Heh heh, Halo 3.

[Chicky]

So it's here, or at least semi-here.

The average score for online reviews is 9.5, it has full replay editing and saving for multiplayer and campain, it has 4 player online co-op, is has a brilliant map editor and it looks bloody amazing. So is it really going to finish the fight.

Before i start i would like to add that i am fully aware that Halo 3 stands against almost everything we love about retro gaming, but forget this for a second and look at what has been hyped up to be the best game of our 'next gen'.

So i am eagerly awaiting the UK midnight release for Halo 3, i will be standing in line with my girlfriend at my local swindon store to get my collectors edition of what is xbox 360's 'PS3 beater'. I have been reading many game forums and it seems to be that the masses (that is about 90% of 360's gamers) are dissapointed with what Halo 3 has given them and have even gone to the point to label the game Halo 2.5.

Now come 2am tomorrow morning i will post up my opinions on the game. I am going to experience the game, from start to finish without any expectations and look at it as simply a game, this will be the same way i look at any game when i play it, be on the commodore 64 for the PS3.

I feel that gamers are so spoilt by all these next gen graphics that they completely overlook gameplay and gameplay is a field where i have complete faith that Bungie (halo's creaters) can deliver. I would like to know if any of you fellow AGS'ers have played the game and what YOUR opinions are on the new release.

Does this game really deserve the hype it has been given? Are all these players dissapointed because they themselves over hyped the game? 1OMFG$WTF## Halo 2.5?

I'll let you know after i get my hands on the game at midnight tonight.

[Nacho]

And please, don' t do it with bold letters...

[Radiant]

Before i start i would like to add that i am fully aware that Halo 3 stands against almost everything we love about retro gaming, but forget this for a second and look at what has been hyped up to be the best game of our 'next gen'.

So what? Every single new game is hyped up as the best game of uor generation.

Let's see if anyone is still playing it five years from now? Ten years from now? Most games don't stand the Test of Time at all, and are found in the bargain bin months after their release.

[Chicky]

And please, don' t do it with bold letters...

1. Is your post interesting, helpful or funny? If not, don't post it.

Rule one Farlander, get with the game.

What's the problem with bold letters? A few extra pixels don't hurt anyone and besides it makes it easier to see which posts are mine! No need to read countless pages of bullshit just to find my cream of the crop posts, simply scan the page untill you find your big bold black chunk of prime literature.

Sorry did i offend someone? This thread already has the trademark bitter tone that ags seems to develop whenever someone expresses an opinion.

[voh]

Helpful or not, it's effin' annoying. Bold is used for emphasis. Not just to make the poster seem more "special".

[Privateer Puddin']

Postman brought mine this morning, can't play the campaign yet since I agreed to wait till Thursday to play first time with friends.  It's OK, I like the theater/map replay stuff, being able to take screens/vids from your last 25 games.

and yeah, the bold was kinda annoying.

[space boy]

What exactly is the problem with bold letters?

[Adamski]

Before i start i would like to add that i am fully aware that Halo 3 stands against almost everything we love about retro gaming

I don't think the gameplay has advanced past Doom, so it's pretty retro in that respect. It's good that games can still get people excited in such a way, it's always fun to be part of the hype of something I guess. Halo has never really captivated me (I gave up the first game half way through due to the extreme repetition in the level design), but neither has Crysis which as also supposed to be some sort of video gaming deity. Perhaps I'm just a big ol' cynical gamer as I seem to be in the minority here!

By the way, there's no need to make your post entirely in bold as it comes across as very attention-seeking and makes it much harder to read, which you don't need to do here as you're not having to shout your opinion of the game over the masses of other people doing the same thing as in most gaming forums at the moment

[m0ds]

THE FIRST HALO WAS TEH BEST1!111!!!!!///2!

What's the score on the multiplayer in 3? Halo excites me

[Nacho]

And please, don' t do it with bold letters...

1. Is your post interesting, helpful or funny? If not, don't post it.

Rule one Farlander, get with the game.

What's the problem with bold letters? A few extra pixels don't hurt anyone and besides it makes it easier to see which posts are mine! No need to read countless pages of bullshit just to find my cream of the crop posts, simply scan the page untill you find your big bold black chunk of prime literature.

Sorry did i offend someone? This thread already has the trademark bitter tone that ags seems to develop whenever someone expresses an opinion.

People replied to you... There' s no need to make your posts "attention-seekers", some other told that it is annoying, and an failed attempt to make your post more special. If the content is special, the post will be special, if the content is not special, bold letters won't  do.

And well... If you find that a complain about bold letters is showing that "the community replies bitter to anyone expressing an opinion", I think that you have some kind of prosecution complex. I' d recommend you to chill out, or, if this place is so unpleasant to you, leave, which should be a pitty, really... I am sure that there are a lot of console forums who would like to comment about Halo 3.

And ah! Curious to say that "all the rest but mine" posts are "bullshit" Making friends and becoming popular, eh?  Now you just gotta say that AGS sucks, and that we are no match to your superior intellect, ok?

[Nikolas]

I'll let you know after i get my hands on the game at midnight tonight.

SO?!?!?!? HOW WAS IT?

Ok, honestly, how was it? Was it any good? Rather, was it as good as everyone is saying it is?

Also, is there tons of violence in there, like Jack Thompson would like it to be, and would love to sue MS?

[Radiant]

[ManicMatt]

lol. indeed.

What really sucks about Halo 3 is the Ltd edition tin cases. The discs fall out of their holders so easily, that almost every single copy has scratched discs. No matter what shop you buy it from, you more than likely will have a game that is scratched. Microsoft, so Im told, are accepting the discs back, and its just as well, as my company has had a few returned complaining that the game doesnt work at certain points.

Another branch had two faulty Halo 3 copies, that were from the standard editions! Perfectly mint games not working! A customer returned it, they tested the game, didnt work. They opened a new standard one up, didnt work either! Id suspect a faulty console perhaps... its a mint demo pod console thing though..

The game itself? Oh well it's alright on my first brief playthrough. 

Why did I buy it? Well I kinda got caught up in the hype! I dont have time to play all the games I buy. Ive got about 4 games I've not even played at all! help!!!

[Nikolas]

Why did I buy it? Well I kinda got caught up in the hype! I dont have time to play all the games I buy. Ive got about 4 games I've not even played at all! help!!!

Why certainly! I'll MSN you my address and you can send me a couple! Does this sound ok?



Radiant: LOL!

[Babar]

Damn! Nikolas beat me to it. But the next 4 are mine! 

[Adamski]

After some musing on the subject, I thought I'd better expand on my original post a bit.

I've been discussing Halo 3 with colleagues recently, and we were all trying to figure out just why we're not excited about the game at all. We came to the conclusion that it was because it didn't offer us anything new... as seasoned gamers who have been playing these types of games for the majority of our lives, we've Seen It All Before. I've played every major FPS since Wolfenstein 3D, so the single player campaign (at a whopping 6-8 hours in length!) doesn't appeal as I can expect exactly the same gameplay that I've experienced countless times before.

The same argument could be applied to Bioshock of course - the core gameplay hasn't advanced from the foundations laid out by Doom (aside from some pseudo-RPG elements and an obviously massive leap in narrative and concept), but the excecution and delivery of the additional and original gameplay elements managed to hit all the sweet spots for me (which I'm sure was helped by mostly being derived from System Shock 2, which is one of my all time favourite games). The problem with the Halo series is that I've already shot at legions of aliens wanting to cause me much harm in Prey, Half Life 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal, Gunman Chronicles, Gears of War... er, Redneck Rampage... it's not a concept that grabs me by the balls and screams "YOU MUST PLAY THIS GAME NOW!" anymore

Similarly the online play doesn't interest me as deathmatching is not a new concept in my life - lord knows I've wasted so much of my life playing Quake 2, Unreal Tournament, Half Life, Counter Strike, Natural Selection and countless others, and now I want to experience something different which is not something that Halo 3 is going to provide. What I am looking forward to though is Left4Dead... looks like co-op heaven to me! And hopefully battling friends online in Guitar Hero 3.

This is not to say that Halo 3 is a bad game worthy of some sort of anti-hype backlash. There's a whole generation of gamers that have never played Duke Nukem 3D, haven't spent weekends hooked on Quake 2 deathmatch and capture the flag playing on a 56k modem, not sunk dozens of hours LANing Unreal Tournament with a bunch of mates, and the Halo series has been the first that has been able to provide this enjoyable and addictive experience to a whole breed of gamers that have never had the chance (or ever wanted to, because online gaming is such geekery) to do it before. This is probably why Halo 3 is as massive as it is, it's the refinement of 15 years of 'traditional' FPS gameplay that everyone can enjoy. Those of us that have Seen It All Before will just have to sit around waiting for something else to come along that will satisfy our increasingly hard to please tastes, while millions of other people will be getting on with having fun! 

Footnote: After reading this you may be wanting to ask "if you've Seen It All Before and want something new from video games, why do you hang around on a forum dedicated to retro gameplay that has not only been Seen Many Times Before but has long since collapsed in on itself due to it's own inherent flaws". My response to this would be "Um..." and to disappear in a puff of hypocrasy!

[blueskirt]

Footnote: After reading this you may be wanting to ask "if you've Seen It All Before and want something new from video games, why do you hang around on a forum dedicated to retro gameplay that has not only been Seen Many Times Before but has long since collapsed in on itself due to it's own inherent flaws". My response to this would be "Um..." and to disappear in a puff of hypocrasy!

I was thinking about this all the time I read your post.

Personally I'd say we're the ones who decide how much "Seen It All Before" we want this community to be and I believe there's plenty of room to add a bit more than walk, look, interract and talk to adventure games. The more I hear people with that same "Seen It All Before" problem, the more I am convinced that after reaching an equal or superior aesthetical level compared to adventure games from the golden era, the next step forward this community will take will be to diversify the gameplay experience so everyone can find something they like with AGS games.

[TheJBurger]

Similarly the online play doesn't interest me as deathmatching is not a new concept in my life - lord knows I've wasted so much of my life playing Quake 2, Unreal Tournament, Half Life, Counter Strike, Natural Selection and countless others, and now I want to experience something different which is not something that Halo 3 is going to provide. What I am looking forward to though is Left4Dead... looks like co-op heaven to me! And hopefully battling friends online in Guitar Hero 3.

Try Team Fortress 2 (There's an open beta right now). It's different from most other shooters and has a variety of gameplay. You might not like, but in my opinion, it's loads of fun.

Now I'd like to ask a hypothetical question: If the Xbox never existed, and Halo simply debuted 1, 2, and 3 on the PC in their respective years, would it be anywhere near as popular? How much of its success is due to being on a console?

[Redwall]

Pretty much all of it. Halo on the PC is very mediocre.

TF2 really isn't that different from old-skool shooters apart from its art style...

[InCreator]

Now I'd like to ask a hypothetical question: If the Xbox never existed, and Halo simply debuted 1, 2, and 3 on the PC in their respective years, would it be anywhere near as popular? How much of its success is due to being on a console?

Halo would be nothing. I've played first game on PC and saw nothing but a mediocre yet-another-alien-shooter with textures made entirely of purple color. Duke Nukem 3D trying to be serious. Doom without tension. Quake without horror  and Unreal Tournament without any coolness. Almost like these Japanese gay anime RPG-s, but in fps format.
Halo.

Okay, maybe it wasn't THAT bad, but it's a game for kids. Ages 6 and up. Any lovers, compare Halo to any popular PC title. Exactly HOW is it better? Or even same?

Console fanboys are who hype stupid things up. So up that it goes beyond any logical explanation.