RE: Halo and hype
That it was the flagship launch title for a brand new platform also fueled the hype for Halo and its sequels, IMO. Halo = Xbox. Think Mario and Sonic rivaly with a darker color palette.
Lets Talk About GTA
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AwesomeMonstar
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Flak Beard
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peace4myheart
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As far as HALO is concerned, I don't personally like it.
Since there are some HALO fans here who have asked about what reasons one might have to not like the game, I'll give them some of my reasons. I'm not attacking the games, the fans, or the game creators, I'm just going to go over a few of the things I dislike about it, as civilly as I can do, and all I ask is that we be civil in our responses.
Personally, I have to start with a personal preference about first person shooters on consoles. FPS console controls bother me. I feel it's a genre that does much better on PC, much like I think a fighter does better on console than on PC. You factor in low sensitivity, and it just doesn't feel right. And I mean this as a blanket statement for all FPS games on consoles, not just HALO. I thought what HALO did with its controls were alright, it used the console controller relatively well, though I have gripes with the XBox controller. I know these aren't individual faults of the game, but they do contribute for me.
Next off, level design. I felt they got repetitive, and they all looked the same. I ran through the game several times, and I found from time to time I would get lost because many levels looked exactly the same as what I had just come from. "Library" was the absolute worst, but even in levels I liked I got bored of the same scenery. The game felt as if I was wondering from fire fight to fire fight through the same boring locations.
Then there was the health system. First time I ran through the game, I just figured I couldn't die. Infinite shield that can take quite a few hits and regenerates pretty quickly, large amount of health...honestly, I prefer the numbers approach of Doom. I seriously felt this detracted from the game, because I like feeling like I'm being challenged to make it through an area, and HALO just didn't do it for me.
The AI also underwhelmed me. I'll give HALO that it's enemy AI wasn't bad, and did a good job of improving with each difficulty level. Enemies running and ducking for cover, listening to the little ones cry when I popped up, watching them freak when a plasma grenade got stuck to them...I was pretty pleased with that. The allies, however, were no where near up to spec. They seemed to range from dumb to batshit retarded, and more often then not I just gave up on them. I felt more like I was guarding preschoolers with guns than a capable military.
So that's my impression of HALO. Just about all of these are problems that I've had with other FPSs over the years, some worse than others. At least HALO didn't hit upon my biggest annoyance, which is any FPS where enemies don't have some kind of physical motion to register that they've been hit. Fire Warrior, Red Faction, and Resistance: Fall of Man all suffered from this problem, and it did nothing short of piss me off. As far as console FPS games go, HALO was pretty well done, but I don't believe that it lives up to what so many people seem to say about it.
As far as Flak Beard and Mozgus's comments on people defending the game, think of it like you would politics. The game's fans and haters are like Democrats and Republicans(sorry, foreign members, but I'm American so I equate to American politics) and the supporters of both sides. We can start with an issue, the game namely, and begin having a deep discussion on its perks and downsides, but inevitably the more extreme elements enter the conversation and you get both sides screaming "HALO's GREAT! NO BLOOD FOR OIL!" or "HALO'S CRAP! KILL THE TERRORISTS!" Or something like that.
Since there are some HALO fans here who have asked about what reasons one might have to not like the game, I'll give them some of my reasons. I'm not attacking the games, the fans, or the game creators, I'm just going to go over a few of the things I dislike about it, as civilly as I can do, and all I ask is that we be civil in our responses.
Personally, I have to start with a personal preference about first person shooters on consoles. FPS console controls bother me. I feel it's a genre that does much better on PC, much like I think a fighter does better on console than on PC. You factor in low sensitivity, and it just doesn't feel right. And I mean this as a blanket statement for all FPS games on consoles, not just HALO. I thought what HALO did with its controls were alright, it used the console controller relatively well, though I have gripes with the XBox controller. I know these aren't individual faults of the game, but they do contribute for me.
Next off, level design. I felt they got repetitive, and they all looked the same. I ran through the game several times, and I found from time to time I would get lost because many levels looked exactly the same as what I had just come from. "Library" was the absolute worst, but even in levels I liked I got bored of the same scenery. The game felt as if I was wondering from fire fight to fire fight through the same boring locations.
Then there was the health system. First time I ran through the game, I just figured I couldn't die. Infinite shield that can take quite a few hits and regenerates pretty quickly, large amount of health...honestly, I prefer the numbers approach of Doom. I seriously felt this detracted from the game, because I like feeling like I'm being challenged to make it through an area, and HALO just didn't do it for me.
The AI also underwhelmed me. I'll give HALO that it's enemy AI wasn't bad, and did a good job of improving with each difficulty level. Enemies running and ducking for cover, listening to the little ones cry when I popped up, watching them freak when a plasma grenade got stuck to them...I was pretty pleased with that. The allies, however, were no where near up to spec. They seemed to range from dumb to batshit retarded, and more often then not I just gave up on them. I felt more like I was guarding preschoolers with guns than a capable military.
So that's my impression of HALO. Just about all of these are problems that I've had with other FPSs over the years, some worse than others. At least HALO didn't hit upon my biggest annoyance, which is any FPS where enemies don't have some kind of physical motion to register that they've been hit. Fire Warrior, Red Faction, and Resistance: Fall of Man all suffered from this problem, and it did nothing short of piss me off. As far as console FPS games go, HALO was pretty well done, but I don't believe that it lives up to what so many people seem to say about it.
As far as Flak Beard and Mozgus's comments on people defending the game, think of it like you would politics. The game's fans and haters are like Democrats and Republicans(sorry, foreign members, but I'm American so I equate to American politics) and the supporters of both sides. We can start with an issue, the game namely, and begin having a deep discussion on its perks and downsides, but inevitably the more extreme elements enter the conversation and you get both sides screaming "HALO's GREAT! NO BLOOD FOR OIL!" or "HALO'S CRAP! KILL THE TERRORISTS!" Or something like that.
Hmm, not sure how we got on Halo here. But I'm going to go ahead and post GTA4 impressions, after 12% progress (about 5 hours or so of gameplay)
-voice acting and animation is AAA quality. Writing is great and often pretty damn funny.
-driving physics are much improved.
-graphics are for the most part wonderful. But glitches do happen, and the 'shadowing' and anti-aliasing combine to look kinda dirty at times (hard to describe)
-little details everywhere. When you pick up Little Jacob to go for a beer, you notice he's actually smoking a spliff while you drive. Even exhaling smoke!
-The gunplay feels awesome. Cover is quite good once you get used to pushing RB to activate it.
-the city is beyond huge.
-its a little too easy to escape the cops now. In fact the whole game so far is fairly easy.
-after awhile, you really do realize that this is essentially the same game as previous GTAs. Not too many truly significant gameplay additions.
So far I'd give it a solid 9/10.
-voice acting and animation is AAA quality. Writing is great and often pretty damn funny.
-driving physics are much improved.
-graphics are for the most part wonderful. But glitches do happen, and the 'shadowing' and anti-aliasing combine to look kinda dirty at times (hard to describe)
-little details everywhere. When you pick up Little Jacob to go for a beer, you notice he's actually smoking a spliff while you drive. Even exhaling smoke!
-The gunplay feels awesome. Cover is quite good once you get used to pushing RB to activate it.
-the city is beyond huge.
-its a little too easy to escape the cops now. In fact the whole game so far is fairly easy.
-after awhile, you really do realize that this is essentially the same game as previous GTAs. Not too many truly significant gameplay additions.
So far I'd give it a solid 9/10.
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AwesomeMonstar
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AwesomeMonstar
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Honestly, yes I agree to both of these. Consoles never really capture the control of mouse and keyboard and the level design in halo 1's campaign is flawed (Multi-player level design, however, rivals cliffy-B). Something I think got much better with the sequels. The thing is though, I can completely agree comparing console shooters to PC shooters is just stupid. I am not saying that Halo s the best FPS out there, just the best and most functional FPS on consoles.Ack wrote:A
Personally, I have to start with a personal preference about first person shooters on consoles. FPS console controls bother me. I feel it's a genre that does much better on PC, much like I think a fighter does better on console than on PC. You factor in low sensitivity, and it just doesn't feel right. And I mean this as a blanket statement for all FPS games on consoles, not just HALO. I thought what HALO did with its controls were alright, it used the console controller relatively well, though I have gripes with the XBox controller. I know these aren't individual faults of the game, but they do contribute for me.
Next off, level design. I felt they got repetitive, and they all looked the same. I ran through the game several times, and I found from time to time I would get lost because many levels looked exactly the same as what I had just come from. "Library" was the absolute worst, but even in levels I liked I got bored of the same scenery. The game felt as if I was wondering from fire fight to fire fight through the same boring locations.
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peace4myheart
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