Half-Life

[Darkside]

You guys win. The Halo thread will resume elsewhere.

[GhostofAnakin]

I should probably pick this game up one of these days to see what the hype is about.

[EnderAndrew]

Will Darque gush over the Master Chef?

 

Sorry, couldn't resist myself.

 

I find Halo to perhaps be the most overrated franchise in video games.

[GhostofAnakin]

So is Wolfgang Puck the lead character? Or Jamie Oliver?

[EnderAndrew]

Imagine Goldeneye. Now take away most of the weapons, and play the same repetitive levels, and add in vehicles. That's basically Halo.

 

If is not a bad game, but not a great one.

[ryan2489]

im sorry i can't let this continue. Halo 1 and 2 are wonderful games best games on xbox hands down. halo is not overated, it has lived up to it's hype now if i can find a fault in the halo franchise so far it would be halo 2's ending. Maybe that's me just being impatient and anxious for halo 3 news.

[cewekeds]

Halo doesn't do one thing great but they do everything well which makes it a great game. I like the story and the game play good. Though Halo 1 saved the xbox and XBC and other tunnel programs made it great by playing online.

[Darkside]

I find Halo to perhaps be the most overrated franchise in video games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Heretic! Halo was -and is- great. Like Cewekeds said, it didn't change the face of gaming, but it did something few games do anymore: It got everything right.

 

Halo 2 had something interesting distractions, such as Prophet hunting, but the overall plot felt like Halo 1 chopped up and sewn back together in a hurry. But they say the second in a series is usually the worst. All we can do is hope Bungie learns their lesson and that 3 lives up to it's name. If it doesn't, well, there's always Halo 1 to fall back on.

[Llyranor]

Well, at the very least, it had coop. Many games could benefit greatly from such a feature. Coop can make a bad game enjoyable.

[GhostofAnakin]

Well, at the very least, it had coop. Many games could benefit greatly from such a feature. Coop can make a bad game enjoyable.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Or make good games crappy.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I'm not much of FPS player. At all. I hate the turret games in both KOTORs. But I really enjoyed the first Halo. The second one I was presented with at X-mas but still haven't played it that much.

[alanschu]

Well, at the very least, it had coop. Many games could benefit greatly from such a feature. Coop can make a bad game enjoyable.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Or make good games crappy.

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Never!!!! Coop never makes a game crappy. How on earth can playing a game coop make the game worse?

 

As for Halo, I waited since 1999/2000 for this game. Followed it closely, and then it went to XBOX. Then they made the PC port and decided coop wasn't good enough.

 

And while I like the game and since I love Half-Life and Halo was definitely inspired by it, I did enjoy Halo.

 

However, the copy and paste school of level design made the middle levels cool. The beginning was sweet, but the the Strogg or whatever came into the game, and I found things just became blah. Trudging through the library and the rest of the identical looking levels was just unfun, and uncreative IMO.

 

And since I didn't have a coop mode to carry me through the game, by the time I finally played Halo my expectations of it had been thoroughly crushed, and I immediately went back to Half-Life and waited hoping for Half-Life 2 to be announced.

 

I haven't played Halo 2 except for the first little bit, and the only reason why I played it was because it was coop. I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed, and certainly didn't see how the game apparently looked so superior to Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 that all the Epiphany's of the world kept telling me it was.

 

In the end, 7/10 for Halo. So much anticipation for a developer hitting CTRL-C and CTRL-V to make a level was rather disappointing.

[Child of Flame]

Well, at the very least, it had coop. Many games could benefit greatly from such a feature. Coop can make a bad game enjoyable.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Or make good games crappy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Never!!!! Coop never makes a game crappy. How on earth can playing a game coop make the game worse?

 

As for Halo, I waited since 1999/2000 for this game. Followed it closely, and then it went to XBOX. Then they made the PC port and decided coop wasn't good enough.

 

And while I like the game and since I love Half-Life and Halo was definitely inspired by it, I did enjoy Halo.

 

However, the copy and paste school of level design made the middle levels cool. The beginning was sweet, but the the Strogg or whatever came into the game, and I found things just became blah. Trudging through the library and the rest of the identical looking levels was just unfun, and uncreative IMO.

 

And since I didn't have a coop mode to carry me through the game, by the time I finally played Halo my expectations of it had been thoroughly crushed, and I immediately went back to Half-Life and waited hoping for Half-Life 2 to be announced.

 

I haven't played Halo 2 except for the first little bit, and the only reason why I played it was because it was coop. I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed, and certainly didn't see how the game apparently looked so superior to Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 that all the Epiphany's of the world kept telling me it was.

 

In the end, 7/10 for Halo. So much anticipation for a developer hitting CTRL-C and CTRL-V to make a level was rather disappointing.

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Strogg are the baddies in Quake... ^_^

 

I'm also glad I wasn't the only one who noticed all the ripped off weapons in Halo from Half Life. Hive Hand anyone?

[alanschu]

The Flood?

 

The Flood sounds more correct.

 

It's a "the" something. I didn't like the Strogg either

[mkreku]

I experienced something weird the other.. month. Me and my cousin were playing Halo 2 split screen co-op and were having fun. The graphics in Halo 2 made it somewhat difficult to see where you were going on only half a screen, but it was ok. Then, a week later or so, my cousin came over to my house and we had nothing to do, so I tossed in Timesplitters 2 for no reason and to my surprise it also had a split screen co-op mode. Imagine our even bigger surprise when it turned out that the co-op in Timesplitters 2 (on my PS2, but it's out on Xbox too) was a lot MORE fun than the split screen co-op in Halo 2! Not only is the graphics clearer (and easier to see on half a screen), but the action also felt better, the weapons made more of an impact and even the levels felt superior in design and scope. Weird, since I've never really heard anything about Timesplitters 2 and Halo 2 is supposed (according to a lot of Xbox-players) to be God's gift to multiplayer.

 

Halo was a great premiere title that seemed to take advantage of the power of the Xbox right from the start. Halo 2 was just more of the same, but shorter and with a very unsatisfying end. All in all I think the Halo's are way overrated, as there are lots of better games on other systems, but I can imagine that for a Xbox-owner that played Halo as his first title, it must have been impressive.

[alanschu]

I think Halo is impressive to any console gamer that didn't play Half-Life a few years earlier.

[Child of Flame]

I experienced something weird the other.. month. Me and my cousin were playing Halo 2 split screen co-op and were having fun. The graphics in Halo 2 made it somewhat difficult to see where you were going on only half a screen, but it was ok. Then, a week later or so, my cousin came over to my house and we had nothing to do, so I tossed in Timesplitters 2 for no reason and to my surprise it also had a split screen co-op mode. Imagine our even bigger surprise when it turned out that the co-op in Timesplitters 2 (on my PS2, but it's out on Xbox too) was a lot MORE fun than the split screen co-op in Halo 2! Not only is the graphics clearer (and easier to see on half a screen), but the action also felt better, the weapons made more of an impact and even the levels felt superior in design and scope. Weird, since I've never really heard anything about Timesplitters 2 and Halo 2 is supposed (according to a lot of Xbox-players) to be God's gift to multiplayer.

 

Halo was a great premiere title that seemed to take advantage of the power of the Xbox right from the start. Halo 2 was just more of the same, but shorter and with a very unsatisfying end. All in all I think the Halo's are way overrated, as there are lots of better games on other systems, but I can imagine that for a Xbox-owner that played Halo as his first title, it must have been impressive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I love Timesplitters 2. I have it on the Cube, and to me it feels like Goldeneye with Co-Op. By far the best console shooter that's come out since Goldeneye, controls are a lot simpler to utilize too.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't get anybody to play it with me when I brought it to the Church shindig the other night...all the youth were too enthralled by Halo 2. Did get a couple of good Smash Brothers matchups going though.

[Dark Moth]

Halo = greatness. :cool: Even the repetetive environments didn't bug me that much. It had great gameplay, good story (for Halo 1, anyway), great action, an awesome ending sequence (I loved the warthog escape), very few loading screens, and very few glitches.

 

Hmm...Obsidian should take a leaf out of their book. Especially the last two.

[Jast]

Halo and Halo 2 were good games, but not the godly "best game ever" things people make them out to be. My opinion of course.

[EnderAndrew]

I think Halo is impressive to any console gamer that didn't play Half-Life a few years earlier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bingo.

 

Halo ripped off it's entire concept from Half Life. The brain-eaters, combat suit and overall feel are directly stolen from Half Life.

 

Except Half Life did the whole thing much better years before, and Half Life 2 makes Halo 2 look really pathetic in comparison.

 

99% of the time, when I speak to Halo fans, they have never played a PC FPS game on a LAN.

 

Someone said in this thread Halo got everything right. Here are some obvious and fatal flaws in the game that keeps it from being great.

 

Halo advertised great enemy AI. Halo 2's AI was improved, but Halo had typical poor AI.

 

The level design was horrid in both games. Flat out out horrid. Everything was quite boring and repetetive. Download some fan-made custom maps for the game and experience a world of difference.

 

People rave about the story, but in truth the game has very little story, and Halo 2 has a worse ending than KOTOR:2. Play Half Life and then tell me that Halo has an incredible story.

 

Combat was not balanced. Vehicles are overpowering to the point that having them in any multiplayer game ruins the chances of anyone in a vehicle.

 

The weapons were not balanced. Bungie admits this and nerfed the pistol in Halo 2 for this very reason.

 

Goldeneye also gets hailed as a truly great FPS game by tons of players as well. Let me clue you in on a little secret. Multiplayer FPS games are generally much more fun than single player FPS games. For the larger market, many people haven't played many FPS games multiplayer before XBox Live. So when they get to play a game like Halo or Goldeneye, many of these players are having their first experiences of split-screen coop or deathmatch modes.

 

They herald the entire game as being perfect because of the amount of fun they had.

 

In reality, there are much better multiplayer FPS games out there, and they haven't played them.

 

If you think I can't be objective or want to bash Halo unfairly, it should be noted that I bought both Halo games, and I am willing to point out the game's strengths. For instance, the music is extremely well done in both games.

[Child of Flame]

I think Halo is impressive to any console gamer that didn't play Half-Life a few years earlier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bingo.

 

Halo ripped off it's entire concept from Half Life. The brain-eaters, combat suit and overall feel are directly stolen from Half Life.

 

Except Half Life did the whole thing much better years before, and Half Life 2 makes Halo 2 look really pathetic in comparison.

 

99% of the time, when I speak to Halo fans, they have never played a PC FPS game on a LAN.

 

Someone said in this thread Halo got everything right. Here are some obvious and fatal flaws in the game that keeps it from being great.

 

Halo advertised great enemy AI. Halo 2's AI was improved, but Halo had typical poor AI.

 

The level design was horrid in both games. Flat out out horrid. Everything was quite boring and repetetive. Download some fan-made custom maps for the game and experience a world of difference.

 

People rave about the story, but in truth the game has very little story, and Halo 2 has a worse ending than KOTOR:2. Play Half Life and then tell me that Halo has an incredible story.

 

Combat was not balanced. Vehicles are overpowering to the point that having them in any multiplayer game ruins the chances of anyone in a vehicle.

 

The weapons were not balanced. Bungie admits this and nerfed the pistol in Halo 2 for this very reason.

 

Goldeneye also gets hailed as a truly great FPS game by tons of players as well. Let me clue you in on a little secret. Multiplayer FPS games are generally much more fun than single player FPS games. For the larger market, many people haven't played many FPS games multiplayer before XBox Live. So when they get to play a game like Halo or Goldeneye, many of these players are having their first experiences of split-screen coop or deathmatch modes.

 

They herald the entire game as being perfect because of the amount of fun they had.

 

In reality, there are much better multiplayer FPS games out there, and they haven't played them.

 

If you think I can't be objective or want to bash Halo unfairly, it should be noted that I bought both Halo games, and I am willing to point out the game's strengths. For instance, the music is extremely well done in both games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

The music was beautiful in the Halo games. Half Life 2 got that very, very wrong. Throbbing techno made on a synth != climactic.

 

I liked Goldeneye simply because of not only the fun factor, but the ease of control. This is the same reason I like Time Splitters 2, only it's been made better. Halo's control is overly responsive and frustrating (for me), I just can't do control like that on a Joypad.

 

My favorite games on the Xbox were the Oddworlds. Stranger's Wraith was superb...and had quick save!

[EnderAndrew]

I owned both of the early Oddworld titles on the PS1 and loved them. I played Munch's Oddysee at a game kiosk in a WalMart for 5 minutes, and it didn't seem to have the dark humor and Oddworld feel to it. I never tried Stranger's Wrath.

[alanschu]

Half-Life 2 utilized a very similar music style to Half-Life 1. I would have been disappointed if they decided to change the music personally.

 

 

But the title screen music for Halo that I had grown so familiar with when I was watching the game's development for the Mac/PC in 2000 was perfect.

 

I don't think that style of music would be appropriate for Half-Life 2 however. The worst thing about the music in the Half-Life games is that there isn't enough of it.

 

Having said that, there's one Half-Life track that made its way into Half-Life 2 that is probably the best action music track I had ever experienced.

 

If you're not sure which track I'm talking about, it's on the We've Got Hostiles level

when you're heading up the elevator right when you realize that the marines are not there to help you

. That same track was played during a

chase scene in Half-Life 2 when you're on the waterboat being chased by the helicopter

.

 

It's a heavy guitar riff with a good beat and excellent tempo, and is perfect for any chaotic action scene.

[angshuman]

I think Halo is impressive to any console gamer that didn't play Half-Life a few years earlier.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Absolutely. HL was revolutionary. Halo was a pretty nice game. That's all. Single player was decent. There are a TON of SP PC shooters that were much more fun. NOLF2. RTCW. Serious Sam. Each of these games had something unique to offer. What did Halo have to offer? Vehicles? Dual Weilding? These are all very *shallow* gameplay elements. Minor novelties, nothing else. Granted, the game was pretty well-balanced. But I felt it was too "generic", did not give my anything new I hadn't seen before.

 

As for multiplayer, I haven't played too much of it, so I can't comment. I have heard from several people, though, that UT2004 provides a far more rich and varied experience.

 

Basically, Halo "revolutionized" the *console* shooter genre, which is why the series is so hyped-up. Anyone who had played PC shooters before (especially ones of the calibre of HL) would come away mildly amused but primarily unimpressed. I speak only for myself, of course

[alanschu]

I was very surprised about the hoopla about dual-wielding....since even GoldenEye had dual wielding.

 

I guess it didn't have the dynamic, combo any weapon you want type dual wielding, but meh....The Punisher had that