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Re: My reaction *sp* long | |
Posted By: Tarrsk <tarrsk@yahoo.com> | Date: 11/18/04 7:08 p.m. |
In Response To: My reaction *sp* long (MC vince) Interesting thread, Ducain. :) And great responses from everyone. As someone whose first exposure to Bungie fandom was during the big run up to the release of Halo 1 in 2001 (it was actually the Letters to the Webmsater that got me interested... go figure), and whose copy of Halo has been a permanent fixture in his Xbox since its release, I have to agree with Ducain. The campaign of Halo 2, while prettier, doesn't knock me breathless the way Halo's did, even from the first time I played it. It could be argued that this was due to overhyping, but if anything, I spent the last few months before Halo 2's release growing increasingly worried that it *would* be a serious disappointment, for a number of reasons. These included Bungie's increasing media profile as the "superstar" developers behind the Xbox and the various hard rock tunes posted on Nile Rodgers site (I still can't get into the Steve Vai stuff at all, and this is coming from a guitarist who LOVES a good searing solo... when it's not in a Halo game). Anyway, I got my copy of Halo 2 on the morning of November 9th and completed it on Heroic within a few days. I wasn't hugely surprised at the cliffhanger ending, having received some warning from Tycho's post on Penny Arcade, and enjoyed the Arbiter missions (come on! fighting with Hunters on YOUR side!), but it still lacked a certain something. After deliberating for a while, and then reading Ducain's excellent analysis, I think I can condense my own feelings regarding Halo 2's campaign mode into a few points: 1) Atmosphere. Halo was, and remains, the most vibrantly atmospheric first person shooter I've ever played. The plot and characters really aren't that original when you think about it, but the story became exceptional because you really come to believe that you ARE exploring an ancient ringworld, full of beauty and danger. 2) Suspension of disbelief. Sure, Halo 2 managed the impressive feat of ditching loading times between levels, but that never really bothered me in the first place. What Halo had (and Halo 2 lost, at least for me) was a feeling that everything you did was driving the plot firstly, and a video game secondly. Sure, I recognized traditional game objectives such as "beat the clock" at the end of the Maw, and "unlock the door to gain access to the rest of the level" in the Silent Cartographer. However, the way they were introduced (and played out) was extremely fluid, and made sense in context with the story. Halo 2's boss fights, on the other hand, were clearly boss fights, and fell into the standard videogame trap of not providing the slightest rationale for the presence of these ridiculously overpowered final enemies. Admittedly, I've always felt that boss fights in any sort of action game that attempts to present a plausible reality are a game design mistake. If you want to give the player a satisfyingly difficult final challenge, be more creative than that! Bungie themselves pulled off one of the best end-games ever in Halo's final Warthog run, and I was disappointed that they, in effect, reverted to an old paradigm with Halo 2. 3) Openness. There's very little in the videogaming world that can beat the feeling you get when careening around "Halo" after getting into that first Warthog. Adding destructable vehicles and more enclosed environments took this sensation away- I never felt free to send my vehicle flying off a cliff, spinning through the air, to land with a bouncing crash in Halo 2 the way I throughout the original. And while the new physics are certainly more "realistic," I think I prefer the floatiness of Halo 1- it still had an essential verisimilitude, but slightly exaggerrated in a way that made everything the player did feel really substantial. Hmm. Well, I actually have quite a bit more to say, but homework awaits, and I think I've babbled enough. I'll just finish by stating that I absolutely LOVE Halo 2 on Xbox Live (and have gotten two of my friends to get Xbox Live accounts just to play this game), and that some of the setpieces in the campaign are truly astonishing (the gondolas on Delta Halo being a particular favorite). When Halo 2 *does* get it right, it's like being punched between the eyes by PURE AWESOMENESS. |
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