Why is Halo considered good?

po0k

Originally posted by lordsippa
oh and the weapons in it are absolutely rubbish (cept the plasma grenades). They just lack the punch that the ones in Quake or Halflife had. There's no feeling of WHAM! when you hit an enemy... I mean where's the FPS world without the equivalent of the BFG?!(or the rocket launcher in Quake:p)

I've played it on both the PC and XBox, though mainly on the PC, and I have to say, I though the weapons ahd been dumbed down to compensate for the increased accuracy and fluidity of the PC mouse+keyboard control combo instead of upping the AI/enemy rate of fire (which I felt was piss poor to allow the Joe Spud on the couch time to aim the weapon with the joypad on XBox).
You're revved up to unleash holy fiery death by perforated ruination with your blaster by the intro movie and the sudden jump into running battle at the intro, and when you press fire - instead of the voracious hail of screaming plasma-charged death you get a limp squirt, like a mouse ejaculating into a sponge cake. And you instantly lose your hard-on for the game.

Comparing it with XIII tonight, I much prefer the *thud* response you feel when squeezing off a few rounds at your foes. It makes me all the the more immersed in the game world. Halo never drew me in past the first 5-or-so minutes (including the in-game intro).

Bottom line: the game is over-hyped, was dated before it was released (on the PC at least) by using game elements which had already been pioneered quite some time before it, and left me with a huge feeling of disappointment and sorrow.
When I first saw the rolling demo clip, I wet myself with joy and anticipation, only to have my nuts caught in the vice-like grip of Microsoft's aquisitions department when they bought Bungie (which would have released a great game for the G4/nVidia/OSX platform along with Q3 and RTCW).
For the above reasons I feel it is a bad game.

amp

Originally posted by DRakE
SUPER MONKEY BALL.

Originally posted by amp
I can say it's one of the best games to play in a living room with beer.

Deadwing

Well one thing i dont think any of us can deny, is that Halo saved the Xbox's ass in that shaky first year. I doubt the Xbox would have sold quite as much if it werent for the master chief.
On a side note, all this talk of halo convinced me to buy it for the P.C. (with a 20euro voucher, of course) Suhweeeeeet!

Ronaldo7

didnt like it.

Cant pinpoint why exactly i didnt. Its just too boring...i hated all those monsters.

monument

Originally posted by DRakE
SUPER MONKEY BALL.

Halo, then the above, and a few bottles (one per person) of buck fast before going out - that was some night.

The Library, among some of the other later missions in the singler player game got repetitive. However, the same can be said for Halflife and other FPS.

For PC multiplayer - although I like both - Battlefield 1942 is a different type of experience, while BF is mostly large scale maps, more like real warfare – capturing points etc…, Halo is a bit more light-hearted and is some where between BF and older types of FPSers.

muffen

I hate Halo on the xbox.. 3D shooters aren't good on consoles, they should be played online with a mouse and keyboard. And... looking at the PC, there are many 3D shooters that are better than Halo, multiplayer atleast.

Halo might be good singleplayer. I've never really played it by myself, but in the end I prefer playing online.

My opinion anyways...

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

Big Chief

Originally posted by Deadwing
Halo was out a helluva long time before BF1942

wasnt out before operation flashpoint though which implemented the vehicles which were fun in multiplayer (tanks, helicopter, planes etc..)

Retr0gamer

i've mixed opinions about Halo. The first half of the game was great but when you had to do levels like the library and then go through levels a second time it got quite boring. However I'd call it a great game for the time that you play the first half of the game. You'll come back and play those levels again and they last longer than your average Kojima game. Multiplayer was good crack. Also it was the best example of a FPS since Half Life and Deus Ex. The PC FPS games before it were terrible and repetitive crap. Halo was the best FPS money could buy until Metroid Prime came out and is still probably the best game on the xbox.

mrblue

I've played numerous PC shooters, & only the best can stand up next to Halo. I agree that the game tales off & doesn't last long enough, but the pure goodness of Assault on the Control Room on co-op play makes this one of the greatest shooters available.

Don't slag this game, although it has been overhyped like crazy it is at its heart a gem, & a game that nearly never got made. Be thankful for games of this quality!

DrEvil

i think halo is a quite good console FPS but it is very overhyped and not as revolutionary as some people like to think.
the graphics and the coop play were very good but overall nothing special in gameplay terms compared to console FPSs before it.

Quake2 on the PS and Red Faction on PS2 were much better for their time IMO.
quake 2 as far as i can remember introduced the dual analog control system which is found in all console FPS today and Red Faction had vehicles(which were good) and also u could blow up any wall you liked(almost). after playing them 2 before halo i was never really blown away by it. Also another good FPS was half life on PS2 it was a perfect recreation of the PC version and u could use a keyboard and mouse so it seemed exactly like the PC also had a good 2 player coop which required players 2 work together 2 progress. All i'm saying is that halo is good but nothing special

Lucutus

I like Halo PC because...

...out of the box, it's multiplayer is easy to get into, there's no configuring the game for hours just to get online and play. It's a lowest common denominator FPS game, anyone can install it and be in a game on a level footing with other players online in minutes.

The only other game with fun vehicles was Tribes 2, much superior game than Halo, especially teamplay-wise, but unfortunatly, Sierra screwed us over with that one, too many crashes, configuring, downloading of patches etc.

Singleplayer Halo was good up until the point where the game started to double back over all the the same levels, but with different nme's 'egg things' to kill. I stopped there and then, just didn't have the heart to go on. Someone in Bungie has some explaining to do. :mad:

Anyway, I agree, it is over-rated, but the online multiplayer, it's a great 'starter game'.

Luc

[DF]Lenny

Having played PC games for many years i have to say Halo is the most overrated,overhyped game in years.Not even a decent Multiplayer mode can save it.Complete waste of 40 euro.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

User45701

I went for a all nighter some time ago and i had the choice of playing CS or Halo So i played halo for a short time but to me it was not that good CS was much better.

My First FPS love with units was CnC Renegade and i believe Renegade is much better than Halo - Howeaver I can see why people would play it.

honru

Originally posted by smiaras
PC gamers should understand that the hype attributed to Halo stems from the console version, which compared to other console FPS is peerless.

Damn straight.

Sure when Half Life was originally released on the PS2 its reception was lukewarm at best.

Retr0gamer

My First FPS love with units was CnC Renegade and i believe Renegade is much better than Halo - Howeaver I can see why people would play it.

C&C Renegade = Pure dire (mp was kinda fun)

That is all

po0k

Originally posted by mrblue
I've played numerous PC shooters, & only the best can stand up next to Halo.

.....
I've played pretty much every PC FPS I could lay my hands on in the last 2 years, and I wouldn't rate Halo as anything special.
Here's a few that kick it around the place:
QW
Q3
Deus Ex
Half-Life
Deus Ex
N.O.L.F.
Delta Force
Operation Flashpoint
Battlefield 1942
Aliens Vs. Predator
Jedi Knight series
Unreal Tournament
Planetside (Halo, only better, and MMP)
Hitman series
Mechwarrior series
System Shock series

I agree that the game tales off & doesn't last long enough, but the pure goodness of Assault on the Control Room on co-op play makes this one of the greatest shooters available.

Co-op is pretty much the only thing it has going for it.
More FPSes (PC and console alike) should use this feature to it's full extent. If you have a SP and MP element why not bring the two together and have Co-Op too?
The doubling-back smacks of Bungie getting lazy, running out of combinations for the handful of different terrain map blocks (seemed there was about 4 types of hills and a few variations of the same boulders).

Don't slag this game, although it has been overhyped like crazy it is at its heart a gem, & a game that nearly never got made. Be thankful for games of this quality!

It should have been released years ago, and it really feels dated. It was yet another case of Mac gamers (a much-maligned breed indeed - keep chasing that rainbow guys!) coming close to having what everyone else has long taken for granted, but was snatched away by MS to float it's console in the market.
Shameless.

The game is mediocre to average at best if you look at it objectively, comparing it against the best available today, or 2 years ago (on any platform).

mrblue

I have played nearly all of the games on your list. I don't think you can really compare Half life & Deux Ex. Halo is more action orientated. They are all good, but for the most part I think that the action in Halo is about as good as you will find offline on a console. As a matter of personal preference, I would take it above the stellar AAA PC shooters on account of its enormous replayability (is that a word?) & the excellent co-op mode. But hey, diversity is the spice of life. Just be glad that shooters like Halo, Deus Ex, Half life & soon Doom III, Half life 2, Halo 2 etc are still being made in this era of main stream gaming mediocrity.

mrblue

Oh, and by the way I think gamespot disagree with you:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/halo/index.html

i_am_dogboy

Originally posted by mrblue
main stream gaming mediocrity.

Thats exactly the category halo falls into as far as pc fps's are concerned. It's not action oriented-it's dumb. I'm actually starting to dislike the game because of this thread. Half life was incredibly clever in it's action sequences, as was no one lives forever. And why bother reference gamespot on the matter, does anyone care how good some journalist thinks a game is?

User45701

I Dont belive in other people reviews of games

monument

Originally posted by i_am_dogboy
Thats exactly the category halo falls into as far as pc fps's are concerned. It's not action oriented-it's dumb. I'm actually starting to dislike the game because of this thread. Half life was incredibly clever in it's action sequences, as was no one lives forever. And why bother reference gamespot on the matter, does anyone care how good some journalist thinks a game is?

Halo is a different type of game play to other FPS, most have similarities and differences.
When I want to play Halo or Battlefield or CS is just like whether I want to hear U2 or the Frames or the Walls.

Agreed about posting to just a link to Gamespot – a review is an opinion of one critic (journalist).

What’s wrong with some/most reviews is that the opinion can be far too bias, ill-informed, or the review in generally can turn into more of a press release then an opinion. (Or even, people taking irrelevant things into account like “I'm actually starting to dislike the game because of this thread”.)

Saying Halo is either rubbish or brilliant are opinions, it’s like fighting over two songs, books, plays, or films – it’s down to taste. (Reviews should take this into account)

mrblue

You are all very stupid people & you do not know anything.

I'm not saying that you should hold THE SAME opinion as gamespot, but it does lend credence to my point that Halo is rather good, & certaintly not as poo as you are all making out.

Giblet

That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

Gamespot know better than ME about what games I like?

Jesus Christ, if they think a game with four enemies in it with two types of terrain, and rubbish weapons, is the pinnicle of games, then I don't think Gamespot has any "credence"

It's console fodder, even the PC game feels like a console game. AI my ass, the enemies aren't intelligent, they just take a long time to aim at with a controller. Believe me, on the PC, this game is a walk-over.

[DF]Lenny

Look Mr Blue ,I have played Games in general since my zx81 days,literally 1000's of titles,and experience does count for a lot.Halo suffered a lot in its PC launch 'cos of the dreadfull delays and crappy frame rates in interior sections.I played it quite a bit on x-box a year or so ago and in general found it a good quick blast,a plot thats laughable,decent mp mode but nothing that has'nt been done many times before.Unlike Half-life,Unreal,Quake..how many people will be playing Halo in 4-5 years..And less of the Insults

BlitzKrieg

Heres a variation on my question


Is Halo sooo Good that it justifies on its own buying an x-box?


Is this game worth the 150+ price tag of an x-box controllers and the single game (and possibly its sequel at a later date)


cause thats what i hear as the only justification of buying an x-box...


(which is useless now if u have a pc)

_CreeD_

There's no game on the planet that justifies buying the console to play it, so nope. But the folks you'll hear saying it's the only reason to get get an Xbox are those that don't own one. Obvious really but still often overlooked, each console has a style of game associated with it and many gravitate reasonably exclusively to those styles, and love to vocally shun the other platforms (Xbox heads included).
The Xbox has many great games, though listing them would be pointless as it would incite another 'That's crap, this on console B or the PC was much better' load of crap. Fact is it has practically all the major titles coming out these days for each console and it usually does them better (have a look at sites that do multi platform reviews folks and you will see this isn't just my opinion). It's a great machine with some great games, just do some checking around to see if the style of games available are what you want to play (eg. if I was a platform game nut I'd go with the GC, crazy into Jap RPG's then a PS2, anything else Xbox...imho of course).

User45701

I personley am not a fan of consoles.

Pc`s are best for FPS and Stratagy

consoles have allot of racing/sport games which im not big into so i have seen no nead for a console in a long time

I do howeaver own a mega drive and a N64 - i bought the N64 for goldeneye so

Originally posted by _CreeD_
There's no game on the planet that justifies buying the console to play it,

Have to disagree with u on that i would say the N64 was worth buying just for goldeneye.

po0k

Originally posted by mrblue
I have played nearly all of the games on your list. I don't think you can really compare Half life & Deux Ex. Halo is more action orientated.

For an "action" game I thought it was pretty slow and dull.
Sorry.
Slow as treacle, especially on the XBox. Though that's mainly down to the controller.
Even on the PC with a keyboard and mouse it still felt sluggish compared to Half-life's feeling of immersion and the tactility of the environments.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto was a far more enjoyable game.

They are all good, but for the most part I think that the action in Halo is about as good as you will find offline on a console.

That's not saying much tbh, and I have to disagree.
Though that might be down to us having differing definitions of "action".

As a matter of personal preference, I would take it above the stellar AAA PC shooters on account of its enormous replayability (is that a word?)

THen you sir are missing out on a hell of a lot better SP experiences.
And Halo is not replayable, given the same difficulty level. It started to feel like a chore about an hour into it.

& the excellent co-op mode.

That is about the only thing that would tempt me to pick it up if I was after coming in from the pub with a few mates.

But hey, diversity is the spice of life. Just be glad that shooters like Halo, Deus Ex, Half life & soon Doom III, Half life 2, Halo 2 etc are still being made in this era of main stream gaming mediocrity.

Halo is a fudge of gaming genres.
there is not one single original idea I can see in it.
And several "borrowed" ideas have been done better.
ie, the inability to switch seats in the warthog without having to get out and plod around it.
Halo is the definition of "mainstream gaming mediocrity".
Why have soiled potato sacks when you can have the supple skin of a newborn?