Steamednotfried questions: 'What Makes Halo so Special?'

[sneak_copter]

Good Read, in a ranty/entertaining sort of way.

Halo 3 really needs to keel over and die now. I'm going to be honest and say the only reason it is popular is because of the four letters and one number that make up it's title and brand association. The game is a bog-standard, admittedly fun FPS.

 

[Devilpapaya]

As I?m writing, though, I don?t believe it, that something seemingly so trivial could have such an impact on the game. What do you think?

I think trivial is a good word to use here. You don't like COD4 because its unpredictable. You don't like it because its chaotic, you know, kinda like warfare. You complain about not being able to make "informed strategy" when in reality you are just unable to adjust your strategy to changing conditions.

 

[LoopyDood]

The only positve thing about Halo is playing it online. And most of the people playing are dickwads who teabag you at every oppurtunity they get. The game itself is nothing special, its all been done before.

Actually the original Halo created current FPS's...

I'm sorry, what? Are you trying to say that Halo created the FPS genre as we know it today? Or that everybody took one look at Halo's success and copied it?

 

[PersianLlama]

The only positve thing about Halo is playing it online. And most of the people playing are dickwads who teabag you at every oppurtunity they get. The game itself is nothing special, its all been done before.

Actually the original Halo created current FPS's...

Please tell me sir, how it influenced Team Fortress 2.

Edit: While were at TF2, how about Half Life 2, Red Orchestra, Warhawk?

Edit 2:

I like playing Joust in Halo 1.

Warthogs on Blood Gulch? Death by vehicle only? That's how I play it. Pure hilarious win.

That's the only way I play it, and it's the only fun aspect I see.

 

[beddo]

Its an average first person shooter at best. I think the only reason it has a huge fan base like it does now, was because it was one of the few games that came with the Xbox launch that wasn't complete crap. But that's just my two cents.

If you had played it at the time you would have been able to see how good it was. Even now it's still quite a good game

EDIT: Sometimes a lot of people like things because they are good.

 

[D_987]

Or that everybody took one look at Halo's success and copied it?

This one obviously...

 

[D_987]

Please tell me sir, how it influenced Team Fortress 2.

Edit: While were at TF2, how about Half Life 2, Red Orchestra, Warhawk?

Oh please, must you be so moronic... of course there will always be a couple of examples, but if you take the console FPS you will find the vast majority have taken at least some elements from the Halo series.

You don't have to nitpick every comment and claim a handful of examples are different.

 

[Kiutu]

I hate Halo for the fans not the game. I played all 3 campaigns and loved em. But many halo fans have NOT. I was horrifed when I got my 360 and popped in Halo 2 to play it online and learned most did NOT play the 1st and most did NOT even play 2's story. Halo 3 only earns more hate from me by getting so much special treatment. I am an achievement whore to put it bluntly, but when Halo 3 had achievements increased to 1750 I was annoyed.

Anyways besides that what makes Halo 1 great but not the others is it had the best story. When you first get to the control center and Cortana starts freaking on you, when you first enter the large empty room after that vid and this strange new enemy bursts out en masse and you have to escape. The Flood in the first was a major and unexpected twist, after that it was kinda sad they were still around.

 

[PersianLlama]

Please tell me sir, how it influenced Team Fortress 2.

Edit: While were at TF2, how about Half Life 2, Red Orchestra, Warhawk?

Oh please, must you be so moronic... of course there will always be a couple of examples, but if you take the console FPS you will find the vast majority have taken at least some elements from the Halo series.

You don't have to nitpick every comment and claim a handful of examples are different.

Then don't refer to all modern FPS's and state it as a fact?

 

[cyber_andyy]

I found halo 1 to be "meh"

Simply for the fact that you can throw Scorpions at people.

G-mod, buy it. You can throw BUILDINGS at people.

 

[YuheJi]

I never really got why Halo received such high reviews. It's a good game, no doubt about that, but I really don't think it was groundbreaking in the FPS genre. It did bring shooters to the consoles, but there were plenty of decent shooters that existed before Halo came out. Saying that it created current FPSs would be a big jump. What about Unreal, Quake, or Half-Life? What about console shooters like GoldenEye 007 or Perfect Dark? I just don't see what Halo has that makes it groundbreaking.
I also felt that the argument was simply that Call of Duty has spawn points, which makes it difficult to strategize.

 

[Knight Templar]

Please tell me sir, how it influenced Team Fortress 2.

Edit: While were at TF2, how about Half Life 2, Red Orchestra, Warhawk?

Oh please, must you be so moronic... of course there will always be a couple of examples, but if you take the console FPS you will find the vast majority have taken at least some elements from the Halo series.

You don't have to nitpick every comment and claim a handful of examples are different.

Then don't refer to all modern FPS's and state it as a fact?

Does him not using the word "most" really matter that much?

 

[YuheJi]

Please tell me sir, how it influenced Team Fortress 2.

Edit: While were at TF2, how about Half Life 2, Red Orchestra, Warhawk?

Oh please, must you be so moronic... of course there will always be a couple of examples, but if you take the console FPS you will find the vast majority have taken at least some elements from the Halo series.

You don't have to nitpick every comment and claim a handful of examples are different.

Then don't refer to all modern FPS's and state it as a fact?

Does him not using the word "most" really matter that much?

He said "Actually the original Halo created current FPS's..."
There is no most, and it does sound like Halo inspired all modern FPS's.

 

[Knight Templar]

Does him not using the word "most" really matter that much?

He said "Actually the original Halo created current FPS's..."
There is no most, and it does sound like Halo inspired all modern FPS's.

Re-read what I said.

If he had said "Actually the original Halo created most current FPS's" would you complain?

 

[YuheJi]

Does him not using the word "most" really matter that much?

He said "Actually the original Halo created current FPS's..."
There is no most, and it does sound like Halo inspired all modern FPS's.

Re-read what I said.

If he had said "Actually the original Halo created most current FPS's" would you complain?

I wasn't the one that originally brought it up, but I would probably have a problem with that argument as well. I just don't think that Halo has had that great of an influence on the genre. I really don't see its influence in a lot of shooters out these days. The first Halo did do a good job of bringing more shooters to consoles, with a decent story, graphics, and a continuous level design that some can argue was inspired by Half-Life. Halo 2 brought in a decent multiplayer, which had been missing for consoles. Halo 3 brought in Forge.
The problem I have with considering Halo genre-defining is the fact that most of those things already existed on PC FPS's. Quake, Unreal, and CS had been around for a while at that point, and Garry's Mod was released before Halo 3 came out.

 

[Knight Templar]

Does him not using the word "most" really matter that much?

He said "Actually the original Halo created current FPS's..."
There is no most, and it does sound like Halo inspired all modern FPS's.

Re-read what I said.

If he had said "Actually the original Halo created most current FPS's" would you complain?

I wasn't the one that originally brought it up, but I would probably have a problem with that argument as well. I just don't think that Halo has had that great of an influence on the genre. I really don't see its influence in a lot of shooters out these days. The first Halo did do a good job of bringing more shooters to consoles, with a decent story, graphics, and a continuous level design that some can argue was inspired by Half-Life. Halo 2 brought in a decent multiplayer, which had been missing for consoles. Halo 3 brought in Forge.
The problem I have with considering Halo genre-defining is the fact that most of those things already existed on PC FPS's. Quake, Unreal, and CS had been around for a while at that point, and Garry's Mod was released before Halo 3 came out.

Quake, Unreal, and CS are not in any way like Halo so they don't enter the argument. Most FPS after Halo were very much like Halo in their gameplay.

 

[mark0217]

...I think halo is a pretty cool guy?
But seriously, the Halo series are FUN games. They're not as groundbreaking as you expect, but they are geniunely fun, if sometimes a little simplistic. But that's not a bad thing, it's just that you can pick it up quit and then go on playing for hours.
In a sea of "tactical FPS", Halo may be one of the few old-school exceptions to the rules today.

 

[reggiejames]

so how many other FPS have theatre mode? and give the opportunity study everybody's tactics. its a good tool to raise everybody's skill level.

 

[PersianLlama]

Does him not using the word "most" really matter that much?

He said "Actually the original Halo created current FPS's..."
There is no most, and it does sound like Halo inspired all modern FPS's.

Re-read what I said.

If he had said "Actually the original Halo created most current FPS's" would you complain?

Nope, and then I wouldn't have needed to list a few that it didn't inspire because he implied it inspired all of them, and that isn't true.

 

[GyroCaptain]

What makes Halo 'special'?
Insert Something Awful "downs" smiley here.

Kidding of course, I think it's the open worlds, bright colors and ludicrous physics, not to mention solid gameplay.