What are the main differences between the Halo and the Call of Duty series?

Question

I've never played either in my life. What are the main differences between them? I hear COD is more realistic, while Halo lets you get into a lot of new places on the map that you wouldn't think of in the beginning. What are some other comparisons and contrasts between them?

(this is not a game-rec question, I am curious about factual differences between their gameplay)

Answer

I have played both games, so this comes from my personal experience. However, I do prefer Halo to Call of Duty. I am mainly comparing Modern Warfare 2 and Halo Reach. This is not exactly fair, as Black Ops comes out in a few weeks, but I haven't played it yet.

I've broken these differences down into the follow catagories:

Feel

The Call of Duty and Halo franchises are very different in terms of gameplay. The biggest difference is that Call of Duty goes for a realistic feeling, while Halo is more of an arcade shooter.

Killing

In Call of Duty, the guns and settings are realistic. Most guns kill in a few shots, and there are a lot of things outside of shooting another player, such as calling in a tactical strike, or a helicopter. Call of Duty maps are (from my experience) more complex and larger.

In Halo, killing someone is much harder. Most weapons take multiple shots to kill, so battles are more drawn out. There are power weapons, such a sniper rifle or rockets that kill in a single shot, but they are limited in ammo, and placed strategically on the map. While Call of Duty allows the player to spawn with almost any weapon, Halo usually allows the player to spawn with a base weapon, and requires them to pick up better weapons on the map. Halo Reach has expanded the weapon choices in a few game types (such as Invasion) allowing the player to choose between a set of weapons to spawn with, but players can never spawn with "power" weapons in default games, except specific exceptions, such as snipers only. Halo also has player driven vehicles in multiplayer, while the Modern Warfare games do not.

Movement

Call of Duty has realistic movement. The player has a low run speed, sprint, can prone, and has a low jump height. In Halo, the players moves fast, can crouch, and has a very high jump height.

Health

Halo handles health by giving the player a rechargeable shield, which will return to full charge outside of battle, and health under that which (in Reach, Halo CE and ODST) will not refill once diminished. Call of Duty has only health, which refills after a short time.

Game Modes

The type of games in both franchises have diverged. Both have base slayer, capture the intel/flag, plant the bomb, and many others. Both games also have a diverse custom game engine outside of online multiplayer.

Load Outs

Call of Duty has customizable classes, with any weapon, grenade type, and upgradable "perks", which are set by the player. Halo Reach has predefined load outs set for each game type that come with one or two weapons, grenades, and an "armor ability" which gives the player an ability not normally in the game, such as a jet pack or sprint. This goes back to the core of Halo, where every player starts the same.

Rewards

Another big difference between the two franchises is how they reward dedicated players. In Halo, every person starts the game exactly the same. Everyone spawns with the same weapon, or is allowed to pick from a pool of the same weapons, so everyone begins on an equal footing. In Call of Duty, players are rewarded with better weapons, and better loadouts. This is controversial in video games, because it gives the better players, who have played the game more, better weapons than less experienced players. In Halo Reach, players earn credits which allows them to customize their armor, but this only changes the armor cosmetically, and does not provide any other benefits.

Halo allows players to customize and even build new maps through "forge", which is not possible in Call of Duty. Current Call of Duty games do not have a way to watch past games, but this is being added in Black Ops.

Meta

Not a part of the games themselves, but Call of Duty is multiplatform, while Halo is only for xbox.

Check more discussion of this question.

Does Master Chief return to Earth at the end of Halo 3?

Question

In legendary mode you can see the half of the UNSC ship moving towards a blue planet.

Is this Earth?

Do you know which planet Master Chief is moving towards?

Answer

From Halopedia:

The planetoid is littered with blue-glowing symbols and geometric patterns - clearly Forerunner in origin. At least two of the symbols are clearly recognizable. This could mean that the planet is the Forerunner homeworld.

A Marathon symbol can also be observed on the surface. It is known to be a common Forerunner symbol, used in multiple Forerunner constructs, and also used to refer to a Reclaimer.

Theories about what the planet could be:

Shield World

Given the Legendary planet's clearly artificial appearance, it could be one of the many Shield Worlds constructed by the Forerunners as safe havens to protect them from the Flood and the activation of the Halo Array.

One theory suggests that the common Forerunner symbol seen on the surface solely represents a Shield World, relying on the fact that the cover of Ghosts of Onyx bears this symbol and the book prominently features a Forerunner Shield World, which leads to some believing that the planet is the planet that Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, Franklin Mendez, Blue Team and the remaining SPARTAN-IIIs and SPARTAN-IIs were transported to. However, the common symbol on the cover may simply reference to the fact that the story of the novel puts strong emphasis to the Forerunners. Furthermore, if the symbol only represented a Shield World, its common appearances on the Halo installations and the Ark would be unexplained. Also, all Shield Worlds seen so far are disguised as natural planets, whereas the Legendary Planet bears clear evidence of artificial Forerunner construction.

Forerunner colony

Yet another theory is that it could be an abandoned Forerunner colony or planetoid-class ship, similar to High Charity. Throughout the Halo franchise, there have been a few mentions of the Forerunner colonies prior to the discovery and subsequent war with the Flood, notably in the Halo 3 Terminals. This theory provides an alternative to the Shield World theory, as well as explaining the planetoid, the Forerunner symbols, and providing an opening for sequels; however, if the Forerunners had indeed been living on this planet-like object, they would have been killed when the Halo array was fired (unless, like the Ark, the planet is not located in the Milky Way Galaxy, placing it outside of the effective range of the Halo Array).

Another point supporting the theory is that there appear to be cities on the surface.

Reading the Terminals, an interesting phrase appears on Legendary, that Mendicant Bias, a Forerunner AI who defected to the Gravemind and was later defeated by Offensive Bias, says directly to Chief, stating:

"Atonement. 
And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. One life hardly balances billions. 
But I would have my masters know that I have changed. 
And you shall be my example." - Mendicant Bias 

The last line has caused fans to believe that Mendicant Bias had an intention of showing the Forerunners an example of his "atonement" who is the Master Chief. Knowing this many believe that the AI protected the Master Chief, and prevented a number of unseen events on the Ark and Installation 04B from affecting the Chief and his missions. Some have also theorized that he deviated the portal's course at the last moment before he was destroyed. Though no information supports this and it has been neither stated nor implied, it can be supported logically in that the Ark's Portal might have several possible entrance/exit points throughout space; the Forerunners adapted to the Flood with extensive redundancy in all systems and escape mechanisms, so it is possible that the Forerunners on the Ark established themselves at a different Portal destination, possibly one of many, and Mendicant Bias shifted to this destination when the Forward Unto Dawn was halfway through, thus severing the ship and dropping the Master Chief's half near the colony.

Forerunner homeworld

Another possible identity is that the planet is the Forerunner homeworld, since the Forerunners would doubtlessly have wanted one of their ships to get to the homeworld safely if something similar happened to a Forerunner vessel as did Cortana and the Chief.

It strongly suggested in the Halo Legends episode "Origins" that the Unidentified Forerunner Planet, a Forerunner colony, is indeed the Legendary Planet. Hints include what looks like the Forward Unto Dawn drifting towards the planet, and Installation 00 orbiting a rocky, brown moon, which in turn is orbiting the planet in question.

Check more discussion of this question.

How do I jump onto really high stuff in Halo?

Question

I've seen people on top of really high things when there's no flying vehicles. How do they get up there?

Answer

Here is a list of pretty much every single jumping technique in Halo 3.

The main one I've heard of and seen used is grenade jumping, where you throw a grenade at the ground and jump just before it detonates, boosting the player character as a result of the blast.

Check more discussion of this question.

In Halo games, whats the best way to make use of marines?

Question

In the halo games since halo 2 you've been able to swap weapons with allies. I sometimes will give better weapons to the marines I'm with in the hope that they'll be more useful. For example I'll take away their assault rifles in favor of battle rifles or sniper rifles. Or I'll try to get the passenger in the warthog to have a rocket launcher.

Is this useful or am I just wasting my time? Whats the best way to make use of the marines? Are there strategies that make good use of them? Or for the most part is it a waste of time to worry about them?

Answer

If you need a particular weapon, like a Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle etc, you can swap your current weapon with a marine to take his. So marines can be a good way to get weapons in certain situations.

Additionally, a marine will carry any weapon you give him until he is killed, or you swap with him again. This also means that marines can be used to transport weapons. Say you know that you're going to want a Sniper Rifle you've found later on in a level, but you don't want to carry it with you in between. If you give it to a marine, you can carry two other weapons, and then simply swap with the marine again once decide you need the Sniper Rifle, provided that the marine has survived to that point in the mission.

An element of this that can be used to even greater advantage, is that marines don't use any ammunition. What this means, is that even if the weapon you give to one only has one round of ammunition left in it, the marine will be able to use it without limit. This also means that while transporting a weapon for you, the marine is free to use it without expending any of your ammunition.
Important to note here is that you can't give a marine an empty weapon.

In short, if you've got a decent weapon that's almost out of ammunition, give it to a marine; while the marines may not be able to operate weaponry as effectively as most players, you will still likely benefit more from having the desired weapon as an asset to your mission in the hands of a marine than you would if you had depleted it yourself and thrown it away.

---

They can also be used to refill ammunition on a weapon that both you and a marine are carrying. As long as you have at least 2 extra (and unique) weapons nearby, you can swap your low-ammo weapon for one of them, then swap it to the marine for his weapon. At this point, you should be holding the marine's weapon, and you need to switch it for the second unwanted weapon, making sure that you drop it at least a few meters away from your original weapon (if you don't want to collect its ammo and completely deplete it). Then pick up your original, low-ammo weapon again (dropping the second unwanted weapon) and give it to the marine, then finally switch the first unwanted weapon for the higher-ammo one you left on the ground.

This process is actually much simpler than it sounds, and you should be able to figure it out easily on your own while playing.

---

Because of the fact that marines don't use ammunition, I always try to give my marines certain weapons once I've almost depleted them (particularly explosives). In order starting with most desirable:

• Fuel Rod Gun/Cannon
• Rocket Launcher
• Brute Shot
• Needler
• Sniper Rifle
• Beam Rifle

Depending on the circumstance, you may want to give your marines different weaponry, but to be brutally honest, I almost never really notice their "support" unless they're equipped with one of the above weapons.

---

In regards to the Warthog, I also often try to make sure that the marine in the passenger seat is equipped with a Rocket Launcher or Fuel Rod Gun/Cannon. This seems to be easily the most effective strategy in most situations. However, in rare circumstances you may want to equip your passenger with a weapon that can be fired more accurately, or rapidly.

Check more discussion of this question.