In Response To: Re: Going Through Halo 1 Campaign Again... (RVideo)
: Halo seems to have something for everybody. I have always felt that Halo's
: immersive story carried the game, with strong audio and visual support.
: Have you noticed in recent years, that there is an incredible shortage of
: games with good stories? Shortly after it's release, many media reviews
: becried Halo2's 'short and lackluster story' (remember that?) Ironically,
: Halo and even Halo2's stories continue to make for insane replay values,
: much higher than previously predicted.
: Heck, even the game "Brute Force" which was heavily criticized for
: it's supposed "space opera" plotline and stereotypical
: characters, now over 4 years old, was a better story for campaign than : many of today's titles, running on considerably more powerful hardware.
: I have found that when a studio throws a 'new' enemy at me in-game, I often
: will say "oh now who are THESE bozos?", almost like it's more
: work than fun .
: Contrast that with your very first encounter with the Flood, or a Hunter. How
: about an overhead screaming banshee as you duck behind a rock for lack of
: shields? Remember that?
: We all know that Bungie analyzes the living hell out of their games.
: Everything from 'what the player sees' to storyline pacing..From a silent
: moment with snow brushing gently by, to a major wide-field battle stage
: just moments later.
: It would seem that even in the age of the multi-million dollar gaming houses,
: that in all the rush to sell units to retail, they forgot one tiny little
: important thing, and that was how to tell a good story.
: You don't need a million dollars to knock together a kick ass science fiction
: back-story. All you need is Word (or notepad), a spell checker, possibly a
: Thesaurus and, most importantly, some rare talent.
: Until the game industry realizes this incredible 'missing' element that makes
: a good game a legendary game, old titles like Halo, Half Life 2, and other
: titles of years past will in all probability fill in the gaps.
: Remember that famous quote about being able to repeat "15 seconds of
: fun" over and over? Despite the fact that a Bungie employee quoted
: that, the truth is, the Halo series is really all about "a hundred
: different versions of 15 seconds of fun, over and over".
: If that's confusing, here are some examples of some personal "15 second
: moments" in Halo
: •Banshee dogfights
: •Warthog driving
: •Rocket antics
: •Exploring vastly different stages
: •The 'very-narrow-to-very-wide' fighting areas, almost never seen in other
: games.
: •Advancing past difficult 'bottleneck' areas in campaign.
: •Well placed stickies.
: You know, there is perhaps a very good reason why no other video game in
: history has initiated such a volume of fan-generated work, ever.
: That reason? Who knows. They must have the secret formula locked up
: somewhere, lol.
I think the "secret formula" with Halo 1 is it appeals to a large variety of people/gamers. There is simply so many ways to have fun in Halo 1, great battles with excellent weapons, outstanding music that always seems to fit and deepens the whole experience throughout the entire game. Vehicle battles, ground and air engagements, dog fighting. So many ways to have fun. Wacky characters that do crazy things and say crazy things, scary creatures.....the Hunters and the Flood.
I still find several levels that I struggle to complete from time to time, namely the Grav Lift battle on Truth and Reconciliation...the battle before you enter the ship. Keyes and Two Betrayals.
I remember the first time I encountered the Hunters on T&R, I unloaded on them with every weapon at my disposal and I still didn't kill them. After my fear of them subsided enough I remembered that I had a sniper rifle, after firing nearly all my sniper rounds, I had two dead Hunters. Then, after entering the ship, you face one of the toughest battles in the game, in my opinion. Invisible Elites, sword carrying Elites, needler packing Grunts that wipe out your entire squad of Marines in short order and those blasted Jackals hiding behind their shields. Then you encounter two more Hunters to take care of....it's one tough battle.
Remember your first encounter with the Flood on 343 Guilty Spark? The cut scene ends and you walk forward, you hear something beating on a door somewhere in the room. The hair on the back of your neck stands up and you realize you're about to have you ass handed to you.
I was up until 10 pm last night rampaging through PoA and Keyes. After 5+ years, Halo is still one of the most entertaining game I have ever played.
|