Adventure Forums - View Single Post

insane_cobra · 07-28-2006, 12:51 PM

Done with Halo. It's a very good game, I can definitely see why it became such a huge hit. The only things that really bother me are repetitive gameplay (though it's mostly fun and challenging so that's forgivable) and awfully repetitive level design.

Everything looks so similar and so clinically sterile, it's almost like Tron without the neon accents. The human ships look almost exactly like the Covenant ships which in turn look almost exactly like Halo's own structures. And they're all mostly comprised of virtually indentical corridors, with a larger room of often mysterious functionality thrown in for good measure. Where do all those aliens and space marines sleep? Do they eat? Don't they need to go to the toilet from time to time? It's like they haven't really given level design much thought.

The exteriors are also quite barren, but it's an alien world so I can buy that. The worst thing is I hear Halo 2 isn't much different in that regard. What a shame. Hope they rectify that in the last part of the trilogy.

The story is fine, not an SF masterpiece some people would lead you to believe, but quite servicable. It provides a great foundation for things to come. The presentation is not bad, but I've become so accustomed to Half-Life's way of handling things that every first person game using completely scripted cutscenes (from a third person perspective, no less) looks anachronistic in my eyes.

The combat is really juicy so no need to waste any space on that, it's one of the core reasons behind Halo's popularity. Haven't played it in multiplayer, but I can imagine how fun it must be.

The porting to PC could've been handled better, it's an extremely power hungry beast. The final escape sequence played in slow motion on my machine and it's at least three times as fast as the minimally required one.

The checkpoint system is also a travesty. I have nothing against checkpoint systems in general, but this one doesn't work too well. It's fine in the beginning, but later on there's just not enough checkpoints. Forcing people to replay large chunks of the game is not cool.

All in all, it was an experience well worth the time and money spent, but could've been much better nonetheless.

07-28-2006, 12:51 PM	#86
insane_cobra gin soaked boy Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Virovitica, Croatia Posts: 4,093	Done with Halo. It's a very good game, I can definitely see why it became such a huge hit. The only things that really bother me are repetitive gameplay (though it's mostly fun and challenging so that's forgivable) and awfully repetitive level design. Everything looks so similar and so clinically sterile, it's almost like Tron without the neon accents. The human ships look almost exactly like the Covenant ships which in turn look almost exactly like Halo's own structures. And they're all mostly comprised of virtually indentical corridors, with a larger room of often mysterious functionality thrown in for good measure. Where do all those aliens and space marines sleep? Do they eat? Don't they need to go to the toilet from time to time? It's like they haven't really given level design much thought. The exteriors are also quite barren, but it's an alien world so I can buy that. The worst thing is I hear Halo 2 isn't much different in that regard. What a shame. Hope they rectify that in the last part of the trilogy. The story is fine, not an SF masterpiece some people would lead you to believe, but quite servicable. It provides a great foundation for things to come. The presentation is not bad, but I've become so accustomed to Half-Life's way of handling things that every first person game using completely scripted cutscenes (from a third person perspective, no less) looks anachronistic in my eyes. The combat is really juicy so no need to waste any space on that, it's one of the core reasons behind Halo's popularity. Haven't played it in multiplayer, but I can imagine how fun it must be. The porting to PC could've been handled better, it's an extremely power hungry beast. The final escape sequence played in slow motion on my machine and it's at least three times as fast as the minimally required one. The checkpoint system is also a travesty. I have nothing against checkpoint systems in general, but this one doesn't work too well. It's fine in the beginning, but later on there's just not enough checkpoints. Forcing people to replay large chunks of the game is not cool. All in all, it was an experience well worth the time and money spent, but could've been much better nonetheless. __________________ What you piss in is yours for life.