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Ways that Halo Was Great

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desura said:
Halo ODST stunk.

It was too silly, tried to be too smart alecky, and it was too easy for a regular ODST soldier to take out...dozens of covenant.
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The combat and the rookie you play weren't even the point of the story. The main story is about the regular people and how the city was ravaged.

ODST was great but if you did not collect Sadie's story, the story of a girl trapped in the city of new mombassa during the siege, then you missed almost all of the story Bungie was telling and as a result missed the point.
 
cmdrdredd said:
The combat and the rookie you play weren't even the point of the story. The main story is about the regular people and how the city was ravaged.

ODST was great but if you did not collect Sadie's story, the story of a girl trapped in the city of new mombassa during the siege, then you missed almost all of the story Bungie was telling and as a result missed the point.
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I thought the point was selling what was supposed to be an expansion to Halo 3 as a full $60 game? I certainly missed that one.
 
cmdrdredd said:
The combat and the rookie you play weren't even the point of the story. The main story is about the regular people and how the city was ravaged.

ODST was great but if you did not collect Sadie's story, the story of a girl trapped in the city of new mombassa during the siege, then you missed almost all of the story Bungie was telling and as a result missed the point.
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halo reach did the whole "ordinary people" thing much much better while keeping the mythos.
 
Reach and ODST were harder for me to enjoy, but both were still good. Reach was better I'd say.

Reach had a lot going for it but something about it didn't feel quite right to me. Maybe too serious, maybe I missed Master Chief, maybe the engine felt a little weird to me. But yea, still good.

I guess I'd probably rank the games thusly:

Halo 1 > Halo 3 > Halo 2 > Halo Reach > Halo 4 > ODST

With Anniversary being my preferred way to play the original now, of course. Looks great.
 
amitrano said:
Halo is an overrated game with poor graphic. Only 2 weapon??? Why? Gears of War is far better than Halo.
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I've never read such a well-made argument in my life. More guns = Better game, obviously. Who cares if the cover system can be as frustrating as it is helpful? Who cares if you are controlling the slowest characters in the universe? Gears is good, but it's got some meaningful complaints to be made about its gameplay, in my opinion.

What this really boils down to is that Halo is over a decade old now. It's really popular, and so it's becoming cool to hate it now. That's the in thing, just as people have decided it's cool to hate CoD, regardless of quality. The gaming community is one of the most cynical there is anymore, in my opinion, so it's hard to even have discussions when EVERYTHING is "new game sucks, go indie!"
 
It's not cynicism. Halo is not bad game only overrated and mediocre. Ok, we don't compare it to Gears of War. We compare to CoD. Let's see the Black Ops 2...weapons, graphics, gameplay. I think it is clear.
 
amitrano said:
It's not cynicism. Halo is not bad game only overrated and mediocre. Ok, we don't compare it to Gears of War. We compare to CoD. Let's see the Black Ops 2...weapons, graphics, gameplay. I think it is clear.
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1. Guns: SO many of CoD's guns are piss-poor. They're the epitome of creating overpowered guns/classes. In Halo, you don't have as great a gun COUNT, but the balance is 20 times better. I'd call the gun comparison a major win for Halo.

2. Graphics: Really not something to bother with. However, the main thing here isn't even "graphics," it's "art style." Both look fine on the 360, but if you prefer the modern-ish look, you'll prefer CoD. I prefer the sci-fi look, so I prefer Halo. Regardless, this is absolutely a topic of personal preference, and shoudl be 100% ignored.

3. Gameplay: The lulz...they're back. Are you really defending the superior gameplay of CoD? It's accessible and simple, that's about where it stops. It's got the BIGGEST Target Assist ever, and it's pathetic (Halo has it, but to a less-obvious degree). The melee "physics" in CoD are some of the worst general physics in any game ever. Oh, and then there's the fact that CoD is (as I mentioned before) built heavily around overpowered weapons/attachments. Dual Band scope? Target Finder? No-recoil LMGs? The game has terrible balance. I'd still call this a major win for Halo.

All of that comes from someone who has played both heavily, but has probably played CoD more than twice as much as Halo. Why, if I prefer Halo, do I play CoD more? Well, because it's got more players, for a start. On top of that, all of the new things in Halo 4 that I hate (Killcam, Perks) are things copied from CoD, oddly enough.
 
I wouldn't say the guns in Halo are balanced. There are good guns and there are awful guns. And while the awful guns can be effective at times, 99% of the time you are getting wrecked by someone with a better gun. CoD isn't like that. While some guns are more powerful than others, you can do pretty good with almost any gun. I think you'll have a hard time with only a needler or a plasma pistol in Halo.
 
The Plasma Pistol is also a special-use gun, really. It's meant for stripping shields, which is does an amazing job at (if you're one to use it effectively). You're supposed to charge it, pop the shield off, then get a headshot with your other weapon. You should basically charge the Plasma Pistol, fire, pull out a Magnum, and get a one-shot kill.

The Needler, it's only problem is that it's got limited ammo. The needles track, and you can get 2 kills with a clip, if you're not wasteful with the ammo. Its weakness is the lack of ammo, but that's a good balance against the strength of the weapon itself. If the Needler had ammo like an Assault Rifle, and it was replaced by the Plasma Rifle in the Loadout screen, it'd be used heavily. They balanced its extreme strength with a short lifespan well.

Meanwhile, over in Black Ops, I'll call bull all day about your assessment of the guns. As someone who has the Diamond camo on 3 gun classes (Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle), here's my assessment:

Assault Rifle: Most folks take the AN-94. The M8A1 gets used a LOT more than the SWAT-556, when comparing the burst guns. The SMR is used a LOT more than the FAL, when talking single-shots. I never really see anyone use the M27, and the MTAR isn't used much, either. I personally take the SCAR, as I think it's the best for my preferred style of distance shooting.

Shotguns: Really, the KSG is taken as a novelty, I think. The M1216 lacks the punch. The Remington is CLEARLY the popular pick here. Personally, I take the S12 for its fire rate (not a fan of the bursting of the M1216).

Sniper Rifles: NO ONE takes the Ballista. Really, it's split into two groups. Group One is the spray-and-pray bums who use the SVU-AS because it has no recoil. Group Two is the DSR-50 group, who are better shots, but the group is also filled with terrible quickscopers. I prefer the XPR-50, as it shoots faster than the DSR-50 (good when you have two opposing snipers in the window), while being stronger than the SVU-AS (good for the rare occasion someone gets behind me and I need to attempt a life-saving no-scope).

LMGs: I refuse to use these because they are a joke. The lack of recoil and the presence of Target Assist makes them too easy to use, and it's really frustrating. I'd say that the LSAT is BY FAR the most-used one of the group. Target Finder + LSAT = WAY overpowered.

SMGs: Another class I don't use much. I'm just not a spray-and-pray sprinter who lives off of the Target Assist. That said, the PDW-57 seems like the go-to of the class (though I personally hate it).

Pistols: KAP-40, bro. People use that more than any other pistol BY FAR. You'll get the rare Executioner or B23R user, but they're pretty uncommon. It's almost ALWAYS KAP-40.

And that's my point. You basically misstated two Halo guns as underpowered, when the real issue is that you don't seem to understand their use cases. However, there is a WHOLE CLASS (LMG) of overpowered guns in CoD. In the other classes, you have 1-2 contenders for most-popular, and that's whether the class has 4 guns or 7.

On top of that, CoD adds attachments where the balance is nonexistent. The Dual Band scope rules the snipers (I refuse to use it myself). The Target Finder is the clear-cut winner among scopes. LMGs are almost ALWAYS covered in Grip, FMJ, and a Dual Band of Target Finder. There's very little variation.

Really, if you want to talk about balance issues in Halo, it's the maps. They're WAY to asymmetrical, and it makes games like CtF unfair for one side (CtF on Abandon is the worst-balanced game of anything ever, regardless of genre). The only weapons with severe issues, in my opinion, are the Plasma Repeater and the Suppressor. The Assault Rifle just seems to outperform both among the automatic rifles. The Carbine's not all that great either, but it's usable.
 
I wouldn't say the guns in Halo are balanced. There are good guns and there are awful guns. And while the awful guns can be effective at times, 99% of the time you are getting wrecked by someone with a better gun. CoD isn't like that. While some guns are more powerful than others, you can do pretty good with almost any gun. I think you'll have a hard time with only a needler or a plasma pistol in Halo.
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I completely agree with you.
 
smackababy said:
I wouldn't say the guns in Halo are balanced. There are good guns and there are awful guns. And while the awful guns can be effective at times, 99% of the time you are getting wrecked by someone with a better gun. CoD isn't like that. While some guns are more powerful than others, you can do pretty good with almost any gun. I think you'll have a hard time with only a needler or a plasma pistol in Halo.
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I completely agree with you.
 
I dont know about that. There are spots in ghosts like in the beginning areas that look fantastic. I think the style used in Halo is better to me personally but on a technical level I couldn't just say it looks better. I think cod needs a big overhaul if they want to keep it going though, they need a new engine.
 
exdeath said:
Best part about Halo right now is that I can pick up Halo 4 for like $3 already.
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Just need those pesky 360's to drop in price. Still $250 for a console with a hard drive... ridiculous. I wish the 360 had a better reliability track record because I'd love to buy one used.
 
It really was only the original consoles I saw with reliability issues, and Microsoft paid a LOT to fix that. The slims seem solid, though my brother-in-law's slim has been having some WiFi issues for the past few months (he's had it for a few years, don't recall how long).

My cousin bought a used slim right after Christmas 2012, and he's had 0 problems.
 
My 120GB Elite (first HDMI model) lasted 5 years then started freezing one day. Have a first slim glossy model that seems to still be chugging along.

Borderlands 2 local coop marathon this weekend, well see.

Its survived 200 hours of non stop Fallout 3 and another 200 hrs of Borderlands GOTY along with 100% FFXIII, RE5, and more so far.
 
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i played halo for the first time ever this past weekend at a lan party. it's locked at 30fps but the game feels really slow for some reason. the vehicles don't handle too well. weird ragdoll physics. it was still a fun game though. vehicles get crazy when it's 3 people in a warthog. got to love a classic ctf match.
 
exdeath said:
Borderlands 2 local coop marathon this weekend, well see.
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I wish I could do this, but my local co-op comrade is a butthead and won't ever play (think he's out of town this weekend). That, and I got an ESO beta invite again, might give it another go.
 
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