And with that, goodnight.

I was recently up at a friend's place for his birthday, and we got to playing some four-player Halo 3. In my opinion, Halo is a great multiplayer game. Even crowded around a small TV with about an enveloped-size window to squint at it was great fun. But one of the great things about Halo 3's multiplayer is its extensibility. Players are not simply tied down to two or three game modes; there are several to select from, and if none suit players can make their own games with custom rules.

Of course, nothing develops one's appreciation for the difficulty of creating balanced games more than attempting to create custom levels that end up ridiculously unbalanced. This is what happened to us that night. After a few rounds of Slayer we tired of getting masacred by the one among us who was actually decent at the game, and decided to create our own custom level. Suffice to say the result wasn't what we expected.

We decided to go for an all-out power level, hoping for quick, explosive fun. Shields were turned up, regeneration turned up and all weapons turned off except for grenades, rockets and the energy sword. The level wasn't unbalanced as such (we were all equally balanced in our excessive power), but rather was just not at all fun. The combination of higher shields and faster regen served to make the rockets and grenades completely useless. It was impossible to actually kill anyone. The inclusion of the energy sword turned out to be a lucky save, as the instant-kill assassination was the only possible way to get a kill. This simple example served to highlight how easy it is to throw the balance of a game out of whack.

It also reminded me of another custom level I played with some friends soon after Halo was released. This level was both balanced and fun, simple yet highly enjoyable. Teams consisted of two people. Players were invincible, weapons were once again rockets and grenades only, and ammo was infinite. So far this sounds like a rather pointless / boring level. However, total kills was not the aim of this level. Each team had a Mongoose (the 2-man quad bike), and each level had several check-points. The aim was to race to the newest checkpoint (which would change when someone reached it). The team that reached the checkpoint limit first won. Combine these elements together and it made an exceptionally fun level - fast-paced navigation of dubious terrain whilst being hounded by grenades and missiles...

Ah the joys of having free time...