Halo is now underrated

[BolognaBaloney]

Halo:CE was a brilliant game of it's time, it is just considered low by today's standards.

I completely disagree with you about Halo's story though, as well as Bioshocks'.

Complaining that Halo's plot doesn't make sense is like complaining that The Transporter or Wanted aren't realistic enough. It's not supposed to be taken seriously. Master Chief is not meant to be anything more than the nameless, faceless badass in the suit, and you're not meant to feel any emotional attachment to him. The Covenant are not meant to be anything deeper than big mean aliens to kill or be killed by. It's basically just a premise to get the levels rolling, and should be judged as such, not as an interactive philosophy thesis.

Master Chief is meant to be seen as much more than that actually. He is the last hope of the human race who has been fighting a race more advanced than them for over 20 years. He is faceless because we are not supposed to sympathise with him as a person, but rather what he is. Kidnapped at the age of 6, brainwashed into following orders and never losing, forced through painful physical procedures and a man with all of humanities hope resting on his shoulders.


The Covenant resemble the Crusades, a religious group intent on wiping out all non-believers for the sake of reaching their promised land. They will stop at nothing to destroy all those that stand against them with no mercy shown.

Humanity has been fighting for over 20 years against a collective army which is years ahead of them in technology, they can never win a battle in space unless they outnumber them by at least three to one and even then they always sustain heavy losses, they have to sacrifice their ships including everyone on them to stop their enemy capturing them, or else the location of earth could be discovered.

They have to put all their faith into one man because the rest of the Spartans were all thought to be killed and so he is the only one with the ability to turn the tide of the war.

I'd say that has much more depth than a lot of other games stories, even Half Life's, the thing is that Half Life just portrays theirs a lot better and so people think it's actually got more depth.

Thank you very much for saving me the time of typing up my normal defense of Halo's story, good job I might add.

 

[cantthinkofausername]

Halo:CE was a brilliant game of it's time, it is just considered low by today's standards.

I completely disagree with you about Halo's story though, as well as Bioshocks'.

Complaining that Halo's plot doesn't make sense is like complaining that The Transporter or Wanted aren't realistic enough. It's not supposed to be taken seriously. Master Chief is not meant to be anything more than the nameless, faceless badass in the suit, and you're not meant to feel any emotional attachment to him. The Covenant are not meant to be anything deeper than big mean aliens to kill or be killed by. It's basically just a premise to get the levels rolling, and should be judged as such, not as an interactive philosophy thesis.

Master Chief is meant to be seen as much more than that actually. He is the last hope of the human race who has been fighting a race more advanced than them for over 20 years. He is faceless because we are not supposed to sympathise with him as a person, but rather what he is. Kidnapped at the age of 6, brainwashed into following orders and never losing, forced through painful physical procedures and a man with all of humanities hope resting on his shoulders.


The Covenant resemble the Crusades, a religious group intent on wiping out all non-believers for the sake of reaching their promised land. They will stop at nothing to destroy all those that stand against them with no mercy shown.

Humanity has been fighting for over 20 years against a collective army which is years ahead of them in technology, they can never win a battle in space unless they outnumber them by at least three to one and even then they always sustain heavy losses, they have to sacrifice their ships including everyone on them to stop their enemy capturing them, or else the location of earth could be discovered.

They have to put all their faith into one man because the rest of the Spartans were all thought to be killed and so he is the only one with the ability to turn the tide of the war.

I'd say that has much more depth than a lot of other games stories, even Half Life's, the thing is that Half Life just portrays theirs a lot better and so people think it's actually got more depth.

This. Except I don't think he was really brainwashed unless that is a metaphor.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Ok... I don't get this... everyone says the first one was brilliant and great, but I couldn't make it through the game to save my life... after following the stupid floating computer thing through the same hallways fighting the same enemies for an hour, I said "This is stupid" and didn't play the game again. It has been the only game I've ever quit in the middle of... multiplayer wasn't that great either... shields ruin it because you can hide behind a rock and regain full health... Halo 2, I made it through, but it had no reply value at all... so... maybe I missed something, but the game is overrated in my eyes... nothing better then your basic first person shooter with nothing special...

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Also, there is an official PC port of Halo.

Halo 2 being one of the worst port in gaming history, I hope the "developers" responsible for it have been fed to a brontosaurus.

He was referring to Halo 1 which is why he did not say Halo 2, read carefully before you post.

 

[Arrers]

It's been along time scince I've played the single player on any Halo game (it wasn't that great, with the execption of the first game) but the online multiplayer of Halo 3 is one of the best on consoles. Until you get a really high rank and everyone becomes way better than you are, at least.

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

Troll, move on.

I though that was untrue a well, but do you really think a troll would put this much effort into a post just to annoy you?

 

[Rayansaki]

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

Lost me long before this, but this sentence alone settles it. Comparing Halo's story to Bioshock is like comparing a midget with a UFC fighter.

Also, you say there is an official Halo port for pc. Did you even try it? It's hardly a positive mention for the game, since it's complete crap.

 

[yankeefan19]

I have enjoyed the 3 halo games, the third one was a bit overrated, but still enjoyable. The multiplayer is amazing, and I always thought the story was alright. overall the first one is probably one of the best FPS's of all time.

It should be noted that I only played Halo CE two or three years ago, so I may be in the wrong frame of mind. I found it a rather bland and boring game though and it did in no way capture my interest. I have a small list of my beefs with it:

1. The story. It was pretty generic.

2. But that can be excused if the characters are interesting and make me wanna see what happens to them. The story in HL for instance is not excellent but it gets overshadowed by the characters. Halo did not do that. I only remember the name of the Chief. And then there was the AI chick and the black sergeant or whatever rank he held. Can't remember their names. In my book that means that the game has failed if I only remember one person. Compare that to Half-Life, Baldur's Gate or Max Payne where I still remember most of every character in all the games. They captured me in ways that Halo never was able to.

Well I always thought that Half Life 2 was good as well as Halo, but I guess it's terrible now because I can only remember Gordan Freeman's name.

 

[Rayansaki]

by definition a fps has to have a crap storyline, i mean can u name one that does have a gud one? other than half life but id say thats a fps rpg crossover

Half Life
Deus Ex
Bioshock
Far Cry

only to name a few

 

[Kaunte]

Bioshock has a bad story? What the hell have you been smoking?

 

[syndicated44]

I never hated halo:CE hell I probably consider it one of my favorite games considering the impact it had on me and it was the first game I really started to mod and play around with. (This was on the pc if you havnt guessed) Hell Halo:CE was our number one choice in party games the coop was awsome simply because of the millions of ways you could creatively kill your friends beyond shooting them. The multiplayer maps were huge and at the same time small considering all the different ways you could go around it. Capture the flag was awsome because you had a fortress on both sides and you had to either sneak into it or come in guns blazing.

This brings me to Halo 2. This sucked I am sorry it didnt have the charm or the class that Halo:CE did. It was bland the multiplayer was no longer a methodical semi tactical game it was a highly impulsive slaughterfest on small maps that took all the skill out of the game. Halo 3 had essentially the same problems halo 2 except there was more there.

See my biggest problem with halo is that they give you all these toys but there are no times to use them. Halo 2 and 3 practically made vehicles useless since anyone can jump on and remove you and if you do pull that off someone is 10 feet away from you with a homing missile blowing you up. Wheras Halo:CE gave you big maps with plenty of vehicles that balanced out the gameplay. The Rocket launcher was just that a rocket launcher you could take out a vehicle coming for you although you could be in the crosshairs of a sniper across the map.

So overall halo sold out.

 

[dportology]

halo suuuuuuuuucks

 

[REvolve]

When it came out, I thought Halo: Combat Evolved was highly overrated. I didn't think much of it. When the second game released, my opinion of it lowered even more as people were proclaiming their first love to a game that had nothing over many other shooters of its age.

The third game came out, and I was expecting more of the same, but I was pleasantly surprised by the fine shooter that greeted me when the console was turned on. However, I still thought it was overrated.

As time has gone on and more games have been developed, console shooters have become consideably worse in my opinion (CoD 4 being the main exception that sticks out in my mind). Forget killzone and GoW, it was back to halo 3 for me. The gameplay was unmatched. These days it is severly underrated if anything so it just goes to show how people can eat their words.

And yes, I much prefer PC shooters.

 

[Standby]

I stopped reading after i relaised this was just a fanboy's tribute to his favourite game.

NO-ONE CARES, for the love of god. If you love it, great! Why do you need confirmation from other people ON THE INTERNETS?

 

[ScientificDJ]

And I'll give it this: it's a lot better than Gears of War.

meh i loved gears of war as well. i was a massive halo fan until the third game when in my opinion the story went to shit. i don't have any particular reason for my halo love other than i am very easily sucked in =P now i'm more mature i do appreciate the balanced gameplay, the polished presentation and the multiplayer, but it's all held together by my early gullibility lol.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

I have enjoyed the 3 halo games, the third one was a bit overrated, but still enjoyable. The multiplayer is amazing, and I always thought the story was alright. overall the first one is probably one of the best FPS's of all time.

It should be noted that I only played Halo CE two or three years ago, so I may be in the wrong frame of mind. I found it a rather bland and boring game though and it did in no way capture my interest. I have a small list of my beefs with it:

1. The story. It was pretty generic.

2. But that can be excused if the characters are interesting and make me wanna see what happens to them. The story in HL for instance is not excellent but it gets overshadowed by the characters. Halo did not do that. I only remember the name of the Chief. And then there was the AI chick and the black sergeant or whatever rank he held. Can't remember their names. In my book that means that the game has failed if I only remember one person. Compare that to Half-Life, Baldur's Gate or Max Payne where I still remember most of every character in all the games. They captured me in ways that Halo never was able to.

Well I always thought that Half Life 2 was good as well as Halo, but I guess it's terrible now because I can only remember Gordan Freeman's name.

I never said that my standards of judging a game are universal. They're just mine. If you enjoy both games, then I would say that you are in a better place than me. It's not as if I enjoy not being able to enjoy Halo. It would seem I miss out on something and for that I feel sorry for myself.

I have no issues with anyone else enjoying Halo (or any other game I don't fancy). As I said, they potentially have more fun than me.

And just because I'm a terrible person: it's Gordon Freeman.

 

[ScientificDJ]

halo suuuuuuuuucks

*sigh* posts like this are what make intelligent discussion a are thing.

 

[TheCameraman]

Dunno if it's underrated, only thing I liked about the game when I played it a couple of years ago were the levels, as they were pretty nice. It had a decent story as well.

Did not like the controls, the vehicles, nor the weapons. Oh, and the shield system didn't really bother me.

But meh, that's just me.

 

[CJ1145]

People here miss the point greatly. All I've heard from the haters is "Everyone hates it, but it's still overrated." Let me put this through your damned skulls: It cannot be overrated if the vast majority hates it! And the vast majority hates it for being overrated, so it should not be hated-- You have started a paradox of retardation!

 

[jboking]

Halo:CE was a brilliant game of it's time, it is just considered low by today's standards.

I completely disagree with you about Halo's story though, as well as Bioshocks'.

Complaining that Halo's plot doesn't make sense is like complaining that The Transporter or Wanted aren't realistic enough. It's not supposed to be taken seriously. Master Chief is not meant to be anything more than the nameless, faceless badass in the suit, and you're not meant to feel any emotional attachment to him. The Covenant are not meant to be anything deeper than big mean aliens to kill or be killed by. It's basically just a premise to get the levels rolling, and should be judged as such, not as an interactive philosophy thesis.

Master Chief is meant to be seen as much more than that actually. He is the last hope of the human race who has been fighting a race more advanced than them for over 20 years. He is faceless because we are not supposed to sympathise with him as a person, but rather what he is. Kidnapped at the age of 6, brainwashed into following orders and never losing, forced through painful physical procedures and a man with all of humanities hope resting on his shoulders.


The Covenant resemble the Crusades, a religious group intent on wiping out all non-believers for the sake of reaching their promised land. They will stop at nothing to destroy all those that stand against them with no mercy shown.

Humanity has been fighting for over 20 years against a collective army which is years ahead of them in technology, they can never win a battle in space unless they outnumber them by at least three to one and even then they always sustain heavy losses, they have to sacrifice their ships including everyone on them to stop their enemy capturing them, or else the location of earth could be discovered.

They have to put all their faith into one man because the rest of the Spartans were all thought to be killed and so he is the only one with the ability to turn the tide of the war.

I'd say that has much more depth than a lot of other games stories, even Half Life's, the thing is that Half Life just portrays theirs a lot better and so people think it's actually got more depth.

Thank you. I think if more people learned to read, and then read the books, they'd get it.

I'm gonna have to stop you there. The game itself was the main source for halo, not the books. If the original game could not get me interested in the story, I should not be expected to read a book about it to try and get interested. I'm sure if I read the books Master Chief(John) would become much easier to relate to, but as the game left me with a strict hatred of master chief as a character, I wouldn't bother.

Op: I found Halo:CE to be a great game. It was a little hyped, but most good things are. Halo 2 kind of lost me a little, it felt very samey. Halo 3 was certainly better than Halo 2, but it wasn't innovative like Halo:CE. So Halo 1 was a great game, and I can't comprehend why you would call it underrated, because typically all I ever hear for it is praise (most complaints I hear regarding halo are in reference to halo 2 or 3).

To be honest, halo influenced a lot of FPS's this generation and that definitely means there was something to it. I kind of hate the influence Halo gave to FPS's though, mostly because of what it did to the Resistance series. Fall of Man had, by far, my favorite health and weapon handling system of any FPS to date and the halo influence changed both of those things to a very generic system in Resistance 2, but, what can you do. C'est La Vie.

 

[Kermi]

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.