Hey Dragon, You Can Have Her: Halo - Combat Evolved

[chozo_hybrid]

First person snip

I totally agree with everything you've said. Those games you mentioned as your favourites are mine as well.

I think we can all agree that Timesplitters 2 is one of the best console FPS's ever made.

I'll drink to that one!

I honestly think Halo was just lucky, I mean the original Xbox did nothing to wow me at all, this was the only decent game I ever played and my brother had a fair few. So I think, lack of good games, made the mediocre ones seem waaaaay better then they actually were.

-snip-

The year is 2552, and somehow human weapon technology on Earth has not advanced from the pump shotgun, horribly inaccurate assault rifle, and four-shot-per-clip sniper rifle.

Sure, fine, humanity hasn't learned to recharge the weapons etc. etc... but at least you'd think they'd come up with an automatic shotgun? Laser sights? Infrared? Why are we fighting with 21st century weapons in the 26th century?

Quake and the like never tried to be anything more than they were... they were not deep narratives about the potential end of the human race. I can't recall novelizations of the Quake story cropping up on the shelves of my local bookstore. Though on that note, a game like Unreal Tournament 3 does a better job explaining "respawning" and the ridiculous weapons than Halo even attempts to, and no one even cares.

Also, when playing the game multiplayer with friends, I can only remember two encounters where I was actually killed via needler.

I care, I played the heck out of that game, also your point in the needler (Pun intended) there is true. I can't remember any one time I was killed by that thing, it always came down to the pistol, sniper rifle or rocket launcher all the time... Sometimes the shot gun if they dared get close.

 

[SavingPrincess]

Actually, technically 20th century weaponry. The automatic shotguns are already in widespread service in military's, in fact, the US army has an under-barrel automatic shotgun. Laser sights have been in use since the late 80's, and infrared earlier than that. In addition to that, Halo's assault rifle doesn't actually seem to have any sort of holo, ACOG or red dot sight, which is standard in pretty much every assault rifle of a developed nation at the moment, as has been since at least the start of the millennium.

I stand corrected... 20th century then!

In over 500 years of advancement, we go back 30 years in weapon technology... why people try and defend these things is beyond me. It was an average game, with an average story. That and the fact that I'm being blasted for not being "fair" enough in my negative review is tickling me continuously.

 

[Megacherv]

However, the one reason that holding ten weapons in Halo would have been impossible is that the game literally only had eight weapons. Eight weapons; in the future?

Pistol, Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Shotgun, Rocket launcher, plasma pistol, plasma rifle, Needler, Covenant Sniper. I count more than 8, and I think I'm missing one or two.

You're missing the fact that I'm talking about the first game in the series...

READ the review before commenting please people... dear god.

Actually, counting, I think it's 9 (there was the fuel rod gun), but that's hardly enough to change the fact that it still made no sense.

It's also unappropriate to compare Halo's multiplayer (respectively the number of maps) to UT's and Q3's, because the latter two are pure multiplayer games. Might as well say Quake 3's single player "campaign" is worse than Half-Life's. Sure you're right, but what did you expect?

The fact is that the game was praised on almost the same level as those, which is why he brought it up.

I'm sorry dude, but I almost completely disagree with you, but that's just my opinion versus yours, and neither of us can change the other's.

However, I will explain one thing to you: it was so popular because it was Goddamn fun to play with a friend when you had nothing else to do. Nothing more.

You see, for me the phrase that jumps put at me is "When you had nothing else to do". Of course it would be! I enjoyed helping my dad cut a tree down after he tore me away from playing Fallout 3 last week, because it was all I could do.

 

[AzureWrathHal]

When someone brings up Goldeneye 64 as the high point of the FPS industry it makes it really hard to take the rest of their points seriously.

 

[FactualSquirrel]

You see, for me the phrase that jumps put at me is "When you had nothing else to do". Of course it would be! I enjoyed helping my dad cut a tree down after he tore me away from playing Fallout 3 last week, because it was all I could do.

By "nothing else to do", I meant that you had no plans or anything, and someone just came over to your house, not literally "nothing else".

Also, why did he have to force you? I would have jumped at the chance to try that.

 

[SavingPrincess]

When someone brings up Goldeneye 64 as the high point of the FPS industry it makes it really hard to take the rest of their points seriously.

I don't, I do however see it as a better multiplayer experience than Halo... the amount of modes, weapon variety, customization, models, levels and experiences were far superior to what Halo had to offer, and, if forced to play one or the other, I far prefer Goldeneye 007. Also, it had a more varied single player experience, the weapons made sense and were contextual to the game, the levels were on par in design with Halo which is amazing given the limited technology and size of the N64 carts.

Best thing about Goldeneye 007? Sitting around with your friends putting your own stipulations on matches, creating fun trials ("Okay, I've set up the proximity mines, try and get from this side of the level to that without dying!") and unique gameplay experiences. It was the closest thing to "mods" that a console shooter could have reached.

 

[Metal Brother]

WTF? I love my Honda Civic. What do you have against the Civic?

 

[UnusualStranger]

clean cut

Uh oh...I see you have attracted a vault legend. This could get tricky!

Anyway, first off, so there were not enough guns. Or, not enough to be realistic anyway. You want laser sights, infrared, and absolutely amazing guns....I think you are expecting too much for the time.

I'm right now trying to find games that were out around HALO's time that had all these things...Heck, right now we are getting all of these things. Laser sights, infrared vision, and all that stuff are things we are just now getting. Expecting an old game to have all these things in games that we are now getting is like saying: "How come you can write like an expert now, when before you possibly could have?"

Would it be awesome to have all those things, and reasonable for the time period? Yeah, it would. The real question is: Would it have been possible for the designers to implement all that into the first HALO game that they were not even sure if it would be a success?

My signs all point to no.

And the needler in multiplayer? That largely depends on who you play with, and not the weapon itself. It is a favorite amongst people I time to time play with because at mid range, it is death because of the explosions. But then again, a lot of the time it isn't just about Kills with me and my buds. Know what happens when someone beats you down with the plasma pistol without the one hit kill? SHAME!

But then again, you only have your experience to go off, so I can really let that slide.

 

[AzureWrathHal]

May I ask why?

Apparently you just did.

I don't, I do however...

Well fancy that, you have a bunch of opinions. You know what they say about opinions?

The "best" things that you mentioned about Goldeneye, could be said about Halo as well, and indeed almost any good console shooter of the time or since goldeneye. It's easy to look back fondly on a game that wasn't that great if you had fun experiences with your friends playing it.

Personally I can't stomach a lot of games now (halo and 007 both included) specifically because of my friends and I playing them to absolute death together.

 

[Megacherv]

You see, for me the phrase that jumps put at me is "When you had nothing else to do". Of course it would be! I enjoyed helping my dad cut a tree down after he tore me away from playing Fallout 3 last week, because it was all I could do.

By "nothing else to do", I meant that you had no plans or anything, and someone just came over to your house, not literally "nothing else".

Also, why did he have to force you? I would have jumped at the chance to try that.

Well I did exagerrate (I still have yet to remember the spelling off by heart) but I knew that I'd get in the way half of the time, and that I wouldn't be actually cutting down. And the fact that my grandma and her partner were helping out (my grandma's partner, whom had an awesome lopping tool, which is not a euphamism)

 

[FactualSquirrel]

You see, for me the phrase that jumps put at me is "When you had nothing else to do". Of course it would be! I enjoyed helping my dad cut a tree down after he tore me away from playing Fallout 3 last week, because it was all I could do.

By "nothing else to do", I meant that you had no plans or anything, and someone just came over to your house, not literally "nothing else".

Also, why did he have to force you? I would have jumped at the chance to try that.

Well I did exagerrate (I still have yet to remember the spelling off by heart) but I knew that I'd get in the way half of the time, and that I wouldn't be actually cutting down. And the fact that my grandma and her partner were helping out (my grandma's partner, whom had an awesome lopping tool, which is not a euphamism)

Well, I would still have great fun watching, it's something you rarely have the chance to actually see. And of course that's not a euphamism.

Just don't tell me how you found out.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Personally, I think Halo's weapon balance is really good. You're given a small pool of weapons and access to almost all of them from the 2nd level. It's up to you to decide what you're able to use effectively, but NONE of them are completely horrible. Even the underpowered Needler and Assault Rifle excel in certain areas (the AR takes out cloaked Elites, Grunts, Flood infection forms and does loads of damage up close, while the Needler just shreds shielded Elites.)

And all the other weapons... Well, it really comes down to what you want to do and who you need to kill. The Pistol is STILL probably one of the most useful weapons in the history of gaming (going right back all the way to the original DOOM shotgun), and it's also the primary balancing factor in the original Halo multiplayer (and why I prefer Halo 1 MP to Halo 2 MP, strangely enough).

Plasma weapons useless in the ORIGINAL Halo? Um, the Plasma Pistol is arguably the best weapon the entire GAME, and the Plasma Rifle is still my favorite weapon of Halo 1 (reduced power, stunlocks enemies and automatic fire, not to mention zero reload time since there's a cooldown instead).

I disagree with basically everything you've said, but I don't really feel like picking the rest of your review apart. Suffice it to say you are quantifiably wrong on the weapons thing (as in, I could get graphs of shots to kill for each enemy/weapon and prove to you that the Plasma Pistol which is so "useless" will not only kill loads of enemies in very few bullets, but the PP is freaking everywhere and can fire extremely fast).

A "review" is supposed to be a piece of editorial product evaluation. Yes, it's impossible to separate opinions from your writing in formulating a review, but it's also essential to touch on every aspect of a game. Very few games are completely unplayable or have no positive qualities. When one evaluates those positive and negative qualities, it's important to try to understand one's own opinion. WHY do I think this level is bad? What exactly about it did I not like? Is this simply my own personal taste (going back to my history with gaming and similar levels)? Do these sorts of levels just not work in general? What is my supporting argument going to be if I take this position?

Gaming journalism is still journalism. I might not be any good at writing it, but I and others can tell when something is wrong with it. "Negative reviewing" is not some special kind of writing that exists in a black hole where it is exempt from all rules of good journalistic practices.

 

[SavingPrincess]

Uh oh...I see you have attracted a vault legend. This could get tricky!

Anyway, first off, so there were not enough guns. Or, not enough to be realistic anyway. You want laser sights, infrared, and absolutely amazing guns....I think you are expecting too much for the time.

... ahem.

• Deus Ex
  Metal Gear Solid 2
  Counter-Strike
  Soldier of Fortune
  Red Faction
  

Those are a few. All released before the Xbox shooter. The technology was there, hell, even Timesplitters had a map editor... on a console. I understand development crunches and all that... but there has to be some sense of objectivity when looking at stuff like this.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

but there has to be some sense of objectivity when looking at stuff like this.

Oh irony, how you mock me.

 

[SavingPrincess]

Personally, I think Halo's weapon balance is really good. You're given a small pool of weapons and access to almost all of them from the 2nd level. It's up to you to decide what you're able to use effectively, but NONE of them are completely horrible. Even the underpowered Needler and Assault Rifle excel in certain areas (the AR takes out cloaked Elites, Grunts, Flood infection forms and does loads of damage up close, while the Needler just shreds shielded Elites.)

And all the other weapons... Well, it really comes down to what you want to do and who you need to kill. The Pistol is STILL probably one of the most useful weapons in the history of gaming (going right back all the way to the original DOOM shotgun), and it's also the primary balancing factor in the original Halo multiplayer (and why I prefer Halo 1 MP to Halo 2 MP, strangely enough).

Plasma weapons useless in the ORIGINAL Halo? Um, the Plasma Pistol is arguably the best weapon the entire GAME, and the Plasma Rifle is still my favorite weapon of Halo 1 (reduced power, stunlocks enemies and automatic fire, not to mention zero reload time since there's a cooldown instead).

I disagree with basically everything you've said, but I don't really feel like picking the rest of your review apart. Suffice it to say you are quantifiably wrong on the weapons thing (as in, I could get graphs of shots to kill for each enemy/weapon and prove to you that the Plasma Pistol which is so "useless" will not only kill loads of enemies in very few bullets, but the PP is freaking everywhere and can fire extremely fast).

I feel bad, because everything you said here, while accurate as it may be, is completely negated by the fact that you could literally finish the whole game with two weapons... the pistol and the other weapon you have to carry and use should you happen to run out of pistol ammo. I know, I've done it, others have done it. So yes, while it's all well and good that you 'found' various uses for the other weapons in the game, that does not change the fact that by in large, the lot of them were completely unnecessary.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

=snip=

well written, not just "Halo sukz!"

Ihadn't thought it out as well as you, but I do agree its average