Halo is now underrated

[Eagle Est1986]

Bioshock has a good story, how can you use that as an example?

 

[BladesofReason]

I played the first Halo and played through it, acknowledging it for what it was; a way to pass time until I found a game I could really delve into. In that role it was entertaining. I really started disliking Halo when I started reading articles and ravings by people claiming the Master Chief was one of the best characters created in a video game, rivaling Solid Snake in complexity or Crono in ingenuity (Those characters who do not speak, so through the course of the game you make their own persona). The Master Chief is neither of these things. He is a generic badass, placed in game to give you an excuse to kill the badguys.

The OP's idea that the story is there as filler or just as a necessity that they banged out for the game is something that I would really like to agree with, except that they've published entire books attempting to make the story something compelling. Aside from the obvious argument 'I shouldn't have to read some half baked books to make the story of a game complete' I feel they in some way undermine the OP's argument. Otherwise I have no trouble agreeing with that part of the OP's write up.

As someone who plays most of his games to appreciate a good story I was willing to let this one slide by with a nod and an acknowledgment of a job decently done for what it was, until people claimed it was something it was not.

EDIT: Bioshock's story was awesome haha

 

[GonzoGamer]

I've always liked playing Halo games at friends' houses but I'm not sure I would buy them if/when I get a 360.
I'm just more of an Unreal Tournament kind of guy. They're practically the same thing but UT has the redeemer.

Yea the Halo games are overrated but only really to the extent that any console exclusive is.

 

[Schlorgan]

I like the story of Halo a LOT more than the story of, say, the "Transformers" movie. But all of this is irrelevant as Half-Life 2 is still the BEST FPS EVAR!!!

 

[teh_gunslinger]

1. The story. It was pretty generic.

No one I've seen make this claim has ever been able to back it up, mainly because the majority of people don't know what the story is. If you can explain to me the entirety of the Halo storyline and successfully compare it to an existing genre of storytelling that it precisely replicates, I will never defend Halo on an internet forum for as long as I live.

For the hell of it I'll see if I can take you up on that. Bear in mind though that I have only played the first game as I said in my post and I'll need some time to freshen the story a bit up. But if I can manage it I'll see if I can have something for you later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

 

[Darkwolf9]

This has been done to death. The game was considered great because it was the first thing a lot of new gamers played. They didn't play anything that came before it so it was the bread and butter of gaming. It was also one of the first games to have massive multiplayer competition for people on consoles. For me it was so-so. I enjoyed Perfect dark and Unreal Tournament way more than I did Halo. As for the multiplayer aspect I grew up enjoying LAN parties and playing UT online from time to time. So again there was nothing special to me about it.

 

[Uncompetative]

Halo's campaigns have got worse in the sequels, but the multiplayer has improved.

I would put Halo:CE in third place, on my list of shooters:

1. Robotron 64
2. Goldeneye 007
3. Halo: Combat Evolved
4. Halo 3 (Multiplayer only)

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I liked Halo: CE because that's when the flood were just as threatening as they were supposed to be. Halo 3 I like simply because of all the custom games and the Forge mode.

This. I only liked Halo 2 because of the Arbiter missions.

 

[stabnex]

If I had to sum up my feelings for the Halo series it would probably sound like a constipated man who just realized he ate an entire crate full of lit dynamite and is desperately trying to push it out the other end.

Halo has always been overated. It takes mere seconds out of combat to recharge your personal regenerative full-body energy shield. The enemies are monumentally thick and scream their locations at every turn. Enemies no longer just get back up after killing them. They just die. That's one of the things I liked about Duke Nukem. Everything had to be killed like 3 times before you could move on and ogle more public posters of nude babes, or flushing toilets.

 

[historybuff]

Meh, backlash happens. *shrug*

 

[TheFacelessOne]

Nice...rant.

I personally love the first one, the pinnacle of the series. But from there it was going downhill. Fast.

But I don't mind that. It still keeps me interested.

The one thing I hate though are the halo-haters.

"HALO SUX KKTHXBAI"

Most of them are just stupid trolls who jump onto the bandwagon of stupidity just so they can be, "popular".

Take for example...say....this guy:

halo suuuuuuuuucks

But there's the rare breed who actually give a reason. Those I don't mind. At all.

Alright, talking off-topic is done...but...whatever.

I needed to vent...

 

[Terramax]

I loved the first Halo. I played it at a friend's house then went out and bought the Xbox for that one game. Pity it was only one of three games actually worth owning the console for.

The only other game to make me go out and buy a console is Soul Caibur (Dreamcast). In both cases, I wouldn't have spent £200-300 just because everyone else said one game was good. I bought them because I honestly thought they played that well (which they still do).

 

[UltimatheChosen]

A bad story does not single-handedly ruin a game. Bioshock is a good example of this.

I can't believe you just said that. What, exactly, made you think Bioshock's plot was bad?

 

[Pendragon9]

I dislike it because people blow it way out of proportion. It's not great, just average. Also, Ihate every single PC elitist that complains because it's on consoles. To me, I'llnever like PC gaming because of such snobs.

 

[Syphonz]

Hey I bought Wolfenstein 3D on PSN. It was an excellent dose of nostalgia stemming back from when I was at the tender age 6. I killed my first Nazi. I'll never forget his scream, and the unrelenting joy I got from it... My father was deeply concerned instantly. Especially the morning I woke him up at 6 30 am to show him the Mecha Hitler death sequence.

OT: I can never regard Halo: CE as underratted consider all the praise it got. and I believe rightfully so from a console FPS perspective. However, after Combat Evolved, the series took a left turn down the avenue of mediocrity... And thus I will forever hate the franchise for what it has become, and what kind of people it spawned on the gaming community.

 

[Dentedgod]

The most common complaint I hear is the PC elitist argument, 'yes, it's the best CONSOLE shooter, but that's like being the world's largest mitochondrion.' What the haters mean if and when they say this is that console shooters are inherently ruined by the thumbstick control scheme, because it is not as accurate or fluid as a mouse-and-keyboard setup.

No, No, NO!

We "PC Elitists" say that Halo is the best CONSOLE shooter because compared to PC FPSs, it was behind the times. It did not bring anything new to the genre and everything that was in the game, had already been done better on the PC. In most cases it had been done better YEARS ago. I do mean everything, the graphics were crap compared to the PC and The multiplayer was basically the same as I experienced almost 2 decades ago in Quake 1 or Doom 1.

Just accept it, Halo was awesome from a console gamers perspective but once you started comparing it to PC FPS's it just couldn't hold up. Halo was simply overhyped and honestly, compared to PC FPS's of the time, underperformed.

 

[Bradfucius]

It's not THAT hard, you put your thumb down, you move it in a circle. Many people here I've noticed are physically UNABLE to perform this task. Of course it's not as quick or precise as a mouse, but that means everyone is playing fair

Using a mouse isn't THAT hard, you move it around... And why would everyone playing with a mouse be suddendly unfair ?

Playing with a mouse isn't inherently unfair, it's just that there is a range of quality when it comes to mice and some people don't have the cash to spend $60 on a premium mouse, whereas there is only one type of Xbox 360 controller.

 

[RadioactiveMicrobe]

I've always thought halo has one of the best storylines in games.
Anyway I think it's a great series but is beginning to outstay its welcome and should probably end after halo:reach.

Actually, Bungie announced that Halo: Reach is their last Halo game. The only problem is that the rights and everything are going over to Microsoft. Hence, a Halo Anime.....

And reading the books with the games make the story that much more immersive. Yes, the story is kind of boring when you only play the games, you're only getting a chunk of the full scheme of things.