Bungie's Halo Reach Vs. Infinity Ward's/Activision's Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Which Has Better Online Multiplayer?

While they are two different games, Bungie's futuristic shooter Halo Reach and Infinity Ward's/Activision's more, well... modern shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 both have dedicated fans and dedicated haters alike. Both of these first person shooters are two of the biggest online multiplayer juggernauts when it comes to X-Box Live and have thousands upon thousands of gamers playing an array of online games each day. However, each of these games have pros and cons overall, and it's been a large discrepancy as to which of these games have the best overall online experience. Sure, overall it may be preference, but it's factual to an experienced gamer as to which game truly has a better overall balance, fun factor, and other variables.

Going Up In Rank
Both of these games have a system in which the player can rank up their level, allowing the player to unlock certain items - whether they be cosmetic or can actually be utilized. Ranking up in the online world breeds competition - so rank is moderately important when it comes to online gaming. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the player acquires much more as they rank up, and I feel that it is much more enjoyable as well. No, there's no cosmetic unlockables aside from camos, but unlocking attachments and perks make up for that significantly. Also, the amount of set challenges set forth make mapping out leveling up much easier. Yes, there are commendations and weekly/daily challenges in Halo Reach, but I feel that they're not as precise or as fun. Another plus is when you actually level up in a game or complete a challenge it pops up on the screen also cued by a moment of heavy rock music.

Ranking up in Halo Reach is fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not as fun as leveling up in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Don't get me wrong - I love earning new cosmetics for my character, but it's not as good as unlocking new guns, attachments, perks, camos, or pro abilities for perks in Modern Warfare 2.

Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

The Online Community
I've dealt with Modern Warfare 2's since it's launch date, and I must admit it's the worst community I've ever dealt with. I've had to deal with gangs of little kids screaming in my ears yelling racial obscenities to pompous gangsters talking about how hard they are to their homies. Yes, I know, the mute button is easily accessible - but that's not the point. The quality of the community should be at least mediocre, and the mute button should be used from time to time, not every match or so.

Since I've started playing Halo Reach I can tell the community is much better. I've actually met some cool people online who have taught me some things, whether it be on the Forge World to Firefight. Yes, there are obviously bad eggs, but the ratio is much, much less when compared to Modern Warfare 2. The only gripe I have with the community in Halo Reach is the readiness to boot a team member for betraying someone (there is a thing called accidents, people) and when team members leave smaller games (4 vs. 4 and smaller), rendering the game usually unwinnable. One more gripe I have with Modern Warfare 2's online community will be explained in the next portion.

Winner: Halo Reach

Utilization of Cheap Tactics and Imbalances
Everyone wants to win - that's a fact. But at what point is it going to far? I've seen cheap tactics used in both games, and in fact every online game that I've played. Back in the day when I played Socom the grenade launcher was introduced and was automatically deemed cheap (which, in all honesty, it truly is). The community generally shunned people from using the grenade launcher and would even vote their own team members out of the game if they used them. Today in the gaming world things have significantly changed for the worse.

The Halo series has always had some annoying weapons such as the rocket launcher that was deemed cheap, but it must be taken into account the limitation of ammunition that the player using it has. Another cheap tactic is the utilization and abuse of vehicles, most notably the tank and other heavy vehicles. In fact, I played a Big Team Battle game last night where the enemy team had their tank sitting right outside of our base spawn killing my team members and I, and the tank is not too easy to take care of.

Although Halo Reach has those problems, and a couple of more, they are completely minuscule compared to the problems that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have. I don't even know where to start. Let us start with the abused perk combination of One Man Army and Danger Close. This perk combination allowed players to use a mounted grenade launcher and shoot off infinite grenades. There's even a YouTube video of a player sitting in a single spot for awhile and getting 11+ kills without moving a single inch from his position. If that's not overpowered I don't know what is. Another cheap tactic is the use of the perk combination of Marathon, Lightweight, and Commando, which turned players into a crowd of Jesse Owens' with a machete. Not only do players run at the speed of light, but they have what seemed to be invincibility while in mid-lunge for a stab. Aside from that perk combination abuse, the Commando perk was also criticized by many gamers for being obscenely overpowered, allowing players using it to lunge what seemed to be 10+ feet turning this game into more of a knife fight than anything. Other imbalances in Modern Warfare 2 included some overpowered killstreaks and the messed up order in which killstreaks were acquired (come on, the Harrier should be like a 10 kill streak, where as the Stealth Bomber nets less kills over time and needs more kills than the 7 kill streak Harrier), the Danger Close perk in general, the failure of Claymores when it came to enemies using Marathon/Lightweight, and the openness of abuse towards the utilization of explosives aside from the One Man Army/Danger Close abuse which includes using Scavenger to gain additional explosives, the availability of cheap weapons such as the AT4-Heat, AA-12, and the Thumper, and the list goes on. There is so much imbalance in this game it seem as if they did it on purpose. Don't even get me started on "boosters". This game needed a beta - hands down.

Winner: Halo Reach

Joining A Match/Matchmaking Lobbies
Halo Reach wins in this category as well, as it allows you to vote on a few choices rather than just getting a map chosen by the computer and then having to vote against it. However, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 does have one thing that puts them up on the map against Halo Reach - the ability for new players to join vacant spots in games already in session. This, however, is a double-edged sword, as people joining games constantly join games about to end since many players leave games before they know they're about to lose. However, in Halo Reach, once a player leaves a game in session that slot remains vacant for the remainder of the match, creating unbalanced teams and unfair game play for the duration of the match.

Winner: Tie

Maps (Excluding Forge World)
Maps are a big part of online game play - especially in a First Person Shooter, as they need pinch points, minimal camping areas, and many means of egress. Overall the maps in both games are pretty good, but Halo Reach comes up a bit short when compared to memorable Modern Warfare 2's maps such as Terminal, Favela, and Highrise. Halo Reach does have some good maps, don't get me wrong, but they're generally rehashed maps from older Halo games and due to the low amount of matchmaking maps they get repetitive very fast. Like I said before, that's not to say that they're not good maps - they just get saturated fast due to the minimal amount of variety.

As stated in the topic of this portion this doesn't include Forge World - the editing mode in Halo Reach. In Forge World anything is possible (within reason). You can create ramps, race tracks, huge maps, small maps... basically anything. However, I was talking about matchmaking maps in which the companies themselves created.

Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Online Uniqueness
So far it's a tie between the both games regarding points, so this will be the tie breaker - and it's a huge one. Both of these games are highly unique when it comes to online multiplayer, so it's going to be close, but I do have a winner in mind already.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has, aside from the regular game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Demolition, Spec Ops. Spec Ops is incredibly fun and challenging, but it becomes repetitive and saturated over time. Basically Spec Ops is a bunch of different missions playable by two people (it's cooperative game play). The missions differentiate from mission to mission. For example, there's one mission where you and a partner fight against waves of enemies while inside of a diner (well, that's where most people go since the weapons and turrets are located in there) to a mission where you and a partner stealthily move through a snow covered forest with silenced weapons taking out enemies and their dogs. However, Spec Ops' missions can only be fun for some time. After awhile they lose their glamor, especially compared to their brother's side-game Nazi Zombies, which spread like wildfire.

Halo Reach has a ton to offer as well, even more so. Aside from the regular games like Slayer and SWAT, there is the amazing and limitless Forge World - an editing mode where, as stated earlier in this article, players can create maps from scratch, unveil new games in which they create, assemble race tracks and ramps, and do so much more than any other editing mode I've ever seen in a game. Even if you don't want to "create" anything, you can just mess around by merely dropping a Banshee or a Falcon and just flying around looking at the terrain, or even dropping a Warthog to practice your driving. Anything in this world is possible.

Halo Reach also offers a horde-type of game mode called "Firefight". Just like multiplayer matchmaking when it comes to Slayer and so on, players in the lobby get to vote on a few different options such as Rocketfight and General Defense, or none of the above which prompts a few new options after the timer runs out. Firefight is extremely fun and addicting, especially my favorite type which is Rocketfight. There's nothing more exhilarating in Firefight than getting multikills like there's no tomorrow or soloing a Hunter to net 500+ points.

Halo Reach also correctly utilizes it's campaign by adding online campaign. For some reason this wasn't added into Modern Warfare 2, for whatever reason (bad idea not to). So now you and three Spartan buddies can conquer the colossal campaign together - all at the comfort of your own homes. Why Modern Warfare 2 didn't contain cooperative campaign is truly a mystery.

Halo Reach also has one more pro compared to Modern Warfare 2 - the cosmetic customization of characters. While leveling up is more fun in Modern Warfare 2 (opinion), getting cR (credits) to increasingly customize your characters look is one of my favorite things and it's something I've wanted since you could change your Spartans color in the original Halo for the original X-Box. Instead now you can change much more than the color - you can change helmets, upgrade helmets, change shoulder pads and knee pads, you can alter your voice, you can add in special effects or even change your visor color. Of course there's more, but I don't want to spoil if for you.

Winner: Halo Reach

Overall
I find the better online multiplayer experience to lay within the realm of Bungie's Halo Reach. Yes, both games are great, but I find Halo Reach more enjoyable. Throw in the fact that Halo Reach has Theater Mode and you can share screen shots and video clips just puts them further in the lead. Also, Halo Reach allows you to be in a private chat with friends while in a game, while Modern Warfare 2 does not.

I suggest purchasing Halo Reach as it is truly a game for all serious gamers. Modern Warfare 2 is great as well, and I'd suggest purchasing it, but the new Call of Duty is coming out in a little over a month. Is it worth it? Yes.

Victor: Bungie's Halo Reach.