Why I Hate Halo (And Other Stories)

[C95J]

The reason more work goes into multiplayer is because most people who buy the game play it. It's really popular and the majority likes it. The single player campaigns of The Halo/CoD series I found was really good and well done, quality over quantity. So really when you say they can't tell whether they play multiplayer, they actually can.

Your also saying that gamers are anti-social which is untrue and very stereotypical.

Also, maybe people want to play multiplayer and not singleplayer? your flawed argument works both ways.

What your actually saying is that game designers should go against what their target audience wants and make a better singleplayer for the minority.

It may be the same dozen environments but each and every game is completely different and has got much more variety than singleplayer. More interesting for the people playing.

Looks like your part of the louder minority.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

snip

You say MAG is fine but then complain about CoD? I haven't played MW2 and never plan to but the CoD games have alway been about the multiplayer I don't remember anyone getting it for the singleplayer.

Not always the multiplayer never really kicked off until MW.

The 1st COD game I played was COD2, which I played for the single player (infact I don't even think it had a multiplayer)

My first and longest running clan was in CoD2 multiplayer. Infact I had gotten 300 hours on multi before even playing single.

 

[Vykrel]

(because its popular)

there, now i dont have to read your giant hate rant

 

[Mikeyfell]

Never really got into mass effect, I started playing but then i just rewatched babyon 5.

Oh snap.
oh no you didin't

Bioware is the only company that can keep me coming back to a game

Yeh I get you ^_^
They don't really appeal to me but i get why their so popular.
To tell you the truth a game i'd really like to play is one with a story as great as mass effect or dragon age but with gameplay like prototype (I heart prototype, but you could substitue any game that you thought had epic gameplay in there)

that's why I miss games like Ratchet and Clank
or Jak and Daxter

 

[Ampersand]

Never really got into mass effect, I started playing but then i just rewatched babyon 5.

Oh snap.
oh no you didin't

Bioware is the only company that can keep me coming back to a game

Yeh I get you ^_^
They don't really appeal to me but i get why their so popular.
To tell you the truth a game i'd really like to play is one with a story as great as mass effect or dragon age but with gameplay like prototype (I heart prototype, but you could substitue any game that you thought had epic gameplay in there)

that's why I miss games like Ratchet and Clank
or Jak and Daxter

Jak and Daxter was epic =D

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Multiplayer is a FEATURE for fuck's sake, not a premise.

Totally wrong.
Look at MMOs! Multiplayer is the whole focus of the experience!
Games like Halo and Call of Duty are like a halfway point between the MMO and the singleplayer experience.

Now, don't get me wrong: I love singleplayer in games. My favourite games are all singleplayer-focused games (Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Homeworld, and so on). But multiplayer is huge and it's here to stay. Like it or not. Some games do put single player in second place, like MW2, but that's why you research the game you're playing.
There are still plenty of great singleplayer games out there, and more being made!
It's not like there are zero games out with great singleplayer!

This whole rant seems to way-overblow multiplayer shooters in a very sensationalist way.

this. i honestly can't put it much better, i love my single player games to death but multiplayer games are here to stay and as long as my rpg's are still flowin good im fine with it. honestly some of the best experiences i have had in gaming are through multiplayer games with my friends (theater mode on halo...some definite good laughs)

 

[Siuki]

This whole rant seems to way-overblow multiplayer shooters in a very sensationalist way.

Definitely. Just because I'm thirteen doesn't mean that I'm a total dick. I have a functioning brain and I admit that I've seen a lot of 12-13 year old assholes who only talk about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on their PS3s.

OT: So you're saying that Team Fortress 2 should never have been made? Your rant seems to overlook games whose entire gameplay is based upon multiplayer and still- wait. Just scrolled up and saw the whole "multi over single games". Sorry.

I think it's because multiplayer keeps a buyer playing the game much longer than the singleplayer. Games that have both, like Halo, expect 6-7 hours of gameplay in the campaign and an enormous amount of time invested in the online multiplayer. Games that only focus on the singlepayer aspect should be much longer, like Mass Effect or the Fallout series.

What did you expect from an FPS? A first person shooter should and will include at least one unchanged aspect: The game takes the point of view in the first person perspective. Any additions or innovations have already been added and there are few things that we could put into an FPS that wouldn't be copied from something else.

 

[Mikeyfell]

It's called SIMPLICITY. And it's not always a bad thing. FPSs go by the old rule 'easy to learn, hard to master'. If you strip them to text, then yes it looks silly. I could say the same about Bioshock...which makes me sad. It's a damn good game, I just found it very difficult. Bioshock 2 I much prefer. I just find it easier, gameplay wise, I'm not constantly scavenging for ammunition.
I don't use them as a chatroom, I just know what you mean. Multiplayer is awful if you solo it, so to speak. Play Halo: Reach with a bunch of mates, you'll have the time of your life. Play it on your own, you'll get depressed. Same with World of Warcraft.

value the characters and story above all else
so when my friend ties me to a chair and forces me to play a teaspoon shallow mainstream game like Call of Duty or Gears of War I get board immediately

but when I tell him to play some epic story driven game that's lacking the fast passed action like Dragon Age or Enslaved he'll get board immediately

but the majority of games are on the shallow FPS multyplayer side with only Half Life and Bioshock meting us half way


I'd be fine if it was like 50/50 but it's much closer to 90/10 (not exactly of course)

 

[Mikeyfell]

Never really got into mass effect, I started playing but then i just rewatched babyon 5.

Oh snap.
oh no you didin't

Bioware is the only company that can keep me coming back to a game

Yeh I get you ^_^
They don't really appeal to me but i get why their so popular.
To tell you the truth a game i'd really like to play is one with a story as great as mass effect or dragon age but with gameplay like prototype (I heart prototype, but you could substitue any game that you thought had epic gameplay in there)

that's why I miss games like Ratchet and Clank
or Jak and Daxter

Jak and Daxter was epic =D

yup...and now Naughty Dog is making Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider
oh dear what is the world coming to

 

[Thyunda]

It's called SIMPLICITY. And it's not always a bad thing. FPSs go by the old rule 'easy to learn, hard to master'. If you strip them to text, then yes it looks silly. I could say the same about Bioshock...which makes me sad. It's a damn good game, I just found it very difficult. Bioshock 2 I much prefer. I just find it easier, gameplay wise, I'm not constantly scavenging for ammunition.
I don't use them as a chatroom, I just know what you mean. Multiplayer is awful if you solo it, so to speak. Play Halo: Reach with a bunch of mates, you'll have the time of your life. Play it on your own, you'll get depressed. Same with World of Warcraft.

value the characters and story above all else
so when my friend ties me to a chair and forces me to play a teaspoon shallow mainstream game like Call of Duty or Gears of War I get board immediately

but when I tell him to play some epic story driven game that's lacking the fast passed action like Dragon Age or Enslaved he'll get board immediately

but the majority of games are on the shallow FPS multyplayer side with only Half Life and Bioshock meting us half way


I'd be fine if it was like 50/50 but it's much closer to 90/10 (not exactly of course)

If single player games are so much better, the split is clearly not an issue. By the time you finish one uber-awesome singleplayer game, the next will be out. At least you'll never suffer from the dilemma of choice.

 

[Mikeyfell]

If single player games are so much better, the split is clearly not an issue. By the time you finish one uber-awesome singleplayer game, the next will be out. At least you'll never suffer from the dilemma of choice.

well.....um....good point. but you're kind of missing my point

with out a large pool of single player games the single player market won't evolve any time soon.
Ninja Theory just came out with Enslaved. an amazing single player experience but like 4 people bought it. so as a result the next game they're coming out with is Devil May Cry 27.
now if there was a much larger pool of single player IP's it might attract new money to the single player market and more people might have bought Enslaved and Ninja Theory wouldn't be putting out a sequel next year...or when ever.

We'll never suffer from the dilemma of choice for all the wrong reasons.
not because we know what we like. but because there's only one person doing what we like.

I know the Bioware RPG's are the only thing I'm looking forward to
Someone else knows that the new Call of Duty game is the only thing they're looking forward to
Someone else knows that the new WoW expansion is the only thing they're looking forward to
it's madness

 

[Thyunda]

If single player games are so much better, the split is clearly not an issue. By the time you finish one uber-awesome singleplayer game, the next will be out. At least you'll never suffer from the dilemma of choice.

well.....um....good point. but you're kind of missing my point

with out a large pool of single player games the single player market won't evolve any time soon.
Ninja Theory just came out with Enslaved. an amazing single player experience but like 4 people bought it. so as a result the next game they're coming out with is Devil May Cry 27.
now if there was a much larger pool of single player IP's it might attract new money to the single player market and more people might have bought Enslaved and Ninja Theory wouldn't be putting out a sequel next year...or when ever.

We'll never suffer from the dilemma of choice for all the wrong reasons.
not because we know what we like. but because there's only one person doing what we like.

I know the Bioware RPG's are the only thing I'm looking forward to
Someone else knows that the new Call of Duty game is the only thing they're looking forward to
Someone else knows that the new WoW expansion is the only thing they're looking forward to
it's madness

Or they could make a more multiplayer game and then BAM! They hit the big money. Single player, once again, has pretty much hit its limit. What else you can do with another form of telling a story? Make it more interactive? Well, wouldn't it be fantastic if you could interact with REAL PEOPLE?!

Make no mistake, I am practically constipated, I want Fallout: New Vegas that badly. I'm not saying singleplayer is bad, I'm just saying multiplayer is at least equal to the singleplayer gaming experience, and NOT merely a 'feature'. Take Monster Hunter, for example, way back on the PS2. That game was...divine. The original, I mean. Never played the sequels. Offline play was damn good fun..but difficult. Online, multiplayer...now that was badassery. That was absolutely fan-bloody-tastic.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Or they could make a more multiplayer game and then BAM! They hit the big money. Single player, once again, has pretty much hit its limit. What else you can do with another form of telling a story? Make it more interactive? Well, wouldn't it be fantastic if you could interact with REAL PEOPLE?!

wow...what brought this on

and secondly what's so great about real people
real people are all shallow one dimensional characters who I find boring and predictable.
It's grating just to know they exist

am I some how less of a person because I get more emotionally invested in fictional well written characters that don't exist and never will.....

okay don't answer that please........
I'm begging you
answer this instead

no other form of media could get away with this zero content zero evolution approach to making profit.

okay except movies and television...... and books [sub]damn you Twilight[/sub]

alright fine so I'm talking out my ass

but all those shows and games and books and movies are just shooting for the lowest common denominator
and I put generic multyplayer driven games like Call of Duty at the nadir of media along with movies like Jack Ass and TV shows like American Idol and books like Twilight

there does that make me less of a person

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

It would suit me just fine if Call of Duty would take the Team Fortress 2 approach and just ditch the single-player entirely. I'm sure there's some people who only bought CoD for the campaign, but I'd wager they're in the VAST minority.

Shooters and Fighting games are better as multiplayer experiences, plain and simple. The Halo series has managed to have some above-average single-players throughout the series, but it still plays second fiddle to the awesome multiplayer.

 

[twistedheat15]

TLR!! From what I did get, you're basically bitching because you think special work goes into multiplayer over single which it doesn't but even if it did so what? For a long single play to work in a game like CoD or Halo you need extensive levels, Big in depth story lines, a slew of other crap. To make the multiplayer work you just need a map, guns, and people, everything already taken from the single play, but adding people gives it replay value.

I just got a great idea for a game
It'll have extensive levels, a big in depth story line and a slew of other crap.
doesn't that sound better than six hours of staring at the back of a chest high wall waiting for the bullet noises to stop long enough to poke your head out form behind cover and try to head shot one of the billion identical terrorists or aliens that clog up FPS's like the toilets at an Indian restaurant?

doesn't that sound more fun than Call of Halo Reach of Honor of War 2 Theft Auto?

or is an original thought to much for you to handle?

Nope it isn't an original thought because there are hundreds of games with the same premise. Picking the one with chest high walls, flying bullets and identical terrorist and then bitching because it doesn't have what you want outta it, instead of playing something else is stupid.

 

[GLo Jones]

About 60% of this thread seems to be people shitting on each other's opinions. Seriously guys, some people just really really like multiplayer, some think it's a waste of time.

I personally live for it. I can't think of many singleplayer campaigns I've ever actually finished (aside from the Mass Effects). They just don't do it for me.

The thrill and unpredictability of playing human opponents however, is where I spend most of my time. Every death isn't simply the game smacking me down a notch, it's being overcome by another person, with their own tactics, and play style. While every kill/victory is one won over other people, and is so much more rewarding than simply completing some set-piece burned onto the disc.

I loved the Shadowrun FPS for this very reason. Many complained about the lack of singleplayer, but I took joy in the amount of options and tactics open to each player. You had to use genuine cunning, teamwork, and 'on the spot' decision making, and it was so satisfying when the results of your tricks paid off.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

OT: Sorry OP but I gotta rant about Halo.

I hate Halo, there are 5 Halo FPS's and almost nothing has changed from CE to Reach, the series main charecter is a non-entity, no personality, no backstory, brick. ODST introduced a brick that wore different armor and never spoke, Reach let you decide what color your brick was and if you wanted a boy brick or a girl brick. The best Halo game was Halo 2, and only because you got to play as the Arbiter, the only charecter who seemed to care about what was going on and was even remotely interesting.

The worst part of Halo is the fanbase, when I told a friend my favorite part of Halo was playing the Arbiter he said, verbatim "Why would you want to play an alien when you are supposed to fight them?", I was unaware someone could be so short sighted. Unlike most people who play Halo I actual paid attention to the story, and there is actually an intelligent message to it, the Covenant represents an extermist religous autocricy, zealously persuing what they are told to do by the tenants of their religion, unwilling to try to understand or learn about the "heretic" humans, there's a strong message about the danger of religous extremism and apathy towards mutual understanding, and they did it on purpose! I'm not reading to much into this, I'm simply reading the writing on the wall. But how many Halo fans got that part of the game? In fact, how many people are still reading this? If you actually read this entire off topic rant I want you qoute me.

/rant

I think you are sort of asssuming that Halo goes on about religious extremism stuff too much.
One can pretty it up any way they like but theres no dening that Halo, story wise, is just a halfassed load of bullcrap that only serves to get the 'brick' from point A to point B killing as many aliens and crap along the way for no damn reason.

It has as much of an intricate backstory and meaning as much as Modern Warfare 2 has a decent plot line.

 

[GLo Jones]

It would suit me just fine if Call of Duty would take the Team Fortress 2 approach and just ditch the single-player entirely. I'm sure there's some people who only bought CoD for the campaign, but I'd wager they're in the VAST minority.

Shooters and Fighting games are better as multiplayer experiences, plain and simple. The Halo series has managed to have some above-average single-players throughout the series, but it still plays second fiddle to the awesome multiplayer.

I expect I probably won't pay any attention to the Black Ops singleplayer until at least 6 months into having the game.

 

[Mikeyfell]

TLR!! From what I did get, you're basically bitching because you think special work goes into multiplayer over single which it doesn't but even if it did so what? For a long single play to work in a game like CoD or Halo you need extensive levels, Big in depth story lines, a slew of other crap. To make the multiplayer work you just need a map, guns, and people, everything already taken from the single play, but adding people gives it replay value.

I just got a great idea for a game
It'll have extensive levels, a big in depth story line and a slew of other crap.
doesn't that sound better than six hours of staring at the back of a chest high wall waiting for the bullet noises to stop long enough to poke your head out form behind cover and try to head shot one of the billion identical terrorists or aliens that clog up FPS's like the toilets at an Indian restaurant?

doesn't that sound more fun than Call of Halo Reach of Honor of War 2 Theft Auto?

or is an original thought to much for you to handle?

Nope it isn't an original thought because there are hundreds of games with the same premise. Picking the one with chest high walls, flying bullets and identical terrorist and then bitching because it doesn't have what you want outta it, instead of playing something else is stupid.

Nope?...
that's a bit of a flippant dismissal isn't it?

just because there are hundreds of games with ...you know, a story line and expansive levels and other crap doesn't make them unoriginal.


this is what I said if you strip away the assholeism

games with original stories are better than the shrift we get from main stream games

this is you

having a story is not an original idea

my complaint is that chest high walls, identical terrorists and flying bullets are the only elements in mainstream games. whether they be in Gears of War, Halo, Modern Warfare or Metal of Honor...or any thing else.

including those 3 elements is like the magic trinity that will ensure a game millions in profit from the crowd that can't realize that they already own at least 4 identical games

and I suppose I feel the need to ***** about it for the same reason you would intervene if you saw someone pouring sugar into the gas tank of your car

only in this case the gas tank of my car is the game industry
and the sugar is bad copy pasted FPS games that make so much money that no one has any interest in trying to make good games anymore.

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

One other thing that might be related: I've noticed that people have stopped using the term "Halo-killer" for any potentially good FPS coming out in the near future. Now that there are games that truly rival Halo's multiplayer, it's easier to get your foot in the door. GoW is a perfect example, CoD4 to a lesser extent. However, every single campaign-oriented FPS is compared to Half-Life as inevitably as the sunrise. If the game falls short, and it always does, it's given a single overwhelming response: meh. Maybe nothing, but I think there's a correlation.

Having now played Half-Life 2, I feel an almost religious need to respond to every person who says stuff like this.

I've played Half-Life 2 up to the conclusion of Ravenholm. Beyond the terror induced by that level, what, precisely, was so special? The campaign was average. It had its good moments. The physics puzzles weren't as annoying as what I'd been led to believe. But I think Halo 2 - the direct competitor to Half-Life 2 as it was released in the same year IIRC - had a better campaign.

So, what is it in Half-Life's story you love so much? Maybe I just need to play the original, but I really can't imagine that's aged well. It's older than Homeworld, and the only reason that hasn't really aged at all is because it lacks any form of competition other than its own sequels.

Maybe you just need to, I dunno, finish the game? You're missing out on some of the best narrative-gameplay combos of modern gaming. Seriously, when I read "I've played up through the conclusion of Ravenholm", all I heard was "I'm 12 and what is this?". You're judging the game based on... half the game. And that's not including Episodes 1 and 2.

Based on your dismissal of Half-Life in general, especially after only playing HALF of it, I'd say you aren't qualified to make any kind of statement about what is and isn't a good campaign. You obviously like FPSs, but you couldn't recognize good writing if it smacked you in the face. The characters feel human, putting it head and shoulders above most FPSs right there. The setting is unique and fresh, and it has the right mixture of feeling bogged down in cannon fodder and fighting a few elite enemies. Halo 2 had a decent campaign at best. It doesn't stand up at all to HL2, though.

When I see someone talking like this I think FANBOY ALERT! I mean c'mon.You're basically using the term "It gets better.....later." because your complaining that he didn't play the entire game so he's a heretic.HE DIDN"T PLAY THE REST OF THE GAME BECAUSE IT DIDN"T APPEAL TO HIM!gosh.Good Writing doesn't make a game the best singleplayer experience in the world.The thing I don't like about singleplayer is that it FORCES you to do this.Especially HL2 because several times Alyx asks if your up for something and immediately she assumes yes.Maybe I don't want to sneak around and get inside the the nexus because maybe I want to be in the front lines where I can drastically improve morale and blow up striders and hunter-choppers and shit TO FEEL LIKE A BADASS!the only reason you play games is to have fun.NOT to experience the kind of story that the developers made up that I don't strictly care about.NO game to date has struck my fancy in terms of singleplayer because most stories I don't give a shit about or atleast in the way they tell it.But I'm getting off topic so I should probably get back on.In summary,Saying someone has no right to say his opinion about a game because he didn't find it appealing enough to go on is complete bullshit!But your probably going to find another way to make HL2 seem like the seemingly "perfect" singleplayer experience and anything else put up to it is poop because your another inhabitant in the city of ENDLESS HL2 fanboys.