The real reason Halo was/is so popular

[Wargamer]

I am so tired of all this "Halo Sucks","No it doesn't, and this is why" crap. The game has been around for 7 years, leave it alone. I like it, it looks good and is fun to play; why can't people be satisfied with that. Apparently, there needs to be a reason to like or hate Halo. I think that just the fact that people are still bitching and arguing over it after this long shows how special it is.

I would have to agree with that. Most people just hate it because it so popular. Personally I think it's popular because it has the best multiplayer currently on x box live.

You sir, have convinced me never to buy a 360. Considering Gears 2 was pointing out my disposable income is about to jump to the level where I could buy a new games console every month if I wanted to, I was really tempted to buy a cheap and nasty 360 just for Gears 2.

Thank you for convincing me what a mistake that would have been. I shall stick with the PS3 and it's Resistance series, Warhawk, LBP and (when I get around to it) Killzone 2.

 

[GDW]

Sorry, OP, but I don't buy your reasoning. I hate Master Chief for those very reasons you like him, and thus the reasons you claim make him popular.

"Oh Master Chief! You're so much more awesome than me!"
"Oh Master Chief! Only you can defeat this army of Covenant!"
"Oh Master Chief! Let me suck your cock!"

And so on and so forth.

Sorry, but I don't find the Super-Human angle fun any more. I like games where I'm mortal. Master Chief springs in like the Supreme Dick he is and cannot possibly fail! It's a forgone conclusion the swanky gobshite's won before we start! It's Superman for the 21st century; a pile of Mary Sue Fanwank in Humanoid form, only this time we've swapped the spandex for Powered Armour.

By contrast, let us take the FPS heroes I do respect; Gordon Freeman, Judge Dredd (he had an FPS...), Joannah Dark, DOOMGUY... these are mere mortals. On occasion, mere mortals with awesome body armour, or high tech tricks, or a Big Fucking Gun, but mere mortal nonetheless.

I am not so full of myself that I honestly believe I'm some sort of god. I am, however, sufficiently full of myself to believe that if the Combine / Chimera / Demons of Hell invaded, and guns and ammo spawned in the streets for some inadequately explained reason, I might be able to at least make it to wherever Gordon Freeman / Nathan Hale / DOOMGUY is and they should be able to do the rest.

Oh, and just for the sake of completeness; I know Nathan Hale is technically Super-Human as well, but he's the bad kind of Super Human. He's the Super Human who gets a dose of radiation and it gives him cancer, not super-powers. Nathan Hale, it is made clear, is infected with the Chimeran Virus, and from the word go we see exactly what happens to people infected with the Chimeran Virus... as such, Nathan Hale is not lumped with Superman and Master Chief - like these Super-Dicks, he burns twice as bright. Unlike these Super-Dicks, he burns half as long.

You made the same argument that I was imagining but just couldn't word without sounding like an ass... and you mentioned Dredd while doing it...
I like you.

 

[squirrelman42]

I like Halo. I at times will love Halo. I know it has flaws, but Halo for me was the El Dorado of gaming when I was still in High School. For years all I had were hand-me-downs because my mother refused to buy video game consoles. I didn't get an NES until SNES came out. I didn't get a Genesis though it was my one and only wish for YEARS until the Playstation and N64 came out. I didn't get either of those until X-box. I was always behind the curve, but with the X-Box, I was in college, and working too. I had profiles for Halo: Combat evolved saved on dozens of X-Boxes from Cape Cod to St. Louis to DC and back forming a triangle of yearning. Even through all of this, I had never played the campaign all the way through. I was in love with it all, the graphics were far beyond anything I'd seen before then. The epic feel, the setting, Captain Keys, Cortana, the inexplicably poorly engineered Sniper Rifle, the works. Red Vs. Blue came out and only furhtered my love for the game. THEN, I bought it and played through the campaign over and over and waited for Halo 2, for which I was disappointed because they abandoned the single-player experience for deathmatches, which I suck at. For me, Halo has always been a single-player experience and I like it that way, maybe I'm alone in that regard.

Halo is the reason there are as many shooters these days as there are. in the N64 generation it seemed that the only console shooters worth mentioning were Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Now I look at the game rack and I see nothing but FPS and OTS shooters. Halo vitalized the genre for good or ill, but I've always thought highly of Halo, even though I feel they peaked at Halo: Combat evolved.

 

[KeithA45]

Sorry, OP, but I don't buy your reasoning. I hate Master Chief for those very reasons you like him, and thus the reasons you claim make him popular.

"Oh Master Chief! You're so much more awesome than me!"
"Oh Master Chief! Only you can defeat this army of Covenant!"
"Oh Master Chief! Let me suck your cock!"

And so on and so forth.

Sorry, but I don't find the Super-Human angle fun any more. I like games where I'm mortal. Master Chief springs in like the Supreme Dick he is and cannot possibly fail! It's a forgone conclusion the swanky gobshite's won before we start! It's Superman for the 21st century; a pile of Mary Sue Fanwank in Humanoid form, only this time we've swapped the spandex for Powered Armour.

By contrast, let us take the FPS heroes I do respect; Gordon Freeman, Judge Dredd (he had an FPS...), Joannah Dark, DOOMGUY... these are mere mortals. On occasion, mere mortals with awesome body armour, or high tech tricks, or a Big Fucking Gun, but mere mortal nonetheless.

I am not so full of myself that I honestly believe I'm some sort of god. I am, however, sufficiently full of myself to believe that if the Combine / Chimera / Demons of Hell invaded, and guns and ammo spawned in the streets for some inadequately explained reason, I might be able to at least make it to wherever Gordon Freeman / Nathan Hale / DOOMGUY is and they should be able to do the rest.

Oh, and just for the sake of completeness; I know Nathan Hale is technically Super-Human as well, but he's the bad kind of Super Human. He's the Super Human who gets a dose of radiation and it gives him cancer, not super-powers. Nathan Hale, it is made clear, is infected with the Chimeran Virus, and from the word go we see exactly what happens to people infected with the Chimeran Virus... as such, Nathan Hale is not lumped with Superman and Master Chief - like these Super-Dicks, he burns twice as bright. Unlike these Super-Dicks, he burns half as long.

You made the same argument that I was imagining but just couldn't word without sounding like an ass... and you mentioned Dredd while doing it...
I like you.

And I respect that opinion. Some people like Call of Duty games for (among other reasons) the fact that you're just some random soldier, not some superhero, and gives a different sense of immersion into the game.

But I don't want you to get me wrong and think Halo appeals sort of god-complex in me. I enjoy being the game's hero, being BETTER than average by an obvious and explained reason (however realistic or not). It is NOT the same as being invincible, which just ruins a game, and anyone who plays more than 15 minutes on Legendary learns quickly that The Master Chief is not invincible. I enjoy the admittedly VERY cheesy lines like "The Master Chief is here, now we're sure to win!" and the more I played Halo the more I WANTED to be the game's hero.

 

[Irridium]

I thought that the only reason Halo is so popular is because the only reason people really bought the origional xbox was for Halo 1 and 2

After all, what else did the xbox have that was fun and exclusive, not much.

The original XBox had a pretty good quantity of fine games, though. Jade Empire, two KOTORS, two Jedi Knights, Soul Calibur 2, Beyond Good & Evil. Who cares if they were exclusives?

-- Alex

true, but all those games except Jade Empire and Beyond Good & Evil (which were actually very fun games) were also on the PC.
and most people already had a PS2 with a bunch of good games, so there wasn't much reason to get an xbox.

ah well, I guess since this generation of consoles rely heavily on exclusives to sell consoles, and not on hardware preformance.

If Microsoft focused on hardware reliability, then by first 5 or so 360's wouldn't have died on me.

 

[ManiacRaccoon]

I had no reason to dislike Halo, but I did for quite a while because of two things.

1- I had already bought the Gamecube and when I got enough money to buy another system I got a PS2, because it had more games I liked.

2- Because of an incident where I didn't know what someone was playing (after playing it myself I now know they were playing the original Halo on the last mission on legendary), I overheard them talking about Halo so I figured that was it and when I asked if I could play next they looked at me like I had the plague and said "no." You know, I may not be the best at social interaction but I'm pretty sure that's just rude.

3- I used to hate it for being so ambiguously popular, despite the fact that I heard so many other people didn't like it, then they turned out to just not like it for the same reasons.

I didn't even consider it again until later when I picked up the version for the PC after Halo 2 came out, meaning the original Halo for PC cost less than $20. The online play of the PC version and the story, among other things, ultimately lead to me buying a Xbox 360, a copy of Halo 2, and reserving a copy of Halo 3. So if you don't like people saying Halo is bad, let people try it if they want to.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

I see your angle on this, if you wan't the true review of halo without the, crap the fans will kill us if it gets a bad review bullshit, then scroll back and wtch the Zp review. Yahtee says its not good, or bad it average and that... is well the truth half the game I like (the crazy awsome custom games/ halo sotry soundtrack) and the other (mlg and all that irratation head shot bullshit) is what I hate about it.


Edit: in my book halo gets six irratating fanboys out of ten.

 

[orangebandguy]

I always thought it was because master chief looks so badass.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Sorry, OP, but I don't buy your reasoning. I hate Master Chief for those very reasons you like him, and thus the reasons you claim make him popular.

"Oh Master Chief! You're so much more awesome than me!"
"Oh Master Chief! Only you can defeat this army of Covenant!"
"Oh Master Chief! Let me suck your cock!"

But the "One Free Man" gets a pass? "Follow Freeman!" "The Free Man is co-terminous." "Well, well, Mr. Freeman." (And Alyx's crush to boot.) The Half-Life series is filled with fanboi-squeeing over Gordon too.

Or how about Judge Dredd, the living legend of the Judges, whose very name makes perps quiver in fear of the isocubes?

Let alone the Doom Marine...

Man, your pot-kettling skills are Olympic-grade.

-- Steve

 

[Alex_P]

Storytelling & Characters:
Half-Life
{Halo 2 was a narrative disaster}

Halo 2 was, indeed, a narrative disaster.
I think Half-Life 2 was a narrative disaster as well.

-- Alex

 

[Hurricane_5]

It's popular because it was hyped as the killer app for the Xbox, then Xbox owners all became fanboys when Halo 2 came out and defending it while making fun of everything that is not like Halo or is Halo.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Sorry, OP, but I don't buy your reasoning. I hate Master Chief for those very reasons you like him, and thus the reasons you claim make him popular.

"Oh Master Chief! You're so much more awesome than me!"
"Oh Master Chief! Only you can defeat this army of Covenant!"
"Oh Master Chief! Let me suck your cock!"

And so on and so forth.

Sorry, but I don't find the Super-Human angle fun any more. I like games where I'm mortal. Master Chief springs in like the Supreme Dick he is and cannot possibly fail! It's a forgone conclusion the swanky gobshite's won before we start! It's Superman for the 21st century; a pile of Mary Sue Fanwank in Humanoid form, only this time we've swapped the spandex for Powered Armour.

By contrast, let us take the FPS heroes I do respect; Gordon Freeman, Judge Dredd (he had an FPS...), Joannah Dark, DOOMGUY... these are mere mortals. On occasion, mere mortals with awesome body armour, or high tech tricks, or a Big Fucking Gun, but mere mortal nonetheless.

I am not so full of myself that I honestly believe I'm some sort of god. I am, however, sufficiently full of myself to believe that if the Combine / Chimera / Demons of Hell invaded, and guns and ammo spawned in the streets for some inadequately explained reason, I might be able to at least make it to wherever Gordon Freeman / Nathan Hale / DOOMGUY is and they should be able to do the rest.

Oh, and just for the sake of completeness; I know Nathan Hale is technically Super-Human as well, but he's the bad kind of Super Human. He's the Super Human who gets a dose of radiation and it gives him cancer, not super-powers. Nathan Hale, it is made clear, is infected with the Chimeran Virus, and from the word go we see exactly what happens to people infected with the Chimeran Virus... as such, Nathan Hale is not lumped with Superman and Master Chief - like these Super-Dicks, he burns twice as bright. Unlike these Super-Dicks, he burns half as long.

So you're against the idea of commiting act of legendary heroism and then getting the credit you deserve? It seems that with your chosen models of videogame greatness reveal that your hate of the Chief is about as arbitrary as it gets.

 

[Reep]

The story is what makes this game, not mastur cheef

 

[GDW]

So you're against the idea of commiting act of legendary heroism and then getting the credit you deserve? It seems that with your chosen models of videogame greatness reveal that your hate of the Chief is about as arbitrary as it gets.

Oh, no, but as far as we, the player, comprehend, Chief is just us. We're just controling him as our mundane selves while her seems to spit gold and fart magic. We see constant praise to a hero that we, in his suit, are completely oblivious to the source of. Even as it's "explained", we're still stuck wondering what makes him so special, he's just a snarky, obnoxious jerk in a super-suit as far as we can tell, and there's no reason to share these NPCs' praise. Honestly, his "amazing feats" could be accomplished by a well-trained gorrila and it slowly becomes painfully obvious that he's little more than that.

Master Chief is a shell getting all kinds of reverence, so I ,a s the player, could just sit back and say... "Eh... alright, so?" every time the marines act as if they'd like to toss-off onto Chief's helmet. He's not much of a character at all, thus why his lack of a face, I assume, so that the player can try to project themselves onto him and the shower of praise becomes ever annoying as you hear it.

I hate Master Chief's character for the same reason I hate Superman's, there's no real reason to like them, because there's nothing TO like. They're outstanding for no reason, so it feels like they don't accomplish much of anything. They're boring characters that NPCs' obsess over to the point of near-eroticism.

I like my characters to have, you know, character. If Chief had a, I dunno, flaw or hint of personality other than over-bearing boob then I could relate to him, but I can't. Thus he's a horrid character.

 

[Calax]

I thought that the only reason Halo is so popular is because the only reason people really bought the origional xbox was for Halo 1 and 2

After all, what else did the xbox have that was fun and exclusive, not much.

The original XBox had a pretty good quantity of fine games, though. Jade Empire, two KOTORS, two Jedi Knights, Soul Calibur 2, Beyond Good & Evil. Who cares if they were exclusives?

-- Alex

true, but all those games except Jade Empire and Beyond Good & Evil (which were actually very fun games) were also on the PC.
and most people already had a PS2 with a bunch of good games, so there wasn't much reason to get an xbox.

ah well, I guess since this generation of consoles rely heavily on exclusives to sell consoles, and not on hardware preformance.

If Microsoft focused on hardware reliability, then by first 5 or so 360's wouldn't have died on me.

Actually Jade Empire came out for PC too.

 

[The Wooster]

Ask yourself: "if Halo didn't have multiplayer mode would it be able to hold its own with its single player mode and would it still be as popular?"

Ask yourself, if portal didn't have a portal gun would it have won game of the year?

 

[The Wooster]

I thought that the only reason Halo is so popular is because the only reason people really bought the origional xbox was for Halo 1 and 2

After all, what else did the xbox have that was fun and exclusive, not much.

The original XBox had a pretty good quantity of fine games, though. Jade Empire, two KOTORS, two Jedi Knights, Soul Calibur 2, Beyond Good & Evil. Who cares if they were exclusives?

-- Alex

true, but all those games except Jade Empire and Beyond Good & Evil (which were actually very fun games) were also on the PC.
and most people already had a PS2 with a bunch of good games, so there wasn't much reason to get an xbox.

ah well, I guess since this generation of consoles rely heavily on exclusives to sell consoles, and not on hardware preformance.

If Microsoft focused on hardware reliability, then by first 5 or so 360's wouldn't have died on me.

Actually Jade Empire came out for PC too.

As did Beyond Good and Evil. In fact I believe they're giving it away with cheese at the moment.

 

[j.c.]

I know it is heresy, but I never liked Halo that much. The first one was boring. The second one was only fun on multiplayer. I liked Halo 3 alright, but it was really just a multiplayer thing and so many people jumping around just killed it for me.
I also quit playing Half Life 2 after a few hours (which is odd in itself because I love everything Valve does...)
Funny thing is I usually enjoy shooters. I just think some of them are overrated.
Still really obsessed with Team Fortress 2 though.... *shrug*.
I never understood why Halo was so popular. I think it makes more sense to say that every now and then games go mainstream, same as a band or a movie. Some things are just accessible to a point that every person who picks it up has their own reason... probably motivated by media or some other outside source. I guess its accessible enough. Its fun, I just don't see what all the fuss was about. The games are good *obviously or they wouldn't sell so much* and the production value is outstanding but I'll stick with Valve.
And after playing the original Half Life, tell me that uninteresting narrative in Halo is a *story*.