I'm taking a break from blazing through "Gravemind" in Halo 2, near the end, and realizing I don't really like the game much at all on 'normal'. It's too easy. Way too easy. There's almost no incentive to do anything save launch yourself at the nearest alien bowling pin and wail on the fire button. Short of stupidly meleeing with Hunters or wading nonchalantly into a river of plasma fire, I just can't die. Rather, I feel like some guy dashing through a block house maze, occasionally pausing to pull out a fly swatter.
"So turn up the difficulty settings, ya whiner." I know. I mean, you're talking to the guy who took a year to play through Halo for seconds on "legendary." Halo 2 on even "heroic" is an entirely different game. A few surprise hits from an Elite or the Flood or even a couple concealed Grunts and you're going down. Charging a room bristling with Covenant or Flood? Bona fide suicide. The point: Halo 2 doesn't just get harder when you wind up the difficulty, it plays like a completely different game.
On the higher difficult settings, you can't help but play tactically, and by tactically I really mean "the way the designers probably intended." Hide here, use that over there for cover, probe and never blind-charge, crouch to avoid fire, aim for heads instead of bodies, use grenades to flush enemies, babysit your ammunition levels, and by all means, pace yourself.
Does difficulty impact reviews? Most reviewers work around tight deadlines and end up playing these things on normal or even easy just to finish. But is that really "finishing" something? Had I reviewed Halo 2's solo mode on "normal," it probably would've scored "average," maybe lower, whereas "heroic" kept me riveted, coming at problems from multiple angles, replaying tactical scenarios for the pleasure of seeing something new, and, in general, weighing variables in a much more sophisticated equation.
Should critics disclose the difficulty settings they play at? Is it a stretch to suggest that Halo 2's four unique difficulty settings are, as far as the gameplay's concerned, tantamount to four separate film cuts? Shouldn't we be addressing this in our reviews?
That's a very interesting aspect you talked about. But I do remember reading gamespot reviews where reviewers mentioned that "you can finish this game on normal difficulty at around 8-10 hours", which gives the impression that the reviewers indeed played the games in normal difficulty. It should be clear that the easy or even normal settings are often targeted towards the casual gamer, for whom "broken AI" or "not much challenge" can be a blessing. But games should not be judged in those settings, I fully agree.
That's a very interesting aspect you talked about. But I do remember reading gamespot reviews where reviewers mentioned that "you can finish this game on normal difficulty at around 8-10 hours", which gives the impression that the reviewers indeed played the games in normal difficulty. It should be clear that the easy or even normal settings are often targeted towards the casual gamer, for whom "broken AI" or "not much challenge" can be a blessing. But games should not be judged in those settings, I fully agree.