The Most Beautiful Sight these Eyes have Seen

[Dark Dolphin]

What's so great about Halo is that it's good.

It may not be revolutionary, but when the shooter formula is perfected in such a way the game is a joy to play.

[Double-S-]

Please, wandering through IDENTICAL room after identical room hardly qualifies the experience as perfected.

[Trog13]

You guys should wait until both games are released to argue about which is better, and Half-Life 2 has gotten just as much hype as Halo 2.

Halo did use the same rooms multiple times, but that's what I liked about it. It made the buildings seem more real. Real buildings have identical rooms. Go run around a school or hospital and count the rooms that look the same.

Halo made all the settings for the levels look different, except for parts of the last 2. Half-Life didn't really have levels so they did the different room thing. That weird alien place looked different so I guess that counts as a different level.

[chriscaffee]

I really don't see a problem with the identicle rooms (aside from The Library) because the monotony was broken up fairly well with unique areas spread between them. Assault on the Control Room is broken up by a massive ground areas that allow a lot of freedom. That is one thing that makes Halo so interesting is that while the game is extremely linear, you never really feel it so much because when you are outside you have space. Realizing these are different genres, but it is much superior to something like Sonic Adventure 2 where most of the game is merely a 45-degree downhill sprint on a race track that changes textures every stage. The organic openess of Halo is one of the major reasons I adore the game so much.

As for perfection, I don't believe any game can really achieve that. What Halo does do is combine a competent story, decent graphics, good music, a nice cinematic atmosphere, an impressive phyics engine, good level design (both single and multi player) and solid controls. The voice acting and script weren't half bad either. I tend to favor games that don't make me cringe during the cutscenes.

[Segaholic2]

Please. As a non-biased tolerant player of both games argued, I have to say that Halo's levels got pretty boring about 3/4ths through the game. And if you like "organic openess", Half-Life 2 looks like it's going to kick Halo 2 clear across the freaking planet.

And I like the story in Half-Life much better than Halo.

[chriscaffee]

I never said Halo 2 was better then Half-Life 2. I said it was prettier. Don't put words in my mouth. All my posts glorifing Halo 2 were answering the question "What's so great about it?" And to be honest I don't prefer one to the other (HL2 or H2). Halo 2 is simply the more accessible (and beautiful) game in my circumstances so that is what I chose to follow and ultimately worhi- err purcahse.

When I know I don't have the means to get a game (translation: a good computer), I tend not to get hyped about it as it will only make me disappointed later. Of course if HL2 comes out for Xbox then that would be extremely awesome because then I could get all three big FPSs as well as TS3 and MechAssault 2 and I would be set for life. Throw in PSU and I could die a virgin.

And to address your points:

Levels boring 3/4 the way through: I disagree. I didn't like The Library, but the last few levels were pretty fun and the final race in The Maw was fucking brilliant.

Half-Life 2 has more open levels: I wouldn't know because I haven't seen any campaign footage from Halo 2 aside from what was in the attract videos. I don't want to spoil the game for myself if other footage does exist. And though a good deal of my post was devoted to level design, that isn't my most loved aspect of Halo. I merely focused on that aspect because that's what was called into question. The reason I like Halo is the combination of all it's parts: not because it does one or two things extremely well but because it does everything competently. If I play Half-Life 2 and it's better then Halo 2, then it's better then Halo 2. I really don't care.

It still isn't prettier though.

[Dark Dolphin]

I don't even know who Double-S- is or who he's talking to. No one even once in this topic said Halo 2 was perfect. I've heard a lot about it being fun to play and one of the better shooters out there, but no one once called it perfect.

Anyway, the game is best in multiplayer, like most shooters, so the level The Library(and it's just one level) doesn't matter much. Besides, The Library is supposed to have similar rooms. It's a library, not a freakin' funhouse.

[chriscaffee]

Yeah, but it's still boring as hell, and even Bungie owned up to that.

[Segaholic2]

I don't even know who Double-S- is or who he's talking to. No one even once in this topic said Halo 2 was perfect. I've heard a lot about it being fun to play and one of the better shooters out there, but no one once called it perfect.

You said so yourself about Halo 1, genius.

It may not be revolutionary, but when the shooter formula is <B>perfected</B> in such a way the game is a joy to play.

I hope your judgment of games is more fine-tuned than your memory.

[Popcorn]

Besides, The Library is supposed to have similar rooms. It's a library, not a freakin' funhouse.

First of all, it's not really a library; it's more like a big fucking cylinder you kind of walk around in circles. Secondly, I would have preferred a fucking funhouse.

Halo did use the same rooms multiple times, but that's what I liked about it. It made the buildings seem more real. Real buildings have identical rooms. Go run around a school or hospital and count the rooms that look the same.

You're missing the point: not only does 'realism' have nothing to do with the quality of a game, it's also possible to produce realistic, believable games without having to emulate the monotony and tedium of everyday life. If Halo was 'realistic', it wouldn't be about a space marine, it'd be about some guy writing financial reports in Surrey.

[Trog13]

I didn't miss the point, you were just thinking of a different kind of realism.

The realism I was thinking of was making a building look like it had some sort of function, like it had actually been designed to serve as something. I like things that make you believe that it could actually exist even if it has to do with something like fighting aliens. I don't want to see a room with water fall in it unless there's a reason for that room, or flames shooting out of the walls unless something exploded or it's some kind of factory. I'm not saying all the rooms in Halo were needed, some had bridges and holes for no reason but Half-Life also had a lot of crap like that. There was that whole rail part where there was almost nothing but riding on that rail cart and shooting at people. The rail part wasn't so out of place, but hitting the right switches to turn where you wanted to was. I can imagine people delivering packages and having to shoot at crap to get to where they want to go.

I don't think Halo or half-Life should have had Ghost Recon realism, I just want to know there's a reason for why something is there. I do the same thing with movies, I don't want to see a ton of blinking lights all over a space ship unless they have a purpose. 2001 and Alien are awesome because it all seems so real.

I liked the library, even though there was no reason for anything in that level (the giant doors, the giant elevators, all those tunnels, where the hell guilty spark went when he told you to wait by the door). I think I liked it because we don't know what the library was, if they had explained it in the game then we'd know why there was all that crap and nothing library like. Or they wouldn't have been able to explain it and the level would have still made no sense. It was fun though.

There are a lot of games that I play that have no realism but are still fun. Most of those have everything set up as some kind of crazy alien world. I still end up wondering how the space pirates in metroid prime would manage to make some of the jumps if they didn't have those rocket packs, or if those bosses just lived in those rooms they were in because there's no way they could get out.

[Dark Dolphin]

I said the shooter formula was perfected, I didn't call the game itself perfect, NT. Anyone who plays the game multiplayer knows that that's where it really shines. The mechanics work better than most other shooters(I doubt people would call Unreal a better system). I think there's quite a difference between calling formula perfect versus calling a game perfect.

Try getting me on semantics now, biatches.

[Segaholic2]

Oh, so there is a difference between calling a formula perfect and the game perfect? What's the difference? Don't give me any of that bull, because that's what your notion of the "perfect formula" is: complete bull. A "perfect formula" exists just as much as a "perfect game" does. There never was and there never will be any perfect formula for shooters, because designers are going to just keep coming up with more features and cooler stuff to do in their next game. There is no universal measurement for calling a game's formula perfect. Calling Halo's "formula" perfected is like calling your grandmother's recipe for apple pie perfect. Can you ever scientifically prove that it's perfect? No, because it's your opinion, just like your opinion of Halo is. So don't tell me they got the formula perfect; you tell me that you think that Halo's formula is better than anything else out there, and I'll at least just say your opinion sucks. Instead I think you're an idiot.

And I would say that Unreal is a better system. Or formula. Whatever you want to call it. Unreal Tournament 2004 is by far the greatest multiplayer shooter I've played since Quake 3 Arena. And yes, I liked Q3A better than Halo. What's so great about Halo's "mechanics" anyway? What the crap <I>are</I> "mechanics" anyway?

Halo's single-player campaign sucks, pure and simple. It was somewhat inspired, until you get to the point where you can tell Microsoft started rushing Bungie and they made with the copy/paste level design. There is absolutely nothing revolutionary whatsoever about the game's engine or "formula". It didn't perfect any formula, it simply did reasonably well what many other games had done before it.

I enjoy Halo's multiplayer, but again I wouldn't call it a "perfected formula". I know lots of people that argue that Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were better multiplayer shooters (not that I agree with them). Same with the Counter-Strike crowd. And I hate Counter-Strike.

Halo is not the revolutionary wonder-game that everyone makes it out to be. I'd say that Half-Life 1 was closer. By a lot.


Your argument was nothing more than fanboy-based confused drivel laced with made-up hazy BS terms to make it sound like you know what you're talking about.

[Light Speed]

Halo is just another co-op shooter, but for some reason me and apparently the rest of the world found it extremely fun. It's as simple as that, its just another FPS that happens to be more fun than the rest. I never played Half-Life because using a keyboard to play video games is evil under almost all circumstances, but I bet that's a good game too.

[chriscaffee]

Halo is great because it is fun. I hope that answered your question, maybe you can answer a few of mine.

NT, I find it humorous that you prempted your posts by calling yourself objective. The implication here is that your opinions are based purely on each individual game's own merit whereas other people (that favor Halo, since you haven't rebutted anyone else) must be basing their opinion off of some irrational attachment to the game or they are smoking something. Isn't it possible that people just disagree with you?

Here is a question for you. When you posted in this topic were you trying to explain why you hold your opinion or were you trying to convince other people that your opinion is right or superior? Judging by the hostility of your last post, I'm assuming the latter.

I for the record I do not consider myself a fanboy overall. I am not generally offended if you do not like what I do. There have been times and there probably will be times that the fanboy in me comes out to play, but I try my best to suppress it.

I am offended that you would say my opinion of Halo sucks (or was that comment exclusive to Dark Dolphin?). That is you insulting my opinion, and thus insulting me. I'm not so much hurt by it as I find it intellectually bankrupt to talk about how objective you are and then you go around telling peole that their opinions are inferior. Hopefully that was a just a "pwning" moment and you don't really think that about someone who enjoys Halo more then any other FPS. I certainly respect your opinion.[/quote]

[Spazz]

I am offended that you would say my opinion of Halo sucks (or was that comment exclusive to Dark Dolphin?). That is you insulting my opinion, and thus insulting me.

<u>3 drinks</u>
Someone is actually truly insulted

Time to drink up!
*takes three drinks*

[chriscaffee]

I lose?

[Segaholic2]

Halo is great because it is fun. I hope that answered your question, maybe you can answer a few of mine.

I never said it wasn't fun, or even that it wasn't great. I only said that it wasn't perfect, and I hope that nobody else tries to make such a claim.

NT, I find it humorous that you prempted your posts by calling yourself objective. The implication here is that your opinions are based purely on each individual game's own merit whereas other people (that favor Halo, since you haven't rebutted anyone else) must be basing their opinion off of some irrational attachment to the game or they are smoking something. Isn't it possible that people just disagree with you?

Here is a question for you. When you posted in this topic were you trying to explain why you hold your opinion or were you trying to convince other people that your opinion is right or superior? Judging by the hostility of your last post, I'm assuming the latter.

I was simply proving my point that Halo's fabled "perfect formula" doesn't exist any more than Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or GG!'s sex life. I couldn't care less if you or anyone else disagrees with my opinion, because it's my opinion and I don't assume everyone else will agree with me.

And of course my opinion is right and therefore superior to everyone else's.

I for the record I do not consider myself a fanboy overall. I am not generally offended if you do not like what I do. There have been times and there probably will be times that the fanboy in me comes out to play, but I try my best to suppress it.

Good for you.

I am offended that you would say my opinion of Halo sucks (or was that comment exclusive to Dark Dolphin?). That is you insulting my opinion, and thus insulting me. I'm not so much hurt by it as I find it intellectually bankrupt to talk about how objective you are and then you go around telling peole that their opinions are inferior. Hopefully that was a just a "pwning" moment and you don't really think that about someone who enjoys Halo more then any other FPS. I certainly respect your opinion.

I find it hilarious that people can actually be insulted when one degrades another's personal opinion. It's my own stupid opinion against yours; why the heck should you feel insulted? I'm just a stupid biased gamer with his own stupid biased ideas. You shouldn't care what I think. I only say that everyone else's opinions are wrong and inferior because it's true: I believe I'm right, so logically that should mean that I think everyone else is wrong. Everyone thinks like this; most people just try to hide it by saying that they "respect" their opponent's opinion, which I generally consider a load of crock. For some reason people are insulted when I voice the fact that <I>I <B>think</B> they're wrong</I> and this amuses me, so I just say it more.

You could go ahead and insult everything I like or believe in, and I wouldn't care. I like and believe in the things I like and believe in. If someone who disagrees with me can rile me up so much about it, then there's probably something wrong either with what I believe in, or the way I believe in it.


P.S. People that like Halo are fags, lol.

[Dache]

I for the record I do not consider myself a fanboy overall.

Your avatar is the Halo shotgun shell, for Gods sake.

[chriscaffee]

It's just a hippo. And good job taking a quote out of context and posting a completely irrelevent and trivial fact. Let me get this right. I like Halo and have a Halo-related avatar. The only possibility is that I am a rapid Halo fanboy that is emotionally attached to the game. How about fuck you, dumbass there is no basis for such an evaluation.

Now that I'm good and right I can deal with NT.

As near as I can tell all you did was:

1) Acted like an ass when you were incapable of maintaining intellectual superiority.

2) Implied that the exchange of ideas is pointless.

3) Called yourself a hypocrite.

4) Made an ill-founded generalization about every human on the planet.

5) Made me cry. Jackass.

And I may be a faggot, but at least I never slept with Lumbergh.

[Guest]

Finally, a serious discussion of fanboys against un-fanboys!!!

HOOZA!!!

(Although, I miss the hentai and the "popo/caca" jokes... oh well)

[Dache]

It's just a hippo. And good job taking a quote out of context and posting a completely irrelevent and trivial fact. Let me get this right. I like Halo and have a Halo-related avatar. The only possibility is that I am a rapid Halo fanboy that is emotionally attached to the game. How about fuck you, dumbass there is no basis for such an evaluation.

what no fuck u man

[Popcorn]

I think Dache just got EXILED.

To... you know... jail lagoon, or something.

[Segaholic2]

As near as I can tell all you did was:

1) Acted like an ass when you were incapable of maintaining intellectual superiority.

2) Implied that the exchange of ideas is pointless.

3) Called yourself a hypocrite.

4) Made an ill-founded generalization about every human on the planet.

5) Made me cry. Jackass.

And I may be a faggot, but at least I never slept with Lumbergh.

I guess that means I win.

[Baba O'Reily]

With a face like that and the ability to name people 'Douche' at the drop of a hat, you win every arguement.