Halo series

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

I'm not sure if you know about this from previous Halo games (I myself didn't discover it until playing Halo 3), but if you fire a charged shot from the plasma pistol at any vehicle it temporarily stops it in its tracks. If you shoot at a Banshee with a DMR or any ranged weapon you can lure it towards you, and if you go ahead and switch your sprint ability for a jet-pack and go onto the roof of the area that you're defending, you can lure it towards you and then fire a charged shot at it to bring it down to ground level (without seriously damaging the vehicle itself), and then you can quickly hijack it while the pilot in stunned in the vehicle. It probably sounds overly complex but its a strategy that works really well and I've been able to pull it off multiple times. Its not necessary, but its sure a hell of a lot of fun to do and feels rewarding to pull off (without feeling too frustrating to accomplish) as well.

But, yeah, this whole game in general is full of so many different strategic opportunities that its just so much fun to play around with. If Bungie had done this sort of thing with more Halo games than just the first one and this game, then this would easily be one of my favorite FPS series/franchises of all time. As it stands, I like the series for what it is but only the first game and Reach really stand out to me among other great FPS games.

[Spark Of Spirit]

................... That would have saved me sooooo much time If I knew that before. Seriously. I'm hitting my palm to my face.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Heh, Don't worry about it. It wasn't that obvious to me, either. I only found out about it on my 2nd time playing through the game on single-player, when I was having a hard time just fighting so many enemies on foot. When I first played the game it was on co-op with a friend so I didn't need to resort to that strategy. And, to be honest the game allows for skill-based improvement so now I can get through that part completely on foot without too much trouble (I like how the game can be difficulty without relying on cheap methods to annoy you), but yeah, the Banshee just gets it down MUCH quicker. You can definitely pull it off with some skill and just a tad bit of luck, so give that strategy a try next time you play through that mission.

Just so you know, you can also use a similar strategy to that on the 4th mission where you have to infiltrate that Covenant tower (which is basically the opposite scenario). Just steal a Banshee by luring it towards you and going up to it with the jet-pack, and then you can manually ride all the way up to the top of the tower. Its not like it makes that part of the mission any easier (well, it does, but you still have to fight the enemies at the top of the tower on foot), but its just fun as hell to do if you can pull it off.

Man, I'm once again realizing how much I love the diversity of this game and how its the only other Halo game besides combat evolved to be so open like this.

Why the hell couldn't you have made all of the other Halo games like this, Bungie? I mean, I really have to praise Bungie for finally getting it right again with Reach, but I just feel like they wasted so much potential with the other Halo games by basically devolving the gameplay formula from the first game. There was still room for strategy and stuff, but it just didn't come close to what CE had on offer until Bungie finally decided to listen to fans and go for all of the best qualities of previous Halo games with Reach, while taking out the shit that people don't like (namely the Flood).

[Spark Of Spirit]

No, it really annoyed me because literally the two places I had the most trouble with in the game could have been made easier on me if I had tried another tactic I didn't even know I had available to me. That actually makes it even better to me.

Seriously, THAT'S what I like about Halo. Options, satisfying weapons, and varied encounters. This is the first one since the original to really nail all that.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, the thing that gives this game so much replay value for me is that I can literally play it entirely differently each time through.  I also had a lot of trouble with that tower defense battle when playing it on Heroic by myself, but I just had fun toying around with different strategies and when I realized that I could jack the Banshee and the mission became so much fun all of a sudden. Its great to be able to turn difficult situations to your advantage. I then proceeded to bomb the shit out of my enemies (with that green laser blast thing that you can shoot out of the Banshee), destroy all other vehicles (including other Banshees), and then repeat the process with each new wave of enemies. It went by a lot faster but I had so much fun the whole time. Its really rewarding to find out how to make tough situations easier, as to me that's what the main challenge of a Halo game should be.

Its just that, since the first Halo game every other Halo game up to this one seemed to neglect that mentality more than they should have (they still had plenty of room for strategy, but not nearly as much as Halo 1's open environments allowed for).

Here's hoping that 343 Industries can actually wise up and make Halo 4 the game that 2 and 3 should have been. However, to be honest, I'm probably not going to play anymore Halo games beyond Reach, as I think I'm content with what I've played of the series and I'm now kind of burned out on its formula. Unless the 4th game pulls a total 180 in gameplay mechanics and is a completely different experience while still retaining the best elements of Bungie's Halo games (basically just the open environments and satisfying weapons), then maybe it'll peak my interest in playing their Halo games. Until then, though, Halo: Anniversary is the last Halo game that I plan to play, to be honest.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I found this video giving a good demonstration of how the Banshee hijacking is done on that mission. Its really a pretty basic strategy once you practice it a little bit.

By the way, if you ever want to replay this game on co-op and don't mind playing online, don't forget that I'm always up for some co-op gameplay of any sort.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm already thinking of a bunch of places that would have been useful. Thanks for the link! Though I probably won't play it on co-op until I get my own copy, I still have to return this one to my friend.

[Spark Of Spirit]

CE is looking good

Just have to say, I'm glad they kept the 4 grenade per style limit. I was disappointed when Reach brought it down to 2 per style.

Nitpicking, I hope the CE version puts the fog back in that level before it comes out. That really helped the atmosphere of the original.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It wasn't Reach that brought it down to 2 grenades at a time. That happened with Halo 3 and it just carried on to every Halo game up to Reach.

To be honest....I don't really feel bothered by that. There were always plenty of grenade pick-ups on the ground throughout each level anyways, so I honestly didn't even feel fazed by the fact that you couldn't carry as many grenades. At any rate, though, I suppose it wasn't necessary for them to cut it down in campaign mode. It makes sense in multiplayer so that players can't spam them, but in campaign mode they could have kept it the same, but really I don't mind either way. I got used to playing the game without relying too much on grenades, anyways.

At any rate, I'm really excited for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. I just wish that they would change the damn Library level. I don't think that even the most hardcore of Halo fans could reasonably complain about fixing that level, or at least making it considerably shorter than it was in the original game (its NEEDLESSLY long, which is by far its biggest problem).

My only minor disappointment is that they are using the Reach engine for multiplayer rather than just giving us the classic multiplayer. I was actually looking a bit forward to trying some classic Halo mutliplayer online (and I'm not too big on Reach's multiplayer). I still say its a minor disappointment, though, because I don't care about multiplayer gaming all that much, and its not like I was planning to buy this game for its multiplayer, anyways.

In fact, I believe that this is the first time since the first Halo game was originally released that people are buying a Halo game for its campaign mode over its multiplayer....even if that's only because its just a remake of the original game in the first place....but either way at least we know that this will have an awesome campaign mode, since we've already freaking played it to death, lol.

[ToonFaithful]

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary multi-player looks good. Just watched a TDM gameplay on "Damnation" a couple minutes ago. Seems like 343 Industries are pulling an ODST on us, giving us the Combat Evolved Anniversary campaign and basically a CE DLC that I can play on Reach. Liking the map so far, it's gonna be a whole lotta fun seeing people fall into the water

[gunswordfist]

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.

I liked the first game's health = shield. Don't know why they removed that.

Anyway, I've only played the first two. My brother and me loved the first one...until some time after the first Hunters battle. Then we thought it was overrated. In late 2008, my grandma had Halo and I decided to give it another try- more specifically, give Legendary a real try instead of going "Ah, fuck this!" and feel back in love. I love games that have the hardest mode as the true mode. So much fun.

Made my old best friend and brother walk miles (I think twice since they weren't successful the first time) to get Halo 2 on Day 1. Only game I've gotten on Day 1. Was having a good time until the stupid ending. Getting blown away in multiplayer by my brother didn't help. I traded that shit right back in.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It wasn't Reach that brought it down to 2 grenades at a time. That happened with Halo 3 and it just carried on to every Halo game up to Reach.

To be honest....I don't really feel bothered by that. There were always plenty of grenade pick-ups on the ground throughout each level anyways, so I honestly didn't even feel fazed by the fact that you couldn't carry as many grenades. At any rate, though, I suppose it wasn't necessary for them to cut it down in campaign mode. It makes sense in multiplayer so that players can't spam them, but in campaign mode they could have kept it the same, but really I don't mind either way. I got used to playing the game without relying too much on grenades, anyways.

Yeah, I know it wasn't brought down to 2 for Reach, but it was one of those things I meant I wish they brought back from the first game. I liked holding onto my 4 sticky grenades for pure emergency situations (surrounded and low on ammo) and my 4 frags for large scale fights. Having just two of each makes me have to play it safer most of the time, which is pointlessly limiting. It's such a minor issue, though.

The remake should be sweet, however. But I hope they do something (anything) to the Library... It's the only level I wish would be totally revamped.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Hell, even removing that whole damn level altogether (while still finding a way to work in the story-related bits and cut-scenes from it) would actually improve the game (the ultimate example of "less is more"). Its the only level I dread playing in the original game. To be honest I don't mind The Flood in the rest of that game, because of how it was designed to make combat against them more fun than annoying.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So I think its been confirmed that you can turn on various skulls in Anniversary's campaign mode (whereas skulls did not exist in the original Halo: CE campaign). For those who don't really know, skulls basically enable different handicaps on the player (or advantages to enemies in the form of added attributes)  in order to make the game harder and increase some of the challenge, and its pretty good at giving the game some added replay value. For me it'll especially be interesting to play with them on since the original Halo never had them and I'd like to see how the campaign mode would differ with some of the less ridiculous ones activated.

Anyways, the game is looking good so far, but I'm still sorely disappointed that 343 isn't doing anything to change The Library. I can understand wanting to stay true to the original, but really, did ANYBODY ever like that level even in the original? Oh well, it doesn't matter too much since I have my own method of playing through that level and getting it over as quickly as possible (which is basically to run through almost every single fight with any group of enemies that can be avoided and that you aren't forced to fight).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, it looks like GT is going to be doing a retrospective for the Halo series in celebration of its 10th anniversary. I always like watching their retrospectives as they are usually interesting and pretty informative.

I am also really interested to play this game since its been years since I last touched Combat Evolved. It'll be interesting to compare it to Reach, the most recent Halo game, and see how the first Halo game compares to the last one. If anything it'll probably actually be a little bit easier since the first game never had any weapon kick-backs or reticle bloom, so aiming in that game should be a piece of cake compared to Reach (as well Halo 2 and 3, for that matter). Then again, if the game is indeed being kept exactly the same as it was 10 years ago aside from graphics, than that means it'll be moving at 30fps instead of 60fps, which may take some adjusting to as I've grown really used to the faster gameplay from the sequels.

This'll definitely be very interesting to play, if I end up getting it (which I'll probably get for Christmas if I do; either that or Sonic Generations).