Im going to start this review in the most cliché way possible by saying ?What can I say about HALO that hasn't already been said?? Because calling this game good OR bad are both cliches in themselves. So I'll start by saying I never got into HALO. I had only a PS2 at the time so asking my 14 year old self to describe my thoughts on the Xbox Flagship title could be summed up in one word: Overhyped. I still feel that way except without the fanboy stigma. After spending time with the Xbox and PC version on the game I can say that it's not that bad.
In a sense the game just works. You point and shoot at things, which then point and shoot at you, with a limited amount of guns and ammo to do this with. Out of the 9 guns I found myself sticking, mostly, to the standard issued combo of the M6D Pistol and MA5B assault rifle. But, man, most of the weapons just felt way under powered. I literally jumped over the God-Awful Covenant weapons and hated the cheap-ass Needler. And I hated the vehicle sections, choising to stay on foot where I could.
The levels are big and pretty to look at, especially the outdoor ones. The colors are much brighter and richer than FPSs I had played on the PS2 or even recently. Bungie went for a much more sci-fi/fantasy look rather than gritty realism that, to this day, is eye catching. However the levels get very repetitive, with the last quarter of the game involving fighting your way back though the same locations previously conquered.
The most important and interesting aspect of HALO wasn't it's story (a mix of Half-Life and any generic war game/movie) or gameplay (solid) but it's impact on the FPS genre on consoles: The limited carried weapon, 16 person multiplayer matches, and how it brought gaming to a new audience.
The original Xbox and HALO reached a new demographic I like to call the BROs. These are the people who hadn't owned or played games since the SNES/Genesis era.. They were football players and frat boys who have never even heard of Metal Gear or Final Fantasy but over night these ?dawgs? became the new ?Hardcore Games?. These were young men that would normally drink, play beer pong, and get laid on a Saturday night. But with the explosion of HALO's popularity, these same guys would round up a large group of buddies, 4 TVs, 4 Xboxs, 4 copies of the game, and 16 controllers and play HALO and drink beer and not get laid as much.
But, Christ, this was a revolution in gaming. No other game had done something like this. But most of you probably don't really care about all that. You are probably apart of the mass majority that care only for the online multiplayer death matches the series has become loved for. Or the smaller but no less hardcore group that have actually immersed themselves in the lore of the franchise, spread out across 7 games, numerous novels, direct-to-dvd animes, episodic chapters, and a possible Hollywood movie. But it all started with a single game that, for better or worst, changed the FPS genre and gaming over a decade ago.
And its not bad. Except for the driving sections, especially the last one. I swear, it took me half an hour to finish the last five minutes of the game.
Vist my youtube page for future game reviews: dh88274
In a sense the game just works. You point and shoot at things, which then point and shoot at you, with a limited amount of guns and ammo to do this with. Out of the 9 guns I found myself sticking, mostly, to the standard issued combo of the M6D Pistol and MA5B assault rifle. But, man, most of the weapons just felt way under powered. I literally jumped over the God-Awful Covenant weapons and hated the cheap-ass Needler. And I hated the vehicle sections, choising to stay on foot where I could.
The levels are big and pretty to look at, especially the outdoor ones. The colors are much brighter and richer than FPSs I had played on the PS2 or even recently. Bungie went for a much more sci-fi/fantasy look rather than gritty realism that, to this day, is eye catching. However the levels get very repetitive, with the last quarter of the game involving fighting your way back though the same locations previously conquered.
The most important and interesting aspect of HALO wasn't it's story (a mix of Half-Life and any generic war game/movie) or gameplay (solid) but it's impact on the FPS genre on consoles: The limited carried weapon, 16 person multiplayer matches, and how it brought gaming to a new audience.
The original Xbox and HALO reached a new demographic I like to call the BROs. These are the people who hadn't owned or played games since the SNES/Genesis era.. They were football players and frat boys who have never even heard of Metal Gear or Final Fantasy but over night these ?dawgs? became the new ?Hardcore Games?. These were young men that would normally drink, play beer pong, and get laid on a Saturday night. But with the explosion of HALO's popularity, these same guys would round up a large group of buddies, 4 TVs, 4 Xboxs, 4 copies of the game, and 16 controllers and play HALO and drink beer and not get laid as much.
But, Christ, this was a revolution in gaming. No other game had done something like this. But most of you probably don't really care about all that. You are probably apart of the mass majority that care only for the online multiplayer death matches the series has become loved for. Or the smaller but no less hardcore group that have actually immersed themselves in the lore of the franchise, spread out across 7 games, numerous novels, direct-to-dvd animes, episodic chapters, and a possible Hollywood movie. But it all started with a single game that, for better or worst, changed the FPS genre and gaming over a decade ago.
And its not bad. Except for the driving sections, especially the last one. I swear, it took me half an hour to finish the last five minutes of the game.
Vist my youtube page for future game reviews: dh88274