Halo

[Bob_Cram]

Not really a thread about the merits of the game itself, although feel free to comment on that. With the third (and presumably final) installment in the Halo series being released at the end of the month, I've decided to start playing through the first two in order. Generally I don't worry about this sort of thing with games - I didn't feel the need to finish Baldur's Gate before starting Baldur's Gate II for instance - but for Halo I felt like I wanted to experience the story (such as it is) from the beginning.

I consider myself a (very) casual gamer. Missed the second wave of console games (having had Pong and Atari as a child). Halo was the first console game I ever bought (with the Xbox the day it was released), so there's a bit of a soft spot for me. I had played a few FPS over the years, starting with Wolfenstein 3d and Doom. I had enjoyed the Quake series as well, but was never great shakes at any multiplayer. I preferred Diablo, when it came down to it, or the aforementioned Baldur's Gate. Halo clicked with me, however. It had a decent storyline, voice acting and some great music. It was just different enough from other FPS' I'd played that I didn't worry too much about sucking or that it was on a console.

And The Flood! Man, I just about pissed my pants when I got to that part of the game. Very unexpected and enjoyable turn of events. Yeah, it was horribly repetitive in spots and yeah the ending was a bit anticlimactic, but overall it was a fun experience.

Halo 2 was a bit of a letdown in some ways. There were great moments and another interesting storyline (forwarding the events of the first), but I was thrown off by the changing protagonists and the abrupt and cryptic end. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun game with some great set pieces, but I really enjoyed it more in the multiplayer (even though I still suck). I think I might enjoy it more when I play through it this time.

So I'm looking forward to playing through them both and, of course, playing the third when it arrives. Anybody else doing this ridiculous thing?

Basically, this boils down to wanting to enjoy the story from start to finish, which is rare enough in a game these days. Anyone read the books or heard anything about the movie?

[Firelight]

I think there's definitely a trick to Halo, or a couple of tricks I suppose.

The first it that as a game it has rock-solid gameplay. Balanced multiplayer, fun level design, and rarest of all, Co-op.

The second is that from a story point of view it didn't really come up with anything new. However, the various elements that it cribbed from (and cribbed heavily) were put together in a balance and with a love of story-telling not common to FPS games, such that the sum of the parts combine to take the entire game up to another level.

Halo 2 was a let-down, in that they tried to balance the game to much for multiplayer too much, which ultimately detracted from the game itself. It didn't help that they split the narrative, which can work well (frex, A Game of Thrones) or work poorly (Lord of the Rings. I actually read the second part of Return of the King first because I couldn't give a toss about Aragorn et al, and didn't want to slog through 150 pages to get back to Sam and Frodo. But that's another story).

In the case of Halo 2, I think it worked poorly.

Most of the books are good, if poorly edited. Each one was worth all of the four dollars I paid for it, and the 4 hours I spent reading it.

[Skinner's Pigeon]

I was rather put-off by the repeated theme of going to the trouble to save/join/reinforce various Marines, but not even giving a rat's ass when all the Marines you saved die in a raging firestorm that you, of course, narrowly escape. I was even more put-off by Halo 2 abandoning its excellent Earth levels to drop me on yet another Halo.

If I do purchase a 360, it won't be for Halo 3.

Overall: very well-made shooter with a completely forgettable story. Some original levels. Many extremely dull ones.