What have the Halo games done for us?

[Scow2]

Not sure if this has been said, but Halo did one important thing: Brought the fun of the LAN party to Consoles, where it thrived. (Goldeneye already proved FPS games could be done on a console) My school had a Gamer's Club, and once a quarter, everyone would bring in Xboxes, Gamecubes, and PS2's... The Gamecubes and PS2s were to wait in line to hop into a spot on one of the 4 system-linked Xboxes to play Halo.

Also, Halo successfully optimised the FPS genre for Consoles (All those much-maligned mechanics have a purpose), to shift the game's focus from crosshair precision and circle-strafing to timing and cover:
Regenerating shields encouraged the players to take cover, keep moving, and set up ambushes, instead of just slugging it out. (Health was much less than other shooters at the time, and shield-manipulation was required to give you the staying power you were used to on PC games)

Streamlining the game to hotbutton grenades and limiting weapon choices to two weapons helped manage the few buttons available on a controller, instead of having to cycle through endless weapon lists to get the one you want.

Also, because it was a pioneer on the Xbox, the control scheme had to be intuitive enough for people crossing over from other platforms and unfamiliar with the Dual-Analogue stick layout, such as PC, PS2, and especially the previous-generation consoles: PS1, N64, and Dreamcast.

As far as the Space Marine story goes... Doom and Unreal started it.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Um... it lead to the creation of Red VS Blue. Does that count for anything?

Edit: Ninja'd. Damn.

 

[Netrigan]

Okay so I'm fairly new to the world of Space Marine FPS excitement but I've always been skeptical about people singing the praises of the Halo franchise, to me it just seems a touch bland and uninspiring to venture further into the whole sub-genre.

Anyways, what with the re-release of the original game and the announcement of Halo 4 way back in the year, I thought it might be interesting to start up a discussion a la the People's Front of Judea/Judean People's front/etc. of "What have the Halo games ever done for us?"

It did bring us the most unoriginal and uninteresting cosplay since George Lucas gave us Stormtroopers

Mostly it just brought an extremely popular PC genre to console players.

 

[SquirePB]

Pretty colours?

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

The first great FPS on a console that changed the course of FPS shooters forever.

Your trolling is magical

What am I exactly trolling about? Can you name a great FPS on a console (not PC in other words) that was there BEFORE Halo?

Um, you mean besides Goldeneye? That game that people still talk about? That everyone bizarrely accused HALO of being a rip-off of? That people love so hard, nintendo made a shitty remake to cash in? There aren't many, I'll grant you

 

[dantoddd]

Well, they put the two weapon limit into common usage (some might argue that isn't that good a thing) and they're the only FPS I've seen where regenerating health actually makes sense.

+1
I know im nitpicking now, but it was actually the shield that was renenerating and you needed medkit to get full health again.

Also OT, Halo was the game that kinda made the whole "Space Marine FPS" ball rolling!

This.

Also, thank you for pointing out that when Halo first came out, the Space Marine thing was indeed a pretty new frontier for gaming.

I can't tell you how much I hate it when someone looks at one of the Halo games and says something like,
"OMG, it's just another game about macho space marines! Why don't they try anything original?"

The space marine thing came long before halo. Doom for example featured a space marine.

 

[dantoddd]

The first great FPS on a console that changed the course of FPS shooters forever.

Your trolling is magical

What am I exactly trolling about? Can you name a great FPS on a console (not PC in other words) that was there BEFORE Halo?

Um, you mean besides Goldeneye? That game that people still talk about? That everyone bizarrely accused HALO of being a rip-off of? That people love so hard, nintendo made a shitty remake to cash in? There aren't many, I'll grant you

The original medal of honor games were released in PSx way back in 1999 & 2000.

 

[A LargePlatypus]

Halo is the reason many people bought an Xbox,until CoD got so popular. And before anyone pulls the 'Halo fanboy' card,I've played (most of) the CoD franchise,I found it repetitive. I also played Bad Company,which I loved,but no matter what new game I get,I always wind up playing Halo again. It's kind of just a mainstay,no matter how many people say it's overdone,tacked on,and dead. Even the way Bungie started out is kind of inspiring. A couple guys in an apartment,making games. Eventually they became a gaming giant thanks to Halo. CoD even copied Halo's theater,community screenshots,and I'll be damned if they don't take Forge next. I'm sure they'd find a way to make it work. Halo's really well balanced,everyone starts out with the same basic gun and has a chance to get better ones if they're quick enough. In games like Battlefield and CoD,the higher your rank,the better guns you start with. I'm sorry,I kind of feel like I'm ragging on CoD and Battlefield,I don't mean to,they're still good games,just not for me.

 

[Zack1501]

it proved shooters can haz color.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

The first great FPS on a console that changed the course of FPS shooters forever.

Your trolling is magical

What am I exactly trolling about? Can you name a great FPS on a console (not PC in other words) that was there BEFORE Halo?

Um, you mean besides Goldeneye? That game that people still talk about? That everyone bizarrely accused HALO of being a rip-off of? That people love so hard, nintendo made a shitty remake to cash in? There aren't many, I'll grant you

The original medal of honor games were released in PSx way back in 1999 & 2000.

Yeah, but he did say "great" FPS, and I didnt play the original MoH so I can't speak to it's actual quality

 

[Trig0n]

I like it better than modern warfare. Reach is my preferred one due to the storyline (Though the character's were kinda shitty archetypes.)

 

[Korten12]

Note: halo wars isn't canon....and niether is Halo Legends.....niether happened....especially Legends *shudders*

*Looks in Halsey's journal, reads about spirit of fire from Halo Wars...* XD It's canon accept it.

As for legends, the only thing non-canon about them is there art style, the duel battle scene, and Odd One out. I remember when it came out people complaining about the ruins in The Babysitter about them being "too Human and not like any other forerunner ruins" well this was explained in Cryptum that humans were also space-fairing in 200,000 BC and most likely inhabited that world.

As it says on Halopedia: ", Frank O'Connor noted that some discrepancies were the cause of artistic interpretation."

 

[Nouw]

It's not the first game to start the whole Space Marine FPS thing. I present to you, DOOM! But on the sense that it spawned many 'clones' I agree.

 

[Blade1130]

"What has ANY game done for us?" That's not a question that can be easily answered, but in terms of Halo:

It did show how regenerating health can be used well, it's just a shame no other developer really picked up on that and just uses it because it's expected. The two-weapon thing became a standard for almost no reason, I guess it works in Halo, but in most games it's completely worthless. DAMMIT, I want 17 weapons at once! I recently picked up Painkiller at the Steam Halloween sale, (that's the FPS Yahtzee keeps saying is awesome) and I think they did a great job of it. Each engagement has a health refill right in front of it but it doesn't automatically regenerate, so you can't just hide and channel your manly powers then go fight again, but you always have the health necessary to win. That was a problem Doom never quite solved. Halo was one of the few games to get regenerating health right (the first one that is), but the later games kind of screwed the whole system over. Though is it weird that the only Halo game I liked besides the first one is ODST? I loved that setting and campaign, but maybe I've just watched too much Blade Runner.

 

[dantoddd]

The first great FPS on a console that changed the course of FPS shooters forever.

Your trolling is magical

What am I exactly trolling about? Can you name a great FPS on a console (not PC in other words) that was there BEFORE Halo?

Um, you mean besides Goldeneye? That game that people still talk about? That everyone bizarrely accused HALO of being a rip-off of? That people love so hard, nintendo made a shitty remake to cash in? There aren't many, I'll grant you

The original medal of honor games were released in PSx way back in 1999 & 2000.

Yeah, but he did say "great" FPS, and I didnt play the original MoH so I can't speak to it's actual quality

They should be considered great. those games were the template for all the subsequent CoD & MoH games. At that time there was nothing quite as immersive like that as far as shooters were concerned. It was one of the first games where i actually felt like i was shooting a gun. PLus there was a kick ass female heroine.

 

[KelsieKatt]

Overall, Halo didn't do anything new really outside of having an extremely smooth and intuitive control scheme which has shaped console FPS games ever since.

Outside of that, regenerating health wasn't new, it just wasn't common and there were shit tons of console FPS games before Halo (contrary to popular belief), this was just the first that controlled buttery smooth on a console. Which was quite unheard of at the time and PC was still the dominant platform by far for shooters.

That said, I enjoyed the first game, haven't liked any of the sequels since though. Reach was the most tolerable, but I got tired of that too and it felt like it was trying too hard to be like loads of other generic modern military shooters on the market. It seriously felt like a dose of Halo meets Call of Duty...

 

[MickyD47]

Had a monumental effect on the world. It has fed millions of starving children around the world.

It also was quite fun.

 

[Jegsimmons]

Note: halo wars isn't canon....and niether is Halo Legends.....niether happened....especially Legends *shudders*

*Looks in Halsey's journal, reads about spirit of fire from Halo Wars...* XD It's canon accept it.

As for legends, the only thing non-canon about them is there art style, the duel battle scene, and Odd One out. I remember when it came out people complaining about the ruins in The Babysitter about them being "too Human and not like any other forerunner ruins" well this was explained in Cryptum that humans were also space-fairing in 200,000 BC and most likely inhabited that world.

As it says on Halopedia: ", Frank O'Connor noted that some discrepancies were the cause of artistic interpretation."

i HIGHLEY dobt that (ok spirit of fire maby) but halo legends and the spartans on harvest are just a NO, they contradict much of the books and games. and it was just microsoft selling the title to people who didn't need it.

and i dont buy artistic interpretation when its already an established universe.
so i do not consider it canon. on their own, fine enough. but should not be part of the actual universe.