Halo Reach

[oksnoop2]

Console shooters were sooo much fun on split screen. Conker's Bad Fur Day, Time Splitters, Halo 1, 2, and 3, Call of Duty, (maybe golden eye, i don't remember) It was all super fun when are your friends are sitting on the couch with you playing along. It's a shame that feature seems to be fading away.

[Pxtl]

hm, some fps on the PS1 were fun for its time.
Army Men, Medal of Honor, Duke Nukem
HalfLife 1 with 8 players in one small room, cables everywhere and this go-in-bunker-hit-nuke-button map was better though.

Now CoD is a little stupid when 1 guy is playing it 24/7 on his PS3 while the controller causes others to drop grenades on their feet.

I remember playing MoH on the PS1 - my god it was the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Whenever people talk about newer MoH games in the franchise, I can never take them seriously because I always think back to that fugly, painful, annoying PS1 game.

Console FPS games didn't really get their crap together until the Dreamcast/PS2 era - I could never understand the love that Goldeneye got. Either way, they still feel like playing with lead boots and boxing gloves on, but they seem to at least have a vague idea of how to work within their limitations (lower speed, auto-aim, shorter ranges, etc).

[knorke]

lead boots and boxing glooves is perfect describtion.
when 2 players meet and they both had bazooks it was like mech or tank warfare becaus turning around took so long.

[Neddie]

Not all genre are exemplary on the PC, and remember that more money goes into console development because people buy console games, rather than PC analogs. Digital distribution may be the saviour of PC gaming but it has a long, hard road to travel.

I personally feel that Console FPS were at their peak from Sega 32X to N64, and during that period they were competitive with or superior to the PC offerings. The fall from that point was rapid and uncomfortable as PC developers discovered story lines, the extra keys on standard keyboards, surround sound, scalable graphics settings, the three button mouse, and VoIP in a desperate struggle to remain both financially solvent and popular. In contrast, Console FPS developers have been rolling the same tired dynamics around, failing to effectively utilize new control options (Wii), the late possibility of modding/content updates (Live, et al), or multiple levels of experience (The PS3 could support a variety of play-relevant graphical settings and matchmaking could pass the requisite information).

Anyway, I was never a fan of the Halo franchise. It felt like a weaker series in terms of story, graphics and gameplay even when compared to other console FPS... at the end of the day, I'd rather play Perfect Dark, or better, turn on my PC.

[Pxtl]

lead boots and boxing glooves is perfect describtion.
when 2 players meet and they both had bazooks it was like mech or tank warfare becaus turning around took so long.

Good console games work with this and make it an asset instead of a failing. I loved the PS1 armored core games because the slow rotation, auto-aim box width/depth, etc. were (a) attributes you would consider in designing your mech and (b) important tactical considerations (ie. if an opponent is behind you, don't try to turn around to face him, but full-throttle the reverse with your jets to put him in front of you).

[1v0ry_k1ng]

halo 3 is perfect just the way it is, on the pc it would be ruined because noobs would be able to use the sniper/laser/BR

[Neddie]

halo 3 is perfect just the way it is, on the pc it would be ruined because noobs would be able to use the sniper/laser/BR

Somebody is probably going to argue that there are fewer noobs on the PC, or that high level play would lead to a new level of sniper/laser/BR use. Please, go easy on the flames if they do.

[Otherside]

FPS on a console lol. Its almost as bad a joke as rts on a console.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

consoles are a social gaming format; pcs are for sitting alone in a dark room.

[Otherside]

playing halo or any other game on xbox live with a headset on is about as social as sitting on your pc playing an fps whilst on teamspeak.

[Jazcash]

playing halo or any other game on xbox live with a headset on is about as social as sitting on your pc playing an fps whilst on teamspeak.

He means irl play, you know, LAN, Splitscreen, all that business.

Also, I played Reach a bit more today. Some things I'm genuinely pleased about. They remade a lot of the old Halo 2 maps, one or two actual map remakes, some official forge remakes (Top quality stuff even so).

Anyway, I'm starting to get into it a little before. I'm guessing it will be similar to my Halo 3 experience, hate it at first but eventually get used to it but still prefer older versions.

The physics annoy me more than ever though, jump height is reduced a little, movement feels slightly slower, weapon reload times, rate of fire and general use feel sluggish in just about every case. The DMR I think I could get used to over time, it just doesn't feel as effective as a BR.

The map textures, design and feel are really impressive though. Seeing Blood Gulch for the first time in years was nice too. Forge has been much improved, but the fact you can't move objects in and out separately is a bit weird. (You have to move yourself in and out with the object instead of having full object control).

I really despise the AR, despite how much some people go on about it. And the weapon choice in campaign feels really starved, I like having frequent choices of good weapons and not knowing which one to pick. Now I'm faced with having to use ghey plasma rifles and pistols...

Anyway, I guess I've still not even seen half there is to see...

[Neddie]

Well, you usually don't LAN in a dark room; it would seem that 1v0ry was comparing splitscreen console multiplayer to online pc multiplayer. Alternatively, he may never have run or been invited to a LAN. A LAN does require more space, but the variety of hardware and software it opens up to the participants tends to outweigh that - particularly for groups above four in number.

[KaiserJ]

onslaught mode (or whatever the name is) is pure cash.

the rest... mehhh

[KaiserJ]

I never understood what was so amazing about halo..
What sort of game features or mechanics make it stand out?

for halo 1, it was the vehicle controls, polished engine, and just generally cool things like sticky nades that weren't in other games at the time (others have caught up by now ofc)

for halo 2, it again was the polish, combined with the massive playerbase, which created sort of a mini starcraft effect... lots of people had the game, and many claimed to be the best... you had stuff like MLG (a money league here in north america) claiming halo 2 as a flagship game for a long time with matches on television and fairly big cash prizes.

you pick it up now, without any of the hype or history surrounding the franchise, and it's just like any other old game... feels fun, but dated.

its the sort of thing where you could hate on chess for only having 16 pieces and being very simple, but you can also enjoy the complexity of emergent gameplay; because so many people have played it, it becomes the standard by which all other similar games are measured.

edit : and a word about goldeneye... in the days of n64, there was no console online stuff AFAIK... so it was just about playing against people in the same room. perfect dark really was the shit though; so many features in that game that i would love to see in modern games.

[Machete234]

We hooked up mouse + keyboard, and started simply owning everyone and everything in both single player and multiplayer. Most of the time it felt like as if you are shooting ducks in the lake with a sniper rifle.

This is a dream of mine, being able to play against console guys with my keyboard+mouse I think I would have days of fun.
"BOOM twitch-shot, youre dead retard hahaha"

consoles are a social gaming format; pcs are for sitting alone in a dark room.

Consoles are for people that dont know what a dedicated server is.
The question isnt why do people like halo the question is why did they buy this crappy xbox in the first place?
When theres something new on the market it doesnt mean you have to buy it.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

Well, you usually don't LAN in a dark room; it would seem that 1v0ry was comparing splitscreen console multiplayer to online pc multiplayer. Alternatively, he may never have run or been invited to a LAN

...

I have hosted and been to LANs, but usually not more than once or twice a year.


what I'm talking about is, living in a big sharehouse, the console is set up on the big living room TV. when someone fires up halo in the evening, by the time the online multi-player lobby is up there at least 2-3 people have crashed onto the sofa & picked up controllers or drifted over from cooking their food for a round

VS

a computer, even a laptop, which is 100% one-per-person and requires desk or table space to use the mouse effectively (fuck touchpads). lots of people all sat on their laptops feels anti-social. lots of people jostling for space on the sofa and giving eachother dead arms feels awwlright.

I prefer computer games to dumbed down console games by a large margin, and prefer mouse and keyboard to console controller by a factor of infinity in terms of control- but I also prefer RL company to sitting plugged into a computer. this is probably less of an issue for people who live alone, with their parents, with a spouse or have no rl friends, but for me the splitscreen console experience wins every time.

[pintle]

IK, as someone who I know to play both Tekken and SF, you should know that ANY time spent social gaming on a console with an FPS is a total waste of said time...

Its not like I haven't had my share of drunken 2 console 8 player halo fests, I just much much prefer beat em ups and driving games to restrictive, slow, low skill, low resolution shooters. You cannot seriously expect somebody who played Q, or UT, or CS/DoD etc to find any real engagement in Gaylo.

Halo plus points: First one was the first game i played to have a grenade hotkey, not force you to switch weapon. ...and I'm stuggling to find a single unique plus point about the games, beyond that.

Console gaming is not inherently crap, however console fps most certainly is.

[1v0ry_k1ng]

I love halo 3.. there is nothing on PC or console that compares to how much I enjoy that shooter. I think it is the way that most kills are made by beating the opponent down with the butt of your rifle, and the way that when you kill someone, their voice coms become public for a split second so you can hear that 12 yearold you just slammed into the ground yell in suprise. no game has ever been closer to the feeling of viciously beating down children

[Licho]

Best FPS shooter for me was NS (Natural Selection) - no other was so heavily teamplay dependant and gave me sense of shared destiny and cooperation.

Console shooters? No thanks, controller makes me feel like if I was back in 1980's playing on C64 with joystick.

[Pxtl]

@ pintle

The first Halo game was fantastic about getting rid of all the annoying tediousness of its predecessors. No backtracking for health. No getting lost and hitting up the automap. No losing your teammates in co-op - they teleport forwards when you hit the next checkpoint. No massive laundry-list weapon-inventory to manage. Plus, vehicles. FPS gaming distilled to awesomeness....

then, unfortunately, dumped onto a console.