Does Halo 3 live up to the hype?

[runawayprisoner]

Uhh... IGN said that it depends.

Originally Posted by Jonathan Miller

May 14, 2007 - The Halo 3 multiplayer beta is, um, well, more Halo.

I don't know what I was expecting. The hype is getting so great that I would not have been surprised if a harem of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders wearing nothing but gold body-paint exploded out of the console as soon as I hit start.

Instead I got more Halo.

It's no revolutionary new sequel

Source: IGN: Halo 3 Preview

No fancy graphics, slightly extended weaponry and vehicle-ry, plain-old Halo 2 feel. I'll get to experience all these in a few days (yay for uncle with his XBox360!)... but really, after reading that, I feel like... I was a bunny leaping and skipping happily on the street... until I bumped into a billboard that appeared out of nowhere and then fell into a hole, which also made its entrance out of nowhere. Seriously, it's so hyped up, and it's so... you know... supposedly "revolutionary," "fun," etc... that I was expecting a fantastic title that would blow my mind away... and would justify trading my PS3 in for my uncle's 360. *Dead silence for 30 minutes* Maybe I should just wait for Halo 2 on PC instead?

[D.D.]

gfx -wise just doesnt seem like a step up from RFOM, a 1st gen title on a system that has been harshly criticized for being hard to get into.

[runawayprisoner]

Judging from the beta screenshots, I'd say that RFOM even looked better than those at some point (Yes, I have RFOM). I wonder what's up with Microsoft lately... first Forza 2 and now it's Halo 3? Are they overly stressed to deliver the games on time with all those features or something? I mean... all of the third-party games look fantastic on the 360 lately, so fantastic that I'm actually considering trading my PS3 for my uncle's 360 (he likes HD stuffs while I like HD gaming) but... the way things are going is really making me reconsider this.

[Samor]

There were people on another forum talking about this a while ago. They were saying that they had doubts that Bungie would be able to deliver.

As for me, while anticipating Halo 2 PC, I've been taking some time to finally play through the single player mode of the first (I assume I'm pretty far, I'm currently in the level with the stranded Pillar of the autumn, trying to blow stuff up).
I like the game, but it has a few severe shortcomings as well. While the levels are visually different enough to each other IMO, its inside the levels themselves that things at times become very repetitive, with equally looking rooms all over the place, making you wonder if you're walking in a loop at times.
Some parts in the game mechanics I don't like either.. some of the Convenant take way too many hits to kill, making it a drag. Your machine gun also isn't powerful enough (it doesn't even feel like one, but rather like a pea shooter).
With the Flood its quite different (they die quickly), which is a welcome change at first, but it quickly turns into doing constantly the same over and over: get a shot gun, lure one of the Flood out, retreat to a corner so they can only attack head-on and shoot until they stop appearing. While doing that, you don't have to shoot all the small ones though, they hardly do damage and it's just wasting ammo. Kind of weird to be able to do that last thing, but whatever.... and once you're done with that, proceed to the next room that looks the same and do exactly the same, and repeat 10 or 20 times or whatever until you reached the end of a level.
Fortunately not everything is like that, but there are times when the game could've used a bit more variety.
With regards to that, it isn't that much of a special game at all (maybe Halo 2 is, though?). It shares a lot with that other Bungie game, Oni in terms of repetitive design (a funny little things is that controlling terminals in both games have the same sound effect).
Yet, of those two, Halo is definately the better game.
The fact it became the hit it was probably has to do with a number of things
-the marketing (obviously)
-the story is quite interesting
-excellent main character. Dunno exactly what it is, but the Master Chief has something that makes him stand out from the generic FPS hero.
-it has little moments of brilliance in it. At times, it also feels a bit like a first-person Metroid.
-the graphics were gorgeous for its time (quite unlike Oni, which wasn't released that long before it).

Yet, the game seems to lack a bit compared to other high-profile titles on consoles. By no means bad, but it seems kind of amazing that it became the hit it was (then again, I found Half Life 1's Black Mesa a whole lot more boring to wander through - allthough not filled with 100 of the same rooms, the WHOLE GAME has the same setting which I really didn't like)
I don't know how much Halo 2 improved, but I could imagine that Bungie perhaps isn't the best team out there (not that they're bad) and that, well, that is kinda what there is to it. That's why Halo 3 might be less interesting.

[Densetsu]

It's going to sell buttloads even if it had Atari 2600 graphics.Bungie already figured that one out and decided to cut the cost of the development by giving slightly upgraded Halo 2 to brainless fans.

[Holic]

I see a new potential thread: MGS4 live up to the hype?

[Densetsu]

Originally Posted by xxxHolic

I see a new potential thread: MGS4 live up to the hype?

I don't think anyone is hyping MGS4.It always delivers(atleast it did for me).

[guenthar]

The reason why the Halo games are sucessful is because they are some of the few decent games on the Xbox (and now the Xbox 360) so people who have those consoles don't have much too choose from so they make one of the only decent games for there console out to be the greatest game of all time when it is only a decent game and not nearly the best game out there.

[Holic]

@Densetsu,
Well the trailers themselves were very teasing, highlighting some aspects of the gameplay (sorry I had to use that word),

If some of that was removed from the main game then certain poeple may feel let down.

MGS 2 as well, the trailers showed snake but then you go on to raiden, some liked it, others like me didn't.

@ samor, you make valid points about the repetition on Halo's single player,
If you thought that was bad I found Halo 2 campaign even worse than the original, the feeling of freedom has been stripped. Thats why I just play it for the multi player (halo 1 & 2-when it does come out on PC).

[Densetsu]

Originally Posted by xxxHolic

@Densetsu,
Well the trailers themselves were very teasing, highlighting some aspects of the gameplay (sorry I had to use that word),

If some of that was removed from the main game then certain poeple may feel let down.

Like what?
Sneaking?
Shooting yourself in the mouth?
I'm just hoping that Kojima can pull of some of the ideas he mentioned(like switching sides for example).

Originally Posted by xxxHolic

MGS 2 as well, the trailers showed snake but then you go on to raiden, some liked it, others like me didn't.

Raiden wasn't bad.Quinton Flynn did an amazing job considering he got to voice one of the gayest characters in the history of mankind.It's kinda funny seeing people whistling a different song when they saw Raiden go all badass in MGS4 trailer.

[Borisz]

It won't live up to the hype but it will be a fine game nevertheless.

[ChankastRules]

It looks like gears of war will still be the best looking title... on any system for awhile longer.... on the other hand the guy said It is overwhelmingly fun... to me that sentance is a whole lot more important than "It looks absolutely overwhelmingly fantastic"

[Holic]

yeah I agree.

if you read just the quotes from the first post it makes it seem as though Halo 3 is a big disappointment or something.

But if you read the full article, the writer tries to balance things out.

[FLaRe85]

The beta comes out tommorrow. We'll see, then.

[Coolsvilleman]

Will it live up to the hype: yes. Will it deserve it: BIG FAT NO. From all the trailers and ingame beta I've seen it does not deserve even near the hype it is getting. It's more like Halo 2.5 not 3.

[Typhoon 01]

Halo is what it is today mainly because of the Live service, for being one of the first really successful FPS´s on a console by getting the controls right.
It´s single player campaign was quite good but it really shined in MP.
Frankly i think it will deliver more of the same (which isn´t necessarily bad), with a few new perks here and there.
For lack of a better comparison Halo 3 will be as much a sequel as UT 2004.

[runawayprisoner]

Originally Posted by xxxHolic

yeah I agree.

if you read just the quotes from the first post it makes it seem as though Halo 3 is a big disappointment or something.

That was exactly how the article sounded at first.

But if you read the full article, the writer tries to balance things out.

Yep... he "tried to". Still... he did hinted right at the beginning that this game didn't meet his expectations.

@xxxHolic: HK NEVER left anything out... he might actually add something in. And MGS2 did have some parts with Snake in them, didn't it? Snake just didn't appear long enough. HK tried to compensate for that with the expansion Substance... and imo, Substance is not just an expansion, it's like a completely different package that just happened to contain the game. You even have more VR missions and side stories gaming hours than the actual game. :/

P/S: Oh, and HK is currently thinking about new stuffs to add into the game, too... as well as requesting a 50GB DL-BD for the game. I don't know if it'll live up to the hype or not... but I trust that it'll never be short of expectations... just like how the previous games have been. No MGS game has been hyped up too much.

[Holic]

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

Yep... he "tried to". Still... he did hinted right at the beginning that this game didn't meet his expectations.

Because of the words 'Halo 3' people go into overdrive and expectations are high, I say give the game a break, when its out it'll be good, it may not break new grounds but who cares? I don't.

Not every developers is capable of delivering the hype, even if it was an outstanding game some one somewhere will see a fault, or not live up to their expectations, poeple need to calm down and and accept, just because its HALO 3 it needs to reinvent the FPS genre. It just needs to be a good game and thats it.

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

@xxxHolic: HK NEVER left anything out... he might actually add something in. And MGS2 did have some parts with Snake in them, didn't it? Snake just didn't appear long enough.

Yeah it was like two games in one. It was as though they thought:

'I can't be asked with snake's mission, lets end it and star a new guy'.

The game felt like two separate things molded into one, because the two bits played felt totally different.

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

I don't know if it'll live up to the hype or not... but I trust that it'll never be short of expectations... just like how the previous games have been. No MGS game has been hyped up too much.

what ever the outcome it will still be a good game, even if it doesn't live up to the hype. just a feeling I got thats all.

[runawayprisoner]

You know... but that's the problem there. Microsoft has been trying to tell people that Halo 3 was going to be the best game on the 360... in every aspect! New flash: it can't even beat Gears of War in terms of visual. It's not the game that I'm blaming, it's the company that hyped it up that I'm blaming.

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

first Forza 2 and now it's Halo 3?

Hold on there. First, I've just tried the Forza 2 demo on my new Sony HDTV running in 1080i. The game looks beautiful, and the screenshots D.D. posted a while back look nothing like what you play.

As for the Halo 3 beta, I was not impressed either. I don't know what's up, but I just hope the final game is a lot better than what we've seen so far. Something seems to be holding them back, and I have no idea what it is. It's only a Beta, so it's not final. They still have some time before the game is released, and they said everything is subject to change.