What makes Halo so good?A personal reflection

Games Other Halo
1

So I recently finished the Halo 4 campaign about a week ago, and after a week of relfection on it, while having my k/d get destroyed in war games, I have come to the conclusion that Halo is simply awesome. I really was not planning on purchasing the game, but I guess all the hype at launch, along with the very high review scores that it received, created an impulse for me to buy it. I also was about done with Xbox completely, for I built my first gaming PC over the summer and have fallen in love with PC games. My plan was to stick with PC from now on and get rid of the annonying console issues, such as the Live subsriptions. I had no desire whatsover to purchase the upcoming new Xbox “720”, or whatever you want to call it.

But for some reason I decided to give this Halo a chance. I am extremely happy that I did. I have to say 343 pulled it off. To say that I am satisfied with their product is an understatement. Overall, I do believe this may be the best Halo yet. While the game does have its issues, some of which seem to be very popular to others on this forum, it is hard to deny that this is a fantastic game. 343 made alot of bold moves, bringing back Chief, introducing a new enemy and extremely different weapons, creating customized loadouts for online play, etc. They should be commended on the job that they did.

While playing through the campaign, on Legendary with a couple of friends, I couldn’t stop loving and appreciating on how well done the game is. I also purchased the other Big games of this holiday, Assassins Creed 3 and Black Ops 2. I am big fans of those series’, mainly the Treyarch CoD’s, but was somewhat dissapointed by them, especially their endings. I am not a fan of the Blops style of campaign, with the random choices and all, and the Assassins Creed 3 ending, without giving away spoilers, was probably the worst ending I have ever witnessed in a top quality series, whether it be a movie, tv show, or video game. Both are good games, but that is all they are, “good”. They didn’t create the same type of feelings that this Halo game did for me. Halo 4 is a great game. The ending to Halo was both satysfying and created an excitement for the next game.

While watching the final cutscene, I realized that I am going to be forced to buy the Xbox 720. And I am completely willing to do so, if that is what it takes to be apart of this great franchise and this terrific new take on the Halo Universe. Halo 5 can not come sooner enough for myself.

Now I may be having a fan boy love affair with Halo 4, but I really don’t care. I’ve been a Halo fan for many years now, and will continue being one into the future.

So I leave everyone with a question: Why is Halo so good? What about it makes you continue playing it and enjoying it? I personally have a hard time coming up with a concrete answer for this question. I can only come up with Halo is great, because it is Halo.

Thanks and see you on Infinity

2

For me, what makes halo so good, is a couple of things.

First, its that sense of wonder, and mystery and the art style of forerunner stuff. The halo ring from ce was just awe inspiring the first time I saw it. Halo 4 gave me a few of those moments in the campaign. I like the blue skies, the giant silvery towers, the bright colors of the covenant. Its just beautiful and wonderous.

Next on the list for me, is that sense that war has consequences, and that people you care about die in war. This has been for me, is the center piece why I love halo, that I havn’t really found in other fps games. Other fps titles are just
testosterone filled adrenaline rushes. For me, every halo game has had atleast 1 of those somber, sad moments, where you see a character fade from life into a memory of a hero. Its something special that I just cant find in many other games now a days.

And lastly, Master Chief. Rock solid, always sure of himself, always ready to rock and roll and do whatever it takes to win against all odds. Total badass.

3

The recent halo schism has taught me this: there are gamers that buy into aesthetics and those who buy into mechanics. You fall into the former. So sad.

4

. . . I like you.
Homosexual statements aside, I love the game as well, I don’t deny that it has its issues and things that require tweaking, but to be honest when I pre-ordered the game I had very low expectations, this is something I do with most things in life, people call me a pessimist for it but I think of it like this.

If it sucks, I was right and I’m not surprised or disappointed because I got exactly what I thought I was gonna get.

If its good/great then I get a nice happy surprise and a great whatever it happens to be.

Overall I’m happy with this game and the issues everyone keeps talking about on this forum I don’t really fuss over.
Could the Boltshot use a tweak? Sure.
Are vehicles under powered? I don’t think so.
Is it annoying that the file share isn’t working? I never really used it so I can wait.
There’s other issues but I don’t want to ramble, overall I like this game and enjoy it almost daily.

5

> The recent halo schism has taught me this: there are gamers that buy into aesthetics and those who buy into mechanics. You fall into the former. So sad.

And there are gamers who are elitist d1ckwads. You fall into that group. So sad.

6

I have been playing Halo since the Duke days of Halo CE, so let me be honest for a moment and just say this:
I’m glad Cortana is dead, I always thought she was annoying and I hate her.

7

> I have been playing Halo since the Duke days of Halo CE, so let me be honest for a moment and just say this:
> I’m glad Cortana is dead, I always thought she was annoying and I hate her.

HERESY!

OT: I love the awe and wonder about it. The feeling that you’re trodding on 100,000 year old ground. I love the story, the hard sci-fi aspects of it. I love the little stories told in the terminals and everywhere else, the stories of heroism and sacrifice and hope.

I love shooting aliens with a huge gun, too.

8

What makes halo so great is that almost every type of gamer will find something they like in it. Whether you’re interested in cool hi-tech weapons, a deep scifi story, or fast paced gameplay, halo will not disappoint. You can literally do anything in halo. There are even grifball leagues and racing tournaments. Halo has more content than any other fps out there.

9

What I loved about CE:

-difficulty balancing
-lack of story intrusion
-interesting AI

Halo 4 has thrown balancing out the window, is story driven (lots of things are mere plot devices, like Lasky and the Target Locator), and most of the AI are uninteresting. It’s become another Halo 2 EXCEPT it lacks what made Halo 2 so great to me.

What I loved about Halo 2:

-easter eggs
-fast, responsive Chief
-Covie side of the story

8 sniper Zealots that can easily be defeated if certain skulls are turned on are an inferior challenge to IWHBYD, which threw 28 Elites with various weapons at you.

Chief is quite underpowered in Halo 4. You could beat down Elites to death in Halo 2 not to mention Sputnik made moving objects around very easy.

And the Covies, while making a prominent appearance in the game, we don’t get to understand them.

So it’s also become another Halo 3 EXCEPT it lacks the epic scale.

What I loved about Halo 3:

-level design
-interesting encounters
-epic vehicle sections

You could access the elevator in the towers on The Covenant with skillful jumping. You could fight marines on Crow’s Nest from various positions with reliable cover while on Shutdown, it’s very open.

Halo 3 presented some fine encounters. A bunch of Brutes in the barracks and ops center on Crow’s Nest, and on the bridge on The Covenant. Variety! Brute bodyguards were weak but it was interesting to see them instead of another Chieftain. Halo 4 basically throws a bunch of Generals or Zealots at you.

The vehicle sections in Halo 4 feel really degraded. They’re more frustrating than exciting.

10

> > The recent halo schism has taught me this: there are gamers that buy into aesthetics and those who buy into mechanics. You fall into the former. So sad.
>
> And there are gamers who are elitist d1ckwads. You fall into that group. So sad.

Well you know, some people are better at experiencing games than others. Its called good taste, and before you whine, you actively accept it in other mediums.

P.S. you bypassed the word filter, maybe I should report