Why does everyone hate Halo?
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Normal people DISLIKE Halo because:
- They don't like the Plot
- They don't like the gameplay
- They don't like the characters
- They don't like
- They think it's overhyped and are disappointed when they actually play it (which I'll admit is a problem - it IS overhyped, to an extent)
or any combination of the above.
I'm fine with these people. I'll disagree with them on many levels, but I'll respect them because they're being reasonable. Nothing wrong with having a differing opinion.
Haters HATE Halo because:
- It's popular
- It's not made by VALVe
- Microsoft had something to do with it somewhere along the line
- It's not on the PC
- It's often blamed for "making hte FPS genre go downhill". I think this one deserves special mention. When ignorant fans say "Halo innovated stuff for the FPS genre!", haters will quickly point out other games that did said "innovation" before Halo. When the haters are hating, they'll bring up Halo's innovations as having made the genre go downhill and cite that as a reason for their hatred (or as it always comes across, smug dismissal). This is the single biggest pile of bollocks I've seen on the internet.
- It hasn't got Gordon Freeman in it
- It has cutscenes
- Yahtzee/MovieBob doesn't like it
I despise these pretentious idiots with every fibre of my being, and wish to god every single one of them is spontaneously eradicated in a very painful way at some point in the future.
As an aside: Everybody doesn't dislike Halo, that's rubbish. It's one of the most popular games there is - for good reason, IMO (though it doesn't deserve perfect 10s, that's just silly).
- They don't like the Plot
- They don't like the gameplay
- They don't like the characters
- They don't like
- They think it's overhyped and are disappointed when they actually play it (which I'll admit is a problem - it IS overhyped, to an extent)
or any combination of the above.
I'm fine with these people. I'll disagree with them on many levels, but I'll respect them because they're being reasonable. Nothing wrong with having a differing opinion.
Haters HATE Halo because:
- It's popular
- It's not made by VALVe
- Microsoft had something to do with it somewhere along the line
- It's not on the PC
- It's often blamed for "making hte FPS genre go downhill". I think this one deserves special mention. When ignorant fans say "Halo innovated stuff for the FPS genre!", haters will quickly point out other games that did said "innovation" before Halo. When the haters are hating, they'll bring up Halo's innovations as having made the genre go downhill and cite that as a reason for their hatred (or as it always comes across, smug dismissal). This is the single biggest pile of bollocks I've seen on the internet.
- It hasn't got Gordon Freeman in it
- It has cutscenes
- Yahtzee/MovieBob doesn't like it
I despise these pretentious idiots with every fibre of my being, and wish to god every single one of them is spontaneously eradicated in a very painful way at some point in the future.
As an aside: Everybody doesn't dislike Halo, that's rubbish. It's one of the most popular games there is - for good reason, IMO (though it doesn't deserve perfect 10s, that's just silly).
I didn't really care about Halo after the first game, to be honest.
What I don't like is Halo-fans. Halo-fans who say, when seeing my favourite game in action, that the game should "be more like Halo". And that because it lacks haloness, it sucks. That's annoying.
What's even more annoying is that publishers actually do want their games to resemble Halo no matter what, for the sole reason that it's popular. Not because such and such mechanic or interface is a tried and true formula. But just because it's Halo.
And we get a lot of games that bomb, or end up being very bad, because the games simply don't hang together in the end. But hey - they all look like Halo, so that's fine.. apparently.
What I don't like is Halo-fans. Halo-fans who say, when seeing my favourite game in action, that the game should "be more like Halo". And that because it lacks haloness, it sucks. That's annoying.
What's even more annoying is that publishers actually do want their games to resemble Halo no matter what, for the sole reason that it's popular. Not because such and such mechanic or interface is a tried and true formula. But just because it's Halo.
And we get a lot of games that bomb, or end up being very bad, because the games simply don't hang together in the end. But hey - they all look like Halo, so that's fine.. apparently.
People hate it because it's very popular, either to be contrarian for the sake of it, or because they think it's way more popular than it deserves to be.
People hate it becaus- One sec.Citrus Insanity said:
PORCUPINE TREE RULE!!!!!!
Anyway, no one really hates it anymore, it's barely talked about. Why people hate CoD, there's an interesting question.
I dislike Halo for personal reasons. It kind of turned my brother into a dumbass, but thats a long story. (I'll just say years of LAN halo parties were involved all it took was one to see a bunch of crazy freaks screaming at each other and raging over a game..).
It also wasn't fun. Multiplayer.. well , there's always a 10-14 year old kid talking like hes in a soapbox.. I dunno though, that's most of xbox live for ya..
Single player isn't long enough? /shrug
It also wasn't fun. Multiplayer.. well , there's always a 10-14 year old kid talking like hes in a soapbox.. I dunno though, that's most of xbox live for ya..
Single player isn't long enough? /shrug
I, for one, find the massive story and gameplay disconnect to be what turns me off the most. Commercials, short movies and what I've heard about the novels imply a very melancholy and heartwrenching story, yet when you get down to it in the game most of your time can be best described as shotgunning an alien and then giving him an elbow to the sternum. In mission allied marines die without even taking a second to notice it. It takes itself so seriously its laughable.
Another problem I have with the gameplay is that, for one, nothing has changed in 9 years. There's no customization, even in Reach, as the powers and abilities have little effect beyond rare and strange circumstances. Really, all that was added with Reach (and ODST for that matter) could have been easily added with DLC, same engine, same models, same weapons, similar maps, same enemies, same vehicles, same everything.
The whole setup itself is rather familiar. A three way war between industrious humans, powerful advanced alien creatures, and an all-consuming parasitic force led by theOverGravemind, where have I seen that before? Never mind that the Flood are almost a complete ripoff of the Half Life head crabs, its still derivative by Sci-Fi standards. Most good games tackle some subject of the human condition and explores it so we may gain a better understanding of ourselves, but in all the Halo games I've played, the only lesson I've learned is that aliens are bad and that being a good soldier and killing everything will save the day from everything.
Another problem I have with the gameplay is that, for one, nothing has changed in 9 years. There's no customization, even in Reach, as the powers and abilities have little effect beyond rare and strange circumstances. Really, all that was added with Reach (and ODST for that matter) could have been easily added with DLC, same engine, same models, same weapons, similar maps, same enemies, same vehicles, same everything.
The whole setup itself is rather familiar. A three way war between industrious humans, powerful advanced alien creatures, and an all-consuming parasitic force led by the
I've always liked the Halo series. Although I was slow to get acquainted with the series (Halo 1 was out for years before I finally picked it up), when I finally got around to it, I enjoyed the experience so much that I picked up the PC version and played through that too.
The only thing that's kinda bugged me over the years is the lack of PC ports. I love the control that a mouse and keyboard give you over the standard Xbox controller and have been holding off on Halo 3, ODST and Reach in the slim (ever so slim, actually) hope that PC versions of these games would materialize.
In the meantime I've read most of the Halo books and started to look at finishing Halo 2 for PC. I also saw Halo: Legends on DVD recently, and highly recommend it to any Halo fan.
The only thing that's kinda bugged me over the years is the lack of PC ports. I love the control that a mouse and keyboard give you over the standard Xbox controller and have been holding off on Halo 3, ODST and Reach in the slim (ever so slim, actually) hope that PC versions of these games would materialize.
In the meantime I've read most of the Halo books and started to look at finishing Halo 2 for PC. I also saw Halo: Legends on DVD recently, and highly recommend it to any Halo fan.
1. People want to be cool and go against something popular
That disgusting rule applies almost everywhere. Especially in The Internet.
I don't hate it. Never even played it.
Generally I've never been big on threads with the generalizations "Why does everyone/no-one think/do *"...
That disgusting rule applies almost everywhere. Especially in The Internet.
I don't hate it. Never even played it.
Generally I've never been big on threads with the generalizations "Why does everyone/no-one think/do *"...
I think the majority of people who don't like Halo are just not into FPS's in general, and that's fine, each to their own. I on the other hand do play a lot of FPS's and in my opinion the Halo series is about as good as it gets for the genre. I do see why a lot of people would be put off by the hardcore fan base, but we're not all like that... honest.
A lot of people criticize Master Chief for being "bland", however I would argue that he is simply the epitome of a soldier. Well trained, devoted to his duty, and not having an annoying ego getting in the way of the wider story around him. If that makes him bland, then fine, but I'd rather have no personality at all than the personality of a dick-head *cough Duke Nukem cough*. And hey, few people seem to have a problem with Gordon Freeman having no personality. (but then again, say what you like about Halo fanboys, they're nothing on Valve fanboys)
Edit: Also, if you make the effort (and by that I mean go into the game with an open mind and explore the different aspects of the game such as skulls and forge, rather than expecting it to be "just like any other generic FPS") you'll find that Halo and the people behind it actually DO have a sense of humour. Lastly (I know this is a fairly minor detail to praise a game for but anyway) The scores for the Halo games are some of the best gaming music ever to come out of my TV set. Even if you don't like the game, you cannot deny that the electric version of the main track that you hear in the 4th mission of CE is just awesome.
What I am really puzzled by is why so many people consider Halo 2 to be the worst. I mean, when you think about it, Halo 2 is what introduced most of the later game play elements (such as duel wielding) into the series. It also pretty much started Xbox Live (although I know not everyone cares about that, but hey, it's still relevant). And finally, Halo 2 is the one with the longest campaign. Halo CE might have introduced the Halo universe but answered little of the questions; just how big are the Covenant? what are they after? etc) and by Halo 3 you know everything and it's all about the final battle, so Halo 2 is the one that actually explains everything to the audience. So for those reasons Halo 2 is actually my favorite of the whole series.
A lot of people criticize Master Chief for being "bland", however I would argue that he is simply the epitome of a soldier. Well trained, devoted to his duty, and not having an annoying ego getting in the way of the wider story around him. If that makes him bland, then fine, but I'd rather have no personality at all than the personality of a dick-head *cough Duke Nukem cough*. And hey, few people seem to have a problem with Gordon Freeman having no personality. (but then again, say what you like about Halo fanboys, they're nothing on Valve fanboys)
Edit: Also, if you make the effort (and by that I mean go into the game with an open mind and explore the different aspects of the game such as skulls and forge, rather than expecting it to be "just like any other generic FPS") you'll find that Halo and the people behind it actually DO have a sense of humour. Lastly (I know this is a fairly minor detail to praise a game for but anyway) The scores for the Halo games are some of the best gaming music ever to come out of my TV set. Even if you don't like the game, you cannot deny that the electric version of the main track that you hear in the 4th mission of CE is just awesome.
What I am really puzzled by is why so many people consider Halo 2 to be the worst. I mean, when you think about it, Halo 2 is what introduced most of the later game play elements (such as duel wielding) into the series. It also pretty much started Xbox Live (although I know not everyone cares about that, but hey, it's still relevant). And finally, Halo 2 is the one with the longest campaign. Halo CE might have introduced the Halo universe but answered little of the questions; just how big are the Covenant? what are they after? etc) and by Halo 3 you know everything and it's all about the final battle, so Halo 2 is the one that actually explains everything to the audience. So for those reasons Halo 2 is actually my favorite of the whole series.
Why is saying that we don't like the direction Halo has taken the genre invalid? Do you deny that video games have something of a herd mentality where a feature that worked on popular game X is often copied into many other popular games? If you deny that then I'd be very interested to hear your arguments why. If you don't deny that then how is saying I don't like the direction Halo has taken the genre invalid? I don't like regening health as a major feature, it can work with certain game mechanics but in general I feel it hurts the flow of a game in general is my view invalid?OhJohnNo said:
50% of it is people trying to go against the norm - stating 'OH MY GOD WHY IS THIS SO POPULAR NO'. Note that most of these are PS3/PC orientated gamers, but not all and many haven't even played the game, or have played a bit of one and assume they're all the same. In other words: Silly people.
25% are people who have played the game for about five minutes and decided 'NO IT'S TERRIBLE GOD HALF-LIFE IS SUPREME'. Also: Silly people.
The other 25% are people who genuinely don't like the game - be it the genre [still slightly silly], the publisher [makes a bit more sense but still silly] or who have actually given the game a fair go. These people I have time for.
If it's on this forum you can safetly assume it's due to [many] people either copying Yahtzee's opinion or refusing to play anything that isn't an indie PC game/Valve created.
25% are people who have played the game for about five minutes and decided 'NO IT'S TERRIBLE GOD HALF-LIFE IS SUPREME'. Also: Silly people.
The other 25% are people who genuinely don't like the game - be it the genre [still slightly silly], the publisher [makes a bit more sense but still silly] or who have actually given the game a fair go. These people I have time for.
If it's on this forum you can safetly assume it's due to [many] people either copying Yahtzee's opinion or refusing to play anything that isn't an indie PC game/Valve created.
Here's my take:
Reason 1) I have nothing wrong with Halo, it's a perfectly functional FPS and a generally well-designed game, that has some cool ideas.
However, almost everything is has going for it in terms of identification (Ring-worlds, Super soldiers, zombification parasites, etc.) have all been done in other medium with better results.
For this reason, many people turn against Halo because they see it as profiting off of unoriginal ideas.
I personally don't have a huge problem with this (original isn't as important to me as simply good). But some people see its lack of originality as damning.
Reason 2) people might hate it is because so many people speak so highly of it. Not so much to be "cool alternative," but more in that the hype doesn't live up to the final product by the time you play it. Like how some people thought "Up" was overrated because it left all the animation fans drooling for months. Which leads me to...
Reason 3) Some people might not like it because its making tons of money, and has a huge fan base (and has spawned tons of clones), while lesser-known games at the time of the release which where better received (Psychonauts, Okami, etc.) got completely ignored. As the FPS genre has been milked to the point of critical mass, Halo's existence (and profitability) continues to make companies focus on getting out Halo clones rather than taking the risk on more original projects that aren't guaranteed to sell.
Reason 1) I have nothing wrong with Halo, it's a perfectly functional FPS and a generally well-designed game, that has some cool ideas.
However, almost everything is has going for it in terms of identification (Ring-worlds, Super soldiers, zombification parasites, etc.) have all been done in other medium with better results.
For this reason, many people turn against Halo because they see it as profiting off of unoriginal ideas.
I personally don't have a huge problem with this (original isn't as important to me as simply good). But some people see its lack of originality as damning.
Reason 2) people might hate it is because so many people speak so highly of it. Not so much to be "cool alternative," but more in that the hype doesn't live up to the final product by the time you play it. Like how some people thought "Up" was overrated because it left all the animation fans drooling for months. Which leads me to...
Reason 3) Some people might not like it because its making tons of money, and has a huge fan base (and has spawned tons of clones), while lesser-known games at the time of the release which where better received (Psychonauts, Okami, etc.) got completely ignored. As the FPS genre has been milked to the point of critical mass, Halo's existence (and profitability) continues to make companies focus on getting out Halo clones rather than taking the risk on more original projects that aren't guaranteed to sell.