Is Halo becoming generic?

[JourneyThroughHell]

No, Halo is not generic, nor is it average.

I've yet to see another "mediocre" Console FPS that offers the same level of awesome story telling and universe that Halo has.

Halo Killers ruined the genre for everyone.

I disagree, I enjoyed quite a lot of said Halo killers.
I mean, sure, Halo 3 is probably better than most of them, the most competent example being Killzone 2, but both games are enjoyable in its own right.
Do WoW killers ruin the MMO genre?

 

[-Samurai-]

Becoming generic? Halo has always been generic.

Lets face it, there were many great shooters before Halo, and many great shooters after Halo. Halo did nothing original. The only reason it caught on was because it was a launch title for a new system. There are very few launch titles for completely new systems that don't have this type of following. It looked great compared to everything at that time because technology took a giant step forward. People latched on to the first one so hard that they've bought up everything with "Halo" on it since.

In terms of gameplay, Halo offered/offers nothing new at all.

[small]This isn't coming from some anti-Halo gamer. I've played them all. I don't hate them(except for online play. Everyone on there is a moron and a lemming), but I certainly wouldn't marry them.[/small]

 

[GeekFury]

Halo was 'original' Halo 2, 3 and ODST are all just carbon copies of Halo with slight diffrances, but honest I liked Halo, was'nt earth shakingly good it just filled in some time. Then again I'm not a huge FPS fan, I can count the ones I liked on one hand.

Also the Story of Halo could have ended at Halo or Halo 2, they're dragging it out to much if you ask me, but most sequels are un-needed I feel.

 

[Denamic]

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.

Correction: It revolutionized console FPS games by being the first one that didn't suck and was actually playable.
Put up against some of the FPS games on the PC market at the time, it was mediocre at best.

Although there were games like Golden eye way before it...

 

[laggyteabag]

Halo is not generic, if you want to talk about a generic game talk about CoD

 

[Delusibeta]

TimeSplitters 1 predates Halo 1 by about 2 years or so. Enough time for Bungie to lift TimeSplitters' best bits (e.g. the control scheme). While I've never played either game (but rather TimeSplitters 2, which came out about 6 months after Halo 1), I'd like to think that Free Radical influenced Bungie, and thus can claim to be the revolutionaries of the console FPS (what with some of them being part of the GoldenEye team and all).

Plus, TimeSplitters didn't have auto-regenerating sheilds.

 

[Kyrian007]

"Generic" really is not a fair assessment for a fps. I mean unless you're Wolfenstien, you don't have any claim to originality in game-play. Storyline is almost meaningless for a fps.. my favorite being "Painkiller" which has just a terrible story. But just because its not in any way ground-breaking or original, doesn't mean it doesn't rock. I first saw the "halo" ring planet and thought "Oh, a variant of a Dyson Sphere. Neat." Not a new idea, there was a word for it, but it was really cool. In the end it's all about the execution, and Halo just didn't do much wrong.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Just Cause 2, really? How is that anything like Halo?
OT: I liked the first Halo a lot but since then every game has just felt like the same game with updated graphics and a few minimal changes.

This. And now it just seems they're milking a dried up dead cow.

 

[GeekFury]

TimeSplitters 1 predates Halo 1 by about 2 years or so. Enough time for Bungie to lift TimeSplitters' best bits (e.g. the control scheme). While I've never played either game (but rather TimeSplitters 2, which came out about 6 months after Halo 1), I'd like to think that Free Radical influenced Bungie, and thus can claim to be the revolutionaries of the console FPS (what with some of them being part of the GoldenEye team and all).

Plus, TimeSplitters didn't have auto-regenerating sheilds.

Don't forget Free Radical were also behind Golden Eye, to me probably the best FPS ever made.

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

Ya know, I've enjoyed each halo game for it's own reasons. They all have a place in my top ten.

Halo C.E. brought me into the FPS gaming scene, and I've never felt the same sense of AWE from any other game. But what I really loved about the first game was the flood, not as an enemy or a character... but as an idea. Think about it, up until release Bungie never NEVER talked about or even mentioned the flood. all they told you going into it was that you were fighting against the covenant. and that there were secrets on halo. then. 343 guilty spark, the covies are running scared and there is a new enemy.

Halo 2 felt new and bolder. new armor, new graphics, and now you get to play as your enemy. the first time that I played as the arbiter i about rebooted my xbox, positive that it was a glitch. the introduction of online multiplayer was great. and the overall story was definitely cool.

Halo 3 feels a bit less awesome than the others, it doesn't have any *gasp* moments aside from everyone dieing. unlike the flood and arbiter of the previous games.

ODST was fun, short but fulfilling with lots of new features to the halo universe, yet if you collect the little audio bits and listen to the story... its probably the most emotionally moving piece of storytelling I've heard in years... YEARS. and its the 'b' plot... no, its the 'G' plot in a short halo game.

 

[Delusibeta]

TimeSplitters 1 predates Halo 1 by about 2 years or so. Enough time for Bungie to lift TimeSplitters' best bits (e.g. the control scheme). While I've never played either game (but rather TimeSplitters 2, which came out about 6 months after Halo 1), I'd like to think that Free Radical influenced Bungie, and thus can claim to be the revolutionaries of the console FPS (what with some of them being part of the GoldenEye team and all).

Plus, TimeSplitters didn't have auto-regenerating sheilds.

Don't forget Free Radical were also behind Golden Eye, to me probably the best FPS ever made.

Yep. I'm almost compelled to argue that Free Radical did more in the evolution of console FPS than Bungie.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

I never played Halo and probably never will. I am so fucking sick of hearing about it all the time and the fact that in the 3 months that I was subscribed to Machinima channel on youtube I was literally FLOODED by Halo videos (seriously, they should call their channel Halonima or something) that I ended up hating it. So now I'm an anti-Halo-ist, I guess. Due to my lack of knowledge of the game's history and stuff, I can't answer your question.

Oh and GOD am I sick of Halo threads on this forum. ARE THERE REALLY NO OTHER GAMES TO TALK ABOUT? And the threads are always about the SAME FUCKING THINGS!

Sorry about that, I just wanted to finally express my feelings on this matter.

 

[-Samurai-]

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.

... Using autoaim, limited inventory, and regenerating health to cover up the crippling limitations of thumbstick controls isn't a revolution. Its a dumbing down. A Devolution.

Halo started the trend of "accessibility" over all other concerns, a concept that is killing gaming one day at a time.

WHAT. How the fuck is making it easier for more people and, you know, pumping more money into the gaming industry killing it?

Easy games present no challenge. No challenge is no fun(for the majority of gamers). If you're not having fun, you don't keep playing it.

In the gaming industry, more money isn't always a good thing. If something sells extremely well, all the developer is going to do is pump out more games exactly like it. They start making the same game over and over and people keep buying it up. Look at the amount of games widely accepted as horrible or mediocre. They far outnumber the good ones, and that is killing the industry. For every one gem, we have to sift through about 10 pieces of crap.

Sure the industry may be financially thriving, but in terms of good, original content, it's long dead.

 

[imgunagitusucka]

... Using autoaim, limited inventory, and regenerating health to cover up the crippling limitations of thumbstick controls isn't a revolution. Its a dumbing down. A Devolution.

Halo started the trend of "accessibility" over all other concerns, a concept that is killing gaming one day at a time.

What game were you playing? Halo: CE didn't have autoaim (No idea where that came from...) and while it had regenerating shields (which fit), your health didn't regenerate, you still needed to find health kits.
As for the limited inventory, I would like to point out how damn difficult it is to switch between a dozen weapons while playing on the console. It may be easy on the PC, but it isn't on consoles.
And you seemed to forget the introduction of vehicles, a large mutliplayer mode that surpassed those before it, and its kick-ass single player mode with Co-op.

As for your Devolution comment, you do know that every shooter for the past... what, 8 years has followed that trend, with the exception of the Valve games, but then, they've always been ones for taking the path less traveled.

Regenerating shields were actually taken from Tribes, if I remember correctly.

As for a larger multiplayer mode that surpassed those before it, on consoles that's in a sense true. However on PCs it's not, not even close (in fact before Bungie was bought by MS, when Halo was going to be a Mac exclusive, they were aiming for 40v40 online multiplayer). But the fact remains it hasn't grown up past that point. it's still the same numbers in an online match as it was in Halo 2, and it's just not impressive anymore when other games do it bigger and better (imo, of course)

Before M$ bought bungie Halo was going to be a RTS game, which they eventually made in the form of halo wars. Regen shields/health are not a regression (i think that's what you meant), they are simply a change from instant kills, which discourages camping (a good thing) and allows a player to go on extended kill streaks (also a good thing). Accessibility is in no way killing gaming, it has helped gaming reach the current zenith of popularity it enjoys at the moment. Without that population growth of gamers (casual,hardcore and all between) current AAA titles would not have 1/5 of the budget that devs get to spend, pushing the tech to it's limits and creating games that consistantly raise the bar in interactive entertainment. So i guess hopeless bastard, that's all thanks to halo....according to you.

 

[ethaninja]

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.

Here I thought that was Doom

 

[mb16]

the fact that we are having this argument/discussion shows how good halo was/is. if you picked another game lets say turok everyone has forgotten about it and if you were to say it was the best game everyone minus one or two would call you an idiot and the argument would die quickly. but as halo has some very good positive points in its favour it takes allot longer for the argument to die.

eg.
PS3 best in the world: yes.no.yes.no.no.yes.no.yes.no.no.yes.no..... (good points for both sides so goes on longer)
virtual boy best in world: no.no.no...... (alot shorter as it clearly isnt)

 

[ethaninja]

The only difference between Halo games, and other first person shooters, is that since the second one, they've put the damn crosshair below the center of the screen!!! Which is one of the reasons I don't play the game anyway.

 

[Revolutionary]

You say 'becoming' as if it hasn't already happened.