Pff, Halo. Let's dig a little deeper into Bungie's past, shall we?
Marathon 2 - I played this before playing the original Marathon and it's still one of my favorite games, story- and character-wise, for Durandal. You think GLaDOS is bad? Try working for this bastard.
I was grabbed as early as the second terminal message in the game's concluding message:
"You should encounter little organized
resistance because the Pfhor are
preoccupied.
I've been introducing them to the magic of
orbital bombardment."
Yeah, this is not an AI I want to piss off. Portal's fun, but it doesn't create an atmosphere I could live in the way Marathon does.
Everquest - the original, not EQ2. Similar to the folks who mentioned Tomb Raider above, just getting out in the open world the first time, seeing how big it was...exploration is my favorite drug, and I had a LOT of exploring to do. When I got tired of the grind and gave up on the game, this same interest was reignited (with greater enjoyment) in WoW until the same problem arose: saw everything I could see, nothing left to interest me. Still, loved them during the honeymoon period and I still have fond memories.
Left 4 Dead - I'm not sure exactly when I really knew this game was going to stick on my computer as a permanent fixture. If I had to guess, though, I'd have to say it was at the end of the intro movie: "Son, we just crossed the street." Hey, Bill's right, man - looong way to go.
It's a pity the sequel's never had that same grip on me. I know, I know, it's a little thing, but the cast of the first game just...I don't know exactly. I just like them more. I actually care about saving them. In the sequel I'm typically more frustrated by the AI's bad pathing/priorities and their general lack of interesting character traits; I could care less about going back to save Coach from the hunter raking him up, but if it was Bill, I'd be hauling ass back there to get him on his feet. They're just less complete than the original cast. But hey, personal preference.
Marathon 2 - I played this before playing the original Marathon and it's still one of my favorite games, story- and character-wise, for Durandal. You think GLaDOS is bad? Try working for this bastard.
I was grabbed as early as the second terminal message in the game's concluding message:
"You should encounter little organized
resistance because the Pfhor are
preoccupied.
I've been introducing them to the magic of
orbital bombardment."
Yeah, this is not an AI I want to piss off. Portal's fun, but it doesn't create an atmosphere I could live in the way Marathon does.
Everquest - the original, not EQ2. Similar to the folks who mentioned Tomb Raider above, just getting out in the open world the first time, seeing how big it was...exploration is my favorite drug, and I had a LOT of exploring to do. When I got tired of the grind and gave up on the game, this same interest was reignited (with greater enjoyment) in WoW until the same problem arose: saw everything I could see, nothing left to interest me. Still, loved them during the honeymoon period and I still have fond memories.
Left 4 Dead - I'm not sure exactly when I really knew this game was going to stick on my computer as a permanent fixture. If I had to guess, though, I'd have to say it was at the end of the intro movie: "Son, we just crossed the street." Hey, Bill's right, man - looong way to go.
It's a pity the sequel's never had that same grip on me. I know, I know, it's a little thing, but the cast of the first game just...I don't know exactly. I just like them more. I actually care about saving them. In the sequel I'm typically more frustrated by the AI's bad pathing/priorities and their general lack of interesting character traits; I could care less about going back to save Coach from the hunter raking him up, but if it was Bill, I'd be hauling ass back there to get him on his feet. They're just less complete than the original cast. But hey, personal preference.
