The real reason Halo was/is so popular

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KeithA45

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Jan 19, 2009
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I've heard alot of arguments that Halo didn't do anything "amazing" to make it so popular. I know of a few people who actually HATE the franchise because of it's popularity without doing anything particularly amazing/new to deserve it. For the most part, they're right. Alot of the gameplay and storyline elements have all been done before. I'm sure you can all recall a game before Halo that had regenerative health, wars with aliens, vehicles with turrets, even energy swords (or something like it). I think the futuristic storyline tends to draw people, but even that's not the most important part.

But I think cynics miss the main selling point of Halo: The Spartan. It's not the back-story element of the Spartan, but rather being able to BE the Spartan. Master Chief is a god-among-men in a seemingly helpless war to save the entire human race, and each and every character in the game isn't afraid to tell you so or run for your life when they see you. I didn't care about the Master Chief until I WAS him, and I was told that I could turn the tides of a war almost entirely by myself.

It's the "desire to be great" that Halo fills so well. Think about it: growing up did you dream to be a office clerk? Of course not! Most people (including myself) wanted to be an astronaut or a firefighter or the leader of some sort of team. Everyone wants to be important somehow, and Halo puts you in control of the most important character in the whole game. Games like Call of Duty are great for their intense realism, realistic-ness and immersion, but I don't want to be A soldier I want to be THE soldier that makes a difference.

Atleast that's why my friends and I enjoy Halo.

EDIT: Oh yeah, that and I thought the music was phenomenal.
 

Hellion25

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May 28, 2008
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Its a solid game, well put together and quite fun to play though. That, coupled with the old hype machine, are why its popular. It is in no way a bad game, its actually very good. I wouldn't rate it in the greatest games ever list buts its borderline. I enjoyed a number of the set pieces in the third one.

Also it may not be the first game to do the things you mentioned, but it certainly popularised a number of things, like regenerative health and the Space Marine Sci-Fi dealie. The positives and negatives of this could likely be argued forever though.
 

Bob_F_It

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May 7, 2008
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Ranooth said:
Eldritch Warlord said:
DeusFps said:
Gordon Freeman would kick his ass.
Why? Because he's in a better game?
Its the crowbar, it makes him totally badass.
I can't see how a [a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WeaponOfChoice"]weapon of choice[/a] makes him suddenly better. Easier to picture, yes.
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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Actually I liked Halo because of the style, the music, the graphics (of the time were very good), the enemies/allies and the level layout. Plus it being one of the first decent co-op FPS's. The Covenant looked cool, the vehicles were interesting and in some cases original. The futuristic design of the Forerunners buildings was aesthetically pleasing, I could go on...

Consequentially I also liked Halo 2 because it improved in most areas, I was disappointed however, with the campaigns length and the inclusion of the 'Brutes' that I believe let down the "feel" of the Covenant as well as most of the storyline in general. The multiplayer had some great new maps and still kept Halo the way it should be.

Halo 3 was hugely hyped and as result, due to not making any improvements beyond the graphics, and in fact making some detractions, was a huge let down for me. They added too many new and pointless weapons that changed the balance of the game, got rid of all the decent big maps and stuck in loads of tiny, uninteresting ones and basically completely changed the way Halo multiplayer was previously played. I thought it was great for two months then became tired with it.
 

Sennz0r

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May 25, 2008
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Maraveno said:
no the real reason is a big base full of very convincing fanboy's seeing as most halo fans tend to draw as many other people as possible into their gaming zone


ow ok... maybe forge worked a lot too(ok let's be hones loads of people including me just bought it for that)
The fanboys tend to push people away because of their enthusiasm for what many people see as just another game. This does not make people think it's a great game. This makes people think Halo players are annoying, pushy fanboys (not saying all of them are, don't want to contribute to any flame war that is bound to happen).

Your 'play Halo for Forge'-argument only works for Halo 3. It does not explain how the franchise got so big from the start.
 

Shadow Law

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Feb 16, 2009
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All halo had to be was a good sci-fi shooter with some decent multiplayer to get me on the band wagon (I hate to say it but its true)
 

beddo

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Dec 12, 2007
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ARGH! Stop all the complaining about Halo!

It WAS a good game, it received critical acclaim.

It had many innovative features that it bought to the FPS genre and it was the subtle blend of them all that made it great. It is one of the best FPS games ever but as it is now 7 years old we can't really judge it by today's standards.

If you didn't like it, fine. If you did like it, fine. Everyone has the right to their opinion.

What's stupid is hating a game because of its popularity, just because lots of people like something doesn't mean it's bad, in fact, it's generally the opposite.
 

Ancientgamer

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Jan 16, 2009
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Also, all of the game elements in halo may have existed before it in various games, but it was the first one to bring it all together and polish it up.
 

Inverse Skies

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Feb 3, 2009
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The part I always loved most about Halo was the Halo itself, especially being able to look up and see the thing curving around above you. That aside, Master Chief didn't make the game in my opinion. In fact I think he's a pretty stupid main character, although I DID like it how he rode that bomb onto the convenant ship.
Halo is popular because it is a very solid FPS with good controls and amusing and challenging enemies (come on, who doesn't like killing wieners as they run away waving their arms in the air?) and (in some opnions) a very likeable main character. Add to that a very popular multiplayer and enough media attention and it's easy to see why the game sells.
 

Terror_666

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Jan 7, 2009
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I don't know if I liked HALO or not it just didn't leave an impression on me.
The only reason it was so popular was because it was the only decent FPS on the XBOX. It didn't do anything new or innovating it was just colorful which was enough to keep the XBOX crowd entertained.
When I first heard that you could mount a vehicle as gunner, driver or whatever I thought; wait Operation Flashpoint has that.