Nov 13th, 2004, 05:14 AM
(WARNING: *VERY* MILD SPOILERS. I'M ONLY WARNING YOU BECAUSE YOU BITCHES WHINE LIKE BABIES.)
There's so much in this thread that I want to respond to.
Halo 1 was an amazingly popular game largely, yes, because of the AI (enemy, and ally). It had a great replayability to it and a storyline that faked epic very well by backing humanity into a corner. It was a story about working well under pressure, and the sequel follows that pattern.
That being said, anyone who thought Halo was "repetative" or "got lost" wasn't paying attention to what they were doing and were playing on easy settings. That, or they're just making shit up and/or parroting the same crap PS2 fanboys do, which I've found is most often the case.
That, as well, extends to Halo 2. If you think it's too short, you're not playing it on a worthwhile difficulty. Heroic or Legendary are the only ways a serious FPS-player should get their Master Chief on. I only play the first one on Legendary, and I can dance around the enemy like they're not even there. In the second one, Heroic is an incredible challenge at some parts and Legendary approaches impossible. They explore better ways of telling the story (more in-game storyline, longer cutscenes, covenant-based missions) and have a much more diverse set of environments, weapons, enemies and allies.
The game certainly does live up to the hype. I've been waiting for this game since I beat the fuck out of the first one towards the end of '01 and what I've played so far (I haven't finished it, but I'm sure I'm very close to the last level) keeps the epic, cinematic feel and really shows off the vision of Halo that the people at Bungie have.
As far as Half-Life is concerned, it was the single best video game I'd ever played until Halo. Halo 2 has successfully overtaken both of them, but that's not the point. The original Half-Life had a creepy-as-hell, "I don't want to play this in the dark" kind of feel to it. The scripted events were pretty amazing and the graphics revolutionary and efficient at the time. It provided some of the best hours of gameplay and the hardest and most frustrating end levels.
Half-Life 2 looks like it's going to be good from a gameplay and graphics standpoint, but you can tell from the premise (you strike a deal with the guy from the end of the first game and you end up in a city full of aliens?) that the storyline is going to lack in a lot of ways. It's going to be a great game that will suffer from two major ailments: lack of (desirable) replayability, and a shadowed release. As good as CS is (IN YOUR OPINION, WORLD, NOT MINE, FUCKING HELL I HATE IT) it's not going to shake a stick at Halo 2's online multiplayer, and nobody's going to be playing HL2 until well after its name is forgotten to newer releases. The best in can hope for is that a brilliantly conceived expansion pack (HL1 had two) drops during a lull in video game activity to boost sales of the original. It's disappointing, because it's going to be a great game that gets remarkably overpowered by Halo 2.
P.S.
I talk too much.
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