Understanding Halo's Success and Mainstream Appeal

[Jezzascmezza]

I think because it's quite accessible.
I know Halo 3 was the first FPS I ever played on consoles, and it really helped me get into and accept the genre.
Also Halo 1 was pretty ground-breaking for its time, and I think a lot of people blown away by that game stuck with the series over the years.

 

[sonofliber]

actually is pretty simple, it was a good game, which was marketed a lot, and was for a console starved of games that a lot of people owned.

it was a game release at the right moment at the right time, nothing more.

oh and the main reason:

it was on a CONSOLE.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

because halo is empowering without being unenjoyable.

halo is a game where you are a hero being heroic (in an unapologetic fashion), which is so very rare in games these days.

its a game which lets you see a vast feild of foes and take them down, you reduce fleets of tanks, gargantuan mechanised scarabs, squadrons of aircraft and hordes of ravenous alien foes (on many ocassions in the same engagement)to rubble; with a robust and delightful arsenal.

it offers what doom once did but without the oozing veneer of horror and grittiness.

laced throughtout this game play is a mystic space opera filled with scheming villains and stoic heroes.

i find it to be positively arthurian.

(and all underscored by one the gamings greatest soundtracks)

of course its popular its unique

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Halo is special for me, because it was the first FPS I ever enjoyed. I didn't give two craps about the genre, but one night a freind brought round Halo 3 around. I tried the campaign, and it freaking blew me away. Granted, I didn't know what the hell was going on until I actually got the first one for myself, but even that relic astuonded me. The freeroaming levels, the satysfing weponry, the amazing soundtrack... I've been one of the biggest Halo fans you can find without going into the "screeching toddler" part of the fandom ever since. Is the story a bit convoluted and cliche? Yes. Are there some bad games and spinoffs? Yes. But I love the series. IMO, the open levels and free choice of guns offered, even at Halo's worst, make it much better then the best spunkgargleweewee.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

It's a very well designed first person shooter with cool weapons, cool vehicles, and you get to be a superhuman in a robot suit who can jump 10 feet in the air and flip a tank over. Also I feel like there's legitimate care and consideration put into every sequel and usually the core gameplay gets a few fancy tweaks or additions. It doesn't feel nearly as forcefully shat out as a lot of other game sequels do.