Why is Halo deemed such a masterpiece and/or milestone?

[Space Cowboy]

So, I'm currently catching up on Halo (currently playing CE) and I'm trying to understand what all the fuzz is about. I mean, Halo sparked a HUGE franchise and a massive fan following. However, so far the game has been an above average shooter at best. A lot of samy corridors and a lot of bullet spongy enemies. The shooting isn't exactly stellar either - weapons have little kickback, often feel weak and enemies show little feedback to being shot. When I compare this to Half-Life which came out 3 years earlier, it's barely even a competition. I can just pick that one up and barely ever notice that it's from 1998 apart from the graphics. Same goes for Quake 2 and even Quake 1 to a degree. So, is Halo CE just that - a slightly above average shooter which was elevated to cult status because console gamers were devoid of any other options? I'm also wondering if any of the sequels were the ones which made the series big - cause I honestly can't quite see it in Halo CE right now.

Edit: Thanks everyone for the lively discussion. It's wildly interesting to me to hear all the different opinions about Halo CE, be they negative, positive or in between. I'm still leaning more towards negative (I'll still try to finish it, though) but I'm definitely looking forward to Halo 2, now.

[Jun]

alot of it is the art design and world

[DoomTheRobot]

Halo CE's campaign just did not age well at all, in my opinion.
You will probably find much more enjoyment in Halo 2's campaign.

I think a lot of the fanfare mostly came about with it's multiplayer/Xbox release. I always assumed the cult following is because of the sequels. Don't get me wrong there are people out there who absolutely love CE's campaign, but a lot of other people (myself included) will tell you they became total fans of the series because of Halo 2 or 3.

[Nathan]

Halo gameplay aspects done better over Half-Life or Quake for instance:
-FEAR-like AI, different enemy types with different personalities and behaviours, their awareness based on sight and sound, having those survival instincts, different group coordinations
-Melee & Grenades upgraded from clunky weapons you cycle through to being right there with gunplay
-Vehicles integrated into main combat loop, encounters often designed like a battlefield with mortar tanks in the back, ghosts charging in, turrets, hunters protecting an entrance, elites, grunts, jackals flanking to the sides, you with AI friendlies rolling in in a warthog or tank, and banshees flying from above to harass you.

Visuals in 2001:
-The particle effects and some of the lighting and shaded surfaces and effects, Halo switches through different environments and daytimes to showcase the variety it could do, the standard spaceship, large foresty valley, desert-like cliffs, tropical island, snowy canyon, swamps-- All with their own fog and rain and snow and other effects, obviously to showcase what the Xbox could do over its competitors, but still look good
-And artstyle was a vibrant gorgeous exotic switch from the browns of Quake and military sciency compounds of Half-Life, something different from the standard.
-Artstyle was part of gameplay too, differentiated factions from each other, like a good shooter it telegraphed a threat level of an enemy, as did their overall silhouette, design, behaviour, all in service of gameplay.

FEAR-like comparisons I need to point out that with how you can have in fights all the bouncing physics-based particles and muzzleflashes lighting scenes and smoke emanating from gunbarrels and bullet casings flying and sliding across floors and walls littered with bullet decals and slowly fading glowing scorch decals of plasma burning and enemies recoiling in pain and scream of agony as they stumble back from being shot with blood spurting out of them-- Yeah, that was impressive to see in 2001.


EDIT: LOL, wait, just reread your topic, you seriously trying to say that enemies show little feedback to being hit?? Is this just a troll topic? The sparks, the elaborated animated painstates, even just physically twitching, the bullet spongiest enemy like a Hunter will twitch excessively when shot. Weapon feedback is excessive.
Maybe you think FEAR too lacks feedback then.

Notice Steam says you don't even own it here, hmmm.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by Nathan:

Halo gameplay aspects done better over Half-Life or Quake for instance:
-FEAR-like AI, different enemy types with different personalities and behaviours, their awareness based on sight and sound, having those survival instincts, different group coordinations
-Melee & Grenades upgraded from clunky weapons you cycle through to being right there with gunplay
-Vehicles integrated into main combat loop, encounters often designed like a battlefield with mortar tanks in the back, ghosts charging in, turrets, hunters protecting an entrance, elites, grunts, jackals flanking to the sides, you with AI friendlies rolling in in a warthog or tank, and banshees flying from above to harass you.

Visuals in 2001:
-The particle effects and some of the lighting and shaded surfaces and effects, Halo switch through different environments to showcase the variety it could do, the standard spaceship, large foresty valley, desert-like cliffs, tropical island, snowy canyon, swamps-- All with their own fog and rain and snow and other effects, obviously to showcase what the Xbox could do over its competitors, but still look good
-And artstyle was a vibrant gorgeous exotic switch from the browns of Quake and military sciency compounds of Half-Life, something different from the standard.
-Artstyle was part of gameplay too, differentiated factions from each other, like a good shooter it telegraphed a threat level of an enemy, as did their overall silhouette, design, behaviour, all in service of gameplay.

FEAR-like comparisons I need to point out that with how you can have in fights all the bouncing physics-based particles and muzzleflashes lighting scenes and smoke emanating from gunbarrels and bullet casings flying and sliding across floors and walls littered with bullet decals and slowly fading glowing scorch decals of plasma burning and enemies recoiling in pain and scream of agony as they stumble back from being shot with blood spurting out of them-- Yeah, that was impressive to see in 2001.


EDIT: LOL, wait, just reread your topic, you seriously trying to say that enemies show little feedback to being hit?? Is this just a troll topic? The sparks, the elaborated animated painstates, even just physically twitching, the bullet spongiest enemy like a Hunter will twitch excessively when shot. Weapon feedback is excessive.
Maybe you think FEAR too lacks feedback then.

Notice Steam says you don't even own it here, hmmm.

Dude, when I'm not playing on steam, I'm playing on Gamepass obviously. And yes, the enemy feedback seems kinda weak to me, at least for some enemies (especially the bigger ones) who might slightly twitch at times when being hit but it's barely noticable and there's very little if any blood splatter.

[Delta_Assault]

It standardized FPS controls on a console.

The vehicle driving is pretty good.

Introduced the regenerating health mechanic.

Good enemy AI (The only good enemy AI you ever hear mentioned is from Half-Life, Halo, or FEAR).

Not to say that I think it's a masterpiece, but it did do some notable things back in 2001.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by Delta_Assault:

It standardized FPS controls on a console.

The vehicle driving is pretty good.

Introduced the regenerating health mechanic.

Good enemy AI (The only good enemy AI you ever hear mentioned is from Half-Life, Halo, or FEAR).

Not to say that I think it's a masterpiece, but it did do some notable things back in 2001.

Yeah, I definitely agree that the vehicle driving and combat definitely is pretty cool and rather innovative for its time. I kinda wished there was more of that and less of those samy underground hallways with barely any destinction in between them. And I did notice the enemy AI but only after it was mentioned - again due to the samy level design and the constant hords of enemies coming at you I feel that the AI barely adds to the enjoyment. Just doesn't come together as well as some of the other games I mentioned. What I also miss very much is a sprint button which would shake up the combat quite significantly imo. Anyway, I gonna soldier throught the CE for the story and just hope that Halo 2 is gonna be the game which really grabs me and pulls me in.

[zorri]

halo 2 and 3 are better imo but tbh playing all the halo in coop is fun af and the whole universe that this franchise created is just cool in general

[Space Cowboy]

Btw, I vaguely remember playing the original (and absolutely horrible) PC port back in the days and also being quite underwhelmed. And I think I reached the point where I initially stopped playing - it's (another) underground facility called the Library where the game finally seems to become a horde shooter. I was extremely annoyed back then, and I'm still quite annoyed right now, lol. This time I gonna keep at it, though - can't get any worse than that.

[Nathan]

Yeah level design is atrocious, universally agreed on. Too much copy-paste, a bit too much unused space.
I do think there are a few standout levels which are actually good.
The Silent Cartographer has this circular island design where you can drive around it, and it has two facilities placed in neat spots, the main one you go through the outside, and the side one you have to go through the inside of the island, and the combat encounters are pretty neat.
I think the buildup of 343 Guilty Spark is done well, though the level design had repetition.
The Truth & Reconciliation level had a nice progression of the canyons to the ship, and the hangar combat encounter I think was designed for the AI to shine when you're fighting between the boxes and everyone is flanking everyone, with other enemies taking potshots from above.
The when you crash on Halo it has this verticality to it with the rolling hills, valleys, and they way the Warthog feels to drive (wish more PC FPS games allowed you to steer vehicles with mouseaim instead of WASD) and the physics, and it had some minor nonlinearity, searching for marine holdouts, there too they tried to give this arena like feel with the convoluted Forerunner structure designs.

But that's about it.
Though The Assault on The Control Room had some great encounters, it was stretched way too long with repeated parts. Like when you first enter the round rooms between corridors to the outside, where there is cover and paths to flank and lose the AI, or when they just give you an active camo pickup to more play with the AI and see how you can manipulate it, that's fun, when it's done a dozen times in basically the same room, ehhh.... That time you get outside with the warthog and then the scorpion, those are probably the only highlights of that level with that actual assault feel going up to bunkered positions with those mortars and aerial assaults and groundtroops (and if you manage to snag the Banshee on the bridge before the elite right outside the Control Room).
Library is awful.

Halo 2 & 3 have better level design with exploration with at least some goodies, and I love the mixed dual wielding, improvements to AI, you being able to manually swap weapons with NPCs, or boarding a vehicle and that way being able to steal almost everything.

[Shalashaska]

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

So, I'm currently catching up on Halo (currently playing CE) and I'm trying to understand what all the fuzz is about. I mean, Halo sparked a HUGE franchise and a massive fan following. However, so far the game has been an above average shooter at best. A lot of samy corridors and a lot of bullet spongy enemies. The shooting isn't exactly stellar either - weapons have little kickback, often feel weak and enemies show little feedback to being shot. When I compare this to Half-Life which came out 3 years earlier, it's barely even a competition. I can just pick that one up and barely ever notice that it's from 1998 apart from the graphics. Same goes for Quake 2 and even Quake 1 to a degree. So, is Halo CE just that - a slightly above average shooter which was elevated to cult status because console gamers were devoid of any other options? I'm also wondering if any of the sequels were the ones which made the series big - cause I honestly can't quite see it in Halo CE right now.

This thread is as good as saying, i don't get why the floppy disk was such a breakthrough in technology.
At 'the time' it was a breakthrough for consoles.
People liked the characters and the world design.

I personally don't get the fuss around half-life.
Sewage shooter.

[Delta_Assault]

Originally posted by Shalashaska:

I personally don't get the fuss around half-life.
Sewage shooter.

At the time, it was a breakthrough for PC shooters. Nobody had seen the immersive scripting and first person storytelling that Valve was doing. Mind you, this was the era of games like Quake 2 and Unreal and SiN. Half-Life was a revelation.

You wouldn't have had Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, and so on without Half-Life.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by Jun:

alot of it is the art design and world

^^^^

This. The lore is amazing. If you're interested in playing the games chronologically I'd recommend it in this order. Just know you're not alone with Halo CE. In fact the only levels I enjoy are the Flood ones (except for Two Betrayals, f*** that mission).

-Halo Wars
-Halo Reach
-Halo CE
-Halo 2
-Halo 3 ODST
-Halo 3
-Halo 4
-Halo 5
-Halo Wars 2
-Halo Infinite (once it comes out lol)

Also there's some really good books and visual novels out there too. Halo: Evolutions is a pretty good read as its comprised of a bunch of short stories. "The Mona Lisa" and "Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss" are my two favorite picks from that book. I believe there's also a graphic novel for Mona Lisa too.

[Falleax]

Originally posted by Equinox:

Originally posted by Jun:

alot of it is the art design and world

^^^^

This. The lore is amazing. If you're interested in playing the games chronologically I'd recommend it in this order. Just know you're not alone with Halo CE. In fact the only levels I enjoy are the Flood ones (except for Two Betrayals, f*** that mission).

-Halo Wars
-Halo Reach
-Halo CE
-Halo 2
-Halo 3 ODST
-Halo 3
-Halo 4
-Halo 5
-Halo Wars 2
-Halo Infinite (once it comes out lol)

Also there's some really good books and visual novels out there too. Halo: Evolutions is a pretty good read as its comprised of a bunch of short stories. "The Mona Lisa" and "Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss" are my two favorite picks from that book. I believe there's also a graphic novel for Mona Lisa too.

Playing the series in chronological order is a terrible idea because the spin offs spoil the main story, play in release order always.

[Gimli]

Originally posted by Falleax:

Originally posted by Equinox:

^^^^

This. The lore is amazing. If you're interested in playing the games chronologically I'd recommend it in this order. Just know you're not alone with Halo CE. In fact the only levels I enjoy are the Flood ones (except for Two Betrayals, f*** that mission).

-Halo Wars
-Halo Reach
-Halo CE
-Halo 2
-Halo 3 ODST
-Halo 3
-Halo 4
-Halo 5
-Halo Wars 2
-Halo Infinite (once it comes out lol)

Also there's some really good books and visual novels out there too. Halo: Evolutions is a pretty good read as its comprised of a bunch of short stories. "The Mona Lisa" and "Stomping on the Heels of a Fuss" are my two favorite picks from that book. I believe there's also a graphic novel for Mona Lisa too.

Playing the series in chronological order is a terrible idea because the spin offs spoil the main story, play in release order always.

Alright, two differing opinions. Guess its up to the OP :)

Guess I'm just more of a nerd about the story lol because I always play chronologically, ever since I was a kid haha

[Shalashaska]

Originally posted by Delta_Assault:

Originally posted by Shalashaska:

I personally don't get the fuss around half-life.
Sewage shooter.

At the time, it was a breakthrough for PC shooters. Nobody had seen the immersive scripting and first person storytelling that Valve was doing. Mind you, this was the era of games like Quake 2 and Unreal and SiN. Half-Life was a revelation.

You wouldn't have had Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, and so on without Half-Life.

I disagree that it was a breakthrough for pc.