Halo 3 Multiplayer - The Elephant in the Room

[Dahemo]

...Is Halo 3 simply for the hardcore kids?

It may just be me, but hardcore and casual seem to need some serious defining. Ninja Gaiden 2 on master ninja is hardcore because it's like trying to navigate a tundra during a blizzard, while naked and blind. Every Halo game to date however, doesn't even have a proper crosshair. No fps where you can't actually aim properly could possible be hardcore, to a sane mind. The game is literally designed for fps noobs (sorry, deliberatly designed to be accessible to the masses).

Anyway that seems like a digression. I get the feeling you meant hardcore as in, 'Spend all their time playing'. In which case, Halo isn't exclusivly for those people any more so than any other game of its type.

Actually by hardcore I was referring to that unusual group that covers Bungie/Halo fanboys, clans who see themselves as professional, and those whose involvement with the game makes the term secondary occupation appropriate.

I felt, as did many who loved the first two, that Bungie had rather phoned it in on the final installment. I was robbed of the epic nature of the first two games, and while it starts brightly it really sputters across the line. The phenomenal writing was gone, as was the ingenuity we found in the second game. I genuinely believe that Bungie made a very self-congratulatory game that the die-hards will love, but those of us who loved the first two but were unwilling to take anything below jaw dropping brilliance for the denoument were kicked in the teeth.

But yes, Ninja Gaiden is the very definition of Hardcore Gaming, though I was referring to the hardcore of Gamers.

 

[Crushed Fate]

, is Halo 3 simply for the hardcore kids?

No, but like any FPS when you get really good at it on multiplayer ordinary people just can't keep up. I played a lot of Counterstrike at Uni, way back when it was just a mod for Half Life not a seperate game, and I got good at it. We never noticed how good we got because we (me and the other dozen or so guys who played it) were always playing against each other. Then 'bang', a new year starts and a new set of students joins the course. These guys were experienced PC FPS players, but me and another guy played two on seven and kicked there asses from here to right over there. It's not that they were bad, it's just that we were really good.

FPS's seem to be that way. Such is the way of some multiplayer games, not everything can be Mega Bomberman.

 

[shatnershaman]

Actually by hardcore I was referring to that unusual group that covers Bungie/Halo fanboys, clans who see themselves as professional

There are Bungie Fanboys? Didn't know Gnop! was that popular.

So Str8rippin and Final Boss aren't professional?

 

[Crunchy English]

I don't think Halo 3 is anything special. It was a very good, very accessible shooter. Playing 4 player LAN deathmatch is great and there is a certain level of skill and knowledge necessary to play competitively. But the controls are pretty basic at the core. Jump, shoot, grenade and strafe. Get that down and you'll do fine.

I don't think anyone here is trying to say the game lived up to the hype. Gamefuel, are you kidding me? But lots of games don't. Bioshock is my favourite game of all time, it's an absolute marvel of the industry and it still fell short of the hype in at least 3 or 4 places. Especially AI.

The point of contention seems to be, is it HARDCORE. And uh, yes, it is.
That's not by design though. The trouble with putting an intensely accessible and popular game on Xbox Live and giving it great support is it creates a certain breed of player who, whether it's by addiction or ultra-competitiveness, raises the stakes for anyone who wants to play online. 4 friends can still pick it up play for just a couple hours and I promise that eventually everyone will even out. My girlfriend started off barely managing to kill me once in a 25 frag round. Now it's a 1 kill fight almost everytime and she only plays once or twice a month, just with me.

 

[Mistah Kurtz]

Yeah, a lot of stuff doesn't make any sense, and their valid arguments. I shot you in the back of the head with 10 rounds from the AR, you shouldn't be doing anything besides laying dead twitching, not turning around and blasting me with you're rocket launcher.

If you seriously think this is a good argument, I wonder if you actually enjoy the games that exist out there. The games existing out there that you can really call realistic is minimal. And I am thankful for that, because frankly, I find most realistic games most sports games much more boring than say the ssx series. And I often find shooters that tries to be realistic boring, even if most of then aren't anyway. The only games I can say Ive enjoyed that can be called realistic at the same time is cod 4 and the swat series.

Before anyone turns around and calls me a bad player, or that I don't get it, I'll just let you know that after playing a month (I've never touched Halo 1 or 2, maybe that's why I don't get the story), I reached Colonel before deciding the game was boring.

Your whole post make you sound an awful like someone who doesn't like to use punctuations.

And haven't wee been through mentioning all games that are better than halo countless times by now?

Your entire post was filled with spelling/grammar errors, and then you topped it off by mocking somebody's [sic]"Puncuations"?

Exactly how stupid are you and how much undeserved praise have you received from your deluded parents?

 

[Gormers1]

Your entire post was filled with spelling/grammar errors, and then you topped it off by mocking somebody's [sic]"Puncuations"?

Exactly how stupid are you and how much undeserved praise have you received from your deluded parents?

Actually, I was insinuating that he told just about the same yahtsee has said about halo, not that he didn't use punctuations. And I know that this isn't the best excuse but I don't speak English as my mother tongue and I live in Norway. And personally, I'm not a person who think grammar is that important when posting on forums.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

For me, Halo always has been and probably will be an inferior product to it's competition. When the first Halo came out, I was playing PC games and console games evenly, but my only system for FPS titles was PC. Mouse and Keyboard will always be a more precise and comfortable control scheme them controller for an FPS title, and when you look at what was available for PC compared to Halo at the time, Halo did nothing new. What it DID do, was bring a polished, though not revolutionary, FPS to the XBOX, which was something dreadfully lacking on that system at the time. Halo is a story of how much marketing means in the industry. Market it right, and any game can be a hit as long as it isn't extremely buggy and has little competition.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

I was robbed of the epic nature of the first two games, and while it starts brightly it really sputters across the line. The phenomenal writing was gone, as was the ingenuity we found in the second game.

I have played all three Halo games, and while I don't like attacking people on forums or starting opinionated arguments, I am genuinely curious as to where in any of the Halo games you found anything Epic, phenomenal in the writing, and what was ingenuous about them? This is not an attack on you or the game, but a actual question.

 

[shatnershaman]

I have played all three Halo games, and while I don't like attacking people on forums or starting opinionated arguments, I am genuinely curious as to where in any of the Halo games you found anything Epic, phenomenal in the writing, and what was ingenuous about them? This is not an attack on you or the game, but a actual question.

Epic-Master Chief,Halo 1 Pistol,Sword,Scarab,MULTIPLAYER,Halo 2 graphics,works with gamepad

Writing-the universe they created,Covenant's religon

Ingenous-A good Console FPS,Campaign co-op,excellent multiplayer,"30 seconds of fun"

 

[PxDn Ninja]

I have played all three Halo games, and while I don't like attacking people on forums or starting opinionated arguments, I am genuinely curious as to where in any of the Halo games you found anything Epic, phenomenal in the writing, and what was ingenuous about them? This is not an attack on you or the game, but a actual question.

Epic-Master Chief,Halo 1 Pistol,Sword,Scarab,MULTIPLAYER,Halo 2 graphics,works with gamepad

Writing-the universe they created,Covenant's religon

Ingenous-A good Console FPS,Campaign co-op,excellent multiplayer,"30 seconds of fun"

Master Chief isn't an epic character, though I guess considering his console competition at the time he might be considered as such. The pistol in Halo 1 isn't epic, it's a gun. (Epic here meaning beyond scale. JRR Tolkien or Star Wars Epic). Same for the Sword and Scarab. (Besides, wasn't the first game with a sword, or even the best.) As for Multiplayer, that had been done and perfected already.

The Writing was substandard in my opinion. The universe wasn't that grand, due to scope limitations I would assume, and the Covenant, while interesting, aren't what I would consider outstanding. I will say they were fleshed out nicely though.

Being a good console FPS and having solid multiplayer (if you consider it to be either, I do not) does not constitute being ingenious. The level design is bland with a lot of reused locations and such (heavy in the first one, but they got better as two and three were released). The guns were nothing creative (Covenant had some semi interesting designs, but nothing ingenious). When you make a game, you want to be good, and if you put multiplayer in it, you want it to be good as well. That's just design, not ingenious.

 

[shatnershaman]

Master Chief isn't an epic character, though I guess considering his console competition at the time he might be considered as such. The pistol in Halo 1 isn't epic, it's a gun. (Epic here meaning beyond scale. JRR Tolkien or Star Wars Epic). Same for the Sword and Scarab. (Besides, wasn't the first game with a sword, or even the best.) As for Multiplayer, that had been done and perfected already.

The Writing was substandard in my opinion. The universe wasn't that grand, due to scope limitations I would assume, and the Covenant, while interesting, aren't what I would consider outstanding. I will say they were fleshed out nicely though.

Being a good console FPS and having solid multiplayer (if you consider it to be either, I do not) does not constitute being ingenious. The level design is bland with a lot of reused locations and such (heavy in the first one, but they got better as two and three were released). The guns were nothing creative (Covenant had some semi interesting designs, but nothing ingenious). When you make a game, you want to be good, and if you put multiplayer in it, you want it to be good as well. That's just design, not ingenious.

Don't ask the question if you can't accept the answer.

 

[mGoLos]

I haven't tried it, but as I understand it there's no problem with cheaters using wallhack or aimbot like in CS:Source so it seems like a jolly time if you like mediocrity and zero choice in character and style ... but at least it's fair.

I think Team Fortress 2 is as good as it gets and you never feel like a noob because even if you can't shoot you still have medic and spy to play with. Only problem so far is when the achievement packs come out and everyone starts grinding them furiously. Heavy pack now and I'm not touching my steam for at least two weeks while everyone and his mom gets the new minigun ... lame!

 

[PxDn Ninja]

To ShatnerShaman: What? That's it, that is your support for your answer? No explanation of your thoughts? By your answer, why can't you accept that Halo isn't an epic game that does nothing but present a standard shooter to the market? At least I have explained my reasons.

 

[shatnershaman]

To ShatnerShaman: What? That's it, that is your support for your answer? No explanation of your thoughts? By your answer, why can't you accept that Halo isn't an epic game that does nothing but present a standard shooter to the market? At least I have explained my reasons.

You ask the question and then say why I'm wrong. Why did you ask the Question in the first place if you where going to do that? It opinion.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

To ShatnerShaman: What? That's it, that is your support for your answer? No explanation of your thoughts? By your answer, why can't you accept that Halo isn't an epic game that does nothing but present a standard shooter to the market? At least I have explained my reasons.

You ask the question and then say why I'm wrong. Why did you ask the Question in the first place if you where going to do that? It opinion.

I never said you were wrong, I said why I felt those were not in fact epic, ingenious, and excellent story. Basically, I am sharing the REASON for my opinion instead of just spouting out the community standard for this game. Hell, I halfway agreed that the Covenant story was interesting, just I don't feel it was up to that level of quality for excellent storytelling. Perhaps you have reasons that I haven't thought of, instead of just having a "It's this way, deal with it." kind of attitude.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

To ShatnerShaman: What? That's it, that is your support for your answer? No explanation of your thoughts? By your answer, why can't you accept that Halo isn't an epic game that does nothing but present a standard shooter to the market? At least I have explained my reasons.

You look at the surface of the water, and complain it is too shallow. How can you tell unless you've looked at its depths?

You define Halo as not-epic, but have you looked beyond the graphics and the surface story? Do you know why the Covenant are as they are? Do you know why the Rings are there but the Forerunner are not? And do you know why it's absolutely essential to the plot of the series that the action on Earth takes place near Mt. Kilimanjaro, and why the 100,000 year figure isn't picked just because it's lolheug? I think the back story for the series easily qualifies as epic, and I've been poking into it for five years now.

Add in the larger battles of the first and third games, with the characteristic three-way fight often found in the set-pieces, and I think it qualifies as epic. The imagery and sound help there, too.

You are of course free to disagree with my opinion... but not, in my opinion, to dismiss it because you disagree with it.

-- Steve

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

Halo 3 multiplayer is awesome. I know that it's not the most innovative or anything like that but it is just unlimited fun when you're playing with friends.