Is Halo slowly losing its steam?

[Azure9]

I really like all of the games but it felt like it started loosing its steam after halo 2. I remember the levels were much long in halo 1 and 2, and the story felt like it was simplified in halo 3, ODST, and Reach

Huge problem with this form is that i'm seeing alot of people that just hate Halo , probably sony or COD fanboys, that aren't actually commenting on wherever it lost its steam. If you think the game never had steam then how is it so many people know about it and love it.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Three direct sequels and one prequel now, plus ODST, Wars and the one in development?

You are off by one, in that you either miscounted sequels or you added ODST or the upcoming Halo 4 in the sequels but also mentioned them at the end.


Halo Game Timeline:

Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars(Set before Reach), ODST(offshoot story set in-between Halo 2 and 3), Reach(Prequel of Halo), Halo Anniversary(Remastered Halo, hidden extra bits of story about 343 Guilty Spark, Skulls and achievements added, remastered old multiplayer maps added to Reach), and now the upcoming Halo 4.

It that is one story start with a remastered version of it, two direct sequels, Wars, ODST, the prequel, and the upcoming third prequel.

Since I count Halo and Anniversary as the same game timeline wise, since they actually are, for the history of the series after Halo 4 comes out there will be 7 different Halo games.

In the sense of goodness/greatness, I don't think the series has lost steam. I have played all the Halo games that are out so far, except Halo 2, I'm waiting for 343 to say yay or nay on whether they will make a Halo 2 Anniversary. So out of that, I have loved all the games.

The only reason a few people don't like ODST and Reach is because they are different types of story telling, though I think it was needed to bring variety to the series.

I think that guy at 343(Microsoft) that said that ODST and Reach were bad because they didn't have Master Chief as the main character, is really stupid. He has no idea what he is talking about. They are perfect editions to the universe. I mean Master Chief isn't the only person in that universe, there were other people that played their parts in fighting the Covenant and the Flood.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Halo was, from the beginning, an example of how fickle popularity was. It was not in any way impressive, one of the most average FPS games ever made in the history of FPS games with many vastly superior shooters out at the same time. It's popularity was bound to wane sooner or later.

 

[Reaper195]

I loved Halo when I was a kid. Hell, I still do. I got the anniversary edition (Original was long broken by my younger brother) and found it more entertaining than a lot of FPS's that have been released in many recent years. But that's me. I also couldn't give a flying fuck what other people think. TO me, the Halo trilogy and the first four books were amazing. ODST was meh, and Reach...well, the story in that fucked up the books something chronic.

Halo Wars...I'm not sure. Yeah, it was a simple and shit RTS, yet the cutscenes were really nice and it was the first (And certain still only time) you get to see a Spartan actually do something other than stand around looking somewhat menacing.

I'm somewhat interested in 4. Yeah, the story is getting a little old and I'd rather see some other stuff from the Universe (Kinda like what Halo Evolutions did), but on the other hand I've yet to see anything from 343 Industries (Anniversary aside, which wasn't anything new).



And for those that say that the Halo series, particularly Anniversary, is just repeating itself....why the fuck are Mario, Zelda, COD, Battlefield, Grand Theft Auto and any RTS still selling at all? It's called an gaming industry. If it makes many moneys, more will be made. Got a problem with that? Make your own fuckin' games and stop whining that a large industry is aiming towards the larger market and not the little niche corner. It's called economics, it's how it rolls.

And as for inovation? 'The Theatre', which was added in Halo 3, was has only been adopted by the CoD series in Black Ops.

Actually, Driver 3 did it first as far as I can remember. Granted it only went for five or so minutes, but I do remember using a theatre mode thing in that before H3.

 

[Marsell]

I didn't know Halo had any steam left to lose.
LOL

 

[jawakiller]

Slowly?

ZING!

But really, Reach was terrible. My friends went as far as to (in a fit of uncreativity) call it retch. To this day they call it that.

And I agree with them. Piece of shit, that game was.

 

[repeating integers]

I didn't know Halo had any steam left to lose.
LOL

It's kind of bad form to laugh at your own joke... unless you're taking the piss out of people doing something similar? Damn the internet, and its ruining of good sarcasm.

Halo was, from the beginning, an example of how fickle popularity was. It was not in any way impressive, one of the most average FPS games ever made in the history of FPS games with many vastly superior shooters out at the same time. It's popularity was bound to wane sooner or later.

Aren't opinions wonderful?

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I am a Halo fan til I die, but that's only for single player and that universe. I do like Multiplayer from time to time, and especially firefight, but there's something aout unloading a clip into a guy without him dying, and then him meleeing you and he gets the kill. Some of the modes are fun, Swat, infection, but regular multiplayer can suck my ass as far as I'm concerned.

The regular multiplayer is a matter of skill, in that it matters where you hit the person with that clip and/or melee.
Of course if you aren't aiming at the head, it is going to take more shots.

With and AR: Hitting below the head will take a clip or more, depending if you use controlled bursts or just hold the trigger down. Holding the trigger down will take more shots, more than a clip usually, because the gun will be less accurate going at full blast.

With the DMR: I believe it is 4 shots to the head is a kill. If you are just shooting the body, it can take up to 8 shots.

Sniper Rifle: One shot to the head, or two shots to the body.

Frag grenades alone take at least two to kill. Sticky grenades, one for a kill if stuck, two if the enemy doesn't sustain the direct explosion.

I won't go on with all the weapons, but you get the point.

But with the melee, it does a set amount of damage, so if your shield is down to a certain amount after being fired upon, only one melee will kill you. If you are at full everything, it takes two melees from the front to kill, one to take down the shields and one to finish. Now if you get hit from behind, that is considered a critical hit and it only takes one hit.

So, of course some people might not like the system, but it is a system built on the fact that it is power armor wearing super soldiers that are fighting each other, and it will of course take more than one hit, unless it is a critical hit.

It's not like COD where it is either bang or bang bang and the other player is dead. With Halo, an encounter of players can take anywhere from a second to 20 or more seconds, depending if they are alone and nobody barges in and kills them both while they are having an epic battle. And boy have I had some epic one on one battles that seemed to last forever.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

And I agree with them. Piece of shit, that game was.

I seriously don't get what was so bad about it. I still haven't heard a proper explanation on what was bad about it.

The campaign was phenomenal, it was a touching look at the fall of Reach, and it was just as long as any of the other Halo games. It took me around 20 hours on Legendary. Plus the multiplayer got so much more involved and awesome with the introduction of the armor abilities.

What is it that you and your friends were wanting specifically?

 

[GamerKT]

Why does this topic exist NOW? I'd understand it if Halo 4 had just come out to disappointing sales, but this question doesn't make sense right now. It's like asking if people are sick of Rainbow Six games.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I don't usually get into FPS games...but when I do, it's Halo.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

 

[iTwitch]

I personally enjoyed Halo Reach very much, just what I asked for after 3, to be honest Reach was possibly my second favorite after Combat evolved. Not to take anything from 2 and 3. I am slightly worried about 343's final product but I'm sure they'll put in a grand amount of effort.

 

[jawakiller]

I seriously don't get what was so bad about it. I still haven't heard a proper explanation on what was bad about it.

The campaign was phenomenal, it was a touching look at the fall of Reach, and it was just as long as any of the other Halo games. It took me around 20 hours on Legendary. Plus the multiplayer got so much more involved and awesome with the introduction of the armor abilities.

What is it that you and your friends were wanting specifically?

This is where we were coming from.

After playing the first three halos, we were expecting something amazing. The first one was amazing, I don't care what the elitists say. The second was also pretty good. The third, again, was a great game. ODST was mediocre. Reach... Well here's what I hated about it.

Campaign: First off, the characters were nowhere near Master Chief. Many people will try and argue that he wasn't all that great but the fact remains, he was a stoic badass. It was the way he was portrayed. As almost an invincible, larger than life figure, bashing shit that got in his way. He didn't need to say much. He was a lone ranger, a one of a kind wizard of destruction. Death was his business. You were the only hope Mankind had.

In Reach? You were still quiet, sure. But that's probably because everybody else was yapping too much. Seriously. When the chick got sniped, we cheered. She was that annoying. The big guy? Considering he could have been a ridiculously insane badass, he died in a totally anticlimactic sequence that overall barely accomplished anything. Besides, you're not really needed until the last bit where there's no one else left. That's almost at the end. You don't matter. You're just another one of the heroes not the only one. Typical prequel. No surprises, we knew they would fail. No crazy plot twists or amazing realizations. Just a plain ol' prequel.

The story is nothing but a I-can-die-a-more-epic-death-than-you contest.

Multiplayer: It was just meh.
The abilities were silly, the assassinations, while cool, didn't fit into the game's fast paced nature and the weapons weren't really much different. And the lobbies were quickly filled with bitchy little kids. Faster than three.

So, all in all, it was shitty. My friends hate it more than I do but I dislike it all the same. We were promised greatness and what we got was mediocrity. It failed to deliver. And that is why I don't like Reach.

EDIT: Oh, and the fact you just use your companions as meat shields in the campaign was retarded. They couldn't die.

 

[VincentR]

Well yeah, it's done. I stopped caring the instant BUNGIE - its own developer - felt it was time to let it go. And now Microsoft is milking out ANOTHER trilogy? Mary wept.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Snip

The fact that there was no Master Chief is one of the big reasons, tells me something about you and your friends. You just care about bang bang explosion games, where at the end of every big scene/level is big explosion or fight that all the main characters survive unscathed(because they are all bad-asses), and if the game doesn't have all of that, in some way it is lame.

While Master Chief is a somewhat important figure in the Halo Universe, his story is a diddly-piss small portion of that universe.

I'm mean seriously if you felt no real emotion from the Reach campaign, you and your friends must be cold and heartless. Because it was one of the most touching and emotional stories of the series. Frankly, I believe the Reach and ODST campaigns are the best, because they have more than just a big almost-silent tough guy that saves the universe punching aliens and blowing shit up.

Of course, I and my friends are the opposite of you and your friends. The ODST and Reach stories rank the best for us. My best friend's only problem with the Reach campaign was that he felt when Kat died, was just so wrong, because it was from a single needle rifle shot, he liked her as a character, though of course not for her driving skills.

Though I would say that our favorite characters of the series are Gunnery Sargent Buck(ODST) and "The big guy" Jorge. Jorge's death was not anti-climactic to me, it was sad yes, but there is no reason why the destruction of and important target, but the death of a valued team member can't be a climax for a story. If anything, I think there are too many big tough guy main characters that are pretty much invincible and will win out in the end every time. Master Chief was a very one dimensional character, an over used character type.

I found the Reach story a welcome change from what I had seen in the majority of the series and other games out there. It was refreshing to know that at some point Noble Six would die at the end of the Lone Wolf level.

Next, I know why you and your friends don't like the Reach multiplayer. It isn't because the armor effects are silly(which they aren't), and the assassinations are out of place(which they aren't), it is because they changed the multiplayer to where it was more than just run and gun.

Bungie was looking to make a more involved multiplayer, maybe only half run and gun, depending on the game type, but the rest is a tactical/strategy based combat. I like it much better than Halo 3's multiplayer. Halo 3 was okay for one or two day multiplayer excursion every couple or three weeks, but after awhile, it just got boring. Now Reach's multiplayer is lasting longer on me, heck, last month I played every day for at least two hours for the whole month. I went from Colonel grade 2 to General in that time. It is just much more interesting. H3 was mostly the first person to shoot won, but that is far less so with Reach.

Lastly on your edit: Look at Halo 3, any time you had main characters like the Arbiter, they never could be killed either and could be used as decoys and shields. That point of yours is moot.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

I loved Reach and ODST, but for different reasons to the trilogy. I'm hoping Halo 4 returns to the more science-fiction vibe of the early games.

Although after Anniversary Edition, which I found quite sloppy, I'm quite concerned...