Halo series

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, since I've been playing a fair amount of Reach over the past few months and am about half-way through ODST, I suddenly felt like talking about the Halo series.

Now, to me the Halo games are both highly overpraised and also get more hate than they deserve at the same time. Anything that becomes popular will also inevitably gain its share of haters. As for me, I have always seen the Halo games as fun FPS games that specialize at creating great combat encounters with challenging enemy AI and open environments allowing room for plenty of strategy.

I've never cared much for the story in the Halo games or its Universe (I tried reading some of the novels, but they bored me to sleep to be honest). I'm the type of guy who usually skips the cut-scenes in the game after I've already seen them once. I think my main problem is that none of the characters have any personality or give me any reason to care about them except for The Arbiter (who is by far the most interesting character in the game by default), and 343 Guilty Spark (which is ironic since he's a fucking machine devoid of emotions, yet he seems to actually have more of those things than any of the human characters in the game). That's about all I can say about the story. I suppose it does have great voice acting and stuff like that, but it doesn't help if the story itself is really flat and boring.

As for the gameplay, most of the Halo games are short but fun for the most part. I don't particularly like fighting the Flood unless they are either mixed in with other enemies (keeping them a bit distracted from just focusing on you) or if you encounter them in levels in which you are given plenty of good weapons with sufficient ammo to deal with them effectively.

Overall, though, the Halo games are mostly good fun and I like how they have stayed simple in their core mechanics but have a good amount of depth for more experienced players.

I'm not really big on multiplayer in any game, but I do enjoy playing Halo's MP with my friends on a good enough sized TV screen. I also play it online at times, but it doesn't ever hold my attention for too long.

I suppose I can just give my brief thoughts on each of the games that I have played:

Halo: Combat Evolved- Its a great game for its time and to its credit it did basically make FPS games popular on consoles. Sure, the PC players can always say that the PC shooters are constantly years ahead of the console ones, and that's true, but its still thanks to this game that console-only players can still enjoy great FPS games. At any rate, taking nostalgia out of the picture, the game certainly isn't nearly as great as the best FPS games in the genre, but its still a fun game that I would argue was at the very least ahead of its time (for console FPS games, that is).

Halo 2- It basically used the core mechanics of the first game as a crutch for the campaign mode. In terms of the gameplay, its a shorter but more refined game, however I don't know what it is, but it feels a lot less inspired than the 1st game, and somewhat phoned-in overall. Its still good gameplay, but it just never got me too engaged. I know that Bungie started focusing more on the multiplayer aspect of Halo at this point, and I'm sure its great for people who care more about that stuff (I did enjoy playing it quite a bit myself), but overall I felt that this game took both a few steps forward and backward for the series.

Halo 3- I'll be honest, this one really bored me, initially. The campaign mode was once again more refined while leaning on core mechanics already established in the first game, but it once again felt pretty uninspired in terms of its overall design. To its credit it did have the best environments and overall level design out of the first 3 games, allowing a lot of various possible strategies to be used, but overall I felt that it was pretty underwhelming. There are some stand-out moments in the campaign mode and some really fun levels, but overall the game just feels more like a chore to play through after I beat it on Legendary once.

Halo 3: ODST- I'm currently in the process of playing this game, and I'm only in the middle of it, so I can't give my opinion on it yet. I am liking it so far, though, and feel that its different enough playing as an ODST that it feels fresh compared to the other Halo games, in its own right. I'll give my full detailed thoughts on it later, after I beat it.

Halo: Reach- This is by far the best Halo game in terms of its campaign mode (the multiplayer is pretty lazy but I don't really care that much about it, anyways, to be honest). This time Bungie took everything that was good and fresh about previous Halo games and added in some more great stuff, while at the same time they removed so many of the boring and tedious things that plagued past Halo games. There is no Flood, Elites are back, the enemy AI is smarter than ever, and the levels all feel fresh and are constantly entertaining for the most part. As far as I'm concerned, it makes the perfect final game to the series, not to say that its anywhere closer to being one of the best FPS games out there, but it is at the very least the best Halo game, IMO.

I haven't ever bothered to play Halo Wars and quite honestly I never plan to, so I won't give my opinion on that game since I don't have one for it.

[Foggle]

The only one I outright disliked was Halo 3... I just couldn't get into the campaign and the multiplayer maps weren't as cool as the ones in Halo 1 or 2, IMO. Also, the color palette in the level "Cortana" burned my eyes and gave me fucking migraines.

I really liked the original Halo and I was pretty lukewarm to 2's campaign (multiplayer was excellent, though). I haven't played much of Reach, but what I played was really good. I kept getting lost trying to find the actual levels in ODST so I eventually gave up, but it was a fun game overall.

[Spark Of Spirit]

What drew me into the first Halo (Only Halo game I beat on Legendary with a pal) was not just the multiplayer with the huge and inspired maps, but the scale.

Halo never felt once like a corridor shooter (Well, okay the stupid Library did, but everyone knows how much that sucks) and had a wide level design with a lot of ways to approach objectives. Also, even though it had the two weapon limit thing, it had alternate weapons strewn all over the place making for a great variety of weapons despite the limitation. Halo had and still has one of the best campaigns in any FPS for properly combining both classic FPS and modern FPS level design better than any other game and I'm 100% certain that was why it was so well liked.

Halo 2's campaign sucked. I played it once and thought it was alright, but I never went back to it. It was too limiting, too short, and it had no punch like the original. The multiplayer was fine, but it didn't do anything the first didn't other than being online.

Halo 3 was an improvement, but it was too restrictive. Halo 3 was still missing the sense of scale from the original, and was full of boring scripted set pieces like the second game. This is an alright game, but it isn't anything special.

ODST was ambitious, but simply wasn't meaty enough for the price. While you had a "hub" world, it still felt restrictive since you couldn't freely search for teammates or anything. An improvement, but still not there.

I haven't gotten around to Reach yet, but it seems that Bungie misconstrued the reason the original Halo was so successful and emphasized the wrong parts of it. People wanted bigger and badder and they got that... in cutscenes and story sequences. Nerfed weapons, less variety, and more of an emphasis on the recharging health (I liked the first game's health plus shield idea... they shouldn't have removed that) for streamlining gameplay... Oh yeah, and the overuse of the Flood.

It's a good game series, but it could have been a great one if they followed off of the first game more.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Halo 2's campaign sucked. I played it once and thought it was alright, but I never went back to it. It was too limiting, too short, and it had no punch like the original. The multiplayer was fine, but it didn't do anything the first didn't other than being online.

I think that was my main problem with it, too. Compared to the first game it just felt so narrow with minimal room for environmental strategies. Some levels were fairly open like in the first game, but most were boring in that they were narrow and linear.

Halo 3 was an improvement, but it was too restrictive. Halo 3 was still missing the sense of scale from the original, and was full of boring scripted set pieces like the second game. This is an alright game, but it isn't anything special.

Actually if I got anything out of playing the game on Legendary its that it was pretty much as widely scaled as the original. My problem with it was that I rarely ever felt the need to strategize because the enemy AI felt like pushovers in this game compared to the other games. There also wasn't anything about it that really hooked me. I played maybe half a level at a time (since they each least about an hour or so long) and then got bored and took a break and came back later. Its not a bad game and I can't deny that its refined, but overall it just kind of felt boring to me.

To be honest, though, I actually thought Halo 3 had the best multiplayer. I may just be weird, but contrary to popular opinion I actually liked most of Halo 3's maps quite a bit, and I honestly felt that it was an improvement over Halo 2, which was also good but I just had more fun with 3.

ODST was ambitious, but simply wasn't meaty enough for the price. While you had a "hub" world, it still felt restrictive since you couldn't freely search for teammates or anything. An improvement, but still not there.

To be honest, the hub world is actually the only major thing that I dislike about the game. I constantly get lost and its kind of boring just going through long stretches with no enemies just searching for a new beacon. I'd much rather just play the story missions back-to-back without the hub world, even if it made the game even shorter.

I haven't gotten around to Reach yet, but it seems that Bungie misconstrued the reason the original Halo was so successful and emphasized the wrong parts of it. People wanted bigger and badder and they got that... in cutscenes and story sequences. Nerfed weapons, less variety, and more of an emphasis on the recharging health (I liked the first game's health plus shield idea... they shouldn't have removed that) for streamlining gameplay... Oh yeah, and the overuse of the Flood.

It's a good game series, but it could have been a great one if they followed off of the first game more.

Seriously, dude, try Reach one of these days. It DOES actually bring back the open evironments that allow for lots of strategy, and you can even tackle various objectives in whatever order you want in some levels. Its easily the least scripted Halo game since the 1st game, and the enemy AI is better than ever. I'd go so far as to say that its the best Halo game out there (though, the 1st game is still by far my favorite, if that makes any sense).


BTW, I can't wait for Anniversary to come out.

[Spark Of Spirit]

My friend lent my father his copy of Reach, so maybe I'll get around to it. Especially if it gets back some of whats been missing since the first game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

One of the things that I forgot to mention that I enjoy about the Halo games is the vehicles. They are far from the best uses of vehicles in FPS games compared to PC games and whatnot, I'm sure, but I just love how they are done in the Halo games, anyways. Aside from the annoying physics of the Warthog (seriously, that thing is easier to flip over than a pancake in a frying pan), I really like how each of the vehicles have their own unique and strategic uses, and control very smoothly as opposed to how they are in other games. They really help add a lot to the strategic element of both the single player and multiplayer experiences for Halo. I won't lie, I love abusing the Scorpion. That said I think my personal favorite Halo vehicle has to be the Banshee (BTW, does anyone actually know why all of the Covenant vehicles are named after various types of apparitions?).

Another thing I have to praise the series for is being one of the only few modern FPS games with a strong focus on great music. Sure, its modern video game music, much of which is highly orchestral, which I know Desensitized and Foggle don't really care for, but to me its the perfect example of how to do good modern video game music, rather than trying to make something with loud chanting and other generic instrumental sounds and having it play throughout the whole fucking game like its brilliant enough to replace an actual varied soundtrack (I'm looking at games like God of War and Gears of War here, in particular). I like how Halo actually has quite a lot of music compared to other modern FPS games, and I feel that most of it is really well-composed. It has a good variety, too, from moody orchestral melodies that fit the serene nature of many of the environments or the vastness of space and whatnot, with a healthy dose of electric guitar and other more intense tunes that perfectly fit the battle between humans and aliens scenario. Overall its easily one of my favorite uses of modern video game music.

In fact, I just recently discovered a new favorite tune in ODST.

[Foggle]

Honestly, the only FPSs that do vehicles better than Halo are Tribes and Unreal Tournament. Whether Halo does them better than Battlefield is debatable, but the two series are at least on par in that regard. Vehicles in FPS games are often not implemented well, sadly.

Another thing I have to praise the series for is being one of the only few modern FPS games with a strong focus on great music. Sure, its modern video game music, much of which is highly orchestral, which I know Desensitized and Foggle don't really care for, but to me its the perfect example of how to do good modern video game music, rather than trying to make something with loud chanting and other generic instrumental sounds and having it play throughout the whole fucking game like its brilliant enough to replace an actual varied soundtrack (I'm looking at games like God of War and Gears of War here, in particular).

I actually think the music in Halo is really good, despite being orchestral (I feel the same way about the OST for SiN Episodes, which no one else here has ever played or ever will play). I've always loved the Halo Theme, it's really slick. The thing about this kind of music, though, is that it doesn't really get me as pumped as the stuff from classic games like Mega Man or niche titles like God Hand, and it also isn't really the kind of thing I'd want to listen to outside of the game.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The music in Halo is fine enough. It feels epic and grand, and sort of tribal considering the ruins you are usually climbing through. But like Foggle said, it's not really anything I see myself listening to outside of the game.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I guess it just depends on one's personal taste is music. I listen to the Halo soundtrack outside of the game as much as I listen to my favorite classic tunes. I honestly feel the Halo music is by far the modern video game music equivalent of what I consider to be the greatest classic tunes of previous generations of video games.

I don't even think along the lines of "this sounds epic and grand" when listening to the music, to be honest. Most of the time I just think to myself: "damn, this sounds good, I think I may get this stuck in my head."

Here is my current favorite tune from ODST.

And while I can't find the specific track that I'm looking for, the Halo: Reach music can be really fun (for me, at least). That said, music is like the most subjective thing ever, so I can understand if its not something that is as appealing to you guys to listen to on its own. I think it all comes with what different types of music means to you, personally.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I just beat ODST on Normal mode (which at times felt like the equivalent of Heroic in other Halo games, if only because the ODST guys are much weaker than Spartans). Overall, I really liked it. As I said before, my biggest problem with the game was actually just the hub world. I just felt that it slowed down the pacing if the game and those parts dragged on and felt kind of boring. The actual linear but more focused levels were much more action-packed and much more exciting, IMO. There was plenty of room for strategy and the enemy AI felt at least a little bit better than Halo 3's. I know its the same exact engine, but it seems that Bungie tweaked the Brutes or something because they felt a lot less stupid than they did to me in Halo 3, but maybe I just feel that way because Master Chief was almost invincible compared to the ODST guys, on normal mode.

Overall, the game got a lot of flak for being overpriced, but just being viewed as a Halo game on its own, aside from its short length (which honestly isn't that much shorter than other Halo games since, let's face it, their all pretty short past the first game), it was a well-paced and well constructed campaign mode. It still pales in comparison to Reach for me, but Reach clearly had more time and effort put into it, so that would pretty much be the reason why.

Anyways, while I can't properly judge how I feel about ODST since I only played it once, whereas I've played every other Halo game at least twice (if not more), I'll still go ahead and rank the 5 Halo games by Bungie in order of my favorite to my least favorite.

In terms of their campaign modes alone, I go with:

Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Reach
Halo 3: ODST
Halo 3
Halo 2

I think Halo 2 suffered the most from having levels that felt way too small in scale compared to the first game and environments that didn't allow for extensive use of strategy like in other Halo games. Its not a bad game by any means, but its probably the most underwhelming game in the series in terms of pure gameplay mechanics, IMO (once again, only going by the campaign mode).

In terms of their multiplayer modes, I tend to go with:

Halo 3
Halo 2
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Reach

I have to admit, while Reach fully delivered in the campaign mode (IMO), I feel that its multiplayer was underwhelming. Most of the maps were taken straight from the campaign mode levels and any original ones felt underwhelming and lacked creativity. Also half the maps are just variations of one Forge map and that's just really lazy on Bungie's part. I shouldn't have to pay extra money just to get the DLC map-packs if I want to stick to the default ones.

On the other side of the coin, while everyone will usually say that Halo 2 had the best multiplayer, I say it had great multiplayer but honestly I feel that people kind of overrate it. Since it was the first big Halo game in terms of having the multiplayer played online by millions of people, I feel that Halo 3 basically too kits core mechanics and refined and improved them even further, but people too used to Halo 2 wouldn't be kind to any changes at all, whether they were for the better or not. I honestly think that Halo 3 is the most balanced Halo game in terms of its multiplayer, and I never got why so many people complained about its maps. To me, most of its maps are terrific, supporting all different kinds of game types and being almost perfectly structured. Guardian is probably my personal favorite map in the game for small team battles and also for free for all matches.

Halo: Combat Evolved was a shit-ton of fun to play with my older brother and our friends on the TV screen, so I have a lot of fond nostalgic memories of its multiplayer mode. Its also fun on the PC online which I played a bit of, so overall I think its a fun multiplayer mode, with some really good and memorable maps. That said, I have to admit that as the first Halo game, it honestly does have some balance issues, but overall its still just plain fun.

[Spark Of Spirit]

So I'm playing Halo Reach and I'm currently on the 5th mission. You're right, it is easily the best campaign since he first game, I almost want to call this Halo 2 because this is the campaign I wanted from that game. A lot of wide spaces for varied tactics and weapons, and they improved the shield/health system from Halo 1 so that it feels more like Halo proper again. The Needler is back to being awesome, but the Shotgun seems nerfed range-wise. Otherwise, the campaign is shining so far. It's only too bad it took Bungie so long to realize what people wanted from Halo's campaign.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, and on top of that Bungie uses the capabilities of the XBOX360 to its advantage this time and makes the AI smarter than ever before and also have lots of enemies on screen to allow for lots of situations that call for strategy. Let me tell you this, I have played through the game a total of 5 times in full (twice on co-op and 3 times by myself on Normal, Heroic, and Legendary), and each time I played through I was successfully able to use an entirely different strategy for almost every single enemy encounter in the game. Also, don't forget that certain missions allow you to tackle various objectives in alternate orders if you want to, such as ONI Sword Base and Alexandria, for example. Exodus in particular has a really open area at the end of the level that is just way too much fun to play around with (you can hijack different vehicles, do it on foot with a jet-pack or try to sneak around with active camo, and the options are pretty much endless).

Also, don't turn the game off when the end credits start rolling. There's more than just a cut-scene after the end credits this time.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Done. Though... WTF was with mission 9? It was a glorified tower defense mission to get to the end. You're right though, the actual campaign was pretty fun to play through, and I tried testing out alternate tactics whenever I died, most of the time I could find another way to progress, but I could always find a different way to take the enemy down. It's also the first campaign since the first Halo in the series that I actually want to replay. Bungie really went all out here.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

By mission 9 do you mean the last level before the end credits, or the 2nd to last level? For some reason I'm drawing a blank here. If you're talking about the 2nd to last mission where you have to defend that area and turn on the turrets and shit to defend Cortana then that was really only the end of the level that was a tower defense mission. I actually liked it, though, especially if you manage to steal a Banshee which isn't that hard if you know the proper strategy (and in a way almost necessary if you're playing on Legendary on single-player). Maybe I just like tower defense type stuff, though, even though I haven't played an actual tower defense game before.

Anyways, yeah, this is the first Halo game since the original that I immediately wanted to replay. It even throws in some surprises on the harder difficulties, and the enemies continually become smarter. The length is also perfect. It lasted me about 8 hours so it didn't feel way too short but it also didn't overstay its welcome or ever feel too repetitive, and at the same time it had enough variety to keep my coming back for more. Of course, now I'm finally kind of burnt out on it, but I still greatly enjoyed my time playing it.

If you ever get the chance try playing the game on Legendary and on co-op if you can (but only with one other person, since if its 3 or 4 people playing at once it just becomes way too streamlined and easy and isn't as much fun, IMO). To me, that's the best possible way to play this game (and I had the most fun playing it with my friend on Legendary).

Firefight is pretty fun too if you want to play around with the co-op multiplayer modes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh, so you can steal a banshee in that part? I stole a Ghost but didn't last very long. But yeah, I'll definitely try it on co-op when I get the chance. I beat 1, 3, and ODST on co-op (but only Legendary on the first) so I'll be sure to give this one a go too.