Game Debate #80: Halo

[Reed Rothchild | 9,577]

[RH | 4,965]

I never owned an xbox, but this one was loads of fun towards the end of college.  I never played the single-player campaign, though, so I can't rate it based off of the actual game, though it looks really good for it's time from what I've observed.

I still need to pick up a copy and I wouldn't mind playing through it one day.

[Renmauzo | 1,205]

I can't score the game, I've never been able to play for more than 15 minutes or so any time I've tried it as it's been nausea inducing every time. I don't get sea sick or air sick, I've come to the conclusion that this game - and certain other FPS titles - make me feel sick.

[Mega Tank | 974]

6 minutes ago, RH said:

I never owned an xbox, but this one was loads of fun towards the end of college.  I never played the single-player campaign, though, so I can't rate it based off of the actual game, though it looks really good for it's time from what I've observed.

I still need to pick up a copy and I wouldn't mind playing through it one day.

XBOX Game pass. You can play it on PC if you have the Ultimate GamePass.

I have never truly beat the campaigns from start to finish. I have beat missions from the campaigns when you could do them with online coop on Halo 4, but never truly beat an entire campaign for 1 game.

I tried for the Backlog threadz but the first Halo campaign is so slooooooow, so I kind of stopped after a few missions lol.

 

Multiplayer is where it's at for me. Halo Infinite can use some fixes, but it has been fun so far.

[RH | 4,965]

2 minutes ago, Mega Tank said:

XBOX Game pass. You can play it on PC if you have the Ultimate GamePass.

Yeah... I'm not much of a PC gamer.

 

[RH | 4,965]

6 minutes ago, Renmauzo said:

I can't score the game, I've never been able to play for more than 15 minutes or so any time I've tried it as it's been nausea inducing every time. I don't get sea sick or air sick, I've come to the conclusion that this game - and certain other FPS titles - make me feel sick.

I can't play Turok for 5 minutes without cutting off Head Bobbing.  I honestly don't even know why the integrated that into that specific game.  I don't recall feeling that way about Halo, but Turok was the only game that did that to me.

[Mega Tank | 974]

1 minute ago, RH said:

Yeah... I'm not much of a PC gamer.

 

XB or PC uh, that's about where you'll play Halo lol

[RH | 4,965]

1 minute ago, Mega Tank said:

XB or PC uh, that's about where you'll play Halo lol

I have an xbox 360 I picked up about 18 months ago.  I've intended to get a small xbox collection, and the Halo games are on the list.  Regardless, I've yet to get Halo and I only have 3 xbox 360 titles.

[DefaultGen | 5,428]

8 for me. The campaign is really fun besides the library. The cool sound design and music elevate the generic space man theme. The floaty physics, OP pistol, and doing donuts in warthogs all feel great. Of course, big congrats to consoles for getting a snappy auto-aim system for FPS so children can play the genre with analog sticks when their hands aren't big enough for a mouse yet.

Edited December 16, 2021 by DefaultGen

[Brickman | 4,012]

Was debating between an 8 or 9 but went with 8.

Until recently I had only played multiplayer but my friend and I are playing the Halo collection campaigns co op and this was a lot of fun.

There was one part where we were lost for like 30mins but other than that the campaign is really well done.

Multiplayer is where this game shines and was and still is a blast to play.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

I originally didn't think or care much about the game, but played coop with a good friend who got an Xbox and Halo at launch.  It was just after his son was born, so we had to wait until into the evening (9-10 PM) to really get a start on it.  Beyond a couple of emergency bathroom breaks, we didn't take a break from the game until we'd beaten it, and were sitting on the couch watching the credits roll, talking about what we'd just done, when his wife shuffled groggily into the living room to ask, "...did you guys go to sleep?"  It was only then that we noticed the earliest rays of sunshine beginning to shine through the windows.  I was pretty much hooked from that moment on.

We ended up playing the campaign together a lot (as I didn't have a system and didn't have enough interest in any other games to do so), to the point where I picked up my own controller that fit my hands better when some became available (the Duke was epic, but was just too big to be comfortable for me).  I remember my friend wanting to see how thoroughly we could annihilate the enemy when playing, while I was always trying to figure out how much the game would let me/us get away with.  My favorite creation/discovery, which we still talk about to this day, was when we were still having issues with the base at the end of the first mission.

My friend always demanded to drivec the warthog, so I was on the chain gun and basically never let up on the trigger because, hey, free ammo, right?  On our second or third repeat due to getting slaughtered while trying different techniques to try to get into the base easier, my friend stopped at the top of the big hill above it.  I fanned the gun around to see what was up and noticed that one of the enemies in the far distance dropped to the ground when I did so.  An idea formed in my head.  "Hey John, you've still got that sniper rifle, right?"  'Yeah, but I'm out of ammo, dammit, I love that thing.'  "Do me a favor and go sit in the passenger seat."  'What?  Why?'  "Just trust me."  'Ok, now what?'  "Get out your rifle and zoom in on that guy at the far right."  'Ok, so now wha...ohhhh...'  "How close was that?"  'Down and to the right just a bit...GOT HIM!  (ecstatic/maniacail laughter)"  From that moment on, we used the warthog whenever possible as a precision sniping instrument, with my buddy acting as my spotter with his sniper rifle.

After we'd picked off everybody in that manner (including a lot of dawdlers who successfully hid in the belly, making it take a LOT longer than it should have), my buddy proceeded to run down to get into the base.  I wasn't satisfied, so I hopped in the driver's seat and headed after him.  'What are you doing?  That thing won't fit, it'll just get in the way!'  "We'll see, I'm not leaving it behind!"  I proceeded to ram the warthog at full speed, at a weird angle, into the ramp into the base a few times before managing to get the physics to flip it just enough to get inside.  We then went downstairs to get the next wave to show up, at which point I hopped back onto the chain gun in the warthog and mowed down all comers, laughing the whole way.  When the pelican finally showed up at the end to take us, my buddy hopped in immediately, then started to get frustrated with me as I was fooling with the warthog again.  'What are you doing?  Get in, let's go to the next area.'  "I'm not leaving it behind, there's room in that thing, we'll take it with ius."  'You're crazy, come on!'  But I ignored him, and, after a couple of minutes of screwing around and lining things up (and pitching grenades here and there to bounce the warthog onto various things), I managed to get it lined up, with a front tire sitting on a bit of the base sitting at an upwart angle, gunned the engine, and launched...sticking it in the back of the pelican at about 1/3 of a tilt to the right.  My buddy was amazed I managed it, and we discovered that either I wasn't located quite far enough inside the ship for the cutscene to trigger, or the game just wouldn't allow us to go until we were both in seats, so I reluctantly hit the exit button and was automatically sucked into a seat, although we did have a face full of warthog for what was left of that scene.

Unsurprisingly, the truck didn't make it through with us to the beach at the beginning of the next mission, which was disappointing, but we soon enough found another, then, through a long bout of determination, odd angles, and grenades, we took it with us (both of us trying this time) all the way inside of the mountain base, than all the way back out again.  I am still amused and amazed with what we were able to get away with in that game.

Multiplayer was also a lot of fun, to the point where I got my own Xbox (after they created the S controller and started shipping systems with it) specifically for that purpose.  My buddy and I (and his wife, and a few other friends) were working at the same place, with the same schedule, and given the high stress of the place, we really started enjoying multiplayer together as a means of blowing off steam at the end of the week.  So, every Saturday evening after work we'd all get together at the same nearby restaurant to eat and rant about the week, then Sunday afternoon we'd meet up at my friend's house to link up systems and see who could kill who and how often.  Our regular total was 8 every week across 3 systems, but occasionally we'd run 10 people across 4 systems, with a maximum of 14 people across 4 systems one night when some former coworkers had started talking serious smack.  Every week we'd experiment with various game types and their settings, as well as combinations with the various maps in order to try to do our best to create our "own" game types.  The weekly opener, regardless of who was present, was Rockets only on the map Prisoner--those familiar with the game should understand how ridiculous that combo is, but it was so incredibly fun that everybody who wasn't part of our core group who joined us once ended up taking it back to their groups as the traditionl/ritual palette cleanser and start of the evening for Halo nights.

I don't think the game is perfect, hence I gave it a 9, but a lot of that really has to do with how long a lot of the stuff at the very end tends to drag on, as well as a lot of frustration the designers cause with skimping on ammo and supplies in those same areas.  Overall, though, it's a game that I'll likely never forget, and is always fun to play, especially if there's someone else along for the ride.  Until the XBONE debacle with Halo 5 (no more couch coop for "performance" reasons, then the game still not being able to perform as claimed), my buddy John and I got together the launch night of every Halo release to play coop together and always had a blast doing it, even if the subsequent games were never quite as fun or as versatile as the first.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,577]

Oops, it was supposed to be Rad Racer.  Oh well, next week.

[TDIRunner | 2,771]

Never actually played it, but I own it and might get around to trying it sometime.  

I have lots to say about Rad Racer.  

[Kguillemette | 1,547]

Never played it. Well, that's not entirely true. I played a handful of multiplayer with friends while it was new. Never cared for it, but then, I don't care for any FPS outside of Goldeneye.

[Tanooki | 4,950]

I guess so far I've got the lowest level score at 6 and I think it's quite fair.  I'm not an xbox fanboy so I never got blinded by it, nor did I have to basically use that as the excuse to own or use the system for a larger part of a year as well.  When it arrived I was at Midway so I got to play both single and in office linked up systems multiplayer too.  I didn't find the MP all that unique or special compared to other choices at the time.  But what got me really was the campaign mode, for a FPS game to have that utter level of progressive story, depth, and environment to drag you along in was something fairly new as a concept.  SO much going on there it was like being in a cheesy SCIFI military style movie which was a change.  I do not like the game in the end much though, and do, it's weird.  The story, characters, concepts I find amazing, but the gameplay even there gets repetitive and almost bland in a way that pushes a little bit of a battle between tedium and annoyance as you close in more and more towards the end game of it.  The story is the only compelling reason to bother, and it did succeed in that, yet in the years since I've never finished it again, knowing the story, I feel more like I wish this was a movie, tv series, or something better (which with that TV series arriving is thankfully after so long.)  I keep floundering on the bundle on Steam (MC collection) because I think I'll get tired again, but maybe one day.

Ultimately story is it, there's little to utterly fall in love with otherwise as the rest just doesn't stand out much, you can do better no matter what some people care to think.  That's why the grade, it could have swung a couple points in either direction otherwise if the story sucked or the actual game play design/stage elements were better.

[Mega Tank | 974]

18 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

I don't think the game is perfect, hence I gave it a 9, but a lot of that really has to do with how long a lot of the stuff at the very end tends to drag on, as well as a lot of frustration the designers cause with skimping on ammo and supplies in those same areas.  Overall, though, it's a game that I'll likely never forget, and is always fun to play, especially if there's someone else along for the ride. 

Your post makes it sound like you would rate a 10.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

19 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Oops, it was supposed to be Rad Racer.  Oh well, next week.

Rad Racer > Halo

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

55 minutes ago, Mega Tank said:

Your post makes it sound like you would rate a 10.

If they'd tweaked the bit with the Flood toward the very end, where you're just wandering through multiple copies of the same corridors against seemingly endless mobs of foes with little to no support (reload ammo, grenades, health packs, etc.), I might have.  And I can see how folks would call chunks of it repetitive, as I did the first time I played it, but then it dawned on me what was actually happening--you fight in through a series of corridors, then you literally turn around and fight your way back out via the same path.  If you pay attention to the few landmarks you have, you'll see that you're hurrying back out the way you know, which makes a lot of sense and makes it a lot easier to do once that light bulb lights up, as you know the path, recognize where blind corners should be, etc.

If all people are doing with it is playing through once and sitting it down, then yeah, I can see them giving it a low score.  Same with the multiplayer if they weren't into that sort of thing, or if they played it a good while after launch, as Halo MP caused pretty much every other developer to seriously step up their game in regard to what they were putting out.  The game should be recognized for what it was tat the time it came out, as it's pretty easy to crap on virtually every game that's been discussed in these topics if you only view them via the lens of what came after that improved on what they started.  Halo had a ton of intended and unintended depth in both campaign and multiplayer, and was awfully well balanced right out of the gate, not really requiring any updates, tweaks, etc., to "get it right" after the fact like so many other games (including more recent Halo games) have afterward.  I think the pistol was the only OP item in the game, and people didn't realize that for a good while, until around the time that the online system link programs/services started to be a thing, because hey, if you're fighting enemies who won't pick up your gear, you should cherish everything you've got up on them.

[asmikace | 68]

7 for me. Halo was successful for online multiplayer so if you were stuck with single player like me it wasn’t the optimal experience. I preferred Timesplilters 2 and 3 and Castle Wolfenstein on the Xbox for the single player stuff and I could Timespliters to be funner couch experience. 
 

Still Xbox would not succeed with Halo. Just ask the average person what Xbox had when it came out and they could not response anything beside Halo

[themisfit138 | 523]

9/10 My work buddies and I would have Halo Lan parties. We even put together a Lan tournament for the launch of Halo 2.  The winner got the Collectors edition and 2nd place got standard. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by themisfit138

[wongojack | 220]

I give it a 4/10 - there's plenty of better alternatives.

I'm the guy that you know plays video games that you can invite to your FPS party, but I don't play FPS games.  I've had my fun with LAN parties and online game nights, but the FPS genre has just never grabbed me.  I don't want to memorize the maps, and I don't care about climbing the leaderboards.  I want the single player story to be awesome, so I can think of many alternatives that I'd rather play than Halo.  Although, original Halo might have the best story of any game from the core franchise.

 

For my money, if I want to have a bro-fest and play a coop game, the Gears of War series does Halo one better, but I'm still not really crazy about those games either.