Enjoyed the review. This is helpful for me to try to get some insight into its appeal, because Halo is one of those games I just don't get. I didn't get it at the time, and I don't get it now: not too long ago I tried playing the Master Chief version couch co-op with a friend from out of town who was a big Halo fan growing up, but I still couldn't get into it at all, we dropped it at level 2. Ended up having a lot more fun playing some other couch co-op games with him.
I'll admit that I've never played Halo 2. I played Halo 3 some with friends when it was new, but also didn't get the appeal.
My friend did mention the existence of Halo LAN parties in high school, which you also mention, and I can get how that would be a formative experience for someone who grew up with it. We had PC LAN parties when I was in high school; in terms of FPSes we mainly played TFC and Counterstrike but occasionally some other less memorable stuff, and I suppose to me Halo would have fallen into the bucket of "other less memorable stuff."
Glad you enjoyed it. Admittedly, Halo: Combat Evolved might not be the best starting point these days: it's quite disconnected from the overarching narrative that plays out across Halo 2, the spin-off Halo 3: ODST and Halo 3 and it can feel very stiff to play compared to the next 2, especially the jumping, long animations and recharge times.
A big appeal is the multiplayer which, unfortunately, you sort of had to be there for. For reasons I'll cover in later instalments, the MCC just doesn't capture a lot of what made the Halo online experience great. On top of this? A lot of Halo's appeal is the strategic depth of the 2-weapon limit and how weapon combos compliment and detriment each other; i something like Call of Duty, you really want the 2 most powerful weapons possible whereas in Halo, there are reason you would pick up the Magnum over a Rocket Launcher; Halo 2 also adds dual-wielding which makes things even more crazy. The worldbuilding and atmosphere has always been strong in Halo, especially the soundtrack; Halo's lore is quite deep and expansive, something which 343 would later come to over-rely on, the worst point being Halo 5 where you needed to read something like 10 books and watch 2 films to know who everyone was.
Bungie themselves always considered Halo multiplayer to be a party-style experience and in my own experience, the competitive aspect didn't start to get pushed until the late Halo 3 and early Halo: Reach days. I've never enjoyed PC-centric shooters like Counterstrike because they lack this fun-factor for me, I really can't stand competitive gaming culture and communities outside of the fighting game sphere.
I'm glad I'm not the only one, Thomas. Halo to me is one of those "fun enough" games. As in I'm having the bare minimum amount of fun when I'm playing it, but when I turn it off, I completely forget about everything I just accomplished and I have no desire to play anymore. Even the LAN parties, which I recall specifically for Halo 2. I can appreciate what Halo did for the FPS genre, especially popularizing the dual analog stick controls, but the series has always seemed very bland to me.
That's about where I am. What would you consider your top-tier FPS games?
I'll be honest and say that, after the original Doom, I can't recall ever having completed what I think of as a "pure" single-player or co-op FPS. To me, Doom was really cool and novel in the early 90s, but even by the mid/late-90s, I found that sort of gameplay didn't sustain me. I didn't have much interest in Quake single-player, for example.
In terms of "pure" FPS games, I'm excluding games where you have interesting powers like the Bioshock series, RPGs like the modern Fallouts, and also excluding third-person shooters like Gears of War. All of those I had a blast with.
I enjoyed Gears of War 1-2 WAY more than Halo, for basically every reason: gameplay for sure, but also characters and worldbuilding. I guess the GoW characters and worldbuilding might be seen now as sort of cringe, but I don't care, I'm a sucker for everything about the GoW aesthetic. I'll also admit I'm a sucker for bromances, which are present in GoW in spades, but I never noticed in my limited Halo experience. Wife makes fun of me that basically the only scenes in movies that make my eyes sweat are bromances, and a disproportionate number involve Tom Cruise.
I also am not a huge fan of the genre, which might be part of the problem. I'm a big fan of first-person exploration games, like Fallout 3, the Metroid Prime series, etc. But simply shooting from one spot to the other gets kinda boring for me.
I did enjoy Doom back in the day, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, etc. but once FPSes turned into the "gritty, hardcore only" sort, I basically walked away from the genre as a whole.
Gears of War is another one I couldn't get into, haha. Third-person over the shoulder gameplay always felt strange to me. But I definitely recognized the series' appeal, even over, say, Halo.
Hey man, great Tom Cruise movies have the capacity to bring out the bromance in us all. I totally get it!
The Flood, Trigens in Far Cry, the aliens in Crysis - is there a rule that every ground-breaking FPS has to have a miserable second half where most of the good ideas are thrown out entirely?
Put simply, Halo blew my socks off. At the time it was one of the best looking and most impressive games going. It showcased the power of the Xbox and was awesome fun to play solo or with pals. It really was the perfect launch game.
I bounced off its sequels, but Combat Evolved holds a special place in my heart.
The sheer scale is something it has over all of its contemporaries. Most FPS at the time were corridor shooters or small levels with heavy draw distance fog but Combat Evolved was such a jump forward.
I vividly remember the sense of awe I felt in the Assault on the Control Room level. After fighting through typical cramped corridors for ages and then suddenly popping out into an absolutely huge, snow-covered gully while a land and air battle raged all around was just incredible. What a moment!
One of the highlights of the campaign! I love how you can steal a banshee and finish the level early too.
I've always loved 343 Guilty Spark, not only because of the Flood introduction but because you truly feel lost in that swamp, the dash to the structure at the end as the marines with you: some of the last in the game, are picked off one by one is awesome.
I remember I got an Xbox just to play Halo, the hype around it was so huge. When I finally got it, I really had to convince myself pretty hard that I was having fun, but... I just didn't feel what everyone else felt. Which bummed me out, because when that happens, you're sure you're missing something that everyone else just gets. All my friends love Halo, why don't I?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the next entries!
I totally get that and when playing the game I do see why. It's definitely the weakest of the trilogy and I have to admit, it took me quite a few years of replaying the game in online CO-OP to really come toa appreciate the game but these days I enjoy the way it tells its story, the charm of the era and the brisk runtime even if the gameplay isn't really anything special.
They'll be coming, gradually! This is a series I really care about so I want to go beyond the straight review format, however, this means it takes a while and with the Switch 2 being so hot at the moment, other things are always popping up.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this, though I might have to disagree with you on one point, because to me Combat Evolved was my favourite... The original that is, I haven't played the MCC or went beyond Halo 2, so all of this is based on memories.
It certainly had it's flaws, which you have pointed out - The Library, weapon imbalance, obvious padding - but thinking about it, it was also the most stripped down version of Halo. Every other entry went very deep on backstory, lore and building a universe. This game, like you've also said, explains everything you need to know simply either with sharp dialogue or environmental storytelling, leaving everything else to your imagination.
My main reason for loving this one, apart from it being the reason I owned an Xbox after playing the Silent Cartographer demo, was the co-op. Playing with my best friend and allowing us to both join skirmishes and develop different strategies with the tools around us is something I really miss today.
If this is a series you are doing I'll look forward to reading it, especially from Halo 3 onwards since I dropped off after Halo 2.
Enjoyed the review. This is helpful for me to try to get some insight into its appeal, because Halo is one of those games I just don't get. I didn't get it at the time, and I don't get it now: not too long ago I tried playing the Master Chief version couch co-op with a friend from out of town who was a big Halo fan growing up, but I still couldn't get into it at all, we dropped it at level 2. Ended up having a lot more fun playing some other couch co-op games with him.
I'll admit that I've never played Halo 2. I played Halo 3 some with friends when it was new, but also didn't get the appeal.
My friend did mention the existence of Halo LAN parties in high school, which you also mention, and I can get how that would be a formative experience for someone who grew up with it. We had PC LAN parties when I was in high school; in terms of FPSes we mainly played TFC and Counterstrike but occasionally some other less memorable stuff, and I suppose to me Halo would have fallen into the bucket of "other less memorable stuff."
Glad you enjoyed it. Admittedly, Halo: Combat Evolved might not be the best starting point these days: it's quite disconnected from the overarching narrative that plays out across Halo 2, the spin-off Halo 3: ODST and Halo 3 and it can feel very stiff to play compared to the next 2, especially the jumping, long animations and recharge times.
A big appeal is the multiplayer which, unfortunately, you sort of had to be there for. For reasons I'll cover in later instalments, the MCC just doesn't capture a lot of what made the Halo online experience great. On top of this? A lot of Halo's appeal is the strategic depth of the 2-weapon limit and how weapon combos compliment and detriment each other; i something like Call of Duty, you really want the 2 most powerful weapons possible whereas in Halo, there are reason you would pick up the Magnum over a Rocket Launcher; Halo 2 also adds dual-wielding which makes things even more crazy. The worldbuilding and atmosphere has always been strong in Halo, especially the soundtrack; Halo's lore is quite deep and expansive, something which 343 would later come to over-rely on, the worst point being Halo 5 where you needed to read something like 10 books and watch 2 films to know who everyone was.
Bungie themselves always considered Halo multiplayer to be a party-style experience and in my own experience, the competitive aspect didn't start to get pushed until the late Halo 3 and early Halo: Reach days. I've never enjoyed PC-centric shooters like Counterstrike because they lack this fun-factor for me, I really can't stand competitive gaming culture and communities outside of the fighting game sphere.
I'm glad I'm not the only one, Thomas. Halo to me is one of those "fun enough" games. As in I'm having the bare minimum amount of fun when I'm playing it, but when I turn it off, I completely forget about everything I just accomplished and I have no desire to play anymore. Even the LAN parties, which I recall specifically for Halo 2. I can appreciate what Halo did for the FPS genre, especially popularizing the dual analog stick controls, but the series has always seemed very bland to me.
That's about where I am. What would you consider your top-tier FPS games?
I'll be honest and say that, after the original Doom, I can't recall ever having completed what I think of as a "pure" single-player or co-op FPS. To me, Doom was really cool and novel in the early 90s, but even by the mid/late-90s, I found that sort of gameplay didn't sustain me. I didn't have much interest in Quake single-player, for example.
In terms of "pure" FPS games, I'm excluding games where you have interesting powers like the Bioshock series, RPGs like the modern Fallouts, and also excluding third-person shooters like Gears of War. All of those I had a blast with.
I enjoyed Gears of War 1-2 WAY more than Halo, for basically every reason: gameplay for sure, but also characters and worldbuilding. I guess the GoW characters and worldbuilding might be seen now as sort of cringe, but I don't care, I'm a sucker for everything about the GoW aesthetic. I'll also admit I'm a sucker for bromances, which are present in GoW in spades, but I never noticed in my limited Halo experience. Wife makes fun of me that basically the only scenes in movies that make my eyes sweat are bromances, and a disproportionate number involve Tom Cruise.
I also am not a huge fan of the genre, which might be part of the problem. I'm a big fan of first-person exploration games, like Fallout 3, the Metroid Prime series, etc. But simply shooting from one spot to the other gets kinda boring for me.
I did enjoy Doom back in the day, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, etc. but once FPSes turned into the "gritty, hardcore only" sort, I basically walked away from the genre as a whole.
Gears of War is another one I couldn't get into, haha. Third-person over the shoulder gameplay always felt strange to me. But I definitely recognized the series' appeal, even over, say, Halo.
Hey man, great Tom Cruise movies have the capacity to bring out the bromance in us all. I totally get it!
The Flood, Trigens in Far Cry, the aliens in Crysis - is there a rule that every ground-breaking FPS has to have a miserable second half where most of the good ideas are thrown out entirely?
Apparently so! Though I always thought Crysis was a pretty mediocre game all round
Put simply, Halo blew my socks off. At the time it was one of the best looking and most impressive games going. It showcased the power of the Xbox and was awesome fun to play solo or with pals. It really was the perfect launch game.
I bounced off its sequels, but Combat Evolved holds a special place in my heart.
The sheer scale is something it has over all of its contemporaries. Most FPS at the time were corridor shooters or small levels with heavy draw distance fog but Combat Evolved was such a jump forward.
I vividly remember the sense of awe I felt in the Assault on the Control Room level. After fighting through typical cramped corridors for ages and then suddenly popping out into an absolutely huge, snow-covered gully while a land and air battle raged all around was just incredible. What a moment!
One of the highlights of the campaign! I love how you can steal a banshee and finish the level early too.
I've always loved 343 Guilty Spark, not only because of the Flood introduction but because you truly feel lost in that swamp, the dash to the structure at the end as the marines with you: some of the last in the game, are picked off one by one is awesome.
Excellent review as always, sir.
I remember I got an Xbox just to play Halo, the hype around it was so huge. When I finally got it, I really had to convince myself pretty hard that I was having fun, but... I just didn't feel what everyone else felt. Which bummed me out, because when that happens, you're sure you're missing something that everyone else just gets. All my friends love Halo, why don't I?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the next entries!
Thank you, sir.
I totally get that and when playing the game I do see why. It's definitely the weakest of the trilogy and I have to admit, it took me quite a few years of replaying the game in online CO-OP to really come toa appreciate the game but these days I enjoy the way it tells its story, the charm of the era and the brisk runtime even if the gameplay isn't really anything special.
They'll be coming, gradually! This is a series I really care about so I want to go beyond the straight review format, however, this means it takes a while and with the Switch 2 being so hot at the moment, other things are always popping up.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this, though I might have to disagree with you on one point, because to me Combat Evolved was my favourite... The original that is, I haven't played the MCC or went beyond Halo 2, so all of this is based on memories.
It certainly had it's flaws, which you have pointed out - The Library, weapon imbalance, obvious padding - but thinking about it, it was also the most stripped down version of Halo. Every other entry went very deep on backstory, lore and building a universe. This game, like you've also said, explains everything you need to know simply either with sharp dialogue or environmental storytelling, leaving everything else to your imagination.
My main reason for loving this one, apart from it being the reason I owned an Xbox after playing the Silent Cartographer demo, was the co-op. Playing with my best friend and allowing us to both join skirmishes and develop different strategies with the tools around us is something I really miss today.
If this is a series you are doing I'll look forward to reading it, especially from Halo 3 onwards since I dropped off after Halo 2.