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Halo: The Good, Bad, and Repetitive

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X-Box. Whoopie! Buddy that's a manager in a video store and I get all the games/DVDs rented I want for free? WHOOPIDIFUKINDOO!

Halo. I now have it. I just played it for the last two hours. Tycho can suck my cock. I just did the alien spacecraft level, and yes, it is repetitive.

But shouldn't it be? We're talking about the hallways, docks and brig of an alien spaceship. Shouldn't there be some fucking unity to the design? It's not like every bit of it is designed EXACTLY like each other, there is variation, and there are a ton of good fights that take place too.

Tycho just wanted an excuse to bash the X-Box. Which, BTW, is only about as wide as my PS2 and 125% of the height. It weighs probably an extra half over it. It's not fucking gigantic.

So I guess now is when I'll do my little review of Halo, the same way I blessed that non-violent laser tag game, how I pissed all over Perfect Dark and how quickly I finished FAKK 2.

Story:
Wow, it has one. And unlike Half-Life where you were just pulled along through it in this game you're just trying to get the hell through it... and doing it without backup just ain't gonna happen.

I'm not saying it's 100% original or it's not easily predictable, I'm just saying that it is above average given the effort put into most FPS games' story lines nowadays.

Control:
Dual Analog sticks. I wish to Christ they'd've put a trackball where the right analog stick is (for freelook) but as is... the Turok Kung-Fu is functional. Your main buttons are moving, shooting, crouching, zooming and throwing grenades.

Use/jump are within easy reach, reload/switch weapon (you're only allowed to carry 2, nice) are still easily hit but take a bit of time, and flashlight/switch grenade are way the fuck out of your way.

Use does triple duty as a reload button and it also lets you switch weapons when you're standing on a new one. You're given info on it when you walk over one, so it's not a piss in the dark.

The one button I HAVE BEEN WAITING ON FOR FIVE FUCKING YEARS has finally made it. Quick attack, no matter what you have. Like the Duke3D Mighty Boot, except that it could be the back of your rifle or a pistol whip or whatever you have. Very fucking handy. If you sneak up on an enemy and nail him with it in the back it's an instant kill, which is really damn handy. I also found it handy when my clip runs empty and the alien fucker suddenly charges me and tries to beat me to death... so beat him first. It's faster than reloading, and while he's holding his smashed face you can finish reloading and shut him up. =)

Of course they're good and customizeable but that doesn't change the fact you're still locked into a gamepad. But I've been doing FPS games on analog sticks for a LONG time, and I've had hella fragfests from PSX to N64 to DC to PS2 and soon X-Box as well. I can deal with it.

The controls are good and responsive, and (like all X-Box games so far) the default layout seems weird at first but in the end is really COMFORTABLE AS HELL and you'll adjust in no time.

The vibration is good and there, not overly prevalent but that's a good thing anyway.

I didn't find it surprising when I was sniping people around shields, using night vision on the scope then switching to a machine gun and diving into a crowd, throwing grenades behind them to force them my way while my teammates flanked them from both sides. ^.^

AI:
FUCKING SUPERB. Better than Half-Life. Better than UT even. FUCKING SUPERB.

People stay out of your way when you're firing and if you come up behind a man in place he'll duck so you can shoot over him. Your troops will automatically find places to snipe people, help you flank the enemy and generally kick ass. They die a little easy but then again, the enemy AI is really good too.

I was shocked when I saw an enemy jump off of a 20 foot ledge just to escape the grenade I threw at him. They'll do that if they're forced into it. They'll also try to flank you, flush you out with grenades (no matter where you are) and they'll retreat if ambushed, advance when they get backup and if they find a sniping spot they can really fuck up your day.

They'll also take advantage of any mounted weapons available... unless you blow their face off and get on it first. Watch out though, they'll flip it with a grenade and a busted spine is bad for your health.

Good gameplay is necessary for a FPS game to be fun to play, and Halo is easily one of the best FPS games I've ever played... even if it is on a console. I'm putting it right up there with Undying, Doom and Blood. It's just a fucking blast.

Interactivity:
There are scripted spots where you bust down walls or activate a bridge and whatnot, but those aren't all that common.

Now then, hopping in a bigass four wheeler with a guy working the gattling gun on the back while you dive through crowds, trying to rescue your fellow marines... that's pretty cool. If you flip your truck (or it gets flipped) you can flip it back over and hop back on, assuming it didn't crush you but the auto-jump out usually works well.

Keeping tabs on your teammates, trying to keep them alive and accomplishing your goals are all really important if you plan on getting anywhere in the game, but there is a decent amount of exploring and all out killing to keep it enjoyable.

Music:
I just... I dunno. I was expecting cheeseass metal or dancedancedance techno but it turns out to be like a movie score. Not orchestrated... it just depends on where you are. It changes with the pace of what's happening in the game, and it's usually interesting enough to make you notice it. Certainly beats the hell out of a lot of game soundtracks I've heard recently, that's for sure.

Sounds:
They're not exceptional and they're not shitty. That's really about all you could expect. The voice acting is about par for a video game and the lip syncing is maybe one notch above Half-Life (definitely not as good as Jak & Daxter or Soul Reaver 2). The alien sounds are good and unique, too.

The alien voices, though, man. Shit. It's like Comic Relief. You'll want to kill them to shut 'em the hell up. They're not loud but they can be chatty.

Multiplayer:
Very nice. It comes with a ton of gameplay modes. Team play, last man standing, odd man out, several types of flag games (ctf and even a racing one) and what not. Should work well if you're ever at a party without any chicks or drugs.

There's even a nifty mode that gives everyone infinite grenades and one that disables zooming/sniping, and of course you're given full control over what weapons/vehicles appear on any map.

Graphics:
Hey, I still play Doom. Graphics are the LEAST important part of a game to me. I'll break it down for you.

Polycounts: Not exceptional. Understandable as there is some serious action going down most times though. Just about the detail you'd expect from a FPS.

Textures: Above average quality. At least as good as UT I'd say. The nice thing is that just about all of them have either a metal reflection, or a bumpmap, or both, and it really adds to the detail. The alien architecture is great because of the bumpmaps and what looks like curved surfaces... everywhere in the later hallways. If you just stop and look at some of the things in the game the detail is really kickass.

Animation: The marines animate a lot better than the characters in Q3A, that's for fuck's sure. All the animations are really well done. They're not mindblowing but after so many games with almost generic looking animations this is nice. When you see a marine strafe, run down a hallway, signal you and crouch with his weapon ready, you'll know what I mean.

Particles: Again, above average. The way grenades throw up dirt and the waterfalls... man. They're really fucking well done. I'm amazed to see a particle engine like this on a console, I really am.

Level design: A bit too repetitive, I'll grant that, but it doesn't ruin the game at all. The levels are still rather huge, the loading times aren't that bad and the skyboxes have nice looking high res textures on them. Some of the skyboxes even have things like an ocean horizon with rippling water reflecting sunlight.

Overall:
At the moment I am prepared to give this game a rating of 8 out of 10. If it had better level design in it, it'd easily get a 9 or a 10. Microsoft spent millions to ensure they'd have a killer FPS for their console and really, this game IS a killer FPS.

Teamplay DM... four players. Two teams. One member of each team is driving a vehicle and the other member is manning the weapons. Now that is a damn good DM right there, much better than CS (because you're not stuck sitting for 15 minutes waiting for the game to time out because of all the snipers that refuse to move).

I reiterate, Tycho is exaggerating. The game isn't flat out ruined by the level design, he's just a bitter and bald drunk looking for something to cry about.

If you can get your claws into this game I recommend you at least give it a try. It took me months to finally find a game for my PS2 worth owning (Klonoa 2; RE:CVX and SH2 are too blurry to be enjoyable) and I already found one for my X-Box worth getting. =)

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tycho was talking about the size of the CONTROLLER, not the machine itslef

the controler hurts my hanbds, ive bareley played halo though

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tycho was talking about the size of the CONTROLLER, not the machine itslef

Look at the Halo strip. They're sitting on an X-Box in their living room approximately 15 feet wide, and the controllers are 6 feet tall. That's just childishly stupid.

the controler hurts my hanbds, ive bareley played halo though

I think the controller is comfortable as hell. Not as good as a PS2 controller, though, but Goddamn, the Dreamcast controller was a sick joke.

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he's just a bitter and bald drunk

Tycho is bald?

Bitch, gather up some money, and then get MGS 2. Goddamn awesome...

Gah! The ending gave me cranial bleeding!

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he's just a bitter and bald drunk

Tycho is bald?

...and Gabe has ears that make Dumbo look like a visitor from Alien Nation.

Bitch, gather up some money, and then get MGS 2. Goddamn awesome...

Gah! The ending gave me cranial bleeding!

Gah! The gameplay made me fall asleep.

the dreamcast controller rocked what are you smoking

Nothing at the moment, but the Dreamcast controller was pathetic.

1. The analog stick had no concave head to hold to, and it practically had to go SIDEWAYS to reach it's maximum input.
2. The buttons are too far apart. They should be at least 1/8th of a centimeter closer. As it is, it's much more difficult to reach them all with my thumb like I can do with EVERY OTHER CONTROLLER MADE.
3. The crosspad feels like it's floating on water and it's only half as reliable as the PSX design for fighting games (and I do own MvC and Cap vs SNK for DC, I've been playing SF games on gamepads for the last 9 years I know how to do it).
4. It's at least 2 buttons short of full functionality, 3 or 4 more would've made it a lot more usable.

The only good thing that came out of the Dreamcast controller was the VMU screen, and in the end it was pretty much useless.

Now the X-Box controller... the analogs are at least three times as comfortable, it's more ergonomically designed, the buttons are closer and easier to reach, it has built in vibration (no extra $25 for that) and it also has FIVE more buttons and another analog stick. It's what the Dreamcast pad obviously should've been.

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the dreamcast controller rocked what are you smoking


You, sir are smoking dick, the DC controller was FUCKING EVIL. It took me a week to get used to that huge goddamn ugly beast of a controller...

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Gah! The ending gave me cranial bleeding!

Gah! The gameplay made me fall asleep.[/quote]The gameplay was kinda cool. Playing on easy is hella funny because the guards are dumbasses. You can stick a charge of C4 on their back and they won't notice. One time my friend made the alarms go off and the guards were sent in to do a 'thurough' sweep. He hid in a 10ft. x 6ft. room under a shelf, and the guards never found him, even though they searched the room. ROFL...what a bunch of tards.

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the dreamcast controller rocked what are you smoking


You, sir are smoking dick, the DC controller was FUCKING EVIL. It took me a week to get used to that huge goddamn ugly beast of a controller...

just wait for ralphis' "WAH I LOVE MY DC" reply.

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I'm really positive about the XBox. The only bad thing about it is the price, almost twice that of the PS2, even though that definitely won't put me away from buying one.

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I think the controller is comfortable as hell. Not as good as a PS2 controller, though, but Goddamn, the Dreamcast controller was a sick joke.

WTF? The DC has a way better controller if you don't have little girly hands. It's the simplest controller I've ever used (for new gen systems of course). PS/2 controllers are insanely small and crappy. If you enjoy having your hands cramped up on a controller smaller than my dick so be it. LONG LIVE DREAMCAST!

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The PS controller is not perfect, but it's by far the best there currently is.

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I'm really positive about the XBox. The only bad thing about it is the price, almost twice that of the PS2, even though that definitely won't put me away from buying one.

WTF are you on? The PS2's release price was $300 and the X-Box's release price is $300. What the hell do you mean twice as much?

WTF? The DC has a way better controller if you don't have little girly hands.

I can palm a basketball. The controller isn't badly sized the buttons are improperly spaced.

It's the simplest controller I've ever used (for new gen systems of course).

That's part of the problem... it's not very good for complex games.

PS/2 controllers are insanely small and crappy.

The PS2 controller has 5 more buttons and another analog stick, AND built in vibration, AND every single button has pressure sensitivity. It fits comfortably in my freak hands and my nephew's six year old hands. I can score easy 13 hit combos with Spiderman when I'm on a PS2 controller. Doing so on a Dreamcast controller is much more difficult because of the horrible crosspad. The Dreamcast's analog stick is also far inferior.

BTW, PS/2 usually means the port that keyboards and mice are plugged into, not Playstation 2. Leave out the slash.

If you enjoy having your hands cramped up on a controller smaller than my dick so be it. LONG LIVE DREAMCAST!

So be it. I'll enjoy a controller that fits comfortably and is well layed out over that autistic frisee you enjoy. BTW, in case no one told you, the Dreamcast is already dead... Sega fucked up the sales. At least now we can play Sonic with a decent controller.

The PS controller is not perfect, but it's by far the best there currently is.

But you know what WOULD make it perfect?

1. A third button in the middle. The 'Map' button. So many games have maps nowadays I don't know why there isn't some out of the way button you can press to find it. It's usually tagged onto Select but hell, Select is easily pressed with your left thumb in action so I still count it as a good action button.

2. Replace the right analog stick with a trackball instead. Use it for freelook, use your left thumb on the crosspad to emulate WASD. I love my Logitech trackball. This would be so fucking perfect.

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The PC version is way better, I enjoy playing pc Halo then xbox Halo. It is really awesome and brought back some of the Quake in me.

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The SuXBox is just a cheap and lame PC without extra features and usability. Get a GameCube already!

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Well, as great as Halo and the XBox sound, If i ever get the chance, I'm grabbing a PS2 and Final Fantasy X. I tried a demo of it, and I nearly had a nosebleed from the endorphin rush caused by watching it. Amazing.

Also, I would get my hands on a GameCube before I want fo the XBox. I had a look at a couple of those games as well, and I was interested. I'm kinda interested in Pikmin.

And a final note, the DC controller wasn't half bad, but my hands are enormous, so that most likely affects things.

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The bulky controlers i have always hated, well my favorit controlers are the playstation and gamecube controlers, all the bottons where comfertably in reach

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The SuXBox is just a cheap and lame PC without extra features and usability.

Yep. For once I agree with you.

Get a GameCube already!

Huh? That's worse!

Then again, ALL consoles suck. So nyah! :P

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I have almost never used the standard DC controller that came with my box. I bought a MadKatz controller along with the box, and let my roommate use the crappy standard one. :P

I managed to destroy one of the MadKatz controllers. I blew out the right shoulder trigger playing Crazy Taxi, and rubbed away most of the crosspad playing Marvel vs Capcom 2. :)

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Consoles.

NO.


Precisely.

Although, there have been some damn good games that were made for console, then converted.

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bah, screw you all, I'd love to have an X-Box but I don't have enough money to get one, or a job, bearly enough to keep myself happy.

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Am I the only one who liked the GameCube controller? (To me) it has a similar feel to the X-Box controller (button location)... just much smaller. My only gripe about the X-Box controller is it's size... maybe it's just because I'm not used to it, but I think they could have made the buttons a little bigger and farther apart so they aren't as easily confused (the stupid logo is bigger than the buttons combined). On the GameCube controller, the buttons are different shapes, making them easily recognizable and within easy reach. My main complaint is the closeness of the Z button to the R button... and that some games (Rogue Squadren) expect you to use the D-pad and the Analog control at the same time (if I stear I get hit less, but if I repair I get blasted until my health is really low anyway).

I guess it's all a matter of preference.

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I love the psx controller. So much I got a Gravis Gamepad Pro for the PC, which mimics it. It just feels right.

Consoles suck, but for the occasional game (Gran Turismo etc.) that make them worthwhile getting if you've got the noodle.

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Ugh...console wars. Who has the better POS with 0 customizability and craptastic games? Fuck, I'm off to play TFC...

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