Halo y/n?

corblimey

I see this is being released pretty soon in the UK (and presumably over here). I'm not too bothered about getting it, but will probably pick it up in a few months when second hand copies are a bit cheaper.

DarkJager

I'm getting it the day it comes out. The halo series has been one of my favorite franchises and I don't think I could put it on hold as I want to see how it ends.

00sully

how did the 2nd one end? I never bothered to finish it after the 1st. I may pick this up 2nd hand after a while

DarkJager

2nd one was kind of a cop out. They were getting everyone pumped up for this massive battle, with Master Chief on his way to the Covenent Home world IIRC. Cortana was also captured by Gravemind. The music started rising, and just as you were getting ready to kick some serious ass, the credits rolled.

I remember sitting there for 5 minutes afterwards in complete disgust.

godtabh

DarkJager wrote:

2nd one was kind of a cop out. They were getting everyone pumped up for this massive battle, with Master Chief on his way to the Covenent Home world IIRC. Cortana was also captured by Gravemind. The music started rising, and just as you were getting ready to kick some serious ass, the credits rolled.

I remember sitting there for 5 minutes afterwards in complete disgust.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Still like playing it. Sure if it wasnt for the multiplayer would it still be the same game?

I'll defo be getting when it coems out

Havent preordered but i dont think it will sell out

savemejebus

Same as corblimey, i'll pick it up in a few months once the hubbub dies down. I like the halo story but apart from that i wasn't too impressed by the gameplay (Or the library level in halo 1).

DarkJager

Multiplayer has always been excellent in Halo, but I'm really hoping the main focus of this one is on the single player story. It has to have a good ending, otherwise the whole series will have just been a waste of time.

Also (POSSIBLE MAJOR SPOILER):

There's rumours that Master Chief will not survive the final battle

mathias

The first one was great , and unique at the time , brilliant game , but the second for me was a big big disappointment. Hopefully the third doesnt continue on the downward slope , but I certainly wont be lining up for it , I'll wait and see what the reviews say. ( user reviews that is , most pro ones are lies ! )

humanji

I was brought up on PC games and when Halo originally came along I didn't see what all the fuss was about. I had some fun with the multiplayer in Halo 2, but all in all I was never really impressed. I'll play part 3 if I get it free somewhere, but I can't see myself buying it.

faceman

íve never played halo so i prebooked this one as i expect it will be sold out in a hurry. game have alot of prebooks.

Retr0gamer

I'll probably get it on the day of release and then end up hating myself for it. I won't bother prebooking though. There's no way it will sell out completely.

mcgovern

I'll probably order off Play, Blah or Sendit (whichever is cheapest) and have it a few days after launch. Just a filler until CoD4 comes out, and I wasn't even a fan of the CoD series until the beta!

koneko

I'll be buying it launch day, and playing co-op.

Julez

I'd say there's a decent chance it will be region free, so I'll probably pick it up off play-asia.com, not hugely bothered!

koneko

Holy crap, some Argos stores in the UK broke streetdate!
Not here though as far as I can tell, bummer.

Nalz

Yep I'l lbe buyin...BTW THERE IS A HALO FORUM

grizzly

Why all the "oh, I'll buy it, but I won't be able to look at myself in the mirror" stuff? Are people weary of the hype?

Personally I'm more excited about Half-life and CoD4 but I sure this will more then keep my attention for the month until then.

0ubliette

koneko wrote:

I'll be buying it launch day, and playing co-op.

No way dude, ill be saving co-op for AFTER ive finished the campaign on my own. I dont want people nattering in my ear and distracting from the story, i missed most of gears (admittedly flimsy) story cause of that. Still great experience tho, but id rather do it solo first.

Retr0gamer

grizzly wrote:

Why all the "oh, I'll buy it, but I won't be able to look at myself in the mirror" stuff? Are people weary of the hype?

\

After the mediocrity of the much hyped and well reviewed Halo 2? Of course.

0ubliette

bungie admitted that they ballsed up halo 2 SP tho and that theyre determiend to set things right for 3. Im not expecting the fps to be reinvented by halo 3, but i am expecting it to be above average, i think its a safe bet to say it will be enjoyable.
Even halo 1 is still perfectly playable nowadays, library aside, its a great game, and halo 3 will hopefully be better.

tman

I'm in the "might pick it up cheap a few months after release" camp.
There's plenty coming up to keep me occupied, this one can wait until I want to wean myself off the gamut of excellent Christmas releases with something mediocre.

koneko

0ubliette wrote:

No way dude, ill be saving co-op for AFTER ive finished the campaign on my own. I dont want people nattering in my ear and distracting from the story, i missed most of gears (admittedly flimsy) story cause of that. Still great experience tho, but id rather do it solo first.

I wouldn't be playing with randoms or people from online, but people I know (at the very least me and my boyfriend, we played the others together too)

Dades

Have pre-ordered, and taken the 26th off work.

event

anyone from cork?

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreAvailabilityView?doMessaging=true&checkstock.y=16&javascriptEnabled=false&lookupReturnURL=StoreAvailabilityView&checkstock.x=26&jspStoreDir=argosie&trolleyBackURL=ArgosStoreLookupView%3FstoreId%3D30001%26langId%3D-1%26town%3Dnull%26postcode%3Dnull&selectstore=45&failView=StoreAvailabilityView&townname=&langId=-1&origSelectStore=374&nextView=ArgosStoreLocatorTrolleyResStoreList&storeId=30001&ddkey=DoLocateStores

says there that you can pick it up today?
someone try it, as argos in the Uk are selling it early

Moojuice

Might get it second hand. Never saw what was so great about the Halo series. A pretty generic bunch of games. The story is pretty good but that is about it for me.

0ubliette

koneko wrote:

I wouldn't be playing with randoms or people from online, but people I know (at the very least me and my boyfriend, we played the others together too)

i only play with friends too, but i still want to seclude myself for this one!

GrumPy

Have it pre ordered in two different counties, and will be queing up outside Gamestop on Henry street. Oh, and I will also be sick that week of college.

Royale with Cheese

n

Retr0gamer

Royale with Cheese wrote:

n

A truly mind blowing comment there. I think I need a drink after that. So simple yet it has really opened my mind up to the Halo universe.

Zapp Brannigan

Will be buying on release day, taking said day off college and then playing 4 player co-op on Legendary! God this game is gonna be awesome!

johnny_ultimate

I played through the whole of Halo. I kept thinking I was missing something - endless, repetive corridors, ho-hum gameplay (note: I only played in 2005, having played the likes of Half-Life 2 beforehand). Just underwhelmed.

So I tried Halo 2. This was more of a chore to complete. As primarily a single player gamer, I was shocked at how mediocre the campaign was (after the admittedly great first big battle on Earth). And THAT ending really, really made things worse - I probably loudly proclaimed "WTF!" when the credits rolled. The multiplayer was good fun for parties and the like, but the Live experience made my ears bleed (hardly the games fault, but the hardcore teenage Halo audience are really quite disgraceful to play against) .

Will I be getting Halo 3? At the moment, no. I will read the reviews, and if they really have sorted out the issues I have with the previous games, I might cave in and give it a go. If - like I fear - it doesn't evolve like all good sequels should, I will be reluctant to even rent the thing.

Sure, the Orange Box and Phantom Hourglass are out a few days afterwards anyway. Both > Halo.

0ubliette

Halo 3 scored 10/9/9/9 in famitsu this week. Looking better and better it is.

And johnny, halo was out a long time before HL2, playing halo after playing hl2 is obviously going to leave you unimpressed. Back in 2002, it were the fcukin bollocks. I still remember staring at the grass being like 'WOW! it looks like REAL grass!' The enemy AI in halo is still better than most modern games, and it still has alot more freedom than alot of more modern FPS's. It deserves its place among games like HL2 in the greatest games hall as, at the time, the only other fps that could touch it was HL1.

koneko

Halo 2 scored the same in Famitsu though.

savemejebus

Zapp Brannigan wrote:

Will be buying on release day, taking said day off college and then playing 4 player co-op on Legendary! God this game is gonna be awesome!

How are ye going to decide who get's to me master chief? It's him and 3 elites right?

0ubliette

koneko wrote:

Halo 2 scored the same in Famitsu though.

No, it scored lower, i think it was 36 or so. It scored the same in XBOX famitsu, but not in famitsu itself.

EDIT
It was 34/40 in famitsu weekly.

Retr0gamer

Being japanese famitsu doesn't have much experience of reviewing FPS games. Many don't make it to japanese shores. The Halo 2 was always a competent just totally out classed by similar games. I'll hold out for a eurogamer review (who incidently gave Halo 2 9/10, I don't know who to trust anymore ).

Riesen_Meal

Im gettin it tonight, happy days!

Cant wait for it, I love all the Halo games!!! Not that ive ever finished a campaign on any of them bar Halo 1!!!

0ubliette

Retr0gamer wrote:

Being japanese famitsu doesn't have much experience of reviewing FPS games. Many don't make it to japanese shores. The Halo 2 was always a competent just totally out classed by similar games. I'll hold out for a eurogamer review (who incidently gave Halo 2 9/10, I don't know who to trust anymore ).

i really dont trust EG anymore. Thier reviews are generally either way too generous or way too low for the sake of shock value. Thier 10/10 for bioshock takes the piss, its a great game yes, but its an 8, a very solid 8. I really havent trusted their reviews for a long time now.

A friend on another forum who runs www.presstartonline.com got it early and wrote up this SPOILER FREE mini review:

Eighthours wrote:

The good:
- The story is unobtrusive so far this time around, and not so clumsily written in the main.
- Massive encounters are back in. Lots of marines against hordes of Covenant, with many different routes to an objective. Some of the set pieces so far have been fantastic.
- While the graphics aren't at Gears of War level, the physics are better than previously (one of the new weapons takes full advantage of this), there's shedloads going on, and the only frame rate drop I experienced was in an area with no enemies at all, so I assume it was just a loading hiccup.
- Big outdoor levels are back. This is a good thing.
- The HDR lighting is very nice indeed. Graphically, it's a step up over the Beta.
- The music is absolutely brilliant. So far, no silly RAWK guitar bits either.
- The art direction is stunning. Some nice architecture and little touches going on.
- The loading screen. WOW.

The bad:
- Difficulty spikes. On Heroic, there are a few. Notably, on the very first level there's one where you basically run out of ammo and good weapons in a section where there are jackals with carbines in trees quite a long way away from you, as well as lots of grunts all around you shooting. It's pretty hard.
- Then, on the Tsavo Highway level (the one that's been previewed loads of times, so no spoilers!), there's a bit about three-quarters of the way through where if your fellow marines are killed (and they will be killed), you're up against a legion of Covenant troops, a fuel-rod cannon wielding Brute Chieftain and a Wraith (which seem harder to destroy this time around). This part took me upwards of an hour to get past. I was this close to throwing my controller across the room. Please note: on co-op, that part will probably be straightforward, and indeed better Halo players than me may well walk it.
- The occasional Fear-like flashes of I-won't-tell-you-spoilers work to start with, but then seem a bit... well... shoddy because of the dialogue.

From what I have played so far, the single player campaign is definitely way above Halo 2. Clearly beyond it. So that's great. Someone on rllmuk said something that I think merits inclusion, as it's what I think too: you're basically playing Halo updated to 2007. So imagine Halo 1 with an extra six years of tech on it. That's what it's like. It's recognisably pure Halo. The campaign mode doesn't reinvent Halo, but builds upon it... makes it better, smoother, bigger, more intense.

I haven't had that "Silent Cartographer" moment yet... but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's coming. On here, Hero of Canton said that someone he knew placed the campaign between Halo 2 and Halo 1. I disagree. I'm having much more fun playing this than I did either of the other two. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's streets ahead of other console FPS games, and I foresee extreme replayability. Each level so far has been good.

I had a very quick (2 minutes) play around with Forge. Unfortunately anyone who wants to pile a map with 30 Warthogs will be disappointed. There's not only a budgetary cap on things (each map has a certain amount that can be spent on it, with each new item having a cash value), but also a numbers cap too for many items. For example, from memory (after midnight, very tired memory) you can only place 3 extra Warthogs in Last Resort (Zanzibar remixed). You can, however, move every object in the game world, piss about with its respawn times, and generally fiddle around with everything. It'll be very interesting indeed to actually "play" Forge with other people. I'm not sure yet if you can actually choose game types while in there or not... I'll have a look.

One slight flaw with Forge is that it lacks a tutorial of any kind. The manual keeps referring you to Bungie's website for proper instructions, so have a look around on there. It seems straightforward enough, but there are likely hidden depths and strategies that could have been explained, and while Forge is user-friendly, it's not noob-friendly in terms of what you're told.

Not done multiplayer custom or matchmaking yet, as I'm concentrating on the campaign. One thing I will say is that the campaign in 4 player Live co-op is likely to be the best thing on the 360.

Zapp Brannigan

savemejebus wrote:

How are ye going to decide who get's to me master chief? It's him and 3 elites right?

Whoever is the host is the MC. But I wanna be the Arbiter!!

koneko

Hah, snap, I've got dibs on the Arbiter in our group too.

savemejebus

youse people are sick...sick i tells ya - faulty steath generator eurgh!

Riesen_Meal

Cant wait to see this flamethrower, and the brute chopper!!!!

Think ill have to hook up my surround sound laters!

godtabh

Fieldog wrote:

Cant wait to see this flamethrower, and the brute chopper!!!!

Think ill have to hook up my surround sound laters!

The neighbours would love the SS at 3am as you fly around in the chopper!

Riesen_Meal

I dont mind the neighbours, no one on my side anyhow!

Its my lil sister who has to be next door.... poor girl, BLAM!



She'll be hearing 9mm fire for the evening!

Im just watchn the clock here in work!!!!

0ubliette

seems like its not just specified bits of the campagn that get saved in the saved films option too, it saves your ENTIRE CAMPAIGN footage to the hdd, and in incredibly small files. The first chapter only came to 7.7mb apparrently

Zapp Brannigan

It got delivered today along with some Halo 3 t-shirts and pretty cool faceplates that go around the sides of the 360 aswell.
Can't wait until wednesday!

Zombrex

Retr0gamer wrote:

\

After the mediocrity of the much hyped and well reviewed Halo 2? Of course.

Most over hyped/over rated game series of all time ... but I'm probably still going to by it within the first week

Riesen_Meal

Ive never finished campaign in Halo 2!

Nor would I be arsed, its all bout the multiplayer for me!

Now that 3 has coop online, I might play it on legendary, I finished halo 1 but not halo 2....