Halo 3

[Simmy]

despite of Halo 3's somewhat watered down gameplay it's still better than any other non-Halo FPS, regardless of platform. the blend of gameplay mechanics, AI and variety of enemies, surroundings and combat situations is just outstanding.

What do you find watered down about Halo 3's gameplay Uli ? I personally feel it plays the best and is the most balanced so far. An expansion to the more tactical weapon set of Halo 2 and the reduction of Auto Aim has just made the gameplay an absolute joy, and is IMO the best gameplay of any FPS. I'm looking forward to delving back into Half-Life 2, when the orange box comes out, but putting the GFX/Story/Atmosphere to one side, I don't see the gameplay living upto Halo, it's just going to feel to stunted !

[B1gBeard]

agree, it wasn't wise from Bungie to bring in 2 more or less useless grenade types and other stuff. but Halo and Halo 2 had only 2 types of grenades and only useful weapons.

despite of Halo 3's somewhat watered down gameplay it's still better than any other non-Halo FPS, regardless of platform. the blend of gameplay mechanics, AI and variety of enemies, surroundings and combat situations is just outstanding.

how to explain someone the magic of Halo? is it even possible? guess it's either you love Halo or not. however, i think what sets Halo's "mechanics" apart from any other good FPS is the level of satisfaction you gain from the pure combat. also enemies are no soulless objects, seem more or less intelligent and adapt to your playstyle. it takes some effort and skill to overcome your enemies on Legendary.

I guess its all opinion at the end of the day eh?

I find the types of grenades and accessories and range of not so useful weapons dilutes the gameplay. Its harder to get purer than Quakes ranged weapon, area effect weapon, close combat weapon, strafing weapon and melee weapon.

As for single player. I can't honestly find an argument that Halo 3 does anything for the genre at all in single player sorry. Its simply not as good as whats gone before.

[dataDave]

Halo needs m+kb suppport more than anything.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Halo needs m+kb suppport more than anything.

You are kidding, right?

[Dogg Thang]

Halo needs m+kb suppport more than anything.

Dude, you're living in the past.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Halo needs m+kb suppport more than anything.

Just wait 3 years for the PC port to come out.

Mouse and keyboard, or the lack of, used to bother me, but that was years ago. Joypad is fine for games designed for it, like Halo. Try and use one on a PC game, like Quake 3, and you'd be struggling.

[Uli]

What do you find watered down about Halo 3's gameplay Uli ? I personally feel it plays the best and is the most balanced so far. An expansion to the more tactical weapon set of Halo 2 and the reduction of Auto Aim has just made the gameplay an absolute joy, and is IMO the best gameplay of any FPS. I'm looking forward to delving back into Half-Life 2, when the orange box comes out, but putting the GFX/Story/Atmosphere to one side, I don't see the gameplay living upto Halo, it's just going to feel to stunted !

watered down is the close combat gamplay for me. not by a big degree, just noticeable. the new equipment, weapons and grenade types are most of all nice gimmickery. what i really missed were the 2 extra frag and plasma grenades. the assault rifle and the shotgun are clearly less effective than before. also the reduced range of the Plasma Sword's kill strike annoyed me.

but Simmy, as i've already said before my opinion on which Halo is best in terms of single player gameplay may change with further playthrough of Halo 3 on Legendary. at least this is what happend with Halo 2, which got much better for me while playing on Legendary and taking some time to appreciate all nuances of the combat and tactical options.

[Freddo]

the great thing about the shield was it ws finally an end to the constant quicksave/quickload-a-thons most pc shooters games degenerate into on single player.

[Tobal]

I guess its all opinion at the end of the day eh?

I find the types of grenades and accessories and range of not so useful weapons dilutes the gameplay. Its harder to get purer than Quakes ranged weapon, area effect weapon, close combat weapon, strafing weapon and melee weapon.

As for single player. I can't honestly find an argument that Halo 3 does anything for the genre at all in single player sorry. Its simply not as good as whats gone before.

Wow, just wow. I can't believe anyone can say grenades dilute the gameplay, its like you want to go back to old quake and UT days long since passed there prime, it seems you have your rose tinted glasses as limited tactics and twitch gaming as had its day. Grenades offer extra tactics and can make for some brilliant strategy, the only useless genade in 3 is the inciderary.

Singler player Halo3 on just gameplay and A.I. alone trouches even Half-life 2and nothing onthe PC even comes close to that, as the recent trend for PC FPS has been massive mutlipayer nothing coming out that offers anything new and even then mutliplayer itself copies the perfected standards Halo set.

Call back when you get Crysis working in 08, then we might have something to talk about.

[dvdmike]

Dude, you're living in the past.

yes easy auto aim assist is way better then precise skill based movement

[Lyris]

Halo needs m+kb suppport more than anything.

It seriously does. The game pad is fine for some things, but it's a compromise all the same. Sure, a mouse and keyboard would lose that grippy, weighty feel, but... sniper rifles on a game pad. Good grief, that's frustrating.

[Brats]

You'll have to elaborate on that. The mechanics to me appear very similar to Unreal Tourny as mentioned earlier. While playing CTF and some Slayer I could quite easily have been playing the older game. There seem to be far too many weapons that do similar things or are very very situational as well. To many types of grenades. It all dilutes the gameplay imo.

I played UT at clan level, so I have some experience to back this up (and I don't agree at all with your implication that only people who haven't experienced PC shooters love Halo).

The fundamental difference between Halo and UT is in the mechanics of control and use. For example you had the hammer in UT, but it was rarely used outside of hammer jumps or for humiliation kills because it took time to switch to. UT was all about shooting - circle strafing and all the usual tactics.

The basic Halo formula (the infamous 30 seconds of fun) is a mixture of shields + shooting + grenades + melee which combine in an amazing way that equal more than the sum of their parts and has yet to be matched.

The shield I personally don't like as it feels cheap. With the quick respawns do you really need a way of regenerating your health anyway?

Firstly, what you personally like doesn't come into it. The shield system has been copied by loads of games (even those outside of the FPS genre) so it was highly influential regardless of your personal opinion.

Secondly, the delayed respawning and slower movement in Halo is what makes the sheild so important. This clearly shows that you haven't been playing Halo to a high level or you would know that. Play CTF on Halo and ignore the sheild and your flag will be lost whilst you wait to respawn and get back into position. That's another fundamental difference bteween it and UT. In UT, life is cheap. In Halo, it's the player that works with the shields that wins the day.

[Brats]

It seriously does. The game pad is fine for some things, but it's a compromise all the same. Sure, a mouse and keyboard would lose that grippy, weighty feel, but... sniper rifles on a game pad. Good grief, that's frustrating.

That's the whole point though. Since when did easier = better? Sniper rifles on a M + KB just feel cheap to me, like clicking on heads. I might as well be using MS Word.

Sniper kills with a joypad take skill. God forbid Halo should become yet another sniper fest .

[Lyris]

I like a challenge, but not when the challenge is related to poor control. Isn't that like saying it's more fun to drive a car that has its steering wheel clamped?

For the record, I've played Halo 2 for the last 2.5 years and have all the time been pissed off with the Sniper thanks to the poor interface between player and the game.

[Uli]

That's the whole point though. Since when did easier = better? Sniper rifles on a M + KB just feel cheap to me, like clicking on heads. I might as well be using MS Word.

Sniper kills with a joypad take skill. God forbid Halo should become yet another sniper fest .

an excellent and very true point!