. CE is great because it feels like the weapons, the enemies, it all actually means something. You have to be aware of the travel distance for projectile weapons (both for enemies and for your own use) and you have to know how enemies move, how enemies spawn (but it's not some cheap bullshit like just standing in the right place and dealing with a jackal sniper, it feels like an actual growth where you become more of a badass and know how to take enemies out easier on subsequent playthroughs). It's all a pattern of movement and shooting and becoming faster and more skilled each time you play, learning these little nuances and finding ways to take advantage of them and just getting down that sense of flow. Even with all its re-use of level design, the combat loop and design is so perfect I feel like that it's just one of the most replayable shooting games ever. And it's replayable without some artificial bullshit that modern games have like skill trees. They made the core combat so perfect. What happened to just crazy, violent, run and gun games where you move through halls and it's a shooting gallery but rewarding good reflexes and strategy with nuanced design? Halo CE is an evolution of "move through halls and shoot shit" but then it has some more open segments too (that only expand on the badass shit in the more linear sections, instead opening the door to more movement strategy and options for how you want to take enemies out) And can we also say this game is also an absolute masterpiece on co-op? It makes everything even better. Heroic iron or legendary iron is the best way to go. It's so fun to synchronize your movements with your partner in addition to reacting to the environment and enemies. Having to shoot around each other, split yourself up to deal with different enemies or different isdes of the room, offering covering fire and having to rely on each other in moments of danger. The two weapon system shines even better because you can factor in how your weapons might complement the other person's weapons (e.g. using a pistol to offer ranged covering fire if someone else is using plasma pistol and AR). It's just such an amazing game.

[@arizona-hunter6684]

Magnum: I am a god. Plasma Pistol: I am everything you pretend to be.

[@HiddenXperia]

Fantastic video, and thanks for the shoutout bro! Glad I could inspire such a fun video. I always love the intricacies and strange quirks of CE's sandbox, it's the most fun in Halo by a good amount for that reason! Also cannot tell you how long I spent back in the day trying to figure out how to get in the Wraith - almost as much time as I spent trying to figure out how to use the two plasma cannons on the Wraith in Halo 2 lmao

[@alphahuner1116]

I don't think you can use them. I think Bungie planned on it as a secondary fire, but time constraints prevented that.

[@aaserna]

People also forget that the CE rockets have a longer delay between shots compared to its later iterations so missing the first rocket creates room for the other player to capitalize on the mistake

[@LuccianoNova]

YY fixed that

[@LateNightHalo]

Dude, this was such a good watch, I thought I knew a lot about CE’s sandbox, but no, it’s depth knows no bounds! Halo CE’s sandbox is beautiful.

[@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701]

Not just beautiful... It is the *Best* Halo Sandbox!

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Yeeeees, I used to go into bloodgulch and just screw around with the vehicle physics with my friends all the time. Tank jumping was way more fun than it needed to be. That or I'm very easily amused lmao.

[@harbingerdawn]

Tank jumping was legit a ton of fun

[@GritterTheBuckethead]

Ever since I watched this video, I tried doing without the pistol. I quickly found out you don’t need the pistol. It’s still a strong weapon, but this video really explains why it felt so weak vs elites. And changed how I selected my loadouts, good job.

[@alphahuner1116]

I honestly run a plasma rifle and pistol combo due to the versatility of the pistol and the rifle's faster shield breaking.

[@cstick2664]

I've always said to my friends that Halo 1 had the best weapon selection. Sure, it's the smallest. But it's so well designed. There's not so many that some guns start to have overlapping niches/purposes. Each one has a distinct use and "vibe". Distinct advantages and disadvantages.

[@gruntcado]

That halo ce version of the wraith you made for multiplayer brought a tear to my eye ☯️ perfectly perfect

[@sickSNIPE316]

But is it possible to put its H2 crosshair in, or are you limited to designs already present in CE?

[@Markel_A]

@@sickSNIPE316 It's perfectly possible, I imagine vadam just didn't bother since it was a proof-of-concept.

[@TheVengefulVadam]

@@sickSNIPE316 I definitely could have used the H2 crosshair, but I can imagine in an alternate universe where the multiplayer wraith actually did get made by Gearbox, they wouldn’t have had such a crosshair. They might have reused the FRG’s or make a new one altogether.

[@emilylefebvre646]

@@TheVengefulVadam They probably would have reused one ala the flamethrower using the shotgun reticle.

[@Nacalal]

I feel like no one ever wants to admit just how broken the sniper is in the right context. I remember going 220-3 on a game of CTF in custom edition with a sniper and a shotgun. I think the map was some flavor of modded danger canyon, but I basically sat on a perch with a teleporter, taking out anyone trying to get in to our side of the map and using the shotgun any time someone managed to get to the teleporter. You quite literally could not get a vehicle across the middle of the map as long as I had ammo. It got to the point where I'd sometimes let them drive through to get the flag, just to pop them when they came back with it so I could bait more people into standing out in the open.

[@Gonza7200]

I always wanted to see Custom Edition maps using drivable Wraiths. The few ones I've seen having them, lack any kind of tweak (except the drivable property, obviously) or can't aim down with the mortar. That mp rendition of the Wraith you made is perfect.

[@frogarchist]

Completely agree on the magnum not being overpowered. T&R is my favorite level in the game specifically because you have the sniper rifle instead of the magnum. Gun that shoots straight >>>>>>> Also, good video

[@Kevaca]

Omg its the frog

[@Midway64]

I have a good amount of knowledge on the sandbox, like melee timing, double melee, spray n' pray with the AR, the nukes that are the grenades and rockets, etc. The sandbox is really well balanced (except the needler, my condolences to it), but it has been overshadowed by the "magnum best" ideal most players have. Awesome video as always.

[@tsunderemerc2963]

Halo CE will always be my favorite multiplayer, and when I play with friends, its the one game I can actually carry a match. Every weapon (except the needler, poor guy) have a defined role and purpose, and you can really stomp a match if you know how to use these weapons properly. It feels like a lot of people in MCC matches try to play it more like it's one of the later games, where you almost exclusively use the game's keystone precision weapon and think it's like the Reach DMR where it will basically carry all encounters. A little thing I also enjoy with CE is the lack of melee lunge. Personally I think it's sort of....not sure if "cheap" is the word, but it makes it far too easy in my mind to use it and get kills when you're in a tight situation. I'd have preferred if that wasn't in the game, and maybe the energy sword could be the only thing that offers a lunge as its unique trait over a gravity hammer. I think it could help balance the shotgun as well, since its one hit kill capacity is boosted by that ability to instantly close the gap

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

I think that the plasma rifle is so good with active camo because of stealth elites. They have to be able to shoot the player without loosing their cloak.

[@sleepystalin5606]

I’m always surprised at the depth of complexity this game has for appearing so simple

[@anonymous7564]

The ironic part is that the "community" will still claim it's imbalanced despite being perfectly balanced, just like 2 and 3. Unfortunately, their ignorance is why. They don't understand how to play the game, and instead of "learning how", they would rather cry that it is, and then claim that Halo shouldn't "be" competitive -- despite it being unintentionally so in the hands of Bungie.

[@StatisticColt]

@@anonymous7564 are you nuts? Halo ce, 2 and 3 and very far from being balanced

[@heftymagic4814]

​@@StatisticColt theyre quite balanced

[@anonymous7564]

@@StatisticColt They're incredibly balanced. Beyond so -- they're not balanced around "being a fun party game". They're balanced around being "designed to award skill over ease of access". These are two tropes that Halo succeeded at in the gaming market, and what jump started the FPS on console in general. Aim assist was legitimately designed to provide players an easier entry floor, whilst the pistol in CE, or BR in Halo 2 & Halo 3, was designed specifically to reward players for being accurate with it. You are "fooled" into believing, in 2001 - 2010, that you're "aiming for yourself" because the other weapons have a much heftier feeling of assistance, with a much easier method of killing...despite being much longer. This video explains in pretty details ways as to how and why the sandbox isn't designed like an FPS or a "sandbox shooter". it's designed exactly like a precision-based strategic competitive shooter of 2010's. Almost like Halo's belief of being a "party game" was entirely nonsense and created by the same people who think "the sandbox is imbalanced" because they do not understand even how to play Halo at the entry level point...which is sad. Because that is lower than Fortnite.

[@WaveOfDestiny]

As someone who played halo CE since i was 4 i can safely say that most players probably haven't even scratched the surface of the depth that CE can reach. I could write an essay on the mechanics and strategies and how high is the skill cap in the campaign alone. Or how actually unbelievable the AI is even compared to today. People think that they can play the game on normal run and gunning through it and call it a day when i think that they barely started actually playing Halo how it was intended.

[@chipsdubbo5.56]

I watched Jarekthegamingdragons video and he had some great points. Thanks for telling us about him. You can tell he is really passionate about Halo in general but specifically Halo CE

[@TheVengefulVadam]

He's one of my favorite channels :D

[@Viviana088]

​@@TheVengefulVadamjarek has a lot of good takes on plenty of games in general which makes him my one of my favorites to watch.

[@Wepospalient]

I rarely played CE multiplayer outside of custom edition, but in terms of single player, Halo CE absolutely has the best sandbox in the series. Every gun has it's niche and it's use, every single gun will absolutely shine at some kind of encounter in the game. Every game after CE has a lot of guns that range from useless to redundant, there's just a lot of overlap, and in a lot of cases, the BR or DMR is just outright better than the rest of the sandbox in most encounters.

[@Jop_pop]

I love hearing you talk about the specifics and numerical values for the sandbox. That's content many KZbinrs would just completely gloss over

[@kabob0077]

18:32 Everyone trashes the Plasma Pistol but OH DEAR GOD is it almost broken in CE's campaign. I love it, it's helped me many times in my playthroughs and I am happy to see someone else give it the respect and love it deserves.

[@darkslide180]

the best sandbox hands down, the way the sandbox dictates the pace of multiplayer games, mainly 2v2s, because of the static timing of weapons/powerups is arguably the best aspect of CE MP as a whole. games arent just about holding power weapons and stacking kills because you know that every 1-2minutes the other team will have the ability to gain these same power weapons while also being aware that overshield/camo are spawning inbetween those. plus all the nade tricks to obtain/deny these, the depth is perfect

[@anonymous7564]

So you're saying Halo's best attributes are when it defines itself as a competitive multiplayer with a higher barrier of entry? Imagine that. Almost like the Halo community's claims over the past decade were specifically to niche the game to their liking so they can feel less insecure about underperforming at a video game.

[@alexanderbrown3970]

man spending hours as a kid playing with the ghosts ramming into tanks was my favorite fucking thing ever i remember hitting the edge of the map as like a 8 year old and going apeshit

[@JuiceboxCE]

Don't get me wrong, I see your points, and your train of thought with it. But the ttk of the pistol in a common match of CE makes not using it a bigger challenge than using it. Can't tell you how many times I pop a corner with the rockets, and get killed before my rocket can even strike near them! Using almost any gun against the pistol is a ginormous uphill experience. Let's not forget how a pistol can remove vehicles from the scene in literal seconds, from anywhere on the map (something I'm shocked wasn't brought up). Can't even remember what it's like to use a multiplayer banshee because I'm shot out within 10 seconds of using it, as is everyone else

[@JuiceboxCE]

Watching the campaign usage of it makes me wish that's what it was like to use it for multiplayer! Would make it more relaxed and less sweaty in my eyes. Also, amazing job with the wraith. Always was a big fan of its anime flashiness with the boosters flaring when fired!

[@TheVengefulVadam]

I didn’t mention the pistol being able to “kill vehicles from anywhere on the map” because it can’t. It only has a max range of 40 world units which isn’t really that far. Far enough for small maps, but the BTB levels extend much further than that, especially the big ones like Infinity, Gephyrophobia, Death Island, etc. You will need to get close otherwise your shots disappear after 40 world units of travel.

[@harbingerdawn]

"an underrated tactic is to use the AR as an infection form sweeper" Wait, most people don't do that? AR/Shotgun has been my go-to flood-fighting combo for 21 years, it seems so obvious given how massively effective the AR is against infection forms and how effective the shotty is against everything else. It is a shame how limited the rocket launcher is in campaign, too rare and slow-firing to be very effective against infantry most of the time, and with too slow a projectile velocity to be reliable against vehicles except at uncomfortably close range. As an aside, I found it amusing to hear about the sniper not being great on original Xbox multiplayer since I only ever played it on splitscreen and LAN back in the day, where latency was a non-issue :D

[@sprtnrxb]

The Halo CE sandbox is incredible to this day. Good job with explaining them and also your rendition of the wraith too! I’d like to see your wraith rendition used in more custom maps since it’s a missed opportunity that it was un-drivable in the retail build

[@EquestrianKatz]

This makes me want to play CE Multiplayer again, it's my favorite Halo aesthetically and hearing you talk so passionately about its sandbox inspired me to hop back in. I haven't played the multiplayer since 2004-ish, and didn't know how in-depth the sandbox actually is. The active camo mechanics was something I never even noticed, especially with the plasma rifle.

[@gojiradestructor]

It's incredible that I'm still learning new things about Halo CE over two decades later. It's insane how different weapons can be between campaign and multiplayer.

[@defaultgraycat]

I'd love to see a similar video on Halo 2, cause I know that game got a good bit of post launch runtime changes for multiplayer, like an smg nerf, pistol nerf, melee damage buff, battle rifle error angle buff, etc etc.

[@ThreeSixXero]

Great video. CE is the most misunderstood Halo in terms of multiplayer and it's also my favorite to this day. The nuance in the sandbox and the little techs you had to/got to do make it such a mechanically diverse and deep game that we haven't seen in a very long time.

[@jacobfaro9571]

I firmly believe the needler is the most misunderstood weapon in the halo sandbox (although I myself may misunderstand it in which case I’m sure someone will correct the flaws in the following text, thank you in advance and I’ll be sure to edit). In many shooters, especially top down ones, the main strategy is to flank target or get close to top of screen where target starts, then strafe at a backwards angle while sustaining fire. This Maximizes the amount of shots you can inflict while dodging the opponents. This is less true in 3d shooters and even less so PvP but in Pve it’s still very much prevelant. However, this can get very stagnant quickly, halo has several things to counter this. Explosives can dictate enemy movement and melee rewards players who close the gap. I believe was supposed to be one of the tools to counter it as well. a weapon that punishes cowardly backwards movement in a fight. The slower projectile will curve and magnetize to you, which means moving backwards actually leads to getting hit more, not less. The supercombine is supposed to punish you for moving backwards or hiding behind a teammate after you’ve tanked the alot of rounds. But this is a double edged sword, as it also will increase its weakness. The way you’re supposed to counter it is charging directly at player who is using it, as forward strafing reduces time for magnetism to be effective and its super combine can hurt the user. This suggests to me needler was never meant as a close quarters weapon. It was always meant to be mid-long range. This worked fine for ai, but didn’t work well for most players. So why was it a bad weapon for player? A few reasons: 1: in PvP, players rarely grouped together close enough for super combine to actually be useful to you. This made the feature more a liability than anything, especially once they close the gap. So it’s utility was almost exclusively used vs mobs in campaign. And when they are together grenades or rockets are typically more effective at this anyway. 2: the weapon was easily outclassed by lethal long range and short range options, limiting it to medium range, and even then most long range weapons still outclassed it at medium range. 3: the delayed startup and shield strip requirement to super combine prevents effective flanking by giving plenty of reaction time, which means surprising groups behind cover for super combine isn’t adequately effective. (Unless it vs ai) Further blocking its utility. 4: there is absolutely no reason for player to stay at medium range in PvP for long. Player will always seek to close the gap or expand it. Without some way to dictate the pace and distance of an engagement to be medium the needler can’t be effective at its best range. 5:the magnetizm is cut off at the border between medium to short range, so you’re forced too close already by the time you can utilize it. Ai don’t seem to have this problem vs you however. 6: super combine only occurs after shield drop, but other weapons drop shields faster. You may think to drop shields with emp then use it, but at that point headshots with pistol is more reliable. Only vs unshielded ai like grunts can you really capitalize on it, and again, headshots or grenade are both faster and more efficient. 7: corners. Corners disrupt the lock on. Now if the projectiles were able to bend around corners effectively… then things would be very different. And annoying. 8: basically useless vs vehicles. 9: last but certainly not least when player does hide behind another, you have to drill through them almost fully before any chance at super combine. If they split damage by bob and weaving between on another. Your progress is effectively reset unless you somehow shoot around to hit other player consistently. The weapon should punish players who cluster because of super combine, but this tactic far too easily counters it. In short, it’s likely designed to encourage players to close the gap, but other tools like melee and grenades already do that. It’s a redundant utility. What are some ways it might be made more effective? Here’s a few ideas I have, but remember I’m neither a dev nor a pro so take this with a pitcher and a half of salt. 1: give the needler ability to lock on at longer range in PvP. This way players can actually use it a significant amount before close quarters lethal weapons can reach in an open field. Still not gonna beat pistols, but now maybe you could fight a shotgun player in an open area at medium range before they close the gap. Or beat plasma rifle at mid range. 2: increase speed to some degree, don’t over buff the speed of its projectile (looking at you 343) as the entire point is to encourage players to move towards the user, not hide in corner or give up dodging altogether as you approach because you can’t dodge no matter what. Maybe it speeds up with distance? 3: give the weapon ability to not only lock onto and super combine players, but vehicles as well, especially air. And give it bonus damage and maybe have it speed up when targeting vehicles since they are fast and won’t remain in its range for long. Or have it speed up over time, so it chases retreating vehicles (although I can see that bring annoying too). 4: make the weapon no longer require shields to be dropped to super combine and even pierce shields for partial bleed through damage, but still have low overall dps and take more than 6 rounds to combine regardless of shields This would make it able to kill super tanky zealots in campaign much faster and make it more effective vs elites on legendary, so players don’t feel forced almost exclusively into noob combo spam (not as bad in ce, but huge problem on legendary in later titles). 5: as I said before, when players cover each other as a human shield or bob and weave between each other to prevent super combine, they are countering the weapon too easily. That, and grenade and rocket already outclass its explosive power for crowd control and actively detract from the role it could have clearing crowds. So either it needs to have a more unique utility. or be better in these situations on its own, as they are the most common type of mid range engagement. Maybe a gravity pull between players if you hit multiple but don’t quite super combine any, so then other explosives can be more effective. That could add utility, (but more than likely just make it extremely annoying). Remember I’m neither a dev nor a pro, but i believe this weapon could be used for breaking up backwards strafing, even if that wasn’t its original intention (but I suspect that it was). With adjustments I think it could have been very effective without the need to make it super lethal. One thing I definitely don’t want is the weapon having its lethality beefed up massively till it’s just another close quarters weapon as 343 did. IMO This should be a utility weapon, not a less effective shotgun alternative.

[@kristiankoski3908]

Good that people are talking about CE, best Halo by far imo. No melee lunge, quick camo, weapon and power-up physics (there are so many cool nades in this game), static weapon and power-up spawns and the best sandbox overall. I like fall damage as you need skill on some jumps, health packs are nice as you need look for them if you're yellow or otherwise you die to 1 frag. I even like the floaty tank movement. Double melee, backpack reload, I could go on for ages! One thing to add for plasma nades is that they're great for making your enemy come out of cover. Rarely kills them but they have to move. Also at 21:00 2 minutes on Blood Gulch.

[@SpottedHares]

I think a major issue with talking about games sandbox and systems is that players will sometimes talk in absolute units rather then comparative units, or make the mistake of crossing games in a series thinking they were omni present. I've personally just forgotten about the plasma rifle head shot and bloom so many times.

[@OozyGorilla]

30:23 My brother and I would do this all the time, too! We also loved jousting with Warthogs. Just running headlong into each other and enjoying one of us going flying. Such simpler times!

[@Bizargh]

I think what has helped maintain enough truth to the legendary status of the M6D (or Halo: CE) Pistol is perhaps not it's power (Outside of Multiplayer's 3-Shot Kills), but how genuinely versatile it is in general, especially in Campaign to the point where I would indeed go as far as to say "If you're going to hold onto any weapon in your two slots, the Pistol will be the one to choose in most cases" (I do go 'Rocket-Shotty' for The Maw's engine room as per Heroic & Legendary requirements, but I can very quickly reacquire a Pistol to replace the Rocket Launcher once I'm finished with it), as no matter what weapon you otherwise opt for, the Pistol always backs it up. Even then though, I myself used to underestimate just how much effective use you can get out of the Plasma Pistol by itself, even without regarding the Charge Shot. As for the Scorpion Tank's Cannon, I'd favour an arced projectile and/or travel time akin to it's successors over random firing spread (Which I still get for Multiplayer, though) so you can at least perform consistent shots at range with experience (As much as everybody says "Lead your targets", you try doing that with Aim Assist altering your control & especially future game's stronger Bullet Magnetism muddying your results as they can do for me on such things as Halo 3's Sniper Rifle when playing with a controller/gamepad, which often really makes me wish the Eye Patch Skull was available for Halo: Reach & Halo 4 or the ability to disable Auto Aim & Bullet Magnetism was readily available for all games to put this sort of thing to the test, especially on my Mouse & Keyboard). As for the Coax Gun; I'd really understand it's inaccuracy for Multiplayer, but it really is the *worst* thing in Campaign and I take great pleasure in any mod or fan-patch to tighten it's spread to something able to hit something greater than melee range (I do agree that Halo 2's Scorpion Coax Gun did overcompensate with how far you can hit targets accurately with that thing).

[@OmegaRC59]

I'd say the plasma pistol is actually more useful in campaign if you instead spam fire and save charge shots for instances you need extremely high burst damage and not just shield stripping. It really is a great weapon compared to its later iterations

[@Bizargh]

@@OmegaRC59 Absolutely. I have learned since frequenting Heroic & Legendary difficulties a bit more that it is an S-Tier, if not the most overall effective weapon by itself in Halo: Combat Evolved's Campaign (In fact, it's the only weapon in Ruby's Rebalanced - Halo: Combat Evolved that actually got "nerfed", only by increasing the battery used by a Charge Shot a certain percentage to encourage "resupplying" the Plasma Pistol more often during Covenant encounters when it is more often useful to use the Charge Shot and the Plasma Pistol is dropped in abundance). You could very well make it through much of Halo: Combat Evolved just using the Plasma Pistol & Magnum Pistol alone until the level encourages or demands use of the Sniper Rifle or Vehicles and the Shotgun arrives to the Party. Actually, a lot of Halo: Combat Evolved's weapons are effective in their own right, with the Assault Rifle only really suffering on Legendary when the difficulty's modifiers really prey upon it's weaknesses or otherwise demand the utility of other weapons much more so (Again, the small changes to it in the more recent versions of Ruby's Rebalanced - Halo: Combat Evolved that sharpen it's initial accuracy and granting it extra effectiveness or "removing it's debuff" if I recall correctly on certain Flood forms really helps it find some expanded use if left finding your old favourites or otherwise wanting to get more use out of it's strengths). That's really the great thing about Halo: Combat Evolved's Sandbox, at least in the Campaign: Even if it finds itself at the bottom of people's tier-lists, the worst that can be said still is "It's still fun to use, only rendered less effective by Heroic or Legendary difficulty traits or just lacks certain things the future games granted it (Like the Sniper Rifle's damage against vehicles & giving the Rocket Launcher higher projectile velocity or lock-on features)".

[@whiteasian3636]

The vehicle physics are why I love halo ces vehicles. Me and my brother sometimes load up blood gulch, both get into a warthog and try to drive into each other. Because of the physics one or even both warthogs get launched into the air flipping over. If it lands upside down and one player gets forced out of it the other player tries to use their warthog to ram them. Some good memories from that

[@kabob0077]

16:59 Yeah, hard agree right here. I've used the Plasma Pistol A LOT in Campaign and I have to say I've yet to find a situation where I'd drop it in favor of another gun outside of maybe the open field at the end of Two Betrayals and that's only because I like to pick off the Covenant with the Sniper and Rocket Launcher before I go over to grab a Banshee. But, seriously the Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, Shotgun, and Magnum are the best weapons in the Campaign. The Plasma Pistol and Rifle are good Short to Mid-Range weapons that shred the Flood and Sentinels and are pretty good against the Covenant, the Magnum is a good All-Range weapon if you're good enough with it, and the Shotgun is... Well it's the CE Shotgun, honestly one of the best and most powerful Shotguns in Gaming History with high damage, surprisingly long range, and the ability to shred most things you come across at the point of the game where it's made available.

[@RoyalFusilier]

This was an excellent and in-depth analysis, I've learned a ton of things I never knew about a game I've been playing since I was kid on my cousin's original Xbox thinking that Cortana was calling them "the Coveted". Which also leads me to mention that this exploration of all of Halo's combat systems unlocked about a dozen deeply nostalgic and fond memories, really specific things like doing flips with the ghost off of the tank and whatnot. Really good stuff.

[@TARINunit9]

I played Halo 1 for the first time in 2017, so from the perspective of a heretic newbie with no nostalgia: the Pistol is _absolutely_ overpowered. It's not even a debate, it's just too strong. The game wants you to use all these cool weapons. Needlers, Plasma Pistols, Sniper Rifles, but none of it matters because you have the Pistol. Multiple kills per magazine, scopes in with pinpoint accuracy, makes most enemies flinch and usually kills them on the next shot. The Pistol has "Dominant Strategy" written all over it, definitely overpowered EDIT: Oh you were mostly concerned with Multiplayer. OK then disregard me

[@TheRockManX]

I had no idea my birthday (August 15th 2001) had some significance in the early build of Halo Ce .

[@frost7463]

I wish we had the wraith in CE, I love that custom version you made. It’s so much fun raining fire on people from across the map with a wraith in other games, especially if you get a good angle. I use the banshee like a wraith on blood gulch, imho it’s not effective to fly on that map, you’ll get shot down easily. Just stay on the ground launching fuel rod shots and splattering people.

[@junioraltamontent.7582]

Oh man. Getting a rare supercombine in MCC and seeing the opponent live thru it is the worst. If they just tweaked a few values for the MP Needler CE would have a flawless sandbox

[@Hasuku]

Fantastic video, really glad that someone was able to make a comprehensive breakdown of the sandbox. Cool to see some things I didn't know about campaign differences and previous versions. A few notes: The sniper is much more difficult to hit shots on the original Xbox release of the game. (probably due to the 1 tick delay your aiming and firing has) The Flame thrower decimates overshield up close. it almost seems more effective against overshield players than a regular spartan. Also, I see you through in a clip of Overflow at 23:12.

[@cerjmedia]

I truly hope that if we do get a remake, we get some meaningful additions. New weapons, new locations, new parts of missions, I want it to be a Modern Take on Halo CE, using all the benefits of modern technology, especially a new and improved engine like Unreal. Take inspirations from Modders and Cut Content to expand on the sandbox as well. Now that would be a hell of a remake

[@TheVengefulVadam]

I’d rather the “new weapons” be those that have appeared in H1 at some point, but were either unusable by the player (Campaign Fuel Rod Gun and Energy Sword) or were cut from the game (Campaign Flamethrower and any of CE’s cut weapons from Macworld, for instance). And they still need to adhere to the sandbox fundamentals I’ve pointed out in this video.

[@HeliosDrive]

So basically SPV3?😊

[@mrjack3855]

​@@HeliosDrive no

[@HeliosDrive]

@@mrjack3855 Yes

[@Bizargh]

Ruby's Rebalanced - Halo: Combat Evolved was already enough of a "Remake" of Halo: Combat Evolved for me, and all it did was: - Adjust some weapon properties to make what was falling short in Legendary keep up with the common choices (As well as decreased the time for their idle animations to occur) - Adjust a small number of player properties such as jump height, crouch movement speed as well as fall damage and/or stagger height. - Adjust a small number of vehicle properties such as the Warthog's acceleration & the accuracy on the Scorpion's weapons. - Adding in the Fuel Rod Cannon, the Flamethrower, the Wraith as a vehicle you could drive, the Rocket Hog with a higher fire-rate, velocity & "Needler-like" tracking to the Turret's rockets as well as the Energy Sword with some unique traits to compensate for the absence of a lunge. - Giving friendly AI a welcome boost in reliability (Mostly removing friendly fire was a game-specific necessity, but that aside, they really hold their own on difficulties above Heroic) - Expanded the Covenant & Flood Combat Form's ranks/roster to better vary encounters, as well as ODSTs to compliment your friendly roster - Introduced more landmarks to levels that lacked them (The Library benefiting from this most significantly). - Added a fair few secrets for Legendary difficulty (Which is the mod's target difficulty, especially as it does aim to make that particular difficulty more fun to play, although Halo: CE's Legendary is often seen as the best in the series, so not very much had to be done for this mod to achieve that). And when you put that all together, it's just basically a "fan-made patch" to the game. If you're really going to remake Halo: Combat Evolved from scratch, you'd either have to say "I'm going to overhaul certain elements in the game's story that even Joseph Staten himself laughed at during developer commentaries in retrospect (Two such examples I recall are the end of Assault on the Control Room & jumping from Two Betrayals to Keyes), inject features from it's successors such as 4-Player Co-op, Firefight, etc., greatly improve player options in terms of input & output and/or really give the latter-half's level design some significant shake-up" as there's not really much to actually improve upon besides production values. And we've already got the likes of Halo 3: Combat Evolved and Halo: Reborn tackling the idea of Halo: Combat Evolved on a newer engine, with the former producing some mighty appealing results with using Halo 3: ODST as a base. I don't know. I look at Dead Space's Remake & Resident Evil 4's Remake and I just see a worrying trend cropping up of "rather than trying to re-release, port and/or remaster older games (to varying results ranging from Sonic Colours: Ultimate to Metroid Prime: Remastered), let's do complete remakes of games that are probably already loved and/or probably haven't aged very poorly instead (to varying results as we've already seen in the past)". At the end of day, if as many people as I see & hear (Myself included) can't trust 343i and/or Microsoft to re-release a Bungie game adequately (Remember that it took *years* before The Master Chief Collection became a mostly-appealing way to play the classic games), let-alone make one of their own, why is anybody going to sincerely demand that they remake one of Bungie's games instead??

[@typickoopakid]

I'd like to add that the Needler's projectiles had the ability to track elites from extremely far away. Far out from red reticle range. This was great for trying to super combine elites from a safe distance where they couldn't touch you.

[@millo7295]

More spread but less accuracy is what all guns should do but in a different way with every TYPE of gun The CE Needler is charming because it isn't just "alien SMG" It has a quirk

[@harbingerdawn]

So nice to see the plasma pistol getting the appreciation it deserves. Anyone who thinks it's nothing special can't have spent much time playing on Legendary, because it 100% carries you through that difficulty.

[@millo7295]

Only problem I have is the people who didn't give 343 a chance to make a mistake Infinite is not "∞" for me, it's just "O" (half of what it could of been)

[@andyfriederichsen]

My only issue with the sandbox was how inaccurate the assault rifle and warthog gun are plus how horribly inaccurate the main gun and coaxial machine gun of the Scorpion tank are. Other than that, the sandbox is pretty good and balanced.

[@colbyboucher6391]

I mean... The thing about the AR is that it wasn't designed to be an AR really which is why it became the SMG in Halo 2. The SMG is the CE AR and the BR is the nerfed replacement for the CE magnum (more obvious with the beta single-fire version). But the SMG, that thing is literally the CE assault rifle tuned for dual-wielding.

[@AKThompson]

if you tamper your trigger the assault rifle can be used outside of close range and even on legendary it's still a decent gun

[@andyfriederichsen]

@@AKThompson Even then the accuracy still sucks.

[@thelvadam2884]

​@Colby Boucher the Halo 2 BR is a straight upgrade to the magnum, thx to faster bullets, bullets magnetism and the infamous BXR and double shot

[@andyfriederichsen]

@@thelvadam2884 You mean the CE magnum.

[@bloodgulchpatrick]

I wholeheartedly agree about the way how Ghost moves in CE. It's quick, but it has a cool sense of inertia too. And it can do wheelies!

[@clydemarshall8095]

I oppose remakes. Just perfect the preservation of the original.

[@bluesunschurch8412]

Seeing your elite avatar mouth move perfectly with your voice made me really want to see a halo 2 elite vtuber now

[@spastictreefrog]

Sounds Good on paper but, in practice the Magnum is Over-powered. AR or Plasma Rifle cannot contend with the Magnum in a live match, even in there respective "roles".

[@noobking111]

Great video but that doesn't change the fact that the pistol is still the most popular and abused Weapon by far in the sandbox its in. Even if it doesn't excel at everything it's good enough at what it does that it warrants skipping over other weapons and the perks they offer. Imo it lacks a weakness that would cause you to say pick up another weapon instead of it in a given combat scenario

[@JuiceboxCE]

Always fascinating learning the little things like this. Hardly knew any of it, mainly because I'm too busy dying to the pistol's ttk to ever see it fall into fruition

[@MoronicRoc]

22:01 I recently replayed Halo CE on Legendary and I disagree. While grenades are better for flood and weaker enemies, rockets are better for panic situations and fighting elites. Elites will easily dodge grenades on the ground, rockets are a different story. Grenades have fuses, rockets detonate instantly. The rest of the video is fantastic. I feel Halo would be at it's best with a sandbox that takes the best parts of Combat Evolved's killtime and special utility and 3's special physics interactions.

[@solidice5660]

Thank you for making this! Halo CE is my favorite game. And you nailed everything right on the head. I would personally add that I have found the needler to be effective as a suppressive weapon. I really like the increased range of the PC port, as well as Halo 2. You can often get kills on snipers who are far a way and aren't paying attention (because they are scoped in). Ever since 3, the needler has become more and more of a super close smg type weapon. Sure, it doesn't always work in CE, but when you get those cool "shoot and turn away" kills, it's very satisfying.

[@evergreenartifact515]

This video is fantastic. Probably watched it 5-6 times. This is the halo content I look for.

[@stevenbrazell3035]

Been playing competitively since it’s release and still now in 23’. I learned alot watching this. Great video.

[@CribbsTV]

Corridors full of grenade chain reactions will always be my favourite madness to create in CE.

[@chipsdubbo5.56]

Honestly, the more I play all the games the more I like Combat Evolved!

[@cruzikin3116]

Halo CE has such a good and balanced sandbox, where every weapon in campaign has its own uses and niches, some more prominet than others, but they're still there, which is why i think CE has the best sandbox (campaign wise) in the series. In multiplayer, it sort of shifts, with the Needler being the meme weapon of the game, and the plasma pistol just being okay. We can't forget the Plasma Rifle, my favorite weapon in CE for both campaign and multiplayer, i love it so much.

[@jugulator95]

You should do a video like this for h2 and h3. This was really interesting learning all the hidden traits of the weapons

[@reoni0]

CE will always have the superior sandbox in the series by far. Being able to utilize the weapons in unique ways, while still having them all be useful in most situations aside from far ranged combat is exactly why its so good. Wish halo 2 and 3 took those notes

[@SikhiArt]

Very nice complement video to Jarek's video. I learned a lot about Halo CE's sandbox from both of you.

[@tarikja]

"The needler was better in 1749" - VV yea, I remember 😔

[@hardway4475]

Great video! I appreciate the shoutout too.

[@Powerof7even]

Halo CE has the coolest looking wraith.

[@skrrubb]

As always, appreciate all the work you put in these videos 🙏 CE truly remains ahead of it’s time.

[@CastledCard]

The pistol honestly is kinda shit against elites on legendary by itself

[@sonwig5186]

CE had the best weapon implementations in the series IMO (except the needler). The pistol, plasma pistol, assault rifle, plasma rifle and shotgun were all the best and most fun to use they ever have been.

[@Gator159]

This video brings up all the excellent points I would have brought up to the Halo CE detractors 10 years ago if they still talked to me lol

[@shadyfoxofficial]

I noticed in CE and Halo 3 if you fire thr AR in controlled bursts its actually not bad at mid range, although in H3 you have the BR so unless you cant find one you'll never be using it like that, but it's a neat trick in CE, although idk if it actually does make a difference it just feels like it fires more acurately if you fire it in short bursts

[@maldium8625]

30:27 Oh beautiful ! Magic antigrav properties 😂

[@brentmcpherson1847]

Hey, one cool thing about the frag grenade is you can use them to jump higher at the expense of some of your shielding. You can use this "nade-jump" to get into otherwise impossible areas of the map

[@LORDKILUR]

19:12 "an underrated tactic...is to use it as an infection form sweeper" - wait, not everybody runs AR/SG combo on flood missions?

[@Designation6]

Plasma Pistol/Rifle & Shotgun

[@TheVengefulVadam]

I like using the Pistol for its ability to 2 shot carriers from far away, and is good at killing those pesky rocket flood from afar, too. It has bonus damage to Flood, as well. It’s nice to have to save Shotgun ammo when going up against Flood from a distance. Again, I do like picking up the AR to deal with infections to save pistol and shotgun ammo, too.

[@TGOwl]

I think a decent chunk of people would be discouraged to use the AR after noticing it does less damage against Combat Forms compared to other weapons, so they swap it for something else

[@LORDKILUR]

Interesting thoughts guys. I've played since it came out, so I've had my fair share of run throughs but I've pretty much entirely ignored plasma weapons against flood and I've always viewed the pistol as a budget shotgun (against the flood) albeit with more range. That's not to say I don't use these weapons, but as soon as I see an AR/SG I'll almost always swap it out. I think 2 betrayals and Keyes are a bit different because you've got a big mix of enemy types, but for guilty spark and the library, AR/SG is my go to.

[@kristiankoski3908]

29:14 Oh no, it's me getting love tapped :/

[@mikyap02grunt_M2G]

Well Grunts and jackal will not melt as much when you activate Anger skull especially on legendary with mythic skull, on MCC grunts and jackal will go nuts with there plasma pistols fire rate!

[@grimmerjxcts2206]

It's weird to see Shipmaster talking about HALO CE mechanics

[@squishymusic9723]

The bullet magnetism and melee mechanics is something I never appreciated or noticed in Halo CE but sound amazing. I would love to see how these mechanics would work in the later Halo games, and if they would break the headshot meta of BRs and DMRs within them.

[@Loch_Ness_Lachster]

The best weapon In Halo CE, master chief when he has no weapons equipped, lol

[@StatisticColt]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention how the plasma weapons misfire when they have low battery.

[@bigsnake3130]

Hehe, they deliberately put the Sniper Rifle in such good positions to use in the multiplayer maps. They knew what they were doing.

[@Spritzkrieg]

Somehow I knew when this popped up in my feed that I would A) 100% agree with and vaguely know everything, and B) DISAGREE with the Magnum review. I saw Jarek's video too, and I didn't like it. Ilikedthisonethough Maybe for the average player, all of CE's multiplayer weapons fill interesting niches, but for crazy-good players, only the niches that serve long-range map control matter. Every time I've played CE multiplayer after watching Jarek's video, I've paid close attention to how well I can abuse the Magnum, and it's just ridiculous. Plentiful ammo, effective at all ranges, not hard to 3-shot for a good player (I'd say 50% of my kills were 3-shots), criminal against vehicles... And good players are not uncommon. You can't walk ANYWHERE in the open in Hang 'Em High when the pistol is a starting weapon. If the BR/DMR is so OP too, then fuck it, we don't have to save one. Throw them all under the bus. And for the record, I have a harder time landing 4-shots in H2 and 3 than I have landing 3-shots in CE. I've heard enough times that it's easier in 2 and I believe it, but for some reason I can't do it. I believe because of that that they're close enough to equally guilty. But that doesn't matter so much since CE's sandbox is a lot better at competing with the #1 champ Magnum than H2's is with the BR

[@MatthewJamesKalasky]

That's a lot of interesting info. Details of the effects of the weapons I admit I never fully noticed or thought about.

[@Emll_117]

Halo CE´s sandbox has always been fun but this video makes it better! Bungie really made amazing games with way less time and resources.

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

Destiny 2's Magnum also suffers the same issues as Halo 5's CE magnum in that it's hitscan and has a stupid amount of bullet magnetism.

[@august9474]

It deserves a remake but not by 343

[@jaysanj152]

I LOVE the needler and i just wished it gotten a buff or a HUGE ammo pool to compensate something to make it relevant but upon learning the fact the it only nerfed instead makes me really sad :/ as a Weapon :- It's bad,it's inconvenient,the ammunition is scarce and it's niche over classed by pretty much every weapon in the game. But as a Concept ? :-I can't deny how fascinating and unique the weapon is let alone how satisfyingly to simply use,Especially when you empty the entire clip into a single target and see them cry in agony then explode..It's Funny as hell and the weapon really stands out. I love my CE shotgun,AR,Magnum but i also just needler too and other niche weapons that doesn't get enough love..

[@INO540]

Awesome video. I'm surprised you didn't talk a little more about the plasma grenade's EMP radius though. It's a great area denial tool, and has gotten me many free kills because people underestimate its blast radius.

[@newton4010]

8:36 Hey, where can I find some Halo CE wallpapers like these? I'm trying to find on Google but nothing so far...

[@kabob0077]

1:45 Between you and him I feel I'm going to appreciate the weapon sandbox even more. And I've already left my thoughts and my own insight on that video's comments. Like the Plasma Pistol and Rifle being VERY good secondary weapons late game.

[@Snaggums]

Halo CE's multiplayer is still my favorite in the series. The sandbox and maps are so beautifully balanced, even if a lot of the balance and skill gap comes from unintended glitches and exploits. I would love to see a game like this remade with a few upgrades like modern hit detection and net code, jump speed and responsiveness, and reworked spawns for 4v4. It's such a uniquely competitive game, yet still super fun casually. It's a shame modern players are put off at first- the barrier to entry is definitely higher than the other halo games.

[@Aurik-Kal-Durin]

If they do ever give Halo: Combat Evolved a proper remake, they should add new weapons and vehicles to the game... for Campaign, at least. Some choice weapons and vehicles from Halo: Reach would be a welcome addition, such as the DMR, Grenade Launcher, Needle Rifle, and Focus Rifle, as well as the multiplayer versions of the Flamethrower and Fuel Rod Gun. For vehicles, it would be good to the Gauss and Rocket Warthogs, as well as the Falcon on levels like Assault on the Control Room and Two Betrayals, and the Revenant on those same levels. We should also be given more opportunities to drive the Scorpion in Campaign.

[@urallnoobs8943]

19:35 the shotgun is so good you can get headshots with it by aiming at their body lmao

[@Bash069]

Very good points for an Elite preferred species.

[@theholygamer969]

This Elite went out of his way to study seemingly primitive human weapons.

[@TheVengefulVadam]

The Sangheili markings on Halo: Infinite’s Bandit Rifle prove that there are Elites out there with a fascination of human weapons.

[@no3396]

This is a man who is passionate about the video game that revolves around the story of John 117.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

The original Halo Combat Evolved is by far my favorite game of the series and one of my all time favorite games. It's so well thought out for all out fun yet skilled party play. I love how the game is crafted to bring out certain types of play with-in people. It leaves room for goofing around, while equally allowing for a test your knowledge and skills of the game to see who can utilize things the best. The maps are so unique compared to other multiplayer games. The campaign is great, the flood, the gathering of ammo, health packs, shields, cloak. + The A. I. I personally feel is by far the BEST AI. It's so interesting to go up against the enemies in this game. Having CPU bots working alongside you in campaign mode. The level of customization of game modes. Customization of your own personal character. I absolutely LOVE THIS GAME and I still own and play the OG version on a old school original Xbox as well as a Xbox 360. (I haven't gotten a Xbox system after the 360. That era was the peak in my opinion)

[@DIABETOR]

They say everything’s relative and with that in mind, the magnum is in fact overpowered as hell. Yeah, I could drop an enemy’s shields with a plasma rifle and then switch to the AR to finish them off… or I can shoot him 3 times with the magnum. Yeah, I COULD use a needler to get a supercombine kill from short-mid range… or I can shoot him 3 times with the magnum. I could grab one of the two highly contested power weapons on the map, the rocket launcher or sniper rifle, and kill someone in no more than 2 shots… or I can shoot them 3 times with the magnum that I either spawned with or can find much more easily on the map. (Classic) Halo is one of my favorite videogame franchises of all time, and I fondly remember being introduced to CE by my cousins back in 2003 or so. But it’s okay, and for the sake of the argument about making a CE remake I’d say necessary, to admit that the game was far from perfect. I consider CE’s sandbox to be hilariously badly designed, and I attribute that to the fact that Bungie employees seem to suck at Halo (anyone who ever played Halo 3 online back in the day and met one online can attest to this). The game was designed by average players, for average players, and back in 2001 when the average console player’s FPS experience consisted pretty much solely of Goldeneye, that was fine. I think it should go without saying though that the average player of today would SPANK the average player of 2001, and the ability to master and effectively use the objectively broken sandbox of this game comes a lot more easily to players now. From experience I can absolutely tell you that CE matches in MCC always boil down to, “Who’s better with the magnum?” I would love to see a proper CE remake a la Dead Space (only if it were made by literally anybody other than 343i, though), and I think that dropping the nostalgia and being real about the flaws in the game’s design is integral to making something like that work.

[@nondayz593]

You can't shoot three times if you got insta-killed by AR, plasma pistol and Shotgun on close range, or sniper rifle on long range, or a rocket. You can't even reliably hit one shot on your enemy when you get stunned by plasma rifle, let alone three.

[@I-like-Hugs-and-Fluffy-boys]

​@@nondayz593"close range" in Halo CE is like ... maybe 15% of any fights on multiplayer maps. So yeah, magnum is still the most reliable wealon in the game. Also ... you can't get insta-killed by plasma pistol, which by the way, have the same accuracy of shooting as killing someone with magnum While get stunned by plasma rifle's shots. "Insta-killed by AR" ... You know that this can be exsecuted only by the ones who can pul off the same type of trick as battle rifle combo from Halo 2? And that this "insta-kill by AR" Literally can be done only by melee, the same thing that is a something around 15% of a close-range fights which are 15% of the actual fights in multiplayer of Halo CE?.. Sniper rifle and Rocket louncher are just power weapons, because they are the only two weapons in the game which able to one-shot a spartan at any range. But you need to Get them, this is their ideas, purpose in the game!) So yeah, ... magnum is just ... too viable in majority of fights. It is just "the most used weapon", that one of the Most Effective tools in the game and never leaves the fights almost in any situatuons. That's the main problem with the magnum in Halo Combat Evolved. "=³

[@miniaturejayhawk8702]

Its ironic how the sniper is meant to be an anti-vehicle weapon (which is why it can shoot through multiple enemies) but actually does virtually no damage towards vehicles.