Is Halo becoming generic?

[Assassin Xaero]

Not to be a dick or anything, but when wasn't it? I've always seen it as a generic shooter with nothing that special or unique about it.

Is Halo generic .... no!

Are these threads getting old ... YES!

Halo created the foundation for a good FPS game. Pretty much every game since has been just like it just different graphics.

Fanboy. Doom created the foundation for good FPS games. And, I found this hilarious, when I was asking another Halo fanboy what was so great about it, everything he said made it sound like a rip off of Quake.

 

[Kinichie]

The Foundation for a good FPS? Come on, give me a break here...

Clearly you haven't heard of a little thing called Timesplitters. Or prehaps Goldeneye007. I define Goldeneye as the foundation for a good FPS, but however it is now very very dated, but look at it. The multiplayer modes, if Goldeneye was released today with a few improvements (crosshairs etc.) then I think it would put Halo and many many other FPS games to shame.

 

[starhaven]

Timesplitters was a fun game not great but dam fun

 

[obex]

Fanboy. Wolfenstine created the foundation for good FPS games.

Fixed fanboy ;P

 

[Sikachu]

No, other games are being Halo clones, which make Halo look generic by comparison. Don't forget that it was Halo: Combat Evolved that revolutionized Fist Person Shooters forever.

Nah, I believe Halo:CE was just a dumbed down and slowed down version of Quake 3, which really revolutionized all FPS...Halo was just the first mainstream game that everyone that didn't play games as much bought into.

which I found doubtful, though I can't say for sure because I haven't played it, and that wouldn't be fair.

In short, it was.
Here's just a few games that are base on or from Quake. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Quake_-_family_tree.svg]

It was the father of all FPS. And just because Halo has achieved more popularity by Xbox Live stoners doesn't even make Halo come close to Quake.

(By the way, where it says Goldsrc and Source, that's all the Half Lifes, Counter Strikes, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Valve Games)

Doom is the the father of all FPS. It's more or less Quake 1's grandfather. And no, I'm not claiming Doom was the first FPS, just the first REALLY good one (and particularly coming so hot on the heels of Wolfenstein). Bear in mind that id tech 1 (Doom engine) was the prequel to the Quake Engine which was tweaked into id tech 2 (Q2). Really though we should just be worshipping at the feet of id for pretty much single handedly creating what we think of as FPS today.

IMO, FPS progression goes: Doom->Quake->Unreal->Half-Life->Halo->MW2 in terms of what is the paradigm 'good' game for the majority of players. In that line, I think the the games got better and better up to and including HL, but then tailed off significantly into oversimplified, lowest-common-denominator pollutant. Oh, and you have to allow me the poetic licence to consider 1.6 to be Half-Life's multiplayer component. If we limit ourselves to platforms worth playing FPS on, then Halo would just completely drop out of the progression, and I'm not sure what I would put in, if anything, to replace it.

 

[Sikachu]

Fanboy. Wolfenstine created the foundation for good FPS games.

Fixed fanboy ;P

First, it's 'Wolfenstein'. If you're going to 'fix' something, at least do it right. Second, I don't think Wolfenstein is the daddy. It only came out a year before Doom and it wasn't nearly as ubiquitous or good as Doom was. I kind of think of Wolfenstein as the prototype or proof-of-concept for Doom. Don't take this as me saying 'YOU'RE WRONG!' but more that I conceive of the progression in a different way to you.

 

[oktalist]

Halo is a linear killfest space-marine shooter. Nothing they could possibly do to it could make it any more generic than it already is.

But that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Quake was a linear killfest demon-spawn shooter, which is basically the same thing, and I consider it to be one of the greatest games of all time. But I don't play either any more, because I'm a grown adult, and playing with children's toys no longer holds the same interest for me.

Now, it may have brought the FPS to consoles, but that's like making an American remake of a British comedy like the Office. Which is to say, a fairly insubstantial contribution to gaming as a whole.

Any anyway, what about Goldeneye on the N64?

 

[Custard_Angel]

Every so often a new game comes along and revolutionises the FPS format.

Doom -> Quake -> Goldeneye -> Halo -> Modern Warfare -> ???

This isn't a complete list by any means, but it should at least highlight that the fact that Halo has been superceded, and anything like Halo i.e. a new Halo, will automatically be generic because it must naturally be based on a pre-existing format.

This is the same for any game genre. As soon as something comes along that works, people will rip the shit out of it for the next few years until the next thing comes along.

 

[obex]

Fanboy. Wolfenstine created the foundation for good FPS games.

Fixed fanboy ;P

First, it's 'Wolfenstein'. If you're going to 'fix' something, at least do it right. Second, I don't think Wolfenstein is the daddy. It only came out a year before Doom and it wasn't nearly as ubiquitous or good as Doom was. I kind of think of Wolfenstein as the prototype or proof-of-concept for Doom. Don't take this as me saying 'YOU'RE WRONG!' but more that I conceive of the progression in a different way to you.

But your words were "The foundation" you cant call a game "the foundation for good FPS games" when it so strongly borrowed from another game also your missing the point i think a better statement would of been Halo laid down the foundation for modern FPS games when games like doom/quake/halo came out they were not revolutionary games but they revolutionised the genre because all subsequent games borrow from their template until the next revolutionary game comes along so some time in the future there will be a new game called lets say "Bob bobbingtons killathon" or whatever that although borrowing from old fps's all the way back to doom ect will bring new concepts to the table and be such a run away hit people will be coping it for years and new fps will be called Bob bobbington killers and all that. Its a cycle that will keep on going.

 

[imaloony]

No, other games are being Halo clones, which make Halo look generic by comparison. Don't forget that it was Halo: Combat Evolved that revolutionized Fist Person Shooters forever.

*cough* half life *cough*

i joke, i joke but halo wasn't really that good once bungie realised that they could bleed it dry if they had not made any sequels i would have been much happier

You could say the same about any game in existence. God of War, Final Fantasy, Fallout, Street Fighter, Mario, Zelda, Metal Gear, all of them. The entire gaming industry is built off of bleeding out series'.

 

[Doc Incognito]

I'm coming into this thread late...
and my opinion is the same thing I've seen repeated over and over here...
that Halo made console shooters recognised. But compared to PC it was still mediocre.

Halo 1 and Halo 2 revolutionize FPS gaming. Halo 3 kinda just... rode their curtails.

What? What about Forge? In my opinion, the creation and inclusion of Forge I what made Halo 3 so great. You can make anything : a map to play some kind of mini game, and the ruleset as well.

Half-Life 1 has Worldcraft. And Half-Life 2 has Hammer.
And how many other games had world editors and SDK's that allowed for modifications before halo got round to it?
TONS.
Why do you think CSS is running strong still, and all because of Hammer and the ability to run custom mods inside the game.
And HL2 with all it's mods outside the game...
Forge was late. And extremely unoriginal.

And therein lies the problem. I, like many gamers, am primarily console based, and despite having a decent expanse of programming knowledge, know nothing about modding. Forge brought user-created content to the unwashed masses of console gamers, and anyone could make something. Taking something as complex as map-building and dumbing it down enough to be widely used is a feat in itself.

 

[GonzoGamer]

When was Halo NOT generic.
They're good games and everything but I think that probably the only franchises that are more generic are Unreal Tournament and Quake.

 

[Dexiro]

People still like Halo? It was my understanding that it was generic from day 1.
I'm not saying that for the sake of it either, i played that game on tons of occasions to see what the hype was about and got nothing in return.

Maybe it's good for a console shooter but that doesn't mean it's a good or original game.
I didn't play many console FPSs, but off the top of my head the Timesplitters games were amazing, why don't they get the same recognition. It came out a year before Halo too.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Fanboy. Wolfenstine created the foundation for good FPS games.

Fixed fanboy ;P

How am I a fanboy? I don't even own Doom... lol

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

I too, beleive it is loosing its appeal

(meanwhile back at the Bungie HQ)
"commander! Our appeal rate is dropping"
"silence fools get back to work on Reach"

 

[Pinkros]

1.is Halo is generic? 2.is the sky blue? 3.do you fart?

1.yes
2.no the atmosphere filters all but the blue spectrum
3.no, i've never farted once

Alright...
2. Well, then grass isn't green, because it just reflects the green wavelength, and the same can be applied to most of the colours.
3. How can you tell that you don't do it in your sleep?

 

[darksolgamer]

Who cares if Halo is generic or not, as long as it's fun to play? It can be the most generic game in the history of generic, but it's still a blast to play IMO.

 

[Seatownstriker]

So I ask the question. What is original these days? Meaning what game hasn't borrowed from any other game in existence? Besides the very first one.