If you've been awake for the bast few years chances are you've heard about Halo. Whether you love it or hate, I think you'll agree with one thing: Halo is half-baked. Why do I say so? Because I have nothing better to do than to analyze a game that has as much depth as a piece of paper.
Let's start this little nit picky analysis with the conflict itself. It's man vs. alien, a tale that has been told before hundreds of times. It gets the job done in terms of transporting Master "Rambo" Chief to his alien filled destination but it doesn't take too many creative liberties. How so? Let's start with:
The aliens:
The covenant, a group of aliens. That's it. They fall into a few cliches such as the "Aliens Speak Perfect English" cliche and the "Tiny aliens make a lot of growly noises and act "funny" while big aliens roar a lot" cliche but it doesn't copy and paste the interesting cliches. No giant, multi-story tentacled alien monster eating cities or anything exciting like that. Just Grunts, Jakals, Elites (to a point), Brutes, Head crabs and the occasional Hunter do little to excite. They're not threatening or varied, they're just there to shoot at, and they don't even die that spectacularly.
But, the aliens are just half of this conflict.
Humans:
Marines? In space? Is it because they're in ships? Makes sense, I suppose. What makes no sense are the weapons. Why are the humans armed with assault rifles and pistols? They're fighting aliens! They should have weapons specifically tailored for the situation. They should have guns made to pierce a Brute's armor, guns made to shoot down a fast moving Elite and guns to deal with large numbers of head crabs. Not weapons made for killing soft, squishy humans.
While we're at it:
The weapons:
The aliens' weaponry is appropriate alien, what with all the "pew pew pew" and neon lasers. It's standard stuff, they get the job done. But the human weapons lack power. The assault rifle sounds like it's coughing, doesn't recoil and does as much damage to an alien as farting on it. They feel inadequate. It's like you're up against vampires and you're armed with standard military weaponry but no silver bullets, wooden stakes or crucifixes.
The Technology:
It's the future and humans haven't developed unmanned combat drones, jet-packs, or transport vehicles that don't look like Jeeps. It's all very understated and unimaginative. The Army is coming up with more creative weapons/gadgets/vehicles as we speak. The Halo universe isn't limited by such pesky things such as physics or realism, they could have mechs and transforming tanks.
The Environments:
The ring world of Halo looks a lot like Earth. Then you're on Earth.
Master Chief:
The fact that he's the pinnacle of armed combat yet relies on underpowered guns, can't fly, doesn't have night vision, can't sprint or take cover really makes think that the bar for "the pinnacle" will be lowered significantly in the future. That and the fact that he doesn't even have a combat knife makes me think he's an under-trained soldier who taped some tin foil to his kevlar.
The ODST:
They're useless in Halo 3: ODST. They have knives but don't use them as a melee attack, their guns are even more underpowered and they're just cliches. The worst part? They were supposed to go raid a huge covenant ship with just a silenced SMG and a Pistol when you need around 2 clips to kill one brute. It's like trying to raid a NAVY Carrier with a Magnum and a smile.
Halo is an average game with a half-baked universe which offers nothing to 'wow' over.
Opinions?
Sorry for the kilometer long post. D:
EDIT:
I'd like to take a moment to thank all of the escapists who took time to read through this wall of text and responded to it in a mature, level headed manner as I've com to expect from you guys. Thank you for all the responses.
I have to admit one thing that you've already figured out by now: My research is sort of Half-assed. The books offer a myriad of interesting back stories to all of this but not the game. It's as if the game saved all the good stuff for the books.
PS:
I know most of you will agree with this:
Why is the Scorpion tank driver exposed? It's always bugged me. I remember playing Halo and whenever I saw a Scorpion in multiplayer I'd think "Go for the exposed driver". That just seems like a very poor design choice, given the fact that tanks are meant to be driven in combat, where they're exposed to bullets, explosives and things that would melt a person's face off.
Let's start this little nit picky analysis with the conflict itself. It's man vs. alien, a tale that has been told before hundreds of times. It gets the job done in terms of transporting Master "Rambo" Chief to his alien filled destination but it doesn't take too many creative liberties. How so? Let's start with:
The aliens:
The covenant, a group of aliens. That's it. They fall into a few cliches such as the "Aliens Speak Perfect English" cliche and the "Tiny aliens make a lot of growly noises and act "funny" while big aliens roar a lot" cliche but it doesn't copy and paste the interesting cliches. No giant, multi-story tentacled alien monster eating cities or anything exciting like that. Just Grunts, Jakals, Elites (to a point), Brutes, Head crabs and the occasional Hunter do little to excite. They're not threatening or varied, they're just there to shoot at, and they don't even die that spectacularly.
But, the aliens are just half of this conflict.
Humans:
Marines? In space? Is it because they're in ships? Makes sense, I suppose. What makes no sense are the weapons. Why are the humans armed with assault rifles and pistols? They're fighting aliens! They should have weapons specifically tailored for the situation. They should have guns made to pierce a Brute's armor, guns made to shoot down a fast moving Elite and guns to deal with large numbers of head crabs. Not weapons made for killing soft, squishy humans.
While we're at it:
The weapons:
The aliens' weaponry is appropriate alien, what with all the "pew pew pew" and neon lasers. It's standard stuff, they get the job done. But the human weapons lack power. The assault rifle sounds like it's coughing, doesn't recoil and does as much damage to an alien as farting on it. They feel inadequate. It's like you're up against vampires and you're armed with standard military weaponry but no silver bullets, wooden stakes or crucifixes.
The Technology:
It's the future and humans haven't developed unmanned combat drones, jet-packs, or transport vehicles that don't look like Jeeps. It's all very understated and unimaginative. The Army is coming up with more creative weapons/gadgets/vehicles as we speak. The Halo universe isn't limited by such pesky things such as physics or realism, they could have mechs and transforming tanks.
The Environments:
The ring world of Halo looks a lot like Earth. Then you're on Earth.
Master Chief:
The fact that he's the pinnacle of armed combat yet relies on underpowered guns, can't fly, doesn't have night vision, can't sprint or take cover really makes think that the bar for "the pinnacle" will be lowered significantly in the future. That and the fact that he doesn't even have a combat knife makes me think he's an under-trained soldier who taped some tin foil to his kevlar.
The ODST:
They're useless in Halo 3: ODST. They have knives but don't use them as a melee attack, their guns are even more underpowered and they're just cliches. The worst part? They were supposed to go raid a huge covenant ship with just a silenced SMG and a Pistol when you need around 2 clips to kill one brute. It's like trying to raid a NAVY Carrier with a Magnum and a smile.
Halo is an average game with a half-baked universe which offers nothing to 'wow' over.
Opinions?
Sorry for the kilometer long post. D:
EDIT:
I'd like to take a moment to thank all of the escapists who took time to read through this wall of text and responded to it in a mature, level headed manner as I've com to expect from you guys. Thank you for all the responses.
I have to admit one thing that you've already figured out by now: My research is sort of Half-assed. The books offer a myriad of interesting back stories to all of this but not the game. It's as if the game saved all the good stuff for the books.
PS:
I know most of you will agree with this:
Why is the Scorpion tank driver exposed? It's always bugged me. I remember playing Halo and whenever I saw a Scorpion in multiplayer I'd think "Go for the exposed driver". That just seems like a very poor design choice, given the fact that tanks are meant to be driven in combat, where they're exposed to bullets, explosives and things that would melt a person's face off.
. It was the level after the flood if I remembered correctly.