When your vehicles controls are not the best, maybe don't have a mandatory escape scene in them to end the game. Call it a skill issue if you want, but I was stuck here for about an hour trying to just get through the last part of the last level. Spent three hours on Two Betrayals as well getting one-shotted by enemies I didn't have time to see because I'm playing on original hardware. Good thing the rest of the game is solid from a gunplay perspective, or I would be really soured on it. Keep in mind I was playing on the equivalent of the Hard Mode, so that could be the source of my problems.
Also, why is this game held up for its storytelling? Compared to what was being done with other games at the time (Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, Ico, Max Payne 1, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Silent Hill 2 all also came out in 2001), Halo's story is nothing special.
Graphically speaking and from a sound perspective, this did set a bar that has yet to really be beaten. And the gameplay and story improve exponentially, beginning with Halo 2. I'd say play it, but you likely already have. If you haven't, there's a good game to be had here. Just on the easier difficulties.
Also, why is this game held up for its storytelling? Compared to what was being done with other games at the time (Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, Ico, Max Payne 1, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Silent Hill 2 all also came out in 2001), Halo's story is nothing special.
Graphically speaking and from a sound perspective, this did set a bar that has yet to really be beaten. And the gameplay and story improve exponentially, beginning with Halo 2. I'd say play it, but you likely already have. If you haven't, there's a good game to be had here. Just on the easier difficulties.
2 Comments
Well, the moment to moment gameplay is pretty fun. When it's you vs a room of bad guys, the challenge is quite fair and balanced. But as soon as vehicles are introduced, that fairness goes right out the window.
trompeloeil
1 month ago
I think this is one of those "classics" that don't survive being brought of the context they arrived in. It was the first great console FPS, combine that with the hype of the Xbox launch, the LAN multiplayer features – it's not hard to see how it generated a lot of excitement back in the day. Pretty much the zenith of gaming for a sixteen-year-old in 2001. Which then feeds into the reception and collective memory of other game elements, like the story.
Don't know if I'll ever bring myself to finish this, to be honest. Was there anything in it that merited the kind of frustration you experienced?