*** Official "Halo" Review & Discussion thread (1 Viewer)

[Leroy]

Just got about halfway thru the swamp. Boy how creepywas it wandering into that huge empty facility, with the menacing music and dark atmosphere. The cutscene with the Pvt's headset recorder was too cool, very Aliens!
This game is simply awesome. I haven't really been compelled to get thru a game since Half-Life.

 

[Kelley_B]

Halo in DD5.1 is awesome! Even the girlfriend was blown away by it.

 

[Dean Cooper]

Well I have just finished Halo last night on the normal setting. Here are a few of my comments so far.
First off I’d like to say that if you put a lot of importance in the “story” of a game you must get the prequel book for Halo (Halo The Fall of Reach). The story for Halo is very strong but to fully get what’s happening and why, you need to read the book. Halo is meant to be a piece or branch of the much larger and richer picture. We are going to see a few more games in this line I can guarantee you that.
Graphics:
The beauty is all in the details…
Taking a long hard look at the gobs of eye candy in Halo sure gives you a sense that we have finally reached the next level in gaming. The slightly different appearance of each marine to make them unique is quite a giant leap beyond what Halflife brought to the FPS. The grass looks like grass, the metal shines when you walk by using your flashlight. There are parts of the game when you have at least 30 to 40 creatures on the screen at the same time with a rock solid frame rate and explosions in this game are absolutely outstanding. It really feels like you are playing a movie with Halo.
Environments:
The environments range from dark creepy pathways to wide open snow covered fields to lush organic jungle. Halo is truly apiece of art in which most of the time I found myself adventuring just to look around and smell the roses. My only complaint is that some of the architecture of the levels uses the same room layout multiple times giving you the sense of “ hey I’ve been through this room before” even though you haven’t. I only experienced a couple times in which it was frustrating to figure out where to go but with a little persistence I was on my merry way again.
Sound:
Games were meant to be in 5.1 sound! It adds so much to the game that I am having a hard time finding the words to describe it. If you have a DD receiver you must, absolutely must use it when playing this game. The marines have different voices and sometimes-even accents, for something so small it sure adds a lot of realism to the game.
Controls:
To be honest I found the controls down right frustrating at first, but after about 2 hours of struggling with them I got to the point where I don’t even think about it anymore. Now that I’ve gone through the learning curve of them I find the controls to be quite responsive and very well thought out. Then I got to drive the warthog…back to the learning curve again but after a while and figuring out that the controls are to point instead of steer, I was back to my happy playing self.
Overall my favorite level has got to be the swamp; it has such an “Aliens” feel to it. Hell I yelled out “Oh fuck!” a few times during this bad boy.
Great game and if you have an Xbox, you should really give this one a serious look into. Things I haven’t mentioned yet and plan to are The coop play mode, and multiplayer games. I just haven’t spent enough time playing these modes to give a true opinion of them yet.
Dean

 

[Joseph Young]

Such as my Rogue Leader impressions, I also do not own an Xbox but rather had the opportunity to sit down with Halo for a couple of hours.
The way the game integrates all the tutorial/control settings into the opening sequence is brilliant. Being faced with a sudden Covenant attack, no weapon in hand, was exhilarating.
The music (especially the Gregorian-esque chanting) is superb.
I had kind of wished that the escape pod sequence could have allowed you to walk around the pod and look out a side window and see the ship far above and the planet below. Considering how much interactivity and details are packed into the game, I'm not complaining however.
The voice acting is understated and suitably dramatic. You won't find any embarassingly bad 'Rhyss Dallows' (SW:Starfighter) emoting here!
I found the handling of the Warthog to be quite easy, once I realized that the center target icon can be used to direct the vehicle, rather than trusting its implied physics.
The checkpoint system, whereby the game is split up into seamlessly integrated 'goals,' takes away much potential frustration by starting you back at the most recent checkpoint if you are killed.
I was watching this game on a plain old composite video connection, and even so the textures stood out as the best I have ever seen on a console FPS. From blades of grass, to rock faces, to reflective icy surfaces, every texture looks photorealistic at a distance, and is no slump close up either!
Overall, while this game does not personally merit the purchase of an Xbox for me, its an amazing start and gives me a lot of faith in a system I was previously apathetic about.
Not a complete score, based on only about 3 hours of play, including 2 person split screen multiplayer:
:star: :star: :star: 1/2

 

[Ed Brunelle]

Hmmmm...

Pioneer 720 (Widescreen - 480P or 1080i)

Dennon 5600 w/MSB DTS

X-Box with Halo - 2Player Co-op...

The best GAMING experience in my life (39 years). This is not just my opinion but everyone who trys it...

It is not perfect (yes you retrace your path) but so much detail that is soooo right.

We just beat it on Heroic (15 - 20 hours) and were totaly satisfied.

Sound - Graphics - Details incredible

One word... WOW

 

[James St]

I'm very close to the end and it has been one helluva game thus far. I agree with the reviews that everyone has posted. But I'm curious if anyone has had any problems with slowdown at all? I'm experiencing this a little driving the Warthog on the last mission. Has anyone else seen this?

 

[Max Leung]

Yep, the very last mission with the warthog does slow things down. Still playable. Boy are there a lot of baddies in that one!

 

[Camp]

The best experience in my life (39 years).

Geez...I hope you don't have a wife, girlfriend or children who read that statement.

 

[Ed Brunelle]

I should have said gaming exp.

Sorry, I did not think I needed the word GAMING in this thread - I promise to proof this better next time.

 

[Mike_G]

Well, I just finished it and I was VERY impressed. However,

going from control room to control room to control room to control room to control room to control room REALLY annoyed me.

:star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2
As for the NEED to play Marathon, it's not 100% necessary, but I tell ya, Halo is a 100% derivative of what the Marathon series was about. The weapons look the same, and even the rocket launcher is called a SPNKR. There are two signature lines from Marathon - "They're everywhere" and "Frogblast the ventcore". Halo has the first one, but not the second.
There's a level in one of the Marathon series called "Foe Hammer". Also, there's a level in Marathon and Halo called "Arrival".
Marathon - aliens invade your ship. You're the last marine on board. On board the ship are BOBs (Born on Board...and if you hear the Marines in Halo, one of them says "I know him, that was Bob!"), and mutant BOBs which run around yelling things like "Frogblast the ventcore" and they explode. The AI's name is Leela (Halo's equivalent to Cortana) who helps you along the way via text in the ship's control panels. There's a rampant AI named Durandal, and another AI named Tycho. Your job in this game is to pretty much kill the Pfhor who have invaded your ship, and keep them from getting to Earth. Gameplay is essentially on the Marathon and the Pfhor ship.
Marathon 2-Durandal and Marathon Inifinity put you on alien planets, alien ships, etc. Here we learn of the Jjaro, and their relationship to the Pfhor. It's been a while since I played the Marathon series but if anyone wants to know more of Marathon, and its link to Halo (look on Captain Keye's tunic for the Marathon logo, as well as the Marathon logo etched in the stone behind the Halo logo), go here:
http://marathon.bungie.org/story/
There are a lot of level designs in Halo that are taken right out of Marathon.
Mike

 

[Kelley_B]

I have two levels left in the game, had to take several days off as my reciever broke and I wasn't about to play the game in stereo, 5.1 in games rules! I hate FPS on consoles, but the Xbox controller and this game have reinstalled my faith in them....bring on the rest of The Flood!!!!

 

[Jonathon Tillman]

I have really gotten into this game and I play nothing elese, I play it all day, However for the past two days I have been stuck on the level 343 guilty spark I killed all the guys with wips and all the little dusters (whatever you call them) but I find myself stuck between two rooms one is a room with the bridge flashing and I can't get across and the other is just another room I can't go anywhere else just a big dome in the middle.

If anyone knows how to beat this level please share it with me.

Thanks

Jon

 

[Dean Cooper]

Hmm I think you are talking about the library level after your introduced to the flood. I'm not sure where exactly your talking about in the level but there are some tips I could give you to figure out what to do.
In that level there are a couple times where you have to go in a tunnel in one of the large holes in the floor. I usually tried to look for that blue ball thing to get a clue as to where to go. You also might be at one of the big lift rooms where you have to walk on the lift for it to work, that’s a huge room with a dome and kind of a light in the center of the ceiling.
As for an update on my impressions:
I have gone through to the 2 betrayals level playing on Legendary (still working on it)...Only play this skill level if your in to being killed a lot holy freaking insane AI at this skill level, the bastards hunt you down and kill you quick. The skill level steps are really quite amazing. I am so impressed with the changes in AI when you change from easy up to legendary. Halo is going to keep me happy for quite some time and to top it off my wife actually likes watching me play it! That folks is something VERY rare.
Dean

 

[Max Leung]

Jonathan, I think you're talking about the level where you've just landed and are looking for the Captain, NOT 343 Guilty Spark, which is after the level with the flashing/broken bridge.

To get past the bridge, you should jump down and look for crates that you can jump up from. I can't recall if it is in the same room or a different one, but that's all you need to do!

 

[Leroy]

I'm almost finished, but I'm having one heck of a time with the "final jump". Anyone give some tips on how to make it? I've tried several times but just miss everytime.

 

[Dave Falasco]

Yeah, Jonathon, I think I know where you're at, because I spent a lot of time running around from room to room looking for something to do. Max has it right--you have to jump on crates to get to the walkways around the sides of the rooms. Look for two crates, one lying on its side next to one standing up. Jump on the one lying down, jump up to the one standing up, and then jump up to the ledge to your right. It's a big pain getting the jumps lined up right, but once you realize you have to get vertical, you can get out of the level pretty quickly.
Now I am in the next level, following this annoying little blue light/C3P0 wannabe, and getting my arse handed to me on a regular basis by the Flood. Man, this game got hard!! Never thought I would miss the Covenant Elite or the Hunters, but damn, this Flood is unbelievable! Who was it who said that cowards die a thousand times before their death, and the valiant taste of death but once? I must be the most cowardly mofo on Halo, because I'm dying faster than you can say "Sega CD"!
Great game, though. Makes me want to throw my controller through a stained-glass window, but great game.

 

[Jonathon Tillman]

Thanks guys I got it.

Now on to the next level.

 

[JustinT]

This is definately the most fun I have had gaming since Counterstrike on the PC last year.

I switched the controls around so that the left control stick is used for aiming and the right control is used for moving. This is very similar to the way I had my controls set up in Goldeneye, so it feels very natural to me.

The Warthog is not hard to control once you figure out the system. The vehicle will automatically turn the way your view is facing if you simply hold the up on the control stick. Playing 4 player deathmatch with vehicles is a blast!

5.1 audio is simply amazing. When the alien dropships fly overhead you know exatly where they are. My SVS has lots of fun reproducing those frequencies. People watching me play are constantly turning their heads in confusion whenver somebody talks from the rear channels.

This game is amazing. I have yet to play the single player mode since I have been busy with cooperative play with my roomate.

 

[Kelley_B]

I'm going to try and talk the girlfriend into playing Co-Op with me tonight, she watched me play the last 3/4s of the game and just commented on how great it looked and sounded.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Hell, I don't even own an XBox, and I love Halo. I've gotten to the point where
that blue bastard sort of betrays you, and you gotta haul ass out of the Halo control center.

2 player Co-op rules!!! The Warthog and the tank rules. There's one board where my friend was controlling the tank, and I had the Warthog with a couple of Marine buddies on board, one for gunner and one for shotgun. My friend was pre-occupied with another big ship (I don't know what it is, but it kept hauling blue balls at us). Anyway, I get the idea that I should come in and save the day. There was a hill right next to the fighting area. I revved up the Warthog and flew off the hill. All I could say to my friend was:
Just the good ole boys
Never meaning no harm
Beats all you ever saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
Needless to say, the Warthog flipped over and two of the Marines died needlessly.
But me and my friend got some good laughs out of it.