Zero Punctuation: Halo 3

[shadow skill]

You don't need to bring up PC shooters to realize that this game isn't worth much of anything. Goldeneye on the N64 had many of the core game mechanics that Halo supposedly brought to console gaming even though they were brought to console gaming a generation before the first Xbox. It's actually kind of sad since people will go around thinking that the having the game tell you what map and game type you want to play unless you make your own room is a good thing. Its not a good thing at all to force "match making" on people especially if we are talking about a p2p network like Xbox live. Halo wants the player to believe it knows best when trying to find a game rather than the player him or herself which is just a wrong headed way of doing things.

Do they want me to keep quiting rooms over and over again within a given playlist till I find the game type within that list that I actually want? I can filter for a specific type of match and map in Resistance so why not Halo 3? Socom II a four year old game supported 16 players on the playstion two; Resistance Fall of Man supports forty players...the big secret here is that Resistance uses dedicated servers and therefore can support far more people on a single map all at once it does not have much of anything to do with the power of the consoles themselves. (Though of course you can optimize the games to actually handle a given number of players.) Granted Halo 3 does have vehicles which are nice.



As far as things feeling right in Halo 3, they don't feel right at all. Why am I forced to choose between being able to melee and jump whilst moving and being able to reload while moving because I happen to use the southpaw stick layout? Why can't I map those functions to the dpad and solve my problem permanently so I can concentrate on finishing the fight instead of fighting to finish because Bungie was so goddamn obtuse that they left these problems in the final game?

I can do this in Resistance and Black(I even have absolute control over the stick mappings in Black if I recall correctly which even Resistance does not have.) Both of which are console shooters.

 

[Chilly48 [deprecated]]

I hope this guy is joking about all these reviews cause if he's not, then he's definantly a twat. Like I mean pretty much all the games reviewed are going to get game of the year rewards, I have also played these games, if he's not joking he obviously has no taste what so ever in video games. Also when he said some of the games where repedative what do you expect? There're so many games out there you can't help to make the same thing over again without knowing about it, for example: Halo is like Half-Life in 20 years if you were to think about it and they are both really good games.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

I'm still waiting for the online multiplayer to get good; honestly I just play Gears of War now that I beat the offline mode for Halo 3...for all the time that took me. I mean, for a game that took this long to be released, I expected a lot more out of it. More single player and certainly more multiplayer maps that aren't garbage; and honestly, the stuff that they added to 'freshen up' isn't really that good. I'm not a big fan of the items, I think too many of the weapons are redundant and really it still plays JUST LIKE THE OTHER HALOS, oh and it keeps recycling the same stupid story.

 

[J.theYellow]

I hope this guy is joking about all these reviews cause if he's not, then he's definantly a twat. Like I mean pretty much all the games reviewed are going to get game of the year rewards, I have also played these games, if he's not joking he obviously has no taste what so ever in video games.

He's acknowledged in pretty much every review that his perspective is going to be at odds with much of the gamer public, but out the other side of the mouth he's also acknowledging that brands like Halo are going to sell well no matter what he or anyone else says.

But there are more cut-and-dried criticisms of the game all over this thread. If you're going to defend Halo, you're going to have to defend against all of them. I for one won't disparage anyone from liking a game, but I do wonder about those who think a multimillion unit entertainment monolith needs their protection.

 

[halogod007 [deprecated]]

Yo guys,
Check out Http://www.PlanetHalo3x.com
Its one of the best Halo / Gaming sites out there

 

[Undoing Ruin [deprecated]]

I completely disagree with this review because for one simple reason: I had a great time playing through Halo 3's campaign multiple times and my continued time spent with the online multiplayer components of the game. I'll never understand people who complain about the game just because it's successful or because so many people play it or because the marketing blitz hyped up the game to the stratosphere. So what? The game's so much fun because it's the run-of-the-mill FPS done right on a console. Halo:CE did a great job at it but lacked a robust online multiplayer component, Halo 2 had a lackluster campaign and horribly unbalanced multiplayer, and Halo 3 finally has hit it with a great single-player campaign worth playing through multiple times and one of the best online multiplayer games ever. PC gamers always tend to shit on console games because they're "mainstream" or "watered down." I'll never get it. I started out on the PC with Quake 2 and then I played a lot of CS, DOD, BF, and then when Halo: CE came out, I started playing a lot more console games and found out how tight a lot of them felt in comparison. I just can't see what people's problems are with Halo 3. The graphics are NOT bad and they look so smooth compared to anything I have ever played, the sound quality is the best I have ever heard, the controls are sublime, the multiplayer is extremely balanced, and the game rewards you for playing, boosting longevity. Halo 3 doesn't do anything revolutionary in terms of core gameplay, but as a whole package, it's the best game of this generation and one of the best games of all time. This is the level of community interaction that a lot of developers should strive for because it's just going to get better as time goes on. But to me, the best part about Halo 3 is the balance in multiplayer. I've been playing FPSs for a long time now and I have always wanted to slam my fists into the keyboard or TV due to cheap kills, weapon imbalance, or poor map design. Halo 3 is the first FPS that hasn't pissed me off yet. Don't argue with this because I have played enough games (somewhere around 700) and I've hit the level cap in two playlists legit. I think I have played enough multiplayer to have justified my opinion.

 

[Arbre]

I completely disagree with this review because for one simple reason: I had a great time playing through Halo 3's campaign multiple times and my continued time spent with the online multiplayer components of the game. I'll never understand people who complain about the game just because it's successful or because so many people play it or because the marketing blitz hyped up the game to the stratosphere. So what? The game's so much fun because it's the run-of-the-mill FPS done right on a console. Halo:CE did a great job at it but lacked a robust online multiplayer component...

Then there's probably our real problem here, because as far as I'm concerned, HALO:CE was an interesting experience, visually, but that wears out, and it could be incredibly extremely boring and repetitive, with a level design which actually showed no real high level of interactivity.

I suppose there's just a problem of standards here. I'm a big fan of FPS. It's probably one of my favorite genres, but I have standards which got shaped along the years playing on a PC.

 

[9NineBreaker9]

Here's an even better idea for everything in the world...

Is it possible, that, perhaps, if Jesus was a pigmy and Moses was a turtle...that not everyone...likes...everything...?

GASP! SHOCK! THUNAGA!

Doods! It's a game! Not everyone will like it! That is why we have GENRES! The fact that he had a problem with something and that you like his problems means nothing more that what it says. I'll say it once, and I'll say it only once.

---
Yahtzee did not like Halo 3 because he did not like it. He did not find the things that he likes, so he does not like it. If you found something you like, good for you. Just don't belittle the opinions of those who think differently than the mainstream.
---

I applaud you, Mr. Yahtzee, for defying the mainstream and saying your opinion. We need more people like this >,<

 

[The Conformist]

I disagreed with parts of the review but still think it was funny as hell and highly entertaining. Take it for what it is, a laugh.

 

[Fawkinater [deprecated]]

Look at all the halo fanboys....

 

[jedikv]

I disagreed with parts of the review but still think it was funny as hell and highly entertaining. Take it for what it is, a laugh.

Hit the nail on the head here - some people (on both sides) really need to take a chill

 

[Chilango2]

Honestly, it boggles the mind that a throughly mediocre game is the locus of such raving, nigh religious passion. It makes me wonder if I'm occupying some odd alternate universe where the Halo I know isn't the same thing at all as what is being "debated" here.

 

[Abbadiel]

Honestly, it boggles the mind that a throughly mediocre game is the locus of such raving, nigh religious passion.

That's what I actually hate about this game. I've played it and found nothing special about it so I asumed that it had it's "charm" on the consoles. But since I've an PC FPS gamer my whole life, I feel shooters and consoles aren't meant for each other...

But what the hell right? I just feel a little annoyed by those halotards that say it's the best FPS ever. And fuck it, ya know? it's just a game.

 

[catbarf]

I hope this guy is joking about all these reviews cause if he's not, then he's definantly a twat. Like I mean pretty much all the games reviewed are going to get game of the year rewards, I have also played these games, if he's not joking he obviously has no taste what so ever in video games. Also when he said some of the games where repedative what do you expect? There're so many games out there you can't help to make the same thing over again without knowing about it, for example: Halo is like Half-Life in 20 years if you were to think about it and they are both really good games.

What do we expect, in terms of repetitiveness? Have you ever HEARD of Deus Ex or System Shock? It's pretty pathetic if people are insulting this review because they haven't played any games older than three years!

 

[rokudaime_uzumaki_naruto]

I agree with you on many points. Having played the first two Halo games, if you are playing the story mode, you do have to play the first games. I never bothered. I just played the multiplayer games like "Capture the Flag" and stuff like that particularly because I like finding new weapons and blowing shit up. I didn't play Halo 3 yet, though. A couple of years ago, my little sister hacked her high school's computer system and installed Halo online on every computer in the school (how she pulled it off and how the school ignored it continues to amaze me), and like me, she likes the game simply for finding weapons and making explosions with them. Don't worry about the story for the first two games. You won't miss much, and their not all that exciting anyway. Rooster Teeth's Red VS Blue is fun to watch, if you haven't already seen it.

 

[S_K]

I was linked to this page by a friend, what freaks me out is my opinions on games are a combination of The Escapist and the Angry Videogame Nerd only without the Nintendo fanboyism. Damn it all if I hadn't been so politically correct it might be me getting paid to do this kind of stuff! Anywho your videos are all entertaining that can't be denied, but you really need to try multiplayer on games more or at least do an epic rant explaining why you don't try online. Your best jokes are informed ones, not comments like "I don't give a shit about multiplayer"

 

[jaiden26]

I have to jump in here and give my review of the Halo Series -

Halo: Combat Evolved - Quite possibly the best FPS I've ever played. Challenging, long, and a great story-line. If you want to get the full experience of what this game has to offer, I challenge you to put the difficulty on Legendary and play through The Two Betrayals, and do it solo. This will take you, depending on your skill level, anywhere between 4 to 6 hours...for one level of the game. The weapons in this game are all equally balanced...with the exception of the Assault Rifle's accuracy being a little off. That is the only thing I would tweak...even though with the accuracy sucking, it is still a fairly decent gun.

Halo 2 - This was the biggest let down of my life, aside from learning that women don't give you sex upon request unless you empty your bank accounts into their ever growing volcano they call a vagina. They changed all that was good in the original to anything bad they could come up with. Dual Wielding one handed guns and Rocket Launcher Lock-on, wasn't nearly the upgrade that I was hoping for when you look at all they took away. They give you a Battle Rifle and take away the Assault Rifle...the Battle Rifle is hardly a comparable weapon; the Magnum does little to no damage instead of the original which actually made you believe it was a magnum because of it's ability to take down enemies left and right with it's power; they took away the power of the Needler, I guess in an effort to balance the fact that you could dual wield it now. The campain is lack-luster in that it is very chaotic and disorganized. They introduced 2 new guns, the Brute Shot (grenade launcher) and the Brute Plasma Rifle (faster firing plasma rifle)...these 2 weapons were no match for the guns already set in place by the original game. The campain felt more like a chore or work instead of fun. It was just something I felt I had to beat because I played the one before it. I didn't feel any sense of accomplishment after finishing it. Nothing can replace Halo: Combat Evolved. They should have never made a sequel. The campain sucked so much that Bungie themselves came out and appologized to the gaming public about it, and said that Halo 3 would be much better, too bad they lied to us...speaking of the devil.

Halo 3 - Yatzee's review of Halo 3 was right on. Glad they gave me SOME of the Magnum's power back and gave me an Assault Rifle that was better than the one in the original. They nerfed the Needler again; we are back to single wielding it, yet they didn't give it back the power it had in the original game. None of the 1 handers can zoom in anymore. Most of the new weapons you end up doing more damage to yourself and your teammates than to the enemy (i.e. gravity hammer). They took away the Arbiter's ability to cloak. The flashlight was useless. But honestly the only reason this game wasn't as big of a let down as the second one, is that the Halo 2 got me prepared for this game. I hated Halo 2 and I was fully prepared to hate Halo 3. If I wanted a game that was so dark that I couldn't even see the damn ground I was walking on I'd play the original Half-life.

You want to know where Bungie went wrong? How about making you turn up your brightness setting on your TV so high that the game looks like shit, before you can see the ground you are walking on. Made you empty 3 full magazines of Assault Rifle into the Brute/Flood creatures before it even looked like you were hurting them. The second player of Co-op Story mode always starts with the weapons that are useless against the Flood and the Brutes (i.e. Convenant Weapons), which are all you fight in this game. The Covenant weapons are for fighting the Elites, but the Elites are on your goddamn team in this game, so why even have the fucking things in the game at all then? I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Bungie should have called it quits after Halo: Combat Evolved instead of embarassing themselves with Halo 2 and 3. If they make a Halo 4, I'm not going to buy it or play it...that's right if they make another Halo game, Bungie can go fuck themselves.

So in closing...Yatzee, I applaud your having the nuts to cut this game down, because to be honest the whole franchise needs to be taken down a peg or 2. If you want to review a real Halo game and understand why the game has such a huge following, play Halo: Combat Evolved...the game has no online Multiplayer, so you don't have to worry about people claiming that you are giving a half assed review because you refuse to get online. Besides the online Halo world sucks anyway. It reminds me of what you said about Team Fortress 2, where people with no lives are mastering the damn things while the rest of us are out having sex with girls.

I do hope that if you take me up on this offer, that you won't let the piss-poor Halo 3 get in your way of really enjoying a real game that unfortunately has the same name.

 

[jaiden26]

I completely disagree with this review because for one simple reason: I had a great time playing through Halo 3's campaign multiple times and my continued time spent with the online multiplayer components of the game. I'll never understand people who complain about the game just because it's successful or because so many people play it or because the marketing blitz hyped up the game to the stratosphere. So what? The game's so much fun because it's the run-of-the-mill FPS done right on a console. Halo:CE did a great job at it but lacked a robust online multiplayer component, Halo 2 had a lackluster campaign and horribly unbalanced multiplayer, and Halo 3 finally has hit it with a great single-player campaign worth playing through multiple times and one of the best online multiplayer games ever. PC gamers always tend to shit on console games because they're "mainstream" or "watered down." I'll never get it. I started out on the PC with Quake 2 and then I played a lot of CS, DOD, BF, and then when Halo: CE came out, I started playing a lot more console games and found out how tight a lot of them felt in comparison. I just can't see what people's problems are with Halo 3. The graphics are NOT bad and they look so smooth compared to anything I have ever played, the sound quality is the best I have ever heard, the controls are sublime, the multiplayer is extremely balanced, and the game rewards you for playing, boosting longevity. Halo 3 doesn't do anything revolutionary in terms of core gameplay, but as a whole package, it's the best game of this generation and one of the best games of all time. This is the level of community interaction that a lot of developers should strive for because it's just going to get better as time goes on. But to me, the best part about Halo 3 is the balance in multiplayer. I've been playing FPSs for a long time now and I have always wanted to slam my fists into the keyboard or TV due to cheap kills, weapon imbalance, or poor map design. Halo 3 is the first FPS that hasn't pissed me off yet. Don't argue with this because I have played enough games (somewhere around 700) and I've hit the level cap in two playlists legit. I think I have played enough multiplayer to have justified my opinion.

Well that's great for you, but the fact is that your gaming experience of 700 games...a statement you made that cannot be proven right or wrong...has no bearing on the minds of others. I will happily argue with you, no matter how many games you've played, as that has no real worth in this discussion. The fact that you've played 700 games (whether this is true or not) does not add value to your opinions.

The fact is that I made some valid points about why Halo 3 was horrible. The difference is that I'm not going to try to convince you that I'm right based on my gaming experience. I'm not even going to mention how many games I've played, or even if I've played more or less than you, b/c it's pointless.

I know this is sort of a flame, but I'm trying to be as respectful as I can here. I find it highly disrespectful and offensive that you think you are somehow better than me or anyone else based on how many games you've played. I could sit here and make similar claims that my opinions can't be argued with because I've slept with a great number of women...something you can't prove wrong, and I can't prove right on a forum thread. Seeing as I'm not that arrogant, I won't do that. But can you see how shallow and offensive that would be if I did? Wouldn't it alienate you and piss you off?

My point is that while it's easy to get tunnel vision and slam other opinions, keep in mind that everything said in a forum is an opinion...it has just as much value as the opinion above it. That being said, no opinion automatically fact based on experience. And your experience has no effect on my opinions.

 

[Final_Assassin_42]

Comedic gold..but that's it.

Not all of the features were fully covered (Forge, Custom Games, Theater and most prominently Multiplayer). Just because you're too damn lazy to go to your bosses and request an Xbox Live hook up for your office, or get a couple of frinds together for a local match, don't take it out on the game.

There's a magical thing called "Wikipedia." If you wanted the story details, you could've checked it out. Or bought the last two games. Or the books related to the game. Yes, Bungie not mentioning previous story events in Halo is annoying, but the annoyance can be abated by using the magic of the Internet.

I will agree with yahtzee on the allied A.I being dumb as shit. Still, the enemy A.I. is great at the very least.

This review was just like the score yahtzee so "generously," bestowed on Halo 3-average.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have "retarded Ewoks," to go shoot.

 

[heavens hell [deprecated]]

Well I have a few things to say about your vids man
1. stop telling people things they already know, yea I know you are quite funny, but yea still we are people we have flaws we DON'T have to all think like anyone else
2. Really I'm not hating on you or anything but seriously, if you are one of those people who beats games in like 2 days try absorbing the game for a while maybe like ya know slowing down a bit?
3. My bro loves your vids personally I am not a game rater why? cause I don't like to underrate games cause then something just might happen to surprise you. anyways best of luck with the vids

-Heaven's hell ^_^