Understanding Halo's Success and Mainstream Appeal

[Assassin Xaero]

Because it's Halo, or at least that's the answer I get when I ask this very same question.

That is what I mostly got, too. Then there are the people who say it brought FPS games to consoles, who must have never played video games before the existence of the Xbox.

The best answer I ever got asking this question was it was the first, well made FPS on the Xbox, which made sense. In reality, it just seems like Call of Duty in space with purple guns to me.

 

[Batou667]

I'm not sure most people are getting what I'm asking. I'm not asking what it did to the genre or how good you think it is, I'm asking what it did to appeal to mainstream audiences.

It's kind of a self-fulfilling chicken-and-egg relationship. Everybody knows of it because it's mainstream and it's mainstream because everybody knows of it. How did it get mainstream? Well, like everybody else has pointed out, some successful innovation and presentation and not a little financial backing.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So the question is simple, why is the Halo franchise such a success? Why is that this was the series that seemed to really round-up mainstream audiences?

Very simple, name me one other original series from the Xbox release.

Ten years ago if you had a Xbox there was literally nothing else worth playing for any length of time, a lot of kids ended up with the Xbox.

It's LAN multiplayer was pretty special too, a lot like Goldeneye and Counter Strike, adding in lots of human players brought a whole new level of chaos and unpredictability to otherwise fairly bland maps. Large scale levels with usable vehicle was pretty new to console games too, I can't think of any before then that let you jump from foot to tank to hover bike seemlessly.

It also managed to mix up a lot of elements from other games and make them work together as well. Dual sticks (Medal of Honor, Alien: Resurrection, Timesplitters), the limit to two disposable weapons (Rainbow six, Counter Strike) and rebounding health system (silent bomber, a bunch of others) had all appeared elsewhere, but never at the same time. Also the dedicated grenade/melee buttons were all new to console gaming, they sped up close combat no end compared to other shooters of the time.

It's the first console shooter can remember (aside from Rare/Free Radical games) where combat between human players really flowed with the same kind of pace and intensity that the PC crowd took as normal. That continued into 2 and left it more or less unchallenged as the best shooter on Xbox Live.

Then 3 brought in Forge, which opened up shared customisation of a level nobody in console land had ever seen before.

Sure if you look at Halo from the viewpoint of a dedicated PC gamer, who's used to massive online components, 16+ players minimum and mods-on-tap, then Halo has never been either advanced nor special. Not ten years ago and certainly not now.

But that's the wrong viewpoint, from console land it's still completely uniqie, there are no other games with that level of freedom in them (or a genuine community, built in mod tools etc).

 

[Naeras]

I can summarize my thoughts on the subject as pretty much this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/8066-Before-There-Was-Halo].

Even as someone who doesn't like Halo, and still strongly dislike playing FPS on consoles, I have to admit that it really was a very influential game for all of the reasons Shamus listed there, and it definitely moved the console FPS forward.

 

[fix-the-spade]

The best answer I ever got asking this question was it was the first, well made FPS on the Xbox, which made sense. In reality, it just seems like Call of Duty in space with purple guns to me.

Incorrect, Call of Duty is Marathon but in World War 2...

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Because for in its time Halo was the most kickass shooter going. If it seems bland, that's because every single shooter since has copied everything that made it good.

And because COD4.

That is all.

 

[kommando367]

Because 1. awesome weapons

2. they mix it up with multiplayer and offer more MP modes than other games. Infection, Speed CTF, Rocket CTF, etc...

3. in Reach, jetpacks were added. Who doesn't love jetpacks?

 

[Assassin Xaero]

The best answer I ever got asking this question was it was the first, well made FPS on the Xbox, which made sense. In reality, it just seems like Call of Duty in space with purple guns to me.

Incorrect, Call of Duty is Marathon but in World War 2...

Hadn't heard of that, but it looks like Doom on mac. Ah! That's it! All FPS games are copies of Doom (except Wolfenstein 3D) with better graphics (most of the time).

 

[daveman247]

Because even now most console FPS's struggle to provide easy to learn, hard to master gameplay.
Great vehicles.
A stupid amount of game customization (you can even change the gravity if you want).
And one of the few to still have a fully featured split screen mode. (4 players, AND can take them all online if you want).

The only thing it is missing is bots/ mission making against AI.

 

[Awexsome]

It was always a step ahead of its genre and came with something not always entirely new but something that had never been done better before it. With CE the controls had never been more mastered on a console and got it to a point where FPS games could be played on a console or PC that left it to a matter of personal preference instead of clear obvious choice.

This is the escapist and many won't see that but it's the truth. They have had their advantages over consoles in certain areas for so long they have grown completely used to them and see them as insurmountable advantages while having gotten used to the flaws of PC FPS games that have been embedded into literally decades of PC gaming.

Halo 2 brought the launch of Xbox LIVE and the standard that is used today with their matchmaking qualities. Again, a case where some PC users would think that servers are objectively better have had that mindset drilled into them for years and years and cannot accept it any other way. Halo 2 brought the bare bones of Xbox LIVE that are integrated into the entire experience itself such as it's functioning friends list and ways to get together with friends. The "virtual couch" as Bungie has put it.

Halo 3 and onward were more additive than innovative when it came to what it did but again it performed far better than any of its possible competition until the arrival of CoD4 and kicking off the popularity rush for its style.

The Halo series is nothing short of objectively and technically an amazing series. Personal preference can lead one to dislike it, in particular hardcore PC players who could see some of it's changes and mechanics as a complete opposite to the old ideals they had lived with in the past for years and years.

For me see it as the opposite of the Half-life series. Half-life I did not grow up with and when I first gave it a shot it I found it amazingly boring and couldn't bring myself to finish it from how un-fun it was. However I respect that it's not my style and heavily respect Valve for the kind of developer it is with regards to its fan base like how I massively appreciate how Bungie has been with theirs.

 

[Lunar Templar]

*shrugs*

I'm not big on the games, BUT, i do rather like the back story.

so basically i like the EU part of Halo over the games, which the games are starting to embrace with 4

 

[Soluncreed]

There are two things that I love about the Halo games.

1. The universe is expansive and fantastic. The sheer work and effort put into making it a living and breathing place is nearly unmatched by most games. With these games, I found myself looking up all of the races and actually making an effort to learn about them. That usually never happens. It's usually, "these are the bad guys for this game, they want to kill you, so kill them first." For me Halo introduced the idea that you are fighting a vastly different culture that abides by similar themes of certain human cultures. Each race has a reason for being there, a story behind it, and information that is constantly added. It's by far one of the most spectacular video game universes in existence.

2. I love the games ability to have solid and fun gameplay that is peppered with amazing, badass moments. There are the times where you feel great about getting a couple assassinations, headshots, and the like, but there are those moments where in 5 seconds you drive in with a Warthog, run down two guys, jump out with the rocket launcher that you brought along with you, kill a guy and in your glee you are suddenly nailed by a ghost. Even in your death you still think, "That was awesome."

I truly love the Halo games and have been with it since its birth. I plan to ride along with it until it dies.

 

[shrimpcel]

Similar questions on other games usually have the same answer: because it was the first to do what it did or did what all the other games did in one game, better than the rest.

Same goes for the people who ask why Half-Life is so good, etc.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Things that Halo did first (recharging shields, vehical combat, sniper rifles) are now mainstream in modern FPS titles.

Actually, beyond the regenerating health system, none of the things you mentioned were particularly new or interesting. The health system was simply a mechanism that allowed combat to be balanced with individual encounters while a system that treats health like a resources has enormous variation in difficulty within each encounter based upon the player's competence in previous encounters. This allows the developer to press the player harder during any given combat scenario and worry about staying alive rather than about conserving their limited resource pool as much as possible. The popularization of that mechanic is what led rather inexorably to the modern set piece shooter that dominate sales charts.

Beyond that mechanical advance, what Halo really accomplished was that it demonstrated a way to make a shooter on a console actually work well. Previous attempts had all struggled with replacing mouse and keyboard with a joystick and rather limited button pad. Everything from the fact you can only carry a handful of weapons to various subtle aim assists inherent in the game were useful to that end. The effect here is so profound that you'd be hard pressed to find a modern console shooter that does not rely upon most of the same concepts. The only difference between say Battlefield and Halo for example is the exact feature assigned to any particular button.

Halo thus has earned some distinction academically but I'd say you have two driving factors behind the continuing popularity. The first is simply the power of a franchise - the game did launch a console and was one of the first major titles to have a robust online functionality and thus it carved a place in many hearts during those ancient days. Beyond that, the fact that halo is simply "differnt" from the other games available most of the time with it's focus on a "linear sandbox" design continues to earn fans. Pile on a consistently good cooperative mode and the game does much to earn love.

 

[Skin]

Not only was HALO innovative. It was revolutionary. Because the drive in FPS leading up to HALO revolved around structural complexity, people took one look at HALO's linear objectives, and dismissed the game as nothing new. HALO deliberately steered the focus away from objectives. It turned it's back on the classroom, to focus on the playground. Alot of times when engaged in a form of entertainment, people will gesture that "I wish they'd just get to the 'good stuff'". HALO wasn't about hacking a computer mainframe, disabling an alarm system, planting a bug on a satellite network. No. Because they were about to revolutionise the way the 'action' 'played', they stripped it of objectives to make it entirely about that.

Not innovative? Tell me, name an FPS before HALO that eschewed a weapons scale, in favour of a balanced set of applicable versatility. That restricted you to carrying only two weapons, doing away with the supernatural backpack armory, and thereby inventing "Weapon Couplings". It caused the player to thoughtfully consider what weapons were available to them on the battelfield, and what to take. It forced them to consider how they could approach and utilise the weapons they had, instead of whipping out the one weapon for all occasions (No the pistol was no such device). It rejigged the Health Armour idea, by making health the sole item, and armour a recharging device to tend to. That also intensified your search for cover. When was the last time you saw sentients perform actions that gave such a shocking impression of intelligence (or stupidity), without cued scripting? They would fall back to regroup, try to outflank you, use things to flush you out, and do it all with unnerving humanity. It was unheard of before it's time. Half-Life 1's soldiers were good, but they were scripted. Once they complete their little hijinx, their intelligence is see-through.

The game did away with the maximalist "Squeeze it in" mentallity, instead going for a refined set of mechanics, that conspired to produce incredibly rewarding results. "Weapon Couples" and their uses become lore. E.g. PP + Pistol combo. Taking shotty for short defense while sniping. Unload needles, and then hose with the AR to distract while they land. Plasma Freeze + Nade, melee or overheat management. The shift of Grenades and Melee to seperate buttons was sheer liberation, and gave birth to a truly dynamic art of control. The presence of momentum that empowers melee's. The awesome physics that to this day provide amazing enntertainment value, and created unheard of gameplay dynamics. E.g. ever grenade a turret onto a group of enemies off a ledge? The infusion of vehicles into combat, plus the multiple boardings to team up in vehicles. The little and rewarding touches (Hog gets airborn "Yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaa").

How about the general coherence of the environment. So much for the seperation of the elements. Vehicles that vanish into bitmapped oblivion? No. Shoot down a Banshee with a Rocket, and be damn sure that it doesn't wipe you out in the crash. A rock can provide safety in this event. Grenades that compound their impact with multiple additions ie, "compound explosions". Weaons that aren't a static icon for you to consume, they can be blasted around the place, to bring them into more convenient reach. Grenade Bouncing? Throw one long plasma out, and then adjust aim to throw one just in front of it. The grenade bounce will make that second plasma reach for miles. Never had a videogame known glue like HALO. Never had it known such deep physical response and palpable mechanics.

I could keep writing for AGES about the revolutionary composition of this game that many people Just. Don't. Get. But I'll curb it there. Four totally idiosyncratic races, requiring a rethink of weapon appraoch, getting into biffo among themselves? Setting airborne with stunning vertical dimension IN AN FPS? Remember how the flying sections in Turok were just a seperate tagged on level? This was standard videogame design before HALO blew the doors off. Throwing stickies to land on idot grunts, that then plead for help from the friends before killing them all in the explosion? Astounding level architecure that gave the impression that that huge rocky bridge overhead is just a background, before you actually overlap up onto, and look down for miles, at the terrain you were in before? Enourmous fog free landscapes littered with trees composed of hundred of polygons as dozens of intelligent enemies and vehicles mill about on them? Nomination for most kinetically overwhelming and intimidating FPS level ever? The much maligned for repetition: LIBRARY. Ok, I'm shutting up, but I could keep going. Enemies using dropships that you can actually snipe them out of, instead of insipidly spawning everywhere? Watching jaw-dropping (modern gamers are spoiled) physics in action, as a warthog screams across snow with a pair of chatty soldiers on board, hits the ice and ass-hangs into a wild side skid, and then having heart failure as the Wraith blasts a bomb just behind you, sending you into a crazy flip, and nearly killing your passengers and you fight for control, making a break for it. Yes, it had all been done before. It's just DOOM, y'know Confused . I could keep going, but... I won't.

Credit to halo2sucks.org

 

[skywolfblue]

I'm not sure most people are getting what I'm asking. I'm not asking what it did to the genre or how good you think it is, I'm asking what it did to appeal to mainstream audiences. Being revolutionary doesn't necessarily mean popular. I'm asking what's in its appeal that a non-gamer would be drawn to that would create new fans and turn this series into the enormously popular thing it is today. I don't hear people at Wal-mart or at school talking about how great Baldur's Gate is, but they may mention Halo without having known much about pre-Xbox generation games. The series drew them to gaming, all I want to know is why.

Because:
A) Marketing. Microsoft spent a huge amount of money making sure the general public knew about Halo.

B) It's co-op/multiplayer really sold and defined the game and console. Up until halo, most LAN parties were reserved for a small sect of PC gamers, one's with a lot of money to purchase and tote around their heavy gaming PCs. After halo, you could have a whole college dorm join in with only a handful of Xboxes. Word of mouth spread, and more and more people joined in.

C) It was casual-friendly. Show a non-gamer Baldur's gate and they'll probably balk at the complexity, show a non-gamer Halo and they'll be able to pick it up in a few seconds.

 

[Vault101]

While I do think that the Halo series, at least the two I've played (1 and 3) are boringly average, bland, and grossly overrated, I don't entirely understand why this was the series that really appealed to mainstream audiences.

thats kind of your probelm

if you don't "get it" then you don't "get it"

I would love to know what it is that makes peopel go nuts over elderscrolls..I can understand it but in the end I'll never really "get it" or liek those games

 

[chadachada123]

snip

As much as I probably COULD write a ten paragraph essay on the things that led to Halo's success, I'll keep my entry brief and just say one of the reasons Halo appeals to me specifically: Internal consistency and a vast universe.

The Halo universe, especially Halo 1-3, has massive amounts of back story, and in particular science-fiction backstory, something that is really only replicated in RPGs like Mass Effect, not in other first-person shooters.

Each Covenant species has pages of story to read about, entire books written about a single planet destroyed by the Covenant, etc. It is, in many respects, like Star Wars in scope.

The biggest thing, I think, is this: Halo games allow players to get as much or as little involved as they want.

It allows the dude-bros that don't care about story to shoot things, it allows those with a preference for hardcore gaming to play on Legendary difficulty in multiple ways (speed-runs, no-pistol runs, etc) while having gameplay designed with a bit of skill compared to most modern FPS games, it allows those with a love for sci-fi the ability to learn volumes about how physics and technology work within this universe.

In short, it has a little bit for everybody to enjoy, but doesn't force the other bits for those that don't want them.

Edit: I think I'll put in a small explanation for the "hardcore gaming" and "design" bit. What I mean is that, for replay value, most modern FPS games don't have much to offer. Halo, however, keeps a massive replay value by having harder difficulties that take, well, skill beyond just twitchy reflexes. The shielding and variety of enemies is a big boost.

In addition, Halo's weapons are designed for specific goals, meaning that choosing between a sniper rifle and a battle rifle drastically alters how you play. This is hard to explain in only a few sentences, but while playing, makes a world of difference.

 

[bemusement]

I thought the big appeal when it first came out was the fact you could play 4 player co-op(I didn't get the game or console though, I got a PS2).