Topic: Why is Halo so popular?

Now I've had a lot of members telling me how great Halo is. After playing some I really don't see what the go is. It doesn't seem to be any better than any other first player shoot 'em up I've played. In fact I think I preferred Red Faction.

So tell me, what's the big deal? Am I missing something?

nah, it's just a ton of sci-fi nerds. i don't think halo is all too great either.

I dont know, i just enjoy it. I think the 1st one is the best.

The first one was good.  Then it just created such a following and the hype was made.

For example.  Why is Rocky Horror Picture show so popular?  :P

Just unanswerable questions.

its a good game.
fun, straight forward
good controls

Its an oversimplified FPS that is just the same drole over and over and over and over again and ppl just sit there and play and play and play.

No, i dont like Halo.

I can tell. 

I just find it fun, dont ask why.

I think its a good thing that you dont have squadmates to look after, because at times with them it can seem to easy, like you just order them to go and die for you. Halo isnt the best, i like others more, but its an ok way to pass the time

The first may have been the best, especially parts of campaign. But Halo, when you go beyond the very basic story you see just playing through campaign, actually has a fairly deep story. The books expand this a lot, but even just going through and getting the terminals deepens the story.

The multiplayer is simple, but fun, especially if you get a ton of friends together for a custom game of infection or something.

Finally (I could go on about Halo, but I won't), Halo completely revolutionized the FPS genre. While it seems less than other games in some ways, they've borrowed a lot from it. Halo CE had a good story, and many modern games really don't have that, but that started to be more common. The Big 3 of shooting, meleeing, and using grenades is simple, but requires though on how to take down, say, a group of Brutes, depending on what they're wielding, how many, etc. It's simple, but still requires some though. Of course, you can run and gun.

But my main point is, Halo, especially Combat Evolved, has really changed the FPS genre, and should be respected for that. The story, too, if you take the time to learn it, is great too. The Multiplayer, especially for serious players, may not be as fun as, say, COD4. I'd say that COD's multiplayer is better, for serious gaming. But the campaign's story wasn't as good, and there are no more relaxed gametypes, like Infection, VIP, Juggernaut, Oddball, etc.

Long post. In short, I really respect what Bungie has done in the Halo Games.

Halo aint bad, but theres nothing special about it, its just death match like every single other game.

I like to think Halo 2 is responsible for the death of the health bar......:(

Actually when playing Halo I noticed that it had stolen and awful lot of lines from the Aliens film. Not only that but the soldiers and their Sarge looked almost identical.

I guess the storyline and the character himself is what make this game so popular.I recently played Halo 3...I enjoyed it,but not to the point of becoming addicted..:P

Yeah. I like to play Halo. I have The first one and the second one

Both are really enjoyable as far as games get

Yeah I was going to mention that. Its also like, the EXACT same sarge from Predator. Complete with the little cap. And to counter post WV's post: I honestly dont think Halo revolutionized much of anything. It just took a game like Golden eye 007, kept the mechanics and gameplay and tossed in a few aliens. If you look at Halo, almost nothing in the game hasn't already been done before.

This sums up my opinion pretty well. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/8-Halo-3

I never played the the first Halo, but I've played some matchmaking on Halo 2 ( along with most of the campaign) and I sometimes play on Halo 3. I think its being easy while challenging at the same time so I think the game may appeal to many levels of players. I like the just for fun not so serious games, like infection and the alike It not my favorite game, but over all its not bad in my opnion. But then again I've just got into these sorts of games, and haven't played all that you have.

Well said, Si.

I wouldn't know about Aliens, but Halo 1 was, what, 7 years ago? The graphics back then were far weaker, but Halo still had decent graphics for the time. If you mean their faces. The sarge might be a homage to the one in predator, but I wouldn't know.

Halo 2-3 are not that great but then again its not like theres that many things out there that are any better. It really depends on what you like. If you play FPS' but dont like sci-fi, then its most likely not for you.

And Mel when you say you 'played the game' did you play the whole game or did you play a level in the middle of the story and decided you didnt like it? Because somthing very much like that happened to me, and I went on ignoring halo intill close to the release of halo 3 came around...Which i deeply regret.

Because its Halo.

that's not a real reason, i could create a game 10 times better.

I started at the beginning, then Jawa jumped in and I watched him play. I must say I've played a fair share of first person shoot 'em ups and Halo's nothing new. I've played Alien vs Predator, which came out a long time before Halo and it's pretty much the same sort of story but a hell of a lot scarier.

It seems to me that Halo sure has many fans though....The games in the main Halo trilogy have sold over 20 million copies!That's a lot of money folks. :P

I didnt think that AVP threatened the entire universe, and had an bio-enginered armored man killing an alliance of aliens. :P

Its alot harder than it looks Fett_II

AVP DIDNT threaten the universe? So you consider a mass universe wide infestation of xenomorphs not a threat? And i think we're all tired of bio-engineered men in super armor...thats been done a hundred times already.

There really wasnt a threat, the xenomorphs are not capable of of building/driving space ships and consuming the entire universe.

And yeah I'm kinda tired of all these bio-engineered dudes as well, I'm not saying it was great, I was just jokein around with Mel.

Ah aliens. You know, its kind of impossible to have a sci-fi game without a reference to aliens. Ever play starcraft? :P

No... You can't. And even if you created a game, 10 times better? really? considering most reviews of the game fell between 9.5 and 10 that would mean "your game" would be a 95 to a 100.... on a scale from 1 - 10. Nice try.

First off, don't use somebody else's review of a game to "sum up your opinion" because it makes it look like you took all of your ideas from them, which you sort of did with the "sarge from predator" thing. Plus he never played multiplayer... which is stupid because why buy Halo for the single player? It's like buying milk if you're lactose intollerant.

And to counter-post your counter-post Halo did revolutionize the FPS. Do you really think that they stole things from Golden Eye?!? Yeah, it was a fun game like... a decade ago. Halo is a sci-fi FPS with graphics that overshadowed most games of the time. The controls, multiplayer (especially in halo 2), and the AI were leaps and bounds past ordinary. 007 had infinite streams of enemies who threw themselves at you with their blocky heads while you tried to find your mark with the C-buttons and moved/ looked around with the analog stick. The multiplayer was like fighting a war in the days of muskets. You stopp face to face with your opponent and fired wildly until one of you fell. YES!! I can see the connections to halo now...

I am not a Halo Fanatic as I have not even played the game in quite some time, but I enjoy it when playing with friends or whenever I am bored. Halo 3 is not a "godly" or "perfect" game... but It's good, simple, and fun. And that is how you sell games. I prefer my Unreal Tournament 3 at the moment anyway, much more action.

He actually said somthing about that: "People have been telling me that the multiplayer excuses it. (The story mode) unfortunately I dont give a flying **** about multiplayer and neither do a lot of people, I dont pay for a game thats only half decent"

((Thats not an exact quote mind you))

not really i played the first 2 games and beat it on Legendary out of boredom...

He means making a game Fett_II

yea i know, what i meant was creating it, like the storyline n stuff.

With Halo I wasn't meaning that the story was identical to Aliens vs Predator. I was referring to the basics, at least from a Marine's perspective. See I think AVP is a much better game because you can play as either a Marine, Predator or Alien. Allows for a lot more repeat game play.

What I was really meaning is that I don't see Halo as a revolutionary game, not in the genre of first person gaming. That mantle goes to Doom which was the first game of the sort. Now that was end of the world stuff. Earth goes to hell in a handbasket. I'm not keen to play the newest version because it's got some pretty freakin' looking stuff in it.

I just don't think Halo lives up to the hype. It's an okay game to play but I don't think it's anything special. It's got a great basis for novelisation and further expansion on story telling, but purely from a game perspective I don't see anything new. I guess I was expecting more because there's such a following, I was looking for something unique. I just didn't find it.

Maybe online gaming is better but it just looks like another "capture the flag" realm and that was extremely popular when Red Faction came out. At least in that you could destroy walls when you couldn't unlock a door and shoot several dudes with one shot from the rail gun.

I'm not saying that Halo is a bad game, it's just that it doesn't stand out from the crowd as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I've played too many survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill to find Halo an "edge of your seat" type game.

Ok, most likely you are playing one of the new halos, which means it is not revolutionary. This is mainly because almost no sequal is ever revolutionary because it has to play off the basis from the first game(s) or else people will get mad and won't buy it. So if you were looking for revolutionary, you are about 6-7 years too late as Halo 1 was the one for that.

Now as for why the new ones feel like every other game out there. This is not because of a lack of inginuity on Bungie's part, but instead a lack of creativity from everyone else. Almost every other FPS slowly moved into this funk of copying off of Halo or copying off a game that copied off Halo. Health bars disapeared, (even Call of Duty picked that 1 up) online gaming became the same rigamaroll over and over, and somehow most games still can't grasp the best concept about Halo's online system. The party screen. Call of Duty 4 got close, but still lacks the fluidity that Halo 3 has. The ability to change any part of the gametype, map, appearance, boot players, and set pretty much any option without creating a new game is by far one of the best parts of playing Halo online.

Play Gears of War and then try to change the gametype or map while online... you will appreciate Halo immediately.

Well I'm not really one to play online games, so I have probably missed the point entirely :P

Yes, which is sad really. Not sad on your part, but on the part of the game producers. They went from having a great game all around (Halo) to having a good campaign and a great multiplayer/ onlline game (halo 2). Then they pretty much stripped down the campaign to be able to be run through in a few hours in order to put emphasis on what people were already mostly interested in... the online play. Its all supply and demand. Fortunately I enjoy online play as much as the next guy, so I enjoy Halo.

Halo's "nothing new", because most FPSs are roughly copies of Halo, control-wise. Halo CE has a great story, streamlined control system, and seamlessly combines vehicle and on-foot combat. The multiplayer was revolutionary, and Halo 2 defined online FPS play. The play might seem simple to some, but instead of several character traits, no vehicles, and stealth based combat (these things aren't bad, it is just for other games), in Halo it is all based on who can use the given items best (guns, vehicles, etc.). The play is quick and simple, just shoot, grenade, and bunt. That's what makes it good. I guess some people just like the COD4 style of play better, and that's their right to think whatever they want. This is just my opinion.

I agree with Mel, i like Halo and all but i think its a bit over-rated.

Ny idiot enemy think Halo is more popular than Star Wars, despite Star Wars being waaaaay more popular and better, not that many people have heard of Halo.

Are you joking.....most people under 30 have heard of it. It may not be more popular period, but for people older that like 14, it is. I like both, but it's true. Most people these days, older than a certain age, don't like SW much, as a whole.

not many people have heard of Halo? and yet, it's sold millions of copies, I'm sure nobody knows about it.

Um, my entire school had not heard of Halo until i liked it. And just cause it sold well doesn't mean its super popular. Halo is very popular but thing like Star Wars, LOTR e.g. are just more popular. More people would have seen SW at cinema then bought Halo, A LOT MORE. And Halo is hardly revolutionary like Star Wars was.

Because HALO came out right as the x-box came out it got bought because it was one of the only games out there. For many HALO was their 1st FPS  RPG therefore getting the "My 1st love" syndrome. That's when what I like to call "BUZZ" kicked in. "BUZZ" is when a few people with a lot of say think X (X= anything) rocks or stinks and they tell everyone they meet about how they hate/love X after a while people who have never even seen/played X start to say things about it too. This happened with Windows Vista (see link) this also happened with Spider-Man 3 and is happening now with the Clone Wars movie. I was told by people who had never seen or used them that they sucked I saw SM3 the opening night at 12:00 and thought it was a great movie (not as good as 1 or 2 but still great) BUZZ can also change your ideas about something so that when you DO see/use/play it you go in thinking its not going to be good/it will be awesome and when you do use/see/play it even if you do/don't like it your careful about what you say about it because you don't want to go against everyone. This is why I think Napoleon Dynamite was so popular. I found myself doing this and now I try to let others know about BUZZ. I now try to go into everything with a open mind.
  So it really is just a lot chance that HALO is what it is today.

The only problem I see with your logic is that all of your "Buzz" examples are sequals or extensions of an already popular series. Halo 3, which I'm assuming your talking about, like Vista, SM 3, Clone Wars, and such drew off of the popularity of their predecessors. However the wrench in your theory is that each of these titles had to become popular in the first place. They had to earn the right to create the Buzz, which is the only reason a sequal is created anymore anyway.

If you were talking about Halo:CE (the original) then you are sadly mistaken in your thoughts as the X-box owes is popularity to the original Halo. People bought the system purely to play Halo after they got to try it once or twice. Not because somebody told them it was worth it, because they got hooked and knew it was worth it. Don't throw the whole thing off to "Chance."

Im not a whole believer in the Halo being the edge of your seat game, but my BF swears that the game still gets him. But thats for online play. When you have a lot of unknown fighters where you just don't know how they fight sometimes it can be harrowing, esp. if you have a low tolerance for stuff like that. I've never found my self so caught in game. I'd like to but it may be because I don't scare easy.

Xbox has a following because of many games, way more than just Halo.

I think Halo is the new Star Wars, as far as popularity. And I forgot to mention the *great* music, and the ads had more work put into them than any other game (e.g. Believe, Landfall.).

Halo is not the new Star Wars. The only recent film series to possibly challenge Star Wars's popularity would be Harry Potter.

Oh yeah, the Music is GREAT. Marty O'Donnel did a GREAT job with the music. If Bungie keeps doing stuff with Halo, it could be.

dunno what's on your mind, but Harry Potter is in no league with Star Wars dude.

HP has made almost as much money as SW, but not quite. And HP is very popular. But probably more popular in AU and Britain that US

And halo's music is good, i never said otherwise

worldwide, people are more familiar with Star Wars than Harry Potter. heck, millions o ppl in Australia and New Zealand, AND Britain claim their religion to be "Jedi" on a census.

I think Halo is only popular with Xbox users. Since I have a Playstation 2 I haven't been interested in it.

It's only that Adeptus kept telling me how great it was that I bought a PC version.

SW is over so many medias: film, TV, gaming, books, toys, collectables, clothes etc. Halo is no where near that sort of status.

I'm not sure about films, but there are Halo games, books, toys, collectables, clothes, etc. But not to the extent of SW.