My recent visit to the Halo series

[Starscream]

Figured I'd put this in Modern Gaming instead of Xbox forum as there are PC versions. Hope that's cool.

 

Haters welcome in this thread. It won't matter.

 

On a whim, me and Foxy decided to play the Halo series again but this time one after another withouta gap of time in between. I really never did this before and figured being it is my favorite series ever, so why not? This more about campaign and not so much about multiplayer.

 

Started off of course with Halo Combat Evolved. We played the Anniversary Edition with updated graphics.

 

First off, wow, did I spend lots of time back in the day with this game. I couldn't even guess exactly how many times I played through it. Playing on Legendary as we always have happened to be frustrating. We got our asses handed to us through and through but it did bring back many great memories. I had actually forgotten quite a bit of the game and how huge it really was. Oddly, it ended up being my least favorite of the series after playing though all of them. Don't get me wrong, this game stands up well to time and was an incredible experience on it's own, but with company of other games in the series, it feels pretty weak. Seemed to be lots of non action periods, wandering to the next battle and not much happening until you get there. It could be because you move slow, like 95 year old walking pace slow. I had mentioned back when the Anniversary Edition was released that Halo CE was my favorite game ever but I can no longer say that. I found myself wanting to get it over with instead of enjoying the ride. Excellent story, Chief is awesome, and many epic moments, but just didn't engage me like the others.

 

Halo 2

 

Starting the second Halo, I really only remembered a few things so I was looking forward to playing it. It wasn't a fan favorite, the story split between Arbitor and Master Chief was always a sore spot and I recall everyone hating the end. Anyways, we did this on Normal difficulty and it was still challenging for the most part. Graphics are dated but hands down, best music in any of the Halo games period. To me, this was actually more interesting than CE and a really great story. I didn't mind the Arbitor/MC split at all and as we played through, I remembered how many outstanding scenes and scenery this game had. Some of the visuals were mind blowing. Also, the amount of time spent in vehicles was huge, and I forgot about that. Seriously awesome experience from start to finish and I think one fine game that could stand on it's own.

 

Halo 3

 

Again, normal difficulty. This one I remembered some stuff going in, but playing through was pleasantly surprised at it's overall awesomeness. Great story, great graphics, good music, and tons of vehicle time again. This one had tons of humor and great interaction with NPC's. It was a blast start to finish and once again, polished in most every way. Character interaction is a benchmark that I still don't think has even come close to being topped.

 

Reach

 

Ok, this to me was the best Halo game and after playing it again, it still is but only by a slim margin. Halo 3 really gives this a run for the money. I love this story and I love all the characters. This story and watching everyone make sacrifices for nothing gives a sense of complete hopelessness. Once the story unfolds and you get a sense of what is happening and what needs done, it's a non stop ride til the end. The visuals in this game a so intense and huge that they actually seem to add to the feelings of how insignificant you are. This is some of the finest sci fi media ever. Graphics are incredible, music is good, character interaction is great.

 

Halo 4. Check the Halo 4 thread for my thoughts there as they are still the same.

 

That wraps up the Bungie made games. I miss Bungie. I really do. In the Halo 4 thread I had mentioned some things I wasn't fond of that 343 did. After playing these 4 games, I realized 343 really changed the overall vibe of the Halo series. Time will tell if it's because of the story or studio. I found myself laughing not only at grunts calling me a loser, but the UNSC troops arguing with each other or complaining you stole their kill. Or my all time favorite, letting a Marine drive you around in the Warthog and just watching disaster after disaster unfold. I miss the funny little things posted on computer screens or signs on the wall. I miss the great music. I miss the fact that the games just never took themselves too seriously. I miss Master Chief and Cortana being smartasses to everyone and each other. I miss what Bungie did so well.

 

I'm not hating on 343 for everything. Halo 4, like all the games before it, has an exceptional story. They carried on the tradition of linear gameplay that somehow, you could play your way at your pace and never end up playing the same way twice. They also upheld the standard of probably the best enemy AI in video games. For those not familiar, playing Halo means you get your ass kicked and not by cheap shots. The enemies are smart and strong. They almost think as well as you can improvise. Then if you feel like being embarrassed, you play on Legendary. Hopping in a vehicle to do a mission is generally an option but adds so much to the gameplay. The weapons all have a purpose but you can always choose to do whatever you see fit. Sadly, these games are all dismissed as just "FPS games" but they are so much more. You'd be hard pressed to find such engrossing stories, interesting characters, weapons and vehicles, great gameplay, outstanding graphics, and so much polish and though into every single aspect even down to a mark on your armor. To me, this is sci fi and gaming at it's greatest.

Edited January 29, 2013 by Starscream

[Mendon]

GREAT post, Starscream! I really enjoyed reading your experiences and opinions of the series!!

 

Though I haven't played (or bought) Halo 4 yet, I've really enjoyed the Halo series of games. I've even gone beyond the games and read a half dozen Halo novels and watched the Halo Legends Blu-ray.

 

I noticed you didn't include ODST in your list.... any particular reason?

[moycon]

I was surprised to NOT see ODST as well. I'm thinking it's maybe because in that game you don't play as Master Chief. It's too bad, ODST is an AWESOME chapter in the series in my opinion. In fact I think I've logged my game time on that one with Starscream and Foxy than any other in the series. (Mainly because we kept trying for one hard ass achievement) I will say this was a great post. I can't think of anyone else on AA who's opinion of Halo I'd respect more than Starscreams. I myself STILL need to play through Halo CE Anniversary AND Halo 4. Freakin Borderlands 2 has consumed so much of my time these days it ridiculous! I do plan on playing through both very soon.

[Starscream]

There isn't any logical reason why ODST wasn't included. As we played through, I grabbed ODST and said " Not sure if I wanna play this right now" and Foxy said " Skip it". So we did. But, we will go through it this weekend more than likely and I can tell you what I think. I don't remember much of it because I mainly played Firefight but I do recall thinking it was an excellent addition to the series.

 

I also didn't include Halo Wars because I never played it. I'm not interested in that style of game. But, I did watch all of the story scenes and the story of it was incredible.

 

Few things I forgot in the original post. In the Halo series so far, there are actually 5 factions fighting for different goals at the same time. Everyone has their own agendas/beliefs/goals. Master Chief aligns with them all at one point or another. The Flood, The Covenant, UNSC, Elites, and Brutes. The story has so many things going on for so many different reasons that it's hard not to look at it from every view point and respect some seriously great story telling. Now we have the Forerunners who have just been mentioned until Halo 4 and the Prometheans. This is Star Wars but in a less fantasy sort of way. In fact, I've always felt it was a perfect replacement for Star Wars and probably explains why I've shifted my focus entirely to Halo over the past 10 years. I'm not a reader so I've never read any of the books but I do have a general knowledge of what happens in them.

 

Another major thing I forgot regarding Halo 4 is the Spartan Ops side story. Big props to 343 for adding this to Halo 4 and getting a deeper look into exactly what you are fighting for and against. Just like ODST, the non heroic characters aren't forgotten and the impact of what they do gives a vision of how huge this battle is without ever caring about good and evil. Like the attention to detail in every game, nothing ever seems insignificant.

 

Any time you guys wanna play, you know I'm good to go

[onlysublime]

Halo 4 was by far my favorite in the series. great story. great music. beautiful graphics. great multiplayer.

then Halo Anniversary.

then Reach. really ruined multiplayer and fractured the community.

then Halo 2.

then Halo 3

then Halo 3:ODST.

 

and if I was to include Halo Wars, I'd slot it between Reach and Halo 2.

[cybercylon]

I've been thinking about starting over with the main games in chronological order... which would mean playing Reach first (still in shrink wrap).

[madmax2069]

The only way to play halo anniversary edition is with the old graphics, the updated graphics has too many graphical issues (like invisible plasma nades).

 

To this day I still think halo 1 has the best controls and over all feeling, the rest might have a better story (that's arguable) but the overall feeling just seems its a huge nerf fest.

[Robocop2]

Halo 4 was by far my favorite in the series. great story. great music. beautiful graphics. great multiplayer.

then Halo Anniversary.

then Reach. really ruined multiplayer and fractured the community.

then Halo 2.

then Halo 3

then Halo 3:ODST.

 

and if I was to include Halo Wars, I'd slot it between Reach and Halo 2.

 

That's pretty close to my ranking as well. The only difference would be that Anniversary CE and Halo 4 have a running battle in my mind as to which is number 1.

[Starscream]

then Reach. really ruined multiplayer and fractured the community..

 

Yes the multiplayer went kinda wrong in Reach. There was no balance which left Armor Lock so powerful and a huge advantage as a load out. They did at least attempt to rectify it somewhat with I think a 5 on 5 Team Slayer with no load outs but still.....

 

Halo 2 to me hands down had the best multiplayer.

 

The only way to play halo anniversary edition is with the old graphics, the updated graphics has too many graphical issues (like invisible plasma nades).

 

To this day I still think halo 1 has the best controls and over all feeling, the rest might have a better story (that's arguable) but the overall feeling just seems its a huge nerf fest.

 

We did split screen and it seemed to only black screen when you attempted to switch to old graphics. There were some glitches and even though they said they left it alone, they did add terminals and a few small things.

 

I think the controls were perfect since Halo 3. Halo CE is very sluggish and vehicle controls are very loose. It was something I didn't notice until I played them all in a few days span. With each game you notice the tweaks with controls. Halo 2 got the horn on the Warthog which means nothing but I still hold that trigger in the whole time, the Ghosts got boost which really made for a better experience. Dual wield was introduced in 2 and carried to 3 and the kickback form certain guns and control was nailed in 3.Halo 4 has bigger character models which lead to better accuracy and more flexibility with the weapons. If you play them all as they were released, you really notice improvements.

[onlysublime]

yeah, you had to play anniversary with the new graphics to access the new content they added to the game.

 

plus anniversary had the cool scanning if you had a Kinect.

[moycon]

Cool scanning? What was that all about? I thought you just used the Kinect to toss grenades or something like that.

 

Also Anniversary CE had 3D mode. I played a level using it. Pretty cool. I can only handle 3D in short bursts though.

[onlysublime]

a lot of the neat stuff with the Kinect and Halo Anniversary got buried amidst all the anti-Kinect jokes. while it is stupid to use Kinect for grenade throwing, there were some useful parts.

 

grenade throwing was useless because of the inconsistency in the response time. "reload" was cool but had a very severe flaw. you can't use the "reload" command while you're shooting. so in order for the reload command to work, you have to briefly stop shooting which makes it worthless.

 

"change weapon " was actually a useful command. I ended up using that more since the art of jumping is key in Halo.

 

and when you said "analyze", your view turned to this predator-like view where the background is bluish and it has that light pulse that radiates forward like in Aliens with the motion tracker. and all the enemies are have this orangish heat signature. if you face the target and say "scan" it gets added to your library which you can access and read more details about the character or object. the schematics. the specifications. a little blurb. the library was a cool touch and had some decent Kinect controls.

 

the "flashlight" commands were nice.

 

and a huge benefit to the Kinect controls is you can adjust your video, audio, subtitle settings on the fly while playing. so if the game is too dark, you can say "brighter" and the game gets brighter. or if you want more contrast, you say "more contrast." or if you want subtitles on, you say "subtitles on" or if you want them off, you would say "subtitles off" (it remembers your last setting so you don't have to keep saying this stuff over and over). this was so much better than going to the nested menus, adjusting the settings, going back into the game to see things. then going back to the menus to tweak again.

 

I mostly play Anniversary in co-op or multiplayer versus so I'm using a headset to talk to people. So the room is pretty silent (sound through headset) which means the Kinect doesn't have to worry about noise cancellation and cancelling out the game audio. But my friends do occasionally get confused when they think I'm talking to them but it's to the Kinect.

Edited January 30, 2013 by onlysublime

[Starscream]

thats good to know. may have to play it with kinect

[moycon]

Yes thanks for that info. I had no idea the Kinect could be used for that many different things. The scanning does indeed sound very cool!

[Starscream]

Yes thanks for that info. I had no idea the Kinect could be used for that many different things. The scanning does indeed sound very cool!

 

Think you get 'chieves for it so that should double your interest

[Austin]

Myself personally, I still enjoy the first game the most, so it's interesting to hear from someone that pretty much sees it the exact opposite (like many, I consider Halo 2 to be the weakest link from a campaign perspective). I love the environments, the spacious nature of it, and the truly alien vibe throughout the adventure. When you know where to go, you can progress through the game very quickly, and getting lost in the openness on my earlier playthroughs added to the eerily mysterious nature of the world I was on.

[DesertJets]

I have only played the first game, but I still remember how I was in awe with it from pretty much the first 5 minutes. I think the best part for me was after landing on the Halo itself just stopping and looking around at the environment. I don't think there was anything else quite like it -- such a massive world to explore (despite the game being very linear). I looked awesome, played really well and I got into the story.

 

 

A few months back I was having a convo with my brother-in-law (he is 10-11 years younger than me). And he used to play the Halo games non-stop, but almost exclusively multiplayer. Apparently he was getting connected with some guys on the east coast that played competitively and were really good. But he looked at me weird when I said I liked the campaign and the story more. He wanted the fast-paced action and competition and I liked the slow, deliberative and sometimes stealthy style that you got out of campaign. I confused him I think.

[onlysublime]

yeah, those 2 styles can conflict if you guys ever play co-op.

 

I played with a friend that was the slow, deliberate look-in-every-nook-and-cranny type of player for the story campaign. It drove me mad! Actually, I appreciated it because he would help me find the stuff that I have little patience for finding. But the pacing of our co-op campaigns was like stop and go because I tried to meet his rhythm and he tried to adjust to my rhythm and it was all a mess.

[Christophero Sly]

Nice retrospective.

 

My opinion:

 

1. Halo 2

2. Halo CE

3. ODST (If only this were 2 or 3 levels longer...)

4. Halo 3

X. Reach (I pretty much hate this game)

 

Haven't played 4 yet. Will when it hits $20.

[Starscream]

Alright just played through ODST today. Going into it, I didn't remember a whole lot. Out of all of the Halo games, this one is totally dependent on the story being told. Without the story, it's just a few short missions that seem pointless. Playing though it on easy I think I died twice, by my own grenades so it was kind of a breeze. I do remember on Legendary it being pretty difficult because you can't take high jumps without damage and you need health packs. I've always thought of this game as 2 parts - night stuff and day stuff. Not going to lie, the night missions are not very enjoyable. They are cool and not too long but I don't enjoy them because there is nothing to see. I've always considered the Halo games as a visual experience as well as many other great aspects and when that aspect is removed, it doesn't hold my interest. I just rushed around to get them over with but I did get all the terminals and let them play to get the other ongoing story. Now the day missions are what you would expect from a Halo game. Hands down, I find Coastal Highway the best mission, but I also enjoyed capturing the Covenant dropship and following in Banshees. Overall, none of the missions take to long and aren't a far stretch from any typical Halo missions so again, it seems that the story is the main goal of this game. The game itself is very short, I'm thinking it only took about 2 1/2 hours for us to co-op though it. The story itself showing the roles everyone played in the overall war, is a decent story but I guess because it's very short, it seems kind of plain to me.

 

Thinking back, Firefight is where ODST stood out. Even now I think it was the only good Firefight Mode and some of those achievements I still don't have.

 

Also, to anyone that messages me while I'm on XBL, I'm not being a dick and ignoring you, I forgot I turned off Notifications during split screen a few weeks back. When a Notification pops up during the game, the bottom screen ( mine cuz Foxy is boss) gets blocked and it annoyed me. So Notifications are off and I don't see that someone is trying to contact me. Moycon, I wrote this because of you!

Edited February 4, 2013 by Starscream

[Starscream]

Final thoughts on all of this. I already said that this is my favorite game series ever and the games individually are probably all in my top 10. While I always said it was a great series, I finally figured out why.

 

All of the games never sacrifice anything along the way. Campaign isn't half baked for a great Multiplayer experience, both are always equal. Graphics aren't concentrated on more than controls. Character development isn't shallow just to make the story bigger. Weapons and vehicles aren't so over the top so your character can just waltz through a challenge. Enemies aren't dumb and predictable to make you feel like a hero, you really do have to earn it. Even in the event of say Halo 2 where the game wasn't the one they wanted to release and had a very disjointed story line, the overall game and it's ingredients still came together very well done. Somewhat linear gameplay is still somehow not so linear in HOW you play.

 

This series has a certain passion behind it. It's Microsofts baby and they are very protective of it. Bungie existed for this series for over a decade, this is what they lived for. 343 needs to carry that torch and so far so good. At no point in any of the series can you think or see that everyones heart wasn't 100% into what they were creating. If nothing else, it's refreshing to have that in not only the video game market but also entertainment in general. I would never argue if it's the best series ever or even say they are perfect. One thing that can't be denied is everything these games do, they do very well with a shine that a majority of games never achieve.

 

I've really enjoyed everyones thoughts so far on these games. I think it's really cool who likes which best and which are disliked. Judging from this thread, it's apparent that even as these are dismissed as FPS games that always have sequels, that there is obviously enough difference from game to game that each comes off as unique experience on it's own.

[moycon]

No problem. We were going to jump in with you, but wound up just starting a new campaign. My friend had never played before. To be honest I don't think he was very impressed. We played till we got past the game reserve. It's always disappointing to me that you don't see animal's running around the reserve. Who's idea was to not include animals!!??

[onlysublime]

I tried to get a friend to play Halo (any and all of them) and she never found them interesting. Then I tried to sell Firefight to her because she loved horde mode in Gears. But even firefight paled in comparison to horde to her (actually, to me too; horde is just the perfect co-op experience).