Halo?

[shadow77110]

What is so good about this game? I rented a Xbox a few years ago with Halo and I didn't play much of it but I wasn't blown away by it. Why do people rave about it so much?

[goemon]

Because they love that stage in the Library where you spend two hours following an annoying flying ball and getting killed by the squidleys.

[ubersaurus]

What is so good about this game? I rented a Xbox a few years ago with Halo and I didn't play much of it but I wasn't blown away by it. Why do people rave about it so much?

First really good console FPS.

One of the first games to do vehicles properly. Interesting storyline to delve into if you want to. Excellent multiplayer-and on that note, the first console game to really make console LAN gaming worth a damn.

Most of all, the game is just really, really fun.

[Vectorman0]

I think it is held so high for a few reasons. One is that it is a very polished game that rarely shows a flaw in programming or design. I think this makes any game shine and in this case it helps it alot. There are plenty of other games like this, but this makes it shine and puts it above the rest. It also has has great multiplayer. I would say the core of the game lies in the multiplayer (versus and cooperative), and if you haven't played this than you haven't fully experienced the game.

That being said, I can see where you are coming from in feeling this game is over-rated and as much as I like the game, I feel the same way. I know my explanation sucks, but for some reason I really enjoy this game. I guess it's just fun. (I've only done single player a couple times, though I have put many hours into the multiplayer modes)

[shoes23]

I actually just aquired an Xbox about a month ago (up until then I had not played a single game on the black box), and Halo was the first game I beat on it. Really miles away from anything that the Gamecube or PS2 could pull off. I thought that it lived up to most of the hype that I had heard about. I wasn't expecting to love it, but I walked away impressed. It gave me that same feeling I got playing Wolfenstein 3D or Doom for the first times. In the designers interview on the Platinum Hits version, the developer claimed that it is, "30 seconds of fun repeated over and over again...". I absolutely agree.

[BHvrd]

I would say you have to be an adrenaline junky and a bit masochistic. Cause honestly blowing my way through an onslaught of covenant, strapping grenades, gun butting, and driving over their dead corpses with sweet guitar rifts playing was just great fun to me.

Honestly though you gotta go at this game and don't stop. The musical score of the original Halo was tops. The cues were always at the right time to get you pumped up for a nice battle.

Also one of the first truely good physics games. Me and my friends would just play warthog head-on duels for hours. One time I went flying so high you wouldn't believe, we laughed our balls off. It was remarkable stuff.

Halo 2 sucked cause the environments were limited, the physics were limited, the music was nowhere near as cool, the story was just boring, and it just felt generic compared to the first one. Ok you could hijack vehicles that was like the only cool thing.

The "first" Halo will always be remembered as a great gaming moment for me.

[XxHennersXx]

What is so good about this game? I rented a Xbox a few years ago with Halo and I didn't play much of it but I wasn't blown away by it. Why do people rave about it so much?

the mutiplayer. I never liked the single player campaign much...but the mutiplayer was great. the levels were balanced, and it had awesome vehciels and the weapons were great.

the single player was slightly above mediocre but the sole reason it lived on past that was the mutiplayer.

[udisi]

This is not the first time I've heard the idea that Halo wasn't all that great. I think the reason I hear it is because it's a FPS. There are lots of people who arn't big on FPS's and if you don't like FPS's all that much, Halo is just gonna seem like another FPS. Those who like FPS's see how much better Halo is over any other FPS.

[kedawa]

sticky grenades

[jajaja]

Probly most because of the online multiplayer back from Halo 1, Halo 2 to follow. People loved it and they hope that Halo 3 will be just as cool :)

[tmc]

ubersaurus: ''first really good console FPS''!!

Goldeneye anyone???

[MasterJSP]

In the designers interview on the Platinum Hits version, the developer claimed that it is, "30 seconds of fun repeated over and over again...". I absolutely agree.

I remember seeing that too. When he said that, I thought to myself, "Congratulations. You just made your game sound bad."

I didn't care much for Halo either, really. Mostly because I'm not a big fan of FPS games in general, even though the fact that I have to play Halo with a dual analog controller doesn't help one bit.

I also don't buy into games that take a 30-second formula and loop it over and over (the only exception I can think of is the minigame Beetlemania from Super Mario RPG, which is only 5 seconds of fun loop infinitely).

And in reality, Halo as an FPS doesn't hold a candle to real FPSs like Quake or Half-Life.

[njiska]

Because they love that stage in the Library where you spend two hours following an annoying flying ball and getting killed by the squidleys.

Fuck 343 Guilty Spark.

[bangtango]

What is so good about this game? I rented a Xbox a few years ago with Halo and I didn't play much of it but I wasn't blown away by it. Why do people rave about it so much?

So you waited a few years to ask this question or have you played it again since renting it originally? I never played Halo until 2006 and it was much better than I expected.

[klausien]

Halo is a bit overrated, but those who hate on it are foolish. Unlike another mega hit with 3 in the title, it is actually a well-designed game. The reuse of stages in the first game is a bit irritating, as is a certain Warthog sequence, but overall, there is really a lot to like about Halo. The weapons are fun, graphics are excellent, and the soundtrack truly enhances the experience.

It's interesting that the game enjoyed such widespread popularity considering the learning curve with dual analog controls. It takes practice. Turok may have started it years ago, but Halo broke this control method to the mainstream.

I am not a big multiplayer FPS guy (burned out on GoldenEye years ago), so the campaign was my focus. It is textbook sci-fi, but it is engaging enough to make the campaign worth it. The two Halo games are the only FPS's I've ever cared to finish. That says quite a bit.

Anyone who makes negative comments about Halo, but hasn't really played it, has no credibility.

[roushimsx]

Those who like FPS's see how much better Halo is over any other FPS.

Grossly incorrect.

Halo was above average (and at times, downright good), but its certainly not one of the "best evar". Its reputation stems from the fact that it is highly polished and for millions of gamers, it very well may have been their first FPS since Goldeneye that they remember liking (or loving). The graphics were fantastic, the musical score was top notch, and it did an awesome job of making console LAN gaming popular with multiplayer that anyone that'd enjoy multiplayer would dig (hell, I don't much care for stock multiplayer modes but I enjoyed it)....but the single player was just so god damn spotty.

I am happy as hell that Bungie finally got that mass market hit they've always deserved to have, though. Those guys never seemed to get enough love and it's nice to finally see them considered a top tier developer from someone other than the small population of people that were silly enough to want to play games on macs.

You know, I STILL haven't played Halo 2 (I've been waiting to get a 360 before I played through the single player), but I've heard the single player in that was really lackluster, too :( Halo 3 promises to be a lot better in that regard and I wish it were possible to get the second bonus disc outside of the XXXXXTREME COLLECTORZ EDITIN 4 PLAYAZ SET NIGGAH! box. Hell, I'll pay $10-$15 for that disc alone in a paper sleeve, but I'm not paying the markup for a silly little helmet to fit on my bobblehead baseball figures.

....oh wait....hmmmm....maybe that's not such a bad idea....


Anyone who makes negative comments about Halo, but hasn't really played it, has no credibility.

Quoted for truth and also because it applies to pretty much everything, not just Halo. Antifanbois (people that shit on it just because it's popular and have never played it) are just as bad as fanbois (who love it just because it's popular).

[Kid Ice]

To me it's a low stress FPS. Ever get in one of those moods where you just don't feel like getting killed anymore, and you just want to check out graphics and levels and stuff? Halo's your game.

[ubersaurus]

ubersaurus: ''first really good console FPS''!!

Goldeneye anyone???

Goldeneye was fun, but it had some pretty obvious flaws(most of all that the multiplayer was practically bullet hosing!)

I mean, I love the game, but Halo multiplayer shit all over it.

[goldenaxeboy]

Well get ready for halo 3 go 360.

[RPG_Fanatic]

Halo 1,2 is the only FPS i've ever liked. I liked it so much i bought the Halo limited ed. xbox (my first xbox) when it came out.

[swlovinist]

I want to fist comment that I am pretty dissapointed with Microsoft, and dont really like hardly and FPS games other than the occasional Goldeneye, and some Dark Forces Jedi Knight. Then there is Halo 1 and 2. I feel that these games strike a fine balance between multiplayer and story mode, not to mention tons and tons of customization. Halo 2 is the only game that I have put 3700 multiplayer games to have come out in the last ten years. I can play the game in 15 minute bursts(great for before work), I can play the game with friends, and most of all, I can STILL play the game on my 360(which looks great by the way). I actually have almost worn out my Halo 2 disc. I dont care for many other current FPS, but I feel that Halo has such a huge following because it is different, most of all...it is on a console and it is a FPS that does not suck. I admit that I used to be on of the people that hated Halo...before I played it alot. Like some other games, this one grew on me and it took some time playing it(like over hours on end).

[CYRiX]

Probably because it is considered to have the greatest multiplayer ever for a fps. and think about it, name atleast one game from 2001 or earlier that has the same graphics and gameplay as it, you can't, there is no other comparison.

[shadow77110]

This is not the first time I've heard the idea that Halo wasn't all that great. I think the reason I hear it is because it's a FPS. There are lots of people who arn't big on FPS's and if you don't like FPS's all that much, Halo is just gonna seem like another FPS. Those who like FPS's see how much better Halo is over any other FPS.

I like FPS's but I think the problem with me was the controller. I love some PC FPS's (Wolf 3D, Doom, Half-Life, UT2004), maybe I should go and buy Halo 1 for PC one day.

[Hwj_Chim]

I was board with Halo before the shooting even started. I mean when has a murderthon needed a story. When I play a fps I want to be killing within 5 minutes or less. I will take Serious SAM over Halo any day.

[SaturnFan]

You would've had to play it when Halo first came out to understand why it's so great. You played Halo a couple years ago and the game was already 4 years old.

Halo had a great story and everything was memorable about it, expecially the last level. Fighting with your marines was awesome and for once the A.I. was smart in games. Plus you could drive vechicals on the fly. Everything was great about Halo.

[shoes23]

You would've had to play it when Halo first came out to understand why it's so great. You played Halo a couple years ago and the game was already 4 years old.



Not true, if you read my post above, I just played it for the first time about a month ago and I thought that it was fantastic. A great game isn't lessened by time. Being on a retro gaming board I'm sure people could pipe in with hundreds of games on classic consoles that are still as fun to play as when they were first released.

[roushimsx]

I like FPS's but I think the problem with me was the controller. I love some PC FPS's (Wolf 3D, Doom, Half-Life, UT2004), maybe I should go and buy Halo 1 for PC one day.

When the PC port of Halo rolled out, it had some shitty unique bugs (like hitbox issues) that weren't present in the console version. Not sure if they cleaned 'em all up by now, but if so then I'd say go for it. Otherwise, the Xbox version is perfectly playable even for someone who typically doesn't play with gamepads.

[shadow77110]

When the PC port of Halo rolled out, it had some shitty unique bugs (like hitbox issues) that weren't present in the console version. Not sure if they cleaned 'em all up by now, but if so then I'd say go for it. Otherwise, the Xbox version is perfectly playable even for someone who typically doesn't play with gamepads.

I don't have an Xbox or a 360 anyway, so PC is the only way for me except buying an Xbox but I'm not keen on buying it for one game.

[kedawa]

Most of the gamers I know that hate Halo are PC gamers who had already played better FPS games by the time Halo came out, hate playing with anything other than kb&m, and were disappointed with the shoddy pc port. If I had played Half-Life, Deus Ex, System Shock, Tribes, etc. before playing Halo, I would probably have felt the same way, but I've always been primarily a console gamer, and Halo really blew me away. My only real complaints are that piles of loose grenades can't be detonated in multiplayer the way they can in single player, and there isn't any sort of single player other than the main campaign. It would have been nice to have bots and a 'sandbox' mode of some sort.


I don't have an Xbox or a 360 anyway, so PC is the only way for me except buying an Xbox but I'm not keen on buying it for one game.

There is a demo for PC, so you may as well give it a shot

[NinjaJoey23]

I loved Halo for the story. I'm not sure why exactly, but it really sucked me in. I began to love the gameplay because of the story. When I was in highschool, I kept a television and router in my car at all times, as to easily have impromptu Halo sessions with my friends.

Plus, I like the dual-joystick FPS setup more than I EVER liked the keyboard/mouse computer deal.