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Winged Warriors

    This is a question I've been pondering for a while. Why is it that some players are able to kill you in a straight-up battle rifle duel even when you get the first shot? Why is it that some players always seem to be in the right place at the right time? And why is it that some players just seem more, well, lucky than others? There are a few factors, some more important than others.

    Some players just seem faster, more agile, able to react quicker to an opponent who surprises them from round a corner or down from a ledge. Particularly important in games without the Motion Sensor, reflexes can determine who gets the first shot in and consequently who kills whom. Lag over Xbox Live sometimes takes the edge off the effect that good reflexes can have, but in LAN play where there is a level playing field, reaction times are important. However, there are ways to beat a player with a superior reaction time. Aim first of all - tied quite closely to reflexes - is crucial if you are to make that first shot count. If you react 0.1 of a second faster than your opponent, but miss your next 2 or 3 shots, chances are you will still die. Second, and more importantly, tactics. Creative thinking. This, I will touch upon later.

    Without a doubt, aim is definitely a major factor in Halo 2, hell in any first-person multiplayer shooter. It is basically the same thing as hand-eye coordination - if you instinctively know the amount of time by which you have to hold down the right thumbstick in order to keep your reticule on the opponent strafing round you, you have good hand-eye coordination and hence a good aim. More often than not, at lower levels, this is the main factor in determining the winner of a game. In a game of MLG FFA on Lockout with skill levels no greater than Rumble Pit 10, there is a very large chance that the person with the best aim will win. He will hit more, be able to kill faster with his battle rifle, get more headshots and so kill more opponents before they can kill him. Inexperience or bad aim will blunt the effectiveness of many weapons (like the Sniper Rifle) or weapon combinations (such as the battle rifle/plasma pistol combo). Good aim is definitely the mark of a good player. But is it the mark of a great player?

    Halo 2 is a very tactical game. Moreso than many people realise. Ever wondered why the idiot on your team who charges through the front door dies more often than the guy who sneaks in quietly through the unguarded side entrance? It's because Bungie have designed the game extremely well, testing each multiplayer map thoroughly in order to ensure balance and, more importantly, options. Ever noticed how, at almost any point you can stand on any map, there are multiple paths leading to that point? Even the few places with only one entrance/exit are designed to be very vulnerable to grenade attack or sniper fire. Therefore, great aim and perfectly honed reflexes are all for nothing when someone who has thought about their approach crouch-walks up and thwacks you in the back. A great example of this is the Ogre 1 41-0 video. My eyes were first opened to this by Overswarm over at HBO when he did his write up of the game. Like he says, watching this video, the thing that is unbelieveable is not Ogre's ability to aim or his speed at reacting to events. He even misses a few sniper shots, encouraging for snipers everywhere! No, his strength is his thinking. He outwits oppoenents again and again, as Overswarm says, making his opponents look like children.

    If you've read interviews over at MLGPro.com with the top teams, you'll hear them talk about map control, power-weapon control, team movement and so on, but you'll never hear them say "OMG I can't believe I missed!". Even though errors in aim are rare, they still happen, and at that level kills can be easily lost my missing just one battle rifle burst, or even a single bullet. What they are far more concerned with however, is their strategy. It is this that wins and loses games at the higher levels. Even in just games of Team Slayer or FFA, thinking about your enemies and your terrain can (and invariably does) make all the difference. Great players know where their enemies are, what weapons they have, the status of the power-weapons, and the status of their allies (in team games). They also know the routes most/least travelled on each map, where people are likely to be or go, where certain positions can be attacked from effectively, even the respawn times of every single weapon on the map. Whilst it's true that many players reach level 20+ in Rumble Pit without taking any notice of any tactics or game plans, you will find they have a ceiling beyond which they will have extreme difficulty competing. Ever heard a frustrated Rumble Pit player scream "OMG you [appropriate power-weapon here] whore!" They are frustrated becuase a player (obviously better than them, which they can't handle) knows the location and status of this power-weapon and is always there when it respawns or is dropped. They will also probably know which locations on the maps are best for using this power-weapon (e.g. good sniper spot for Sniper Rifle, tight corridor with many corners for Shotgun). Great aim and raw skill can usually be countered with a knowledge of the game. When you get a player who has it all, great aim and a great brain for the game, then you have a devastating combination.

    If you want to get on in a general Halo 2 Xbox Live gaming environment, aim is really all you need. This will help you kill more than you are killed, and you'll enjoy yourself against the weaker players, some of whom may have thought about the game a bit but don't have the aim to quite compete. But if you want to become a great player, if you have just enough raw talent to compete at levels 10-20 in Rumble Pit, you can become a much better player at the game if you just take some time out from the killing and actually check up on some things. Formulate some strategies. Explore the maps. Check the respawn times (links to lists of these can be found over at HBO and various other sites). Know that nice feeling you get when the Rocket Launcher respawns right in front of you or when you come up behind the sniper and assassinate him or you get to the base with the bomb and there's no enemy for miles? Those feelings might just become a bit more frequent.

    -- LegendaryMark

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