The biggest disappointment of 2011

Games Other Halo
1

I’ve been trying to fall back in love with what was once my favorite video games franchise; Halo. The franchise I devoted the vast majority of my teenage years playing online religiously, almost every day. But it’s just so awful now.

I paid £35 for this game. That’s $54. That’s a days pay. And for what? A buggy, laggy, glitchy campaign that barely works over Xbox Live co-op? A rehashed version of the SAME OLD terrible Halo Reach multiplayer? A glorified map pack hastily duct-taped on to an abused and flogged Xbox classic?

I attempted to play this game on co-op with a friend. It’s virtually impossible. The framerate is ridiculously bad for the person that isn’t hosting, and the controller lagg is even worse. We managed to overcome these flaws, and battled through the campaign up to the end of mission 3, at which point the game decided to say “losing connection to host” or something along those lines, and end the game 30 seconds before the end of the mission. We didn’t lose connection to our party chat, or Xbox Live. The game then froze both of our Xboxes. We were forced to turn them off and back on again.

After that debacle, we decided to try the “new and improved multiplayer”. I was looking forward to the “classic playlists”, as I remembered them from Halo CE/2/3. But once again, I was sorely disappointed. Armor abilities were still enabled in playlists, the pistol was a death machine, player gravity was too strong and bloom was still present. Where were the promied changes? Where is my classic playlist, without armor abilities, bloom and increased gravity? Where is a ranking system that actually matches skillful players with other skillful players, instead of guests that either fool around or quit instantly.

I’m embarassed to admit to people that I bought this glorified expansion pack. The Halo name is being dragged face-first through the mud, and it saddens me deeply. This may just be the last Halo I purchase. Putting the Halo Reach multiplayer on the same disk as Halo CE is like dropping a giant soggy turd on a delicious pepperoni pizza. Thanks for shattering my rose-tinted spectacles 343. Halo will never look the same again.

EDIT: The only part of this game that I thoroughly enjoyed was the termal CGI scenes.

2

> I’ve been trying to fall back in love with what was once my favorite video games franchise; Halo. The franchise I devoted the vast majority of my teenage years playing online religiously, almost every day. But it’s just so awful now.
>
> I paid £35 for this game. That’s $54. That’s a days pay. And for what? A buggy, laggy, glitchy campaign that barely works over Xbox Live co-op? A rehashed version of the SAME OLD terrible Halo Reach multiplayer? A glorified map pack hastily duct-taped on to an abused and flogged Xbox classic?
>
> I attempted to play this game on co-op with a friend. It’s virtually impossible. The framerate is ridiculously bad for the person that isn’t hosting, and the controller lagg is even worse. We managed to overcome these flaws, and battled through the campaign up to the end of mission 3, at which point the game decided to say “losing connection to host” or something along those lines, and end the game 30 seconds before the end of the mission. We didn’t lose connection to our party chat, or Xbox Live. The game then froze both of our Xboxes. We were forced to turn them off and back on again.
>
> After that debacle, we decided to try the “new and improved multiplayer”. I was looking forward to the “classic playlists”, as I remembered them from Halo CE/2/3. But once again, I was sorely disappointed. Armor abilities were still enabled in playlists, the pistol was a death machine, player gravity was too strong and bloom was still present. Where were the promied changes? Where is my classic playlist, without armor abilities, bloom and increased gravity? Where is a ranking system that actually matches skillful players with other skillful players, instead of guests that either fool around or quit instantly.
>
> I’m embarassed to admit to people that I bought this glorified expansion pack. The Halo name is being dragged face-first through the mud, and it saddens me deeply. This may just be the last Halo I purchase. Putting the Halo Reach multiplayer on the same disk as Halo CE is like dropping a giant soggy turd on a delicious pepperoni pizza. Thanks for shattering my rose-tinted spectacles 343. Halo will never look the same again.
>
> EDIT: The only part of this game that I thoroughly enjoyed was the termal CGI scenes.

Did you play Anniversary Squad? if so then play Classic.
You want a fulle operational live co-op just after release, when the original code doesn’t support live?

The Halo Reach multiplayer is great, it’s just SOME people don’t like the fact that they kick -Yoink- at one game and fail at another, different gaming style =/= fail game, it does = fail player if they can’t adapt.

Lastly, theres 50,000,000 threads on this, instead of spamming the same thread over and over, goto one of the troll threads like this and join the trolls at their big troll feast, playing Halo 2 and living in the past.

3

its true 343 is butchering our beloved series, ill buy halo 4 and if that flops then I am done with halo, not the old halo the new one

4

Odd, nearly all flaws you listed are selling points in my opinion.

An epic campaign, remastered and plays just as good as it did when I bought my xbox ten years ago. I have yet to run into a single campaign related glitch, it’s been an amazing adventure so far, reliving some of the best moments in the franchise. (I don’t play it via co-op)

While the multiplayer could have been vastly improved, at least it’s there. We got some great old maps remade along with all the Reach benefits already there. The map pack I thought was the icing on the cake, some of my all time favorites brought back for me to enjoy again on Reach.

Keep up the good work 343. I’m not a confused fanboy by the way, I’m honestly LOVING playing this game again with the revamped visuals. I’d have payed the $40 just for the campaign and the map pack so what multiplayer we got is welcomed.

5

> You want a fulle operational live co-op just after release, when the original code doesn’t support live? Really smart that.

ARE YOU MAD? Of course I want a fully “operational” and working co-op on release. This isn’t a beta. The game isn’t being offered to me for testing. I paid for the entire experience, and I expect it to work flawlessly, because 343/Microsoft are quite happy to take my money for it.

Your response is possibly the biggest load of blind fanboyism I have ever seen. Do you buy a game and then not expect it to work online?

Halo CE was advertised as the original Halo experience, updated for 2011, with Xbox Live multiplayer co-op. This was the biggest attraction for me, as someone who used to have friends over after school to play Halo CE co-op over and over again.

Your entire post is contradictory. Firstly, you don’t know how bad/good I am at Reach. You have no gauge of my skill level. It’s nothing to do with “adapting”. It’s more to do with Halo Reach generally sucking compared to past Halo games.

Then you go on to mention “playing Halo 2 and living in the past”. Do you realize we’re discussing a remake of Halo CE? That predates Halo 2! We’re actively discussing a remake of a game that was released a decade ago.

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other users.

6

>

Sigh, They didn’t make it to play co-op over live. They made it so you can enjoy the experience again. Honestly, i haven’t had any issues with co-op over live, no one i know has. It’s probably the internet of the host.

7

To be honest, I don’t know why I’m not just ignoring your inflammatory posts. They are nonsensical. But I’ll indulge you just this one final time.

> Sigh, They didn’t make it to play co-op over live.

If I may divert your attention to the back of your Halo CE Anniversary box. What does it say? “Co-op play over Xbox Live”. That’s what it says. It also says “co-op 2” further down. This game sells itself on the basis that you can play cooperatively with friends online.

You may be satisfied with sub-standard games that don’t deliver what they promise, but I’m not.

8

> To be honest, I don’t know why I’m not just ignoring your inflammatory posts. They are nonsensical. But I’ll indulge you just this one final time.
>
>
>
> > Sigh, They didn’t make it to play co-op over live.
>
> If I may divert your attention to the back of your Halo CE Anniversary box. What does it say? “Co-op play over Xbox Live”. That’s what it says. It also says “co-op 2” further down. This game sells itself on the basis that you can play cooperatively with friends online.
>
> You may be satisfied with sub-standard games that don’t deliver what they promise, but I’m not.

Ok you took that wrong. I meant it was an added feature, just a bonus. If you think 343i profited from this game then you don’t know much about how expensive engines are. 343i Hired Saber Interactive to do the engine for them. Not only do they have to pay them to do the engine, Saber also get a chunk of the game’s sales. This combined with DVD and case price = Virtually nothing for 343i. They did it for the fans of the original campaign. Not the guy that wants to play co-op over live (which works fine, only some people are complaining)

9

> > To be honest, I don’t know why I’m not just ignoring your inflammatory posts. They are nonsensical. But I’ll indulge you just this one final time.
> >
> >
> >
> > > Sigh, They didn’t make it to play co-op over live.
> >
> > If I may divert your attention to the back of your Halo CE Anniversary box. What does it say? “Co-op play over Xbox Live”. That’s what it says. It also says “co-op 2” further down. This game sells itself on the basis that you can play cooperatively with friends online.
> >
> > You may be satisfied with sub-standard games that don’t deliver what they promise, but I’m not.
>
> Ok you took that wrong. I meant it was an added feature, just a bonus. If you think 343i profited from this game then you don’t know much about how expensive engines are. 343i Hired Saber Interactive to do the engine for them. Not only do they have to pay them to do the engine, Saber also get a chunk of the game’s sales. This combined with DVD and case price = Virtually nothing for 343i. They did it for the fans of the original campaign. Not the guy that wants to play co-op over live (which works fine, only some people are complaining)

My god you are naive. 343 made a lot of money off of this game.

They’re going to sell a few million units. They’d break even on that and then some even if this was a full 2-3 year production game.

DVD and case prices? My god, you are the biggest fanboy I have ever seen. You’re going sock on hands limited, pulling anything out, no matter how little it makes sense to justify stuff.

10

SMG iDarkmaster doesn’t seem to comprehend what we’re saying. He would make an excellent politician, throwing every single excuse as to why the game isn’t delivering on it’s promises. The amount of profit 343/Microsoft makes on this game is irrelevant to me - as the consumer. I care about the product. You seem to miss the point of a forum. In my experience, forums are places you’re supposed to visit to open a dialogue with other users and the developers when faced with issues. Traditionally that’s how things work. It’s not a place to fob people off with poor and outlandish excuses.

11

This game is not expected to sell a lot. 343 industries is not expecting that.
Do you ever ask yourself why there is no MM CE multiplayer? Plus there are other stores that sold it at 27 pounds I believe. The old glitches and bugs are still in there. Lag has only been an issue for co-op today. With everyone else I played co-op, it was fine. I’ve got framerate lag but this game is actually playable with this type of lag compared to Reach’s campaign lag. And a lot of the lag is due to the player but is blamed on the game. Some can be done but there’s a limit.

12

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other users.

13

> > > To be honest, I don’t know why I’m not just ignoring your inflammatory posts. They are nonsensical. But I’ll indulge you just this one final time.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Sigh, They didn’t make it to play co-op over live.
> > >
> > > If I may divert your attention to the back of your Halo CE Anniversary box. What does it say? “Co-op play over Xbox Live”. That’s what it says. It also says “co-op 2” further down. This game sells itself on the basis that you can play cooperatively with friends online.
> > >
> > > You may be satisfied with sub-standard games that don’t deliver what they promise, but I’m not.
> >
> > Ok you took that wrong. I meant it was an added feature, just a bonus. If you think 343i profited from this game then you don’t know much about how expensive engines are. 343i Hired Saber Interactive to do the engine for them. Not only do they have to pay them to do the engine, Saber also get a chunk of the game’s sales. This combined with DVD and case price = Virtually nothing for 343i. They did it for the fans of the original campaign. Not the guy that wants to play co-op over live (which works fine, only some people are complaining)
>
> My god you are naive. 343 made a lot of money off of this game.
>
> They’re going to sell a few million units. They’d break even on that and then some even if this was a full 2-3 year production game.
>
> DVD and case prices? My god, you are the biggest fanboy I have ever seen. You’re going sock on hands limited, pulling anything out, no matter how little it makes sense to justify stuff.

Ok the game was $40 US dollars right?
So lets assume 343i sell the game to retailers for $25.
343i contracted Saber Interactive to make the graphics for the game. The job would of been at least 2-5 million dollars. Ontop of that the added royalties for the game. Which we’ll make 25%
Working out the cost for each game boils down to how much the packaging, DVD and printing costs are.

DVD+Case is most likely around $5, the printing materials would be around $2.
We could guess that the production of each individual copy (Not including Saber Interactive’s contract) Is around $7.
This leaves $18 profit for each game that goes directly back to 343. Minus the $4.50 per copy that goes to Saber Interactive leaves a tiny $13.50 per copy. To break even with the production costs 343i will need to sell 370,370 copies of the game and this of course is not adding the cost of the Reach map pack and marketing which if added to the equation would mean that the game would have to sell 600,000 copies to break even.

In other words, this game isn’t going to make much if any for 343

14

That’s your own fault for not reading up.

All of this information was readily presented to you by 343, and the only disappointment here is you.

Besides the laggy co-op. that’s just BS.

15

> Ok the game was $40 US dollars right?
> So lets assume 343i sell the game to retailers for $25.
> 343i contracted Saber Interactive to make the graphics for the game. The job would of been at least 2-5 million dollars. Ontop of that the added royalties for the game. Which we’ll make 25%
> Working out the cost for each game boils down to how much the packaging, DVD and printing costs are.
>
> DVD+Case is most likely around $5, the printing materials would be around $2.
> We could guess that the production of each individual copy (Not including Saber Interactive’s contract) Is around $7.
> This leaves $18 profit for each game that goes directly back to 343. Minus the $4.50 per copy that goes to Saber Interactive leaves a tiny $13.50 per copy. To break even with the production costs 343i will need to sell 370,370 copies of the game and this of course is not adding the cost of the Reach map pack and marketing which if added to the equation would mean that the game would have to sell 600,000 copies to break even.
>
> In other words, this game isn’t going to make much if any for 343

  1. You don’t know -Yoink- about this, you’re just theorizing.
  2. I’m pretty sure 343i and Microsoft have things set up to be more financially beneficial to them. They wouldn’t throw money around without making a profit, companies don’t do that, else they go bankrupt.
  3. It doesn’t even matter to us whether 343i makes a profit. What matters is that we paid money for a game which states it had certain features and didn’t. Cheated out of our money, we come here to complain. And what do we get? Ignorant fanboys telling us we’re “wrong”. You can’t be wrong with sort of thing, it’s a matter of fact. Fact: 343i promises co-op gameplay. Fact: Co-op gameplay is unusable for many players due to extremely low framerates/high lag. Fact: 343i engaged in false advertising/produced a bad product. Fact: We’re not happy about that and we’re trying to let them know. Fact: 343i have no official forums/way to be contacted, the only way we can file complaints (at least that most people know of) is on the forums.

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other users.

16

> Get out. You don’t know crap. Your posts are just theories based not on fact but rather “speculation”. Your argument (if you can even call it that) is comprised of fallacy after fallacy after fallacy. Stop before you make yourself look like even more of an idiot than you already have.

Reported.

17

No, you didn’t do your research properly. Co-op lag is better than Reach’s campaign lag and it’s way less noticable.
No offical forums? Where do you think you are?
By the way, attacking other people will most likely result in disciplinary actions and althought everyone is “entitled” to their own opinions, it isn’t just about throwing opinions and sticking to them hard like a rock. It’s also about adjusting your own and learning why. Adaptation of the mind.

18

> No, you didn’t do your research properly. Co-op lag is better than Reach’s campaign lag and it’s way less noticable.
> No offical forums? Where do you think you are?
> By the way, attacking other people will most likely result in disciplinary actions and althought everyone is “entitled” to their own opinions, it isn’t just about throwing opinions and sticking to them hard like a rock. It’s also about adjusting your own and learning why. Adaptation of the mind.

^^^ Intelligence. A rare thing on Halo forums…

19

> My theorising is far more accurate than your trolling is!
> EVERYTHING 343i said would be there is there, what it says on the box is there, everything is there. Some people are having framerate issues… so take it up with 343i, your not gonna get a solution to your issue by yoinking here.
> I’ve played co-op over live and it’s as good as playing Reach co-op over live, i have no issue with it.

You clearly don’t know what trolling is. It’s posting things just to get a response. I’m posting things that I believe in, things which I feel are true. And you’re being an ignoramus and ignoring them.

In Critical Thinking they have a term for this, it’s called Resisting Contrary Evidence. You and others here at the waypoint forums are guilty both of this and Confirmation Bias. In other words, you’re engaging in self-deception and you have no argument.

I and others have already disproved your statements a hundred times over, but you refuse to see the truth, and continue to argue even though the argument does not concern you.

“EVERYTHING 343i said would be there is there”
Majorly false. We’ve already been over this many times. Re-read other posts. Also, this isn’t even the issue. You clearly haven’t been following the argument at all because you’re introducing irrelevant premises to back your non-existent position.

You have no issue with it, but others do. They’re bringing it up here because this is the only place they know of where they can bring things up with 343i. 343i has no support site, no phone number, no e-mail no nothing. There’s no place for them to go for support. They come here, and they get people like you, ignorant self-righteous, people, telling them they’re wrong and shouldn’t dislike the game. Viz, “your opinion is wrong.” Earth to ignoramuses, opinions can’t be wrong.

Also, you are resisting all contrary evidence and have proven you cannot see from anyone else’s perspective. Why are you even here? These people just want to show 343i they’re unhappy and you’re coming in here and starting up a whole bunch of hullabaloo over it. Just get out. They don’t want you around and you aren’t contributing anything. You’re stirring up a bunch of trouble where there doesn’t need to be any. Just bug off!

> Reported.

Cool. I’m looking forward to my warning on this poorly moderated forum. It will stand as an ironic testament so as to lead to fan disgruntlement.

> No, you didn’t do your research properly. Co-op lag is better than Reach’s campaign lag and it’s way less noticable.
> No offical forums? Where do you think you are?
> By the way, attacking other people will most likely result in disciplinary actions and althought everyone is “entitled” to their own opinions, it isn’t just about throwing opinions and sticking to them hard like a rock. It’s also about adjusting your own and learning why. Adaptation of the mind.

Oh, and who did this study regarding the lag? You? What was your sample size? OH? 1? And biased too? Oh boy, that certainly is accurate!

Oh, so these are the official forums? Then why haven’t we seen so much as a peep from anyone related to 343? Do you think any 343 employees even read any of this critique regarding their game? Eventually it’ll get to them, but this is all we average folk have to get the message across. And it’s a pretty terrible medium because we’re continuously attacked by people of contrary opinion.

Attacking other people will result in disciplinary actions you say? Well if I get disciplinary actions acted upon me, surely they must be favoring to a side of this “argument”, or whatever it is, as others have certainly stepped out of line as much as I have and not been “disciplined” here yet. Furthermore, I don’t think it’d be appropriate for the moderator/s to do more than warn me as I’ve only insulted members in one post, and engaged in heated debate in others.

Adaptation of mind you say? How hypocritic! You guys are guilty of resisting contrary evidence and spouting fallacies, yet you tell accuse me, and the others here, of sticking to our opinions and being “unchangeable”? HAH! That’s royal.

-Mator

20

343i made a remake of a game that was first brought to surface 10 years ago. And added on too Reach’s Multi-player with their twist. If you’d like the future Multi-player buy Halo: 4

Also Bungie made the game, GET OFF OF 343’S BACK…