User blog comment:J80Kar/Project Freelancer vs COG Team/@comment-143604-20120624171513

Drayco90's Edgy Edges of Edginess


 * Melee- Freelancer. The Chainsaw Bayonet has the advantage of being a part of another weapon, giving it a few extra points in usefulness, but at the end of the day it's also a chainsaw, and that has just as many points against it as it does in favor of it. The Bayonet needs to be revved up, leaving the COG soldiers vulnerable as they do so, and in close range combat the revving process might just be the key factor to leaving the COG drowning in a pool of his own blood. The Freelancer's combat knives are easier to use and just plain more practical, allowing a quick swipe to slash open the neck or other body part which is often left exposed. As for the Brute Shot Blade, it's big enough to do some major damage and is still faster to slash with than the Chainsaw Bayonet. In addition, I feel that the Freelancer's superior armor won't be as damaged by the chainsaw as a normal enemy would be- as long as their are shields it'll hold off the chainsaw long enough to kill the COG bastard and even without shields the armor should hold up for a decent amount of time.


 * Close Range- Freelancers. The M6D Magnum has incredible range and does massive damage, allowing the Freelancer soldiers to obliterate a shotgun or snub wielding COG from a Long Range as well as being versatile enough to serve as a regular handgun in close range. The Halo 1 pistol is legendary for a reason, after all. The Gnasher Shotgun has a lot of kick, and will probably have a higher base damage rate than the M90 Shotgun, holds more shots than the M90, and possibly a longer effective range. (The Gnasher's effective range is 60-m, the M90 from Halo 1 is 100-m, the Halo 3 version is 40-m.) But while the COG absolutley dominate in the Shotgun category, the M6D is a versatile and overpowered enough weapon that it can easily push this edge back in the Freelancer's favor.


 * Mid-Range- Freelancers. First, the Mark 1 Lancer isn't even worth mentioning, really. The Mk.1 is inaccurate as hell, has WAY too much kickback and it's bayonet won't even come close to touching one of the Freelancers, since it can't even pierce Locust skin. The Mark 2 is a better addition, having a much greater listed range (at 800-m vs. the MA5C's 300-m, though in-game would kind of dispute those numbers), but I don't feel the Mark 2 will be able to overcome both the MA5C /and/ the Battle Rifle. The BR22 easilly get the edge over the Mark 1, with a 950-m range and pinpoint accuracy, this one weapon can outdo both of the Lancers. The Mark 2 Lancer is a good weapon, and it beats out the MA5C, but I've still got to give this edge to the Freelancers, because I don't think the Mark 2 is good enough to beat the MA5C /and/ the BR22.


 * Long Range- Even. For all intents and purposes, I don't really find a way to call this edge one way or another. The range on the Longshot Sniper is "extreme" and it's clearly strong enough to one-shot the powerful Locust, who can take whole clips of Lancer fire without blinking, while the SRS 99D-S2 from Halo has a listed range of 2300-m, and can one-shot a SPARTAN warrior with Mark VI MJOLNIR armor and shields up. The Halo-Sniper gets a quick edge in that it's magazine is 4 shots before a reload as compared to the one-shot nature of the Longshot, but both of these warriors are disciplined enough that they aren't going to be wasting much sniper ammo, and one good hit is a dead enemy. The Longshot has been used at much longer range than the HaloSniper has, so it seems that the COG sniper will see the Freelancer sniper and have the opportuninty to shoot first, and the active reload skill will allow him to reload the Longshot extremely fast, negating the advantage of four round mags- espiciall when they take forever to reload, making this an even edge for me. A one-hit kill is a one-hit kill, no matter how you slice it.


 * Explosive- Freelancers. The Bolo Grenades are incredibly poorly designed- throwing them takes an extended time to make the COG troop vulnerable while they wind up a ridiculous throw, and when it's stuck to a surface of some kind it's /very/ easy to spot it ahead of time in most situations. The best use for the Bolo Grenade is to get up close and tag an enemy with it, making them a dead man walking- but this has the obvious negatives of being a near ensured suicide attack. The Freelancer's Rocket Launcher and Brute Shot far out range the throwing of the Bolo Grenade and can keep firing, while each COG soldier only carries a couple of grenades at a time.


 * Special- Uh... I don't know what the Mother of Invention Targetting Beacon is. Honestly, I'd probably go with the Hammer of Dawn either way, but since I don't know what the Freelancer's equivalent is, I can't really call this one.


 * Armor- Freelancers. The MJONIR armor is much tougher than the COG armor, which even in-universe is considered pretty shit and cobbled together, and has a tendancy to fall apart during extended combat. The MJOLNIR is not only made of superior materials, it's also outfitted with superhuman augmentations, shields, a HUD and most importantly, each members AI. These AIs are incredibly diverse, allowing them to do things like turn invisible or time distortion which makes up for literally any possible problem with the armor. What we're looking at here is armor scavenged together in post-apocalyptic world where materials are few and far between going up against a stronger version of what is already one of the most overhyped armors in the history of gaming. For once, the superior armor argument has some real merit when discussing MJOLNIR- after all, Master Chief doesn't have the ability to go back in time and re-do something if he screws up.


 * Deadliest Warrior- Project Freelancer. They take almost every range, have far better armor and just dominate due to what basically amount to super powers. The COG are good, but they're not Freelancer good.