[kristine]

someone told that Halo is coming out with part 3....im not sure so...can someone tell me???

[Lucien21]

http://www.bungie.net/Games/Halo3/

Due out on 360 in 2007.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Screenshots here:





More here.

[insane_cobra]

By the way, those are early pre-alpha shots with lots of placeholder textures and geometry. The finished game should look much better.

[Fop]

Or worse, after they optimize it.

[insane_cobra]

Um, what?
Optimization makes things run smoother and look better. This is already running on Xbox 360 hardware.

[Fop]

Optimization makes things run smoother, often with the cost of good looking graphics. I'm not saying that it will happen here, but pre-release screenshots often do look a lot better than what we actually get.

[MdaG]

I've only played the first game. It felt too "cute". Are the other games in the same manner?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Fop

Optimization makes things run smoother, often with the cost of good looking graphics. I'm not saying that it will happen here, but pre-release screenshots often do look a lot better than what we actually get.

Interesting, because my experience with Gears of War was the opposite. I thought the screens looked great, but when I finally saw the game in action it was delicious!

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by Fop

Optimization makes things run smoother, often with the cost of good looking graphics. I'm not saying that it will happen here, but pre-release screenshots often do look a lot better than what we actually get.

Actually, that's quite rare and usually happens for two reasons:

• early shots are photoshopped or prerendered or taken from in-engine cutscenes;
• features get scaled down when development moves onto the target platform (usually from high-end PCs).

Like I said, when those shots were taken Halo 3 was already up and running on actual Xbox 360 hardware and achieving reasonable frame rates (they are from the pre-alpha multiplayer build some journalists got invited to play at Bungie headquarters). Besides, we already know Xbox 360 is capable of much more spectacular visuals and Bungie is undoubtedly going to get all the resources they need to push the graphical boundaries even further. Don't forget Halo 3 will have to go head to head with Killzone 2.

Originally Posted by MdaG

I've only played the first game. It felt too "cute". Are the other games in the same manner?

I've only played the first game as well, but "cute" is not the word I'd use to describe it. It's one of my favorite first-person shooters, despite of its flaws.

[EvoG]

It's worth noting that when the 1up guys visited Bungie for their big preview of Halo3 multiplayer, and even they mentioned that it(the MP) looked less than stellar, especially in contrast to say Gears. They then followed that though, by saying that singleplayer looked substantially better...it was a small peek at it, but it assured them the game will have that next-gen polish.

That said, I haven't bothered to look at any screens online after the ones that appeared in EGM, and these actually look pretty nice, and a measure of how much better the singleplayer can look.

Cheers

[MdaG]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

I've only played the first game as well, but "cute" is not the word I'd use to describe it. It's one of my favorite first-person shooters, despite of its flaws.

I'm sure was "cuddly wuddly" pink monsters which sqeaked like Ewoks when shot. It is however three years since I last played it so my memory might be deceiving.

[insane_cobra]

Oh, them.
Yeah, Grunts were funny. Until the very end when you'd encounter Special Ops Grunts led by Special Ops Covenant Elites. Nasty bastards.

[Zack]

I have to say that Halo is one of the best First-Person Shooters that I've played on the PC. The first time I played it, it found it exciting and fun. Plus, Master Chief is one of the coolest action heroes I've ever controlled. He is a really fierce fighter, and with the rechargable shield, It made him very hard to be killed on the easy setting. However, on my second playthrough, I played it on the normal setting, and the covenant aliens were much smarter this time. My favorite thing to do in the game was whacking one of the covenant aliens in the head with his melee attack.

So, because of how much I loved Halo, I'm looking forward to playing Halo 2, and also learning new information on Halo 3. One question, though, is the single player campaign of Halo 2 great or not?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Are you going to get an Xbox360, too, Zack?

[Zack]

I do want to, trep, but unfortunately, it won't be this Christmas. My parents told me that they already spent a large amount of money to get my brother Tom, his daughter Serena, my sister Nicole, her husband Chris, and their two daughters Jordan and Maya all here for Christmas, and because of that, they couldn't afford the X-Box 360.

I think I will save up for it, and then buy it sometime next year. But, I'm still excited about both Halo 2, and Halo 3.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Don't forget, there will be other highly promising titles coming up also for the 360, like Mass Effect, Bioshock, and Assassin's Creed (check out the threads for each game here). Each has adventure-like gameplay elements and stories you'd be intrigued to discover.

Lost Planet looks to be very good as an action shooter well.

[MdaG]

I just picked up Halo, Halo 2 + multiplayer map pack (or whatever) for €20 to try out on my 360. Apparently I can't play Halo on a TFT-monitor since it's PAL-50 only (50 Hz I assume, where my monitor won't go below 60 Hz), but Halo 2 runs fine. I have to agree there is a certain charm to the games, but I don't understand why "everyone" thinks it's so great? I mean it's not like it's in any way superior to say, the Half-life or FarCry series?

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by MdaG

I just picked up Halo, Halo 2 + multiplayer map pack (or whatever) for €20 to try out on my 360. Apparently I can't play Halo on a TFT-monitor since it's PAL-50 only (50 Hz I assume, where my monitor won't go below 60 Hz), but Halo 2 runs fine. I have to agree there is a certain charm to the games, but I don't understand why "everyone" thinks it's so great? I mean it's not like it's in any way superior to say, the Half-life or FarCry series?

The Halo franchise is the most over-hyped franchise in the universe.

[Dasilva]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

The Halo franchise is the most over-hyped franchise in the universe.

Gears of War is catching on.