Retro|Spective 031: Halo

[Neon Ignition]

A franchise that was there on the first day of the Xbox's existence and quickly defined the original console whilst becoming synonymous with the entire platform lineage:

Halo

Mainline Entry 01 - Halo
Formats: Xbox, PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
The original game arrived on Microsofts new green led platform with its own green clad lead, Master Chief. The Spartan soldier awakes on board the Pillar of Autumn just before it's attacked by the Covenant race as it arrives alongside the enormous Halo that the series takes its name from. With that begins a mission into the Halo and then to escape it as a new additional enemy thread, the Flood, is released leading up to a tense escape from the Pillar of Autumn via Warthog. The game won immediate popularity and praise for its handling of enemy AI, multiplayer and open approach to gun and vehicular battles.



Mainline Entry 02 - Halo 2
Formats: Xbox, PC and Xbox One
After the huge success of the first game a sequel was inevitable and the second game presented a sequel of two mixed half. Whilst received alright enough, the single player drew some criticism for its structure that included some poorly thought of boss fights. This was countered by the multiplayer and its Forge elements that made use of the newly minted Xbox Live service and really saw the series dig its claws into many.



Mainline Entry 03 - Halo 3
Formats: Xbox and Xbox One
The third game brought the series to its second generation and its storyline arc to a close with the battle against the Flood and Covenant coming to an end. The title brought up an air of the original with a focus on refining the experiences presented in the previous games.



Spin Off Entry 01 - Halo Wars
Formats: Xbox 360, PC and Xbox One
Eager to capitalise on the franchises huge popularity, this RTS title was released as a prequel to the original game. Whilst the game was successful considering its genre, it had much less impact than the FPS entries with some criticisms of shallowness levied against the title.



Spin Off Entry 02 - Halo 3: ODST
Formats: Xbox 360 and Xbox One
The first FPS spin-off followed a side story to the main third entry and had the player exploring the city of Mombasa as a member of the ODST team. The key difference with the spin-off being more restrained movement explained by being standard soldiers and the co-op campaign.



Spin Off Entry 03 - Halo Reach
Formats: Xbox 360
Bungie's final entry into the Halo series, this prequel covered some plot holes that led up to the opening of the original game. Building on the foundations of ODST there is once again a co-op campaign and features some new elements that would remain limited to this instalment such as space based dog fights.



Remaster Entry 01 - Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition
Formats: Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Mainline Entry 04 - Halo 4
Formats: Xbox 360 and Xbox One
The final entry on Xbox 360 saw the reigns of power handed over to the newly created studio 343. Starting a new trilogy storyline the game once again Master Chief return to face off the new threat of the Prometheans. 343 used their first released as an opportunity to update many long standing elements of the game and to give it a visual overhaul bringing the series much more in line with the visual standards possible late in the systems life cycle. In the end the game was only slightly lower than Bungie's entries in terms of critical response marking a solid step forward by the new studio.



Spin Off Entry 04 - Halo: Spartan Assault
Formats: Xbox 360, PC and Xbox One
Remaster Entry 02 - Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Formats: Xbox One
Spin Off Entry 05 - Halo: Spartan Strike
Formats: PC
Mainline Entry 05 - Halo 5
Formats: Xbox One
The first Halo of the current generation continued the new storyline and ironically repeated its similar mid-entry Halo 2 brother by splitting play away from Master Chief to a similarly negative response. The further updates to the gameplay continued to provide positive responses but this time the single player drew criticism with many not taking to the split narrative, storyline and short length.



Spin Off Entry 06 - Halo Wars 2
Formats: PC and Xbox One



Share your thoughts and memories of the Halo series

[Asura]

Halo is, for me, the quintessential example of a game which was derailed by wanting too much to be a movie, or series, or any other storytelling medium, without the chops to do it.

The original had a decent, if basic, Starship Troopers/generic space marines inspired sci-fi story. However, along with that came some really amazing design and implementation. It was a very clever game which really shook up the FPS landscape at the time. A variety of its features seem pedestrian now, but they were actually quite clever, carefully designed to resolve many of the problems inherent in FPS games like Jedi Knight.

However, Halo 2, whilst far from a terrible game, committed a cardinal sin in my eyes - they removed the Elites as enemies because the story dictated that this had to be the case. Games should never be compromised for story; it's just unacceptable.

Halo 3 was a return to form in many respects, as they took it places, gameplay-wise. That battle in Halo 3 where you have to fight the two scarabs is just immense.

But then ODST did something similar to Halo 2, in that it demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of how narrative worked this time.

ODST was divided into chapters with a loose open-world area that linked them up, and you could play many of the chapters in different orders. Cool in theory. However, in movies or books, when they have non-chronological plots, it's done to give you some greater understanding that would be ruined if the plot was chronological. Memento and The Usual Suspects need to be presented out-of-order or they just wouldn't work.

ODST's chapters are essentially thrown in the air, and the play just plays the pieces in the order that they land. There is a correct order, and there's no greater meaning derived from playing it in the "wrong" order. It just suggests a misunderstanding of how this kind of thing works, and probably emerged because it started life as a short DLC pack which was tarted up into a retail game.

That's where the series lost me. I absolutely loved the games, really I did, but that was enough. It's like God of War in my eyes, where there's nothing wrong with the older games, but 3-4 is just enough, you know?

[_SD_]

I purchased an Xbox based on Edge’s 10/10 review, back when that meant something. Was it worth full marks? No... I spent more time on Jet Set Radio Future and Metroid Prime was the one deserving of the 10.

However, it was incredible looking for the time and a very good game too... although the Duke was a bit of a hindrance. And that was my one and only experience of the series. So I downloaded the Master Chief Collection and I’m currently working my way through the remastered original. I forgot how much fun it is bombing around in the Warthog.

Oh, and you missed one

[Colin]

I can make this one quick, I thought the first game on release was outstanding and returned to it quite a few times in future years for another play through. Pretty sure I'd still enjoy it now. Second wasn't as good, and I thought three to five were rubbish. I think it was 5 I hated in particular, irritating as I bought a system to play it after being told it was superb. Not played anything else so can't comment.

[teddymeow]

The first was great.

The second was poor.

The third was alright (and I finished it the week before release thanks to Track selling early and me being off work with both big toes broken).

I liked ODST but more due to the cast.

Reach was pretty good.

Four was pish (no real Cortana).

Five was gash.

[Dogg Thang]

I only played the first and third. The first did very little for me and I felt like all the people telling me how great it was only served to highlight the flaws. Like how people told me it had great AI but enemies just seem to duck in and out on repeating patterns and have no clue what happened to me when I walk around a rock. Really disliked the driving controls too. Never finished it.

I can’t remember how I ended up buying the third game but I did and, for some time, didn’t like that much either. But then it clicked and I enjoyed it. I liked that I could try different ways to get through hard sections. I liked that enemies would do different things. I think I still probably didn’t like the driving controls and it committed some gaming crimes if I remember correctly. I think it did that things where enemies were limited and you could clear areas out but, in a few parts, enemies would spawn infinitely and not alert you of this difference... although it’s possible it didn’t do this and I’m thinking of a different game. Anyway, I mostly enjoyed it.

But not enough to get another.

Oh a big thing about Halo 3: the storytelling was terrible and that tied into the gameplay. I had no idea why I was supposed to be doing anything at any stage in the game. So I didn’t have any real sense of motivation and was instead just going where the game told me to go.

[CMcK]

Overall I’m a fan of the Halo series but it’s had a mixture of highs and (relative) lows.

Halo - this was the first genuine next generation game IMHO. Looked great and the sound design was fantastic. Probably the last memorable video game soundtrack. The way the grunts chattered and the tactics the Covenant employed added a lot to the atmosphere of the game. The Flood changed things and upped the pace adding more pressure to you. Going through all the different zones of the Halo and trying out different vehicles added variety too.
I put Halo on one evening after work around 2100. A wee while later I noticed it had got dark outside and got up to close the blinds. It was the back of 2! That’s how good Halo was.
Used to get my mates round and run CAT5 cables round the house between three consoles for local matches. Two players on each machine and a few beers plus getting a bit hoarse shouting upstairs made for some great nights.

Halo 2 - played well and I probably had more fun as the Arbiter than the Chief. The two characters should arguably played with greater differences. Incredible quality rendering for the cutscenes.

Halo 3 - A bit lacking story wise but technically very impressive (dat lighting) and still played well. Shame about the abrupt ending. The abrupt ending was a shame. Dual wielding was very good too.

ODST - not the series finest hour but your character isn’t a walking tank like the Chief so the threat level was amped up in this installment. You had to adopt a different style of play this time around.

Reach - despite knowing what was coming this still carried reasonable emotional weight. Overall pretty good.

Halo 4 - I’m actually in the middle of this installment at present. Impressive use of the 360 hardware but I’m not convinced the new abilities add much to the proceedings.

[replicashooter]

Having never played any of the titles before and seeing that 1 gets all the hype is the Combat Evolved edition for the 360 the best to pick as it's supposed to be a remaster of the og Xbox title.

[JazzFunk]

Original Halo was always too repetitious and cut n' paste, protracted. I liked 2. 3 was grrrreat, as was ODST. Reach was dull and 4 was duller. Have Halo Wars to play, haven't got 5 yet.

One thing I can say about all the Halo games is that they play great.

[Leon Retro]

I remember getting Halo with my Xbox at launch and thinking it was brilliant in all areas. Even the title screen felt magical. It was the overall atmosphere of the game and how distinct the game design felt that really grabbed me and made it a future classic in my mind. I really need to play one of the remastered editions.

As much as I thought Halo 2 was good - and a clear improvement in many ways - it just didn't grab me, probably because I'm not a big FPS fan and I'd been satisfied by the first game.

So, I didn't bother with any other sequels. I've been heavily into retro gaming since around 2005, so the idea of playing modern FPS games isn't my cup of tea. When it comes to FPSes, I sometimes play Doom or one of the Quake games.

[Neon Ignition]

-Halo-
Used to frustrate me as to the praise it received. Though Metroid Prime wasn't the same kind of game _SD_ I right, it was much better. For all Halo got right it was a lazy product in some regards, the main one being the fifth mission where you face the Flood. At that point the game takes an infamous quality tumble and for me never fully recovers as it spits out reused content from those first four levels at you.

-Halo 2-
I enjoyed out missed out on the online portion of the experience so was left with the mostly average single player. With the immense hype the series was enjoying it fuelled a lot of my frustration with the series.

-Halo 3-
I felt better with this one. Halo MP has never wowed me, but I got a few hours out of it here and though flawed the game felt like a rounded enough package.

-Halo 3 ODST-
Odious-T. For me it's unquestionably the low point of the FPS entries, just took out any of the fun and swapped it out for one of the worst open hubs I can recall.

-Halo Reach-
But they pulled it back for this one, I enjoyed this with its biggest failing to the experience being how dated Halo had become as a whole. By now the genre had moved along so fast that the series was beginning to increasingly feel like a relic throwback to 90's FPS design. MS had been complacent as well due to the major sales figures the series enjoyed meaning the new releases looked heavily dated too.

-Halo 4-
It's ripped on but this, for me, felt like a massive shot in the arm. It brought the series up to date visually and impressed a lot considering it was a 360 title, showing the previous entries for their visual laziness. Though some gameplay changes irritated fans I enjoyed how the series was being brought in line with its competition more and overall I still think more fondly of this one than most others in the franchise.

-Halo 5-
I enjoyed it but it really did feel like a Halo 2 stumble. The split character approach never works and more fool them if they keep trying it. I think they'd only get away with replacing Master Chief if they replaced him with another ID-less Spartan so the difference was barely noticeable.

So, it's a series I've grown to enjoy more as the years have rolled on rather than thinking much of it out the gate but I do wonder how much longer it has in it. The series needs to adapt to survive in the long term but too many changes and it'll stop being Halo anymore. I'm curious how 343 will navigate that.

[Team Andromeda]

Halo 1 - one of the best FPS ever made and with some of the best AI ever seen and those GFX and 5,1 sound were off the chart at the time

Halo 2 -Pile of sheer crap

Halo 3 - Great game and some ace lighting effects let down by poor character models and a horrible ending

Halo 4 - Ok

Halo Reach - A great game and send off, via BUNGiE

Halo 3 ODST- It was just a spin off and was decent enough.

Halo 5 - Amazing online player modes and also wonderful art direction fab fire fights and also great music. but the story made no sense and I wanted to just be able to play as the Master Chief disliked the focus on 4 player co-op

Going forward I hope 343 and expect Halo 6 to fix the single player mode and not make the same screw up and for it to a be a showcase for One X in the GFX dept

[Asura]

Also, few comments here about Halo Wars so as someone who finished it, I should speak up.

I actually think Halo Wars was a mediocre game which was saved by fantastic level design. The mechanics and core gameplay weren't amazing; they were just competent (though visually it was pretty good), however the scenarios they created for you to navigate through were extremely clever and very entertaining, despite the obvious limits of what they had to work with.

It even had a pretty good paper-scissors-stone thing up until a point. It only fell apart when you unlocked the ability to summon ODST marines, as there were few challenges in the game that couldn't be completed by chucking a load of ODSTs at them.

[MrKirov]

Halo 2 -Pile of sheer crap

Hot take of the century right there.

[Neon Ignition]

Here goes the loose but easy clue for 032:

Clue: One Rock...