The HALO franchise.

[Dentie]

A few things...I just have to respond to.

Halo has a VERY rich storyline. So many things are going on in the Halo universe, and each has a story you could make a separate game off of (ODST). You know what also captures those stories? The books...they are great and really get you engaged in this universe, ranging from how John came to be, to the lives of regular soldiers fighting the classic story of man against aliens. There is even an anime DVD that tells a few solid stories.

HALO Wars, was not Bungie. It was ensemble studios that got the license to use characters. Campaign was bad, and multiplayer was only decent for an RTS. Microsoft was in it for the money, but I believe that Bungie thought that it would be fun for the fans to try a new take on the story.

Bungie, is one of the top developers in the industry. They have brought new content and paved the way for sharing user content through the web, Forge map-making, video save, and HALO way-point...which is all free.(COD elite is a blight on fair principles) They do not do it anymore, and I believe Microsoft made them stop, but remember they used to give out free maps after a set period of time to the players. They constantly update their games and maintain good business practices and do not take themselves too seriously. Side note- HALO also has one of the top, if not THE top comedy running series made entirely in game, called Red vs.Blue, which is Hilarious. Rooster Teeth really has some imagination.

There are quirks. HALO 2's campaign did not catch the vibe of the first. It was good, just a mediocre kind. I was very taken aback by the Campaign of the third. There was so much hype, an epic tv spot on monday night football, commercials that had old people acting like veterans with the chief, a short film that was amazing, nascar themed car and energy drinks, and a custom made model that depicted the final battle with chief being held by the Brute chief. That depicted battle scene looked like the most intense battle in the series, and would of been a great ending. The campaign was no where near that and disappointed fans. I was surprised that I was riding away in a warthog again to end things, but it was such an awful locale and play-through. The campaign was Bungie's black sheep and was a disheartening end to the trilogy.

However, I will never forget the first time I played HALO. The first time I saw the ring, I heard the squeal of a grunt and the "AWWWR GOORGONIGHT" of an Elite. I was 12, and I killed Hunters with one shot of my pistol, found the balls to kill the flood that would scare me, and hearing one the the most calmest and coolest characters in game history say "Here we go" in a black phantom jet and race off surviving. It was my first M game. It also, was not the only masterpiece.
HALO 2 was the best multiplayer game I have ever played. I couldn't afford my own personal computer back then, so I couldn't play PC. Ps2 was mainly for singleplayer games for me and gamecube/ 64 was all party games with friends. XBOX was the multiplayer system for me. It was so easy to access, and I was able to talk and cuss others out around the WORLD. This was a big step for consoles and FPS, because so many people played. Schools had HALO parties, churches had youth HALO nights, and weekends me and my buds would crack open the soda and crack up watching Red vs. Blue. I never have had so much of an ego boost when I tea-bagging the first couple months on Live. But away from the nostalgia.

As far as milking the franchise, stop trolling, they are not even close to what some other companies do. The products take time, and come out every couple years.

Bungie is not making this game. Another company is taking a shot, and I think its great. They can create a new story, try new blood, and try to bring Chief back to his original grandeur.

I can understand that not everyone likes HALO, they may have gotten over playing it a long time ago, and think it should just leave. I disagree. I owe it to HALO to give it another chance, and will gladly rely on the nostalgia factor to keep my opinion of this game very optimistic. But there is one thing thing that is clear Fact...
Whether you like it or not HALO has been a huge foundation in the evolution of console games. Like all great games, it was a studios idea that grew into more than they could possibly have imagined. It defined my early generation of gamers and, I believe, is the appropriate face brand for the XBOX console. Once again, you may not like HALO, but if you can't reach deep down in your sac and pull out some respect AS A GAMER for what this company has done, than I sincerely hope you take this the wrong way, and quite literally, go **** yourself.

So I just read this on the E3 site below the HALO 4 teaser and I totally agree with this guy. So this is for all the haters

 

[Azer249]

I for one am a huge halo fan and any new halo is good so yeh! cant wait ;D

 

[Tyloric]

The only thing I read in that post was fanboy...ism... yeah.

 

[Skotekal]

Yeah, I agree with Tyloric.

 

[Dentie]

Ok I admit it's a fanboy who wrote it but there are some things in there that make sense.

 

[Tsuyu]

The thing is... it might have a lot of stuff in it, but very little of it is original. It is a decent sci-fi romp but nothing groundbreaking.

 

[Firis]

The thing is: Halo (Except for Reach) had a superior story and gameplay to most FPS games.

 

[HeroOfCrapsalot]

I like Halo.
----------^ Period

 

[Dark Drakan]

Ive always liked Halo for its co-op, so few games have really good co-op experiences these days.

 

[Tsuyu]

The thing is: Halo (Except for Reach) had a superior story and gameplay to most FPS games.

Bioshock had far superior story than any Halo game to date.

 

[Firis]

Bioshock had far superior story than any Halo game to date.

Bioshock is Amazing in my mind, and I said better than most, not all, certainly better than COD.

 

[Aions]

i loves me the Halo, i even have some halo books (contact harvest = awsome read, ghosts of onyx = good read till about half way through then ****) i have halo legends, CE, 2, ODST, 3 and Reach. im not in to RTS's so i have not touched halo wars, halo 3 EOD toy, H3 poster and H3 pajama pants and i thinks thats all of it... wait i have the reach controller too

 

[Sean]

I think the campaign for Halo 2 was the best... as well as the multiplayer, it's probably my favorite Halo. I think HALO 3: ODST and Halo Wars were basically just milked for money, they were the mediocre Halo games to me. I'm okay with them making a Halo 4, as Halo 3 left a lot of open questions and an open door to a sequel. I don't see how people can complain about them making another anyways, they really haven't made that many... There's Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Wars and Halo Reach. This would only be the seventh edition, compared to the 20th Call of Duty game coming out.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Halo: CE will always be sacred to me. the universe was fresh, the world mysterious and alien, i knew just about every exploit and glitch in the entire game, and the flood could still make my skin crawl. like, seriously... the first time i played the flood mission i was 13 years old and i got one of the best adrenaline rushes from any game ever.

every installment after that seemed to just be going through the motions. Halo 2 introduced playing as an Elite, sure, but it just took everything i loved from Halo 1 and just went for being epic. The trend continued until playing Halo 3 or Reach these days really just has no depth at all. I came to a realization that the entire time i've really just been wanting a campaign experience as rich as Halo 1, while bungie had been trying to enhance the multiplayer. sure, the campaigns got tons of attention, but it's like as soon as Halo 1 went Game of the Year they lost all sense of pacing and just made everything blow up all the time, but it no longer mattered since you're the indestructible super-soldier. who cares how many people died, or whether your ships plummeting to earth? there'll be a huge explosion, cortana will be screaming chief! chief! then you'll deliver a one-liner, pull a gun off of a corpse, and go on a safari to the alien base that's undoubtedly a 10 minute walk away from the crash site.

 

[Sean]

Halo: CE will always be sacred to me. the universe was fresh, the world mysterious and alien, i knew just about every exploit and glitch in the entire game, and the flood could still make my skin crawl. like, seriously... the first time i played the flood mission i was 13 years old and i got one of the best adrenaline rushes from any game ever.

every installment after that seemed to just be going through the motions. Halo 2 introduced playing as an Elite, sure, but it just took everything i loved from Halo 1 and just went for being epic. The trend continued until playing Halo 3 or Reach these days really just has no depth at all. I came to a realization that the entire time i've really just been wanting a campaign experience as rich as Halo 1, while bungie had been trying to enhance the multiplayer. sure, the campaigns got tons of attention, but it's like as soon as Halo 1 went Game of the Year they lost all sense of pacing and just made everything blow up all the time, but it no longer mattered since you're the indestructible super-soldier. who cares how many people died, or whether your ships plummeting to earth? there'll be a huge explosion, cortana will be screaming chief! chief! then you'll deliver a one-liner, pull a gun off of a corpse, and go on a safari to the alien base that's undoubtedly a 10 minute walk away from the crash site.

I feel the same way about Call of Duty you do Halo AND agree with you on Halo too. The campaign for one and two were amazing, but Halo 3 + just seemed way out there, way too multiplayer based. Which is why I feel that way about Call of Duty, they made a few good campaigns but invest way too much time in multiplayer, which a lot of stuff they put in ends up sucking anyways. So you end up getting two british SAS soldiers magically wiping out an entire company of black operations soldiers fully prepped for World War 3 and cheesy lines. They turned the series into a fail campaign wise and multiplayer a fail in other senses. Reach was too much about Multiplayer, Halo Wars was just a fail and Halo 3 seemed to be that "Watch Marines die, Spartan live through mass battles and Cortana dance for Chief."

 

[Aions]

Halo: CE will always be sacred to me. the universe was fresh, the world mysterious and alien, i knew just about every exploit and glitch in the entire game, and the flood could still make my skin crawl. like, seriously... the first time i played the flood mission i was 13 years old and i got one of the best adrenaline rushes from any game ever.

are you going to get CE HD?

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

are you going to get CE HD?

unlikely. i've enough of my money into the halo franchise. i own every release for xbox except for halo wars, halo 2 and 3 in limited edition, and reach in legendary. considering my post above i think i'll just stay with what i've got.

 

[Shadowfiend]

My feelings on the subject of Halo are this:

Halo was a pretty decent game. Right up until they let people play it. Halo has the single worst gaming community in existence. I promise you will never find a greater hive of scum and villainy in the world of on-line play. In fact, it's so filled with foul mouthed 12 year old kids and grown ass men who act 12 years old, that the odds of actually playing with anything resembling a likable person are soul crushingly slim. I don't know how anyone even tolerates it. The people on there are so awful that it literally makes the game not fun to play based on that alone.
Is Halo a well made game? Balanced? Looks nice? Sure. No doubt. Who cares though? I can go elsewhere to participate in contests of FPS skill without having to deal with shrieking little boys and sub-human assholes.

The story of Halo is about as generic as it gets. It's a standard glorified cowboys and Indians = aliens and space marines formula with forgettable characters and lots of bright shiny colors to distract you from how boring the narrative is. Now, I've heard the books were excellent-- but those are the books. Different thing altogether from the story presented in the games. As Yahtzee put it: The story of Halo is run-of-the-mill Captain Bland's Monotonous Adventure. I couldn't agree more.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

My feelings on the subject of Halo are this:

Halo was a pretty decent game. Right up until they let people play it. Halo has the single worst gaming community in existence. I promise you will never find a greater hive of scum and villainy in the world of on-line play. In fact, it's so filled with foul mouthed 12 year old kids and grown ass men who act 12 years old, that the odds of actually playing with anything resembling a likable person are soul crushingly slim. I don't know how anyone even tolerates it. The people on there are so awful that it literally makes the game not fun to play based on that alone.

you aren't describing Halo, you're describing Xbox live. the only game i've played that was not full of people as you described is Uno. Anyone who'd be willing to play uno on an xbox is pretty awesome.

 

[Dark Drakan]

you aren't describing Halo, you're describing Xbox live. the only game i've played that was not full of people as you described is Uno. Anyone who'd be willing to play uno on an xbox is pretty awesome.

Hence the reason i normally play in a party and have party chat only enabled so i cant hear anyone else.