Halo 3

[arcnas]

Ok that explains the aliens, im afraid i cant stop the hate, the game just dosent do it for me, some people will love it, but im not feeling it at all, as i said it fells so generic, im very dissapointed i wanted to love it i can assure you of that.

[cavalcade]

Firstly, to say Halo 3 is any less of a corridor shooter than Gears is ridiculous. They both have very similar level mechanics. And yes, Halo may put more enemies on screen, but I'd challenge that the resulting feel is any more epic than Gears. Probably less so.

Bioshock is a dreadful shooter, and to use it as an example of a decent FPS is laughable. It's a great adventure game, a terrible FPS. I don't deny Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 won't be decent games, the problem is they are both shoring up dwindling pool of games which steadfastly refuse to adapt to the new baseline features I'd expect in a combat shooter. In as much as Halo brought us the limited weapon set and recharging shield, Gears brought us a new benchmark in the cover mechanic (and yes, I know kill.switch did it first, but I'm talking about a major release here).

"Personally I absolutely loved the single player from beginning to end. There were no bad bits and I was continually blown away by the scale and set pieces."

Even the best games have bad bits. That's a bold statement.

"I think the Chief has a translator in his suit as they haven translated a lot of the Covenant language. I think this is explained in the novels."

So how come they speak in English in the cut scenes when Master Chief isn't there? It's just lame. I've seen more alien looking creatures in Dunfermline than I've seen through the entire Halo trilogy.

What we have here is an overhyped product, with a below par single player, but very solid multiplayer. It plays solidly, sounds nice, looks a bit poor. It's a bit old fashioned, and probably only really appeals to people who lived and breathed Halo 1 and 2. Compare this to Gears which was almost as heavily promoted and actually exceeded the hype on delivery. It moved gaming forwards and set new standards in graphical expectations for next gen gaming. Both are on the same platform, with the same publisher, and contest a similar genre.

It is entirely fair to compare the two.

[Swallow]

Quite. Gears of War is a visceral blast from beginning to end. Halo 3 is just... dull.

[RustyS Badge]

horses for courses. GOW to me was as dull as dishwater. A one trick pony at best. Im loving Halo 3 and anyone who had to listen to me whinge while playing Halo 2 will tell you Im not the series biggest fan.

[cavalcade]

horses for courses. GOW to me was as dull as dishwater. A one trick pony at best. Im loving Halo 3 and anyone who had to listen to me whinge while playing Halo 2 will tell you Im not the series biggest fan.

Explain to me how Gears of War is a one trick pony, and Halo 3 is a highly trained pony with a repertoire of tricks, because I'm confused.

Both involve walking forwards and killing everything in the way, with the occasional break to look at a story segment.

One does this so much better than the other, and it isn't Halo 3.

[Dogg Thang]

I don't mind the aliens speaking English, but I definitely could have done without the 'comedy' voices for the grunts.

[Daragon]

I didn't think too much of GoW either personally - it just didn't click with me. I've never been much of a fan of 3rd person shooters and the dull areas and online maps were just uninspiring and bland.

Halo 3 is an absolute laugh online, and watching all the OTT deaths always brings a smile to my face. I spent a good few hours at least last night just playing back some of my games and laughing my ass off. Single player is quality as well - the first chapter was incredible despite people who must have been playing it on an SD TV calling the visuals archaic. Halo 2.5 indeed....

[RustyS Badge]

Well I never said that Halo was particularly any different. The bigger range of weaponry, enemies, vehicles, level design for one at least mean some level of variation. GOW has none. The MP side of things is incomparable. GOW beats Halo in one department, gfx. Oh and your much loved cover system, which is actually a bit crap and cumbersome. R6 does it better. Whoop de ****in do. Like I said I've never thought Halo was the be all and end all.

edit: 4p co op > 2p co op too?

[cavalcade]

I don't mind the aliens speaking English, but I definitely could have done without the 'comedy' voices for the grunts.

What is worse is the booklet with the limited edition that tries manfully to flesh out the alien races but reminded me of the start of the Roadrunner cartoons where it would freeze and you'd see "Fastus Birdus" on the screen and "Peckish Wolfus"

Absolutely nauseating. When you think about the amazing works of creativity and imagination that have been committed to the pages of the worlds finest science fiction novels which sell a handful each, and the American pre-teen sci fi world of Halo 3 which is the highest selling thingy ever, ever, then it's enough to make me cry.

[Bleeders]

Aye, on a multiplayer scale, Halo 3 has no equals, only lessers.

[cavalcade]

Well I never said that Halo was particularly any different. The bigger range of weaponry, enemies, vehicles, level design for one at least mean some level of variation. GOW has none. The MP side of things is incomparable. GOW beats Halo in one department, gfx. Oh and your much loved cover system, which is actually a bit crap and cumbersome. R6 does it better. Whoop de ****in do. Like I said I've never thought Halo was the be all and end all.

edit: 4p co op > 2p co op too?

I never said Rainbow Six: Vegas is bad, it's another example of a game that's a damn sight better than Halo 3 in single or multiplayer.

Looking at a multiplayer match of Halo 3 and Rainbow Six Vegas side by side is like looking at a Charlie Chapin film compared to Saving Private Ryan. One is full of bouncing, circle strafing and random grenade deaths, the other full of strategy, positioning and intelligent kills. One is the future of gaming, the other isn't.

For sure, Halo 3 is fun in multiplayer, but if you put a halfway decent matchmaking system on any multiplayer game it's fun. If you bolted Shadowrun onto the back of the Halo 3 matchmaking engine it would be good.

I like the Forge stuff, and playing MP Halo 3 is knockabout entertainment, like going down to the park to kick a deflated football about with your mates.

But that's all it is - Halo 3 is the jumpers for goalposts of gaming.

[RustyS Badge]

I never said Rainbow Six: Vegas is bad, it's another example of a game that's a damn sight better than Halo 3 in single or multiplayer.

Looking at a multiplayer match of Halo 3 and Rainbow Six Vegas side by side is like looking at a Charlie Chapin film compared to Saving Private Ryan. One is full of bouncing, circle strafing and random grenade deaths, the other full of strategy, positioning and intelligent kills. One is the future of gaming, the other isn't.

For sure, Halo 3 is fun in multiplayer, but if you put a halfway decent matchmaking system on any multiplayer game it's fun. If you bolted Shadowrun onto the back of the Halo 3 matchmaking engine it would be good. I like the Forge stuff, and playing MP Halo 3 is knockabout entertainment, like going down to the park to kick a deflated football about with your mates.

But that's all it is - Halo 3 is the jumpers for goalposts of gaming.

play with good players who work as a team and theres as much strategising in Halo as R6. Play FFA on R6 and theres as much mindless run and gun as Halo. *shrugs*.

The beauty of Halo to me is its variation. You cant do anything like rocket race on R6

[cavalcade]

The beauty of Halo to me is its variation. You cant do anything like rocket race on R6

This is true. And there is no denying that Halo 3 has strength in customisation, and the market leading multiplayer matching engine. The problem is, no matter how much icing you add to the cake, if the actual cake isn't very nice, you still have a bad cake.

But I don't really want to be accused of trolling here, basically I can quite appreciate the love many feel for Halo 3. I think it has some good points. I think it will remain the most popular game on Live till the 360 is replaced and/or Halo 4 comes out, and I think it is spreading a lot of joy and happiness across the world. If you like it, I am happy for you, and hopefully we can meet online and you can rifle butt me in the back of the head to let me know how you feel about my opinions!

[fishbowlhead]

Have to say im very dissapointed with the game. I thourght bungie would of looked at 2 and scrapped virtually everything about it.

-Brutes are still damage sponges.
-Still not enough ammo for the human weapons.
-Duel wielding is still useless.
-The health bar hasnt returned, why?
-The sound is quite frankly weak, weapons sound like pea shoters now compared to the meaty sounds of halo.
-Story still sucks, 3 fantastic books to work from and this is the best bungie can do? pathetic.


Sorry but its very dissapointing stuff.

[Swallow]

But Gears' combat is fundamentally different - you are continually being thrust into the heart of combat - Halo has always had you approach it's skirmishes from one direction, and any variety is introduced only by the seldom-differing level design - this has always struck me as more "linear" than Gears ever is.