Generic? Yes. Brown? No. It uses a lot more more colors than the average shooter and the art style is appealling. More people need to realise that "brown shooter" actually means a shooter than is, well, brown.
Poll: Is Halo a generic shooter?
- Thread starter tlozoot
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It wasn't generic originally, but by the time the third game came out, the Halo style of FPS was the established norm, thus making Halo a generic shooter.
There are two things in this thread that make me sick with anger.
Firstly, the fact that so few people seem to grasp what genre actually equates to. It is a way of classifying something. It does not make a text, whether it be video game, movie or novel bad if it fits within a respective genre.
On top this, Genre in other mediums of entertainment and art focus upon things such as themes and narrative, yet we seem to be horrendously bogged down discussing gameplay mechanics in this forum.
This leads on to the second thing that I absolutely despise. The reiteration of a previous person?s argument, just for the sake of putting a post in on a subject, is absolutely retarded. This thread even has a fucking poll at the beginning for you to notch up your opinion for a cumulative total, no need to post what someone else has already stated. Read the thread before putting your in your contribution?
And now for what I would like to say: leading on from my first point, Halo should be considered in terms of narrative conventions, as well as gameplay, when considering its genre, and whether it is ?generic?. The whole super-marine fighting alien?s is not original, no. But the framing of the initial Halo?s story within the tragic heroism of trying to keep the co-ordinates of Earth out of covenant hands is interesting, do you not think? How about the ?ultimate weapon? of some extinct race being a form of space zombies? I am, for one, an avid hater of gameplay sections related to The Flood, but from a narrative perspective they are pretty cool. Do you see what I mean about the game being unconventional in other areas of what defines a genre?
And then lets discuss one of my pet opinions here. One gentleman stated, and I quote:
And for the record, I like St. Anger too.
Firstly, the fact that so few people seem to grasp what genre actually equates to. It is a way of classifying something. It does not make a text, whether it be video game, movie or novel bad if it fits within a respective genre.
On top this, Genre in other mediums of entertainment and art focus upon things such as themes and narrative, yet we seem to be horrendously bogged down discussing gameplay mechanics in this forum.
This leads on to the second thing that I absolutely despise. The reiteration of a previous person?s argument, just for the sake of putting a post in on a subject, is absolutely retarded. This thread even has a fucking poll at the beginning for you to notch up your opinion for a cumulative total, no need to post what someone else has already stated. Read the thread before putting your in your contribution?
And now for what I would like to say: leading on from my first point, Halo should be considered in terms of narrative conventions, as well as gameplay, when considering its genre, and whether it is ?generic?. The whole super-marine fighting alien?s is not original, no. But the framing of the initial Halo?s story within the tragic heroism of trying to keep the co-ordinates of Earth out of covenant hands is interesting, do you not think? How about the ?ultimate weapon? of some extinct race being a form of space zombies? I am, for one, an avid hater of gameplay sections related to The Flood, but from a narrative perspective they are pretty cool. Do you see what I mean about the game being unconventional in other areas of what defines a genre?
And then lets discuss one of my pet opinions here. One gentleman stated, and I quote:
ODST had a weak feature set, but the single player experience was possibly the best of the series. The leanings towards a noir aesthetic, in visual presentation, setting and music really made the game stand out to me. The fractured narrative showing the action through flashbacks also really helped to make the game a step above other Halo titles in at least originality of presentation. So let us give credit where credit is due, ODST had some really good writing, and it makes me wonder why the rest of the games aren?t so interestingly written.
And for the record, I like St. Anger too.
There should be a "It's kinda generic, but it's still executed very well, so it doesn't really matter" kind of option, because that's how I feel.
EDIT: I MISSED MY 500TH POST FUUUUUU D:
EDIT: I MISSED MY 500TH POST FUUUUUU D:
Halo is kinda generic it doesnt possess anything new and it surely didnt revolucionized FPS industry has we know it.
It inserted some different aspects yes (jumping like hell, and shield regeneration), but beyond that its has common has they come.
The first one was interesting tough, had a neat story to it, and loads of delicious easter eggs for people to find, but beyonf that it just got over-hyped (i have to say Halo2, 3 and ODST dont ring any bells). I admit tough Halo Reach was goddam awsome...
What halo has that got it so much populorized it was the multiplayer, heck theres people that never even played the single player, and went straight to the multiplayer fun.
At the time tough the only big difference Halo had from other games is that it was set in space, and fighting aliens... so yeah halo is has ordinary has they come...
It inserted some different aspects yes (jumping like hell, and shield regeneration), but beyond that its has common has they come.
The first one was interesting tough, had a neat story to it, and loads of delicious easter eggs for people to find, but beyonf that it just got over-hyped (i have to say Halo2, 3 and ODST dont ring any bells). I admit tough Halo Reach was goddam awsome...
What halo has that got it so much populorized it was the multiplayer, heck theres people that never even played the single player, and went straight to the multiplayer fun.
At the time tough the only big difference Halo had from other games is that it was set in space, and fighting aliens... so yeah halo is has ordinary has they come...
Halo was one of the first fps games to have a "just a couple of grenades and two weapons only and you heal over time" fps games since then owe at least that to halo. If you had to list the top five most successful fps series of the last few years, halo and CoD would definitely be in there. Most of these pertain to the usual military shooters, where as halo is one of the handful of VERY successful sci-fi fps games. The load out systen in reach definitely helped add something new.
All in all, I would say halo pertains to the genre in most of the ways a good fps must, but it isn't just another generic shooter. Not by a long shot.
All in all, I would say halo pertains to the genre in most of the ways a good fps must, but it isn't just another generic shooter. Not by a long shot.
Yes, Halo is as generic as they come.
When CE came out nothing about it was innovative. Everything in it had been done before in other (PC) FPS. Yet, it was a pretty good shooter. Same with all the games in the series.
At the time, lots of other shoothers where still quite colorfull. The rise of military FPS games around the same time, made everything "brown". A trend that Halo did not follow, which is a nice touch.
When CE came out nothing about it was innovative. Everything in it had been done before in other (PC) FPS. Yet, it was a pretty good shooter. Same with all the games in the series.
At the time, lots of other shoothers where still quite colorfull. The rise of military FPS games around the same time, made everything "brown". A trend that Halo did not follow, which is a nice touch.
Halo is the Seinfeld of FPSes; after shocking the entire genre, it's been imitated so much that it's been displaced and nowadays seems quaint and generic only because everyone followed in its footsteps.
Edit: After seeing Trinity on my badges, it's The Matrix of FPSes. If you hadn't seen the Matrix when it came out and watched it now, it'd be awfully hard to understand why audiences were so shocked when it was first released. It really was (one of the?) first Hollywood smash hits featuring Western themes, Hong Kong wire-fu, and that definitive technopop style.
Edit: After seeing Trinity on my badges, it's The Matrix of FPSes. If you hadn't seen the Matrix when it came out and watched it now, it'd be awfully hard to understand why audiences were so shocked when it was first released. It really was (one of the?) first Hollywood smash hits featuring Western themes, Hong Kong wire-fu, and that definitive technopop style.
Of course it has colour. A black-and-white shooter would be pointless, you'd shoot your teammates.
I also get sick of hearing the 'Halo is generic' line, because really when you look at what the standard shooters of gaming look like, it actually kind of stands out.
Sure, certain aspects of the game have been copied for others but let me tell you, nothing but Halo will ever feel like Halo.
Hearing the grunts quip while I blast away in the brightly colored environments with a gun that shoots pink blasts of death is an experience better than any other 'total realism' shooter out there.
Yes other shooters have a quick button for melee attacks, but how many of them let you do this with a giant hammer? Yes there have been rebounding health meters, but at the same time without the element of an energy shield, what contextual sense does it make?
Point is, even though other games have copied the formula, Halo remains feeling like Halo. I never get flashbacks to Halo playing any other FPS.
Combination of music, ambiance and familiar sounds and visuals help remind me that I am playing a Halo game.
I literally only need to see one in game screenshot to instantly think to myself:
"Yep, that's Halo alright."
Even games like Reach and ODST where the presentation is notably different, retain that feeling. I mean when you see the MA5c Assault Rifle with the little readout saying '60' you know that this is Halo, not Call of Duty, not Medal of Honor, not Half Life... it's Halo.
I see the green sphere of the Jackal shield or the awe and mightiness of the Elite in screenshot, dead giveaway.
In fact as easy as it is to recognize Halo just from looking at a few screenshots. I literally have difficulty telling the Call of Duty games and the Medal of Honor games apart. Especially these new ones set in the modern times, sameish weapons, sameish enemies and similar look in graphics.
Point is, if someone showed me a screen shot from say, COD Black Ops and a screenshot from Medal of Honor (the new one) I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart. If I wasn't told, I wouldn't know it.
And yet, give me a Halo screen shot, alongside a Half Life one, a Quake one and any number of sci-fi shooters, I'll pick out Halo in an instant. It's immediately recognizable, as is its protagonist. And so in some respects, what with being able to spot a Halo screenshot without any problem, I certainly don't think it's 'generic' and certainly not 'brown'.
So no if you ask me, the game isn't generic. True in terms of design it isn't the most original, but still there's a lot of great stuff to be had and a lot of fun times I've had playing it. So while there are similarities, nothing will ever feel quite like it.
So as far as I'm concerned, Halo will never be generic. Not for me anyway.
Sure, certain aspects of the game have been copied for others but let me tell you, nothing but Halo will ever feel like Halo.
Hearing the grunts quip while I blast away in the brightly colored environments with a gun that shoots pink blasts of death is an experience better than any other 'total realism' shooter out there.
Yes other shooters have a quick button for melee attacks, but how many of them let you do this with a giant hammer? Yes there have been rebounding health meters, but at the same time without the element of an energy shield, what contextual sense does it make?
Point is, even though other games have copied the formula, Halo remains feeling like Halo. I never get flashbacks to Halo playing any other FPS.
Combination of music, ambiance and familiar sounds and visuals help remind me that I am playing a Halo game.
I literally only need to see one in game screenshot to instantly think to myself:
"Yep, that's Halo alright."
Even games like Reach and ODST where the presentation is notably different, retain that feeling. I mean when you see the MA5c Assault Rifle with the little readout saying '60' you know that this is Halo, not Call of Duty, not Medal of Honor, not Half Life... it's Halo.
I see the green sphere of the Jackal shield or the awe and mightiness of the Elite in screenshot, dead giveaway.
In fact as easy as it is to recognize Halo just from looking at a few screenshots. I literally have difficulty telling the Call of Duty games and the Medal of Honor games apart. Especially these new ones set in the modern times, sameish weapons, sameish enemies and similar look in graphics.
Point is, if someone showed me a screen shot from say, COD Black Ops and a screenshot from Medal of Honor (the new one) I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart. If I wasn't told, I wouldn't know it.
And yet, give me a Halo screen shot, alongside a Half Life one, a Quake one and any number of sci-fi shooters, I'll pick out Halo in an instant. It's immediately recognizable, as is its protagonist. And so in some respects, what with being able to spot a Halo screenshot without any problem, I certainly don't think it's 'generic' and certainly not 'brown'.
So no if you ask me, the game isn't generic. True in terms of design it isn't the most original, but still there's a lot of great stuff to be had and a lot of fun times I've had playing it. So while there are similarities, nothing will ever feel quite like it.
So as far as I'm concerned, Halo will never be generic. Not for me anyway.
Halo didn't exactly re-invent the wheel but it could never be honestly refered to as generic. It's got an ass tone more personality then most shooters, it's got much more room for random rediculousness then games like team fortress ever managed and the feel of the gameplay is vastly different from any other shooter i've played.
You know, I hate to be the guy that says '/thread', but this just sums it up so perfectly there's little point in anyone else posting.Vrex360 said:
You've hit the nail on the head perfectly. Whether the design elements, mechanics or themes are generic is debatable. But I can guarantee you that there's nothing else out there that plays like Halo does, it's got a clearly distinct feel to it. Whether you enjoy that feel or not is irrelevant, the bottom line is that Halo is the only game out there that plays like Halo.
Yeah, it is quite. That doesn't nescessarily make it bad though. Whilst not really to my tastes, I'll admit it is quite fun.
Honestly, I don't think that space combat, Firefight customisation and matchmaking, the Forge World, Armor Abilites and reticule bloom could possibly be considered "little" change. Or that the latter two features "barely affected gameplay".Arkley said:
Bungie made more change to their formula with Reach than any other Halo game, in my opinion.
On topic: It's somewhere between "somewhat" and "innovative". Closer to the former. But that is hardly a bad thing, or indeed unusual. What percentage of games released every year are innovative? 5%? 10% It seems unfair to bash any game for being "generic" when the vast majority of games aren't.
Sorry, the grammar Nazi inside me got annoyed by that.this isnt my name said:
O.T. Not entirely generic, but at the same time it's not innovative at all. All of the mechanics it added were entirely unneeded, and Halo doing well has just made those mechanics more common which in turn has made the most recent generation of shooter's much more bland and generic to me. It doesn't help that the industry can't stand innovation, and sticks with what worked before.
Also, I'm betting someone with either a Halo avatar or an XBL avatar is going to come in here soon and start flaming the shit out of some more outspoken people on this thread.
It's only generic because all FPSs are inevitably defined in terms of halo. Halo is like Halo so therefore its generic.