Halo: A Bit Andy Warhol?

[Avuncular]

The AI is exactly the same, whatever difficulty level you play it on. According to some bloke from Bungie.

[Sprite Machine]

The AI is exactly the same, whatever difficulty level you play it on. According to some bloke from Bungie.

Depends what you mean by 'the same'... if you mean they use essentially the same scrripting, etc., then you'd probably be right. If you mean the enemies behave in the same way on all difficulty levels, then that'd be totally untrue based on every single thing I have seen happen in the game, and I expect everything everyone has seen happen from playing it.

[kerraig UK]

Well said Ed, Did playing Doom on a higher difficulty make it any better? What about goldeneye? Goldeneye was great no matter what difficulty, sure the harder difficultys made you play it differently, more stealthy, but in the levels the game was exactly the same.

The indoor levels are jus annoying, they are so devoid of interest, same grey textures over and over and over again, going into multiple rooms that are circles. The inside of the space ship where you first start just goes to show that they can do interesting indoor levels, and later on when your back inside it, but in the middle the indoor sections are just dull. What did the aliens use them for? No reason, it doesnt identify, they need to have a reason to be there, and frankly most of the rooms dont.

Doom didnt have A.I.

goldeneye was 1000 times better on the hardest setting. Remember on easy the missions were a quarter of what they were on hard. You had less to do as well as less to shoot at.

Yeah but on halo, you dont get extra missions the harder the difficulty do you? You just do less damage while the enemy is smarter. Ive never seen the point of playing games on multiple difficultys unless you want to give yourself a challenge or they open something up. And i bet many many people have played halo on normal.

But i'll say it again, difficulty does not change the design of the indoor levels, they are still pap.

The difficulty completely changes the indoor levels actually. You no longer have any chance to look at texturequality and your thankful you have pre knowledge of the layout of the next room as it means you can plan your strategy in advance. On normal mode you dont need to plan a strategy cos you can just wade through.

[kerraig UK]

You just do less damage while the enemy is smarter.

And the prize for gross misrepresentation of Legendary mode goes to...

What does it do then? does it give me more missions? Does it give me more vehicals? does it change the terrain? No, it makes the enemy smarter and changes the damage inflicted. Nothing else.

It doesnt change the damage inflicted at all. One headshot is still a kill on legendary.

what it does is it changes the game from a dfirst person shooter to a combat tactics simulator. You need to think outside the box on this one. It changes the game in much more subtle ways than any other game changes when you up the difficulty. Hence why it is worth the 10 score.

[kerraig UK]

The AI is exactly the same, whatever difficulty level you play it on. According to some bloke from Bungie.

He lied. We've tested it.

[fasteasyfree]

At the moment I'm currently playing through Halo PC on normal difficulty. Even on this setting I've had to change my tactics considerably throughout the game. Running up to a grunt, shooting them in the face is all well and good at the start, but you soon realise it's not really working...

[kerraig UK]

Lots of interesting stuff about technical aspects of game engines.

I was coming at it more from a gameplay perspective. Both examples require to use the skills learned over the course of the game in a more diluted fashion.

I realise that Halo is Kerraig's 'thing' (to put it mildly?), and totally respect that. It's not the best game ever made (or even close, IMO), but it's interesting to hear why someone who thinks it is, does.

Other stuff

I would disagree that Halo's weapons are the best of any FPS. (Mainly because they're all lifted from other games, but bestowed with variously patchier sound, models, feedback and/or effectiveness.) Alex hit the nail on the head with the balance comment though. Getting into the 'zone' in a game can counter shortcomings in individual areas, as the eternal popularity of Counter-Strike seems to prove.

I'm not sure if I would say I enjoyed RTCW's single player mode more than Halo's, but I can say for a fact that it (and at least a good half dozen other FPSs of recent times) were a shitload bigger and more varied than Halo. At the end of the day, I have no compulsion to replay Halo's single player campaign ever again, except perhaps in co-op. Many reviews have conceded that it's only a 'good' single player FPS, elevated by a great multiplayer mode. It's not like it's a heretical opinion outside of The Halo L33T anymore.

Seeing as we're doing personal opinion for once (which is a refreshing change), I suspect that no game, no matter how good, covering Halo's 'content', could be the best game ever. I'm just not that enthused about the concept.

As for those who won't even contemplate the idea of criticism, well, that's why there are a lot of shit games on the shelves - because a lot of people are happy to think that games currently existing are the best possible.

I DO respect your opinion. And to be honest I respect most of the opinions on here. Thing is, we all need one game to get a little bit fanboy over dont we. I think Halo IS the best singleplayer game ever made. From a simple design point of view. They manage to ring infinte variety out of an extremely limited concept. It reminds me of tetris in that respect. In multiplayer its simply in a league of its own.

And STILL people are cranking out the difficulty level cliché, like we haven't heard it.

*if anyone can claim architectural complexity has no bearing on gameplay, they have never played any FPS post Wolf3D. It's not about the decor. Go and play Q1DM4.

Thats a cliche for a reason you know.

[Badger]

Whilst everyone is entitled to their own opinion...I made it halfway through RTCW and gave up due to boredom...

The enemy soldiers were pants and the undead dull, in my opinion, because they didn't react to you...

And the level design was more varied, in that you had some different colours and textures, but it was very forumlaic and straight...go straight through the level, flick a couple of switches, smash the one or two damagable places to find the secret thingummies, and get to the end...

Whereas the outdoor levels of Halo allow you the freedom to try lots of different things....walk and snipe, drive a quicker way or fly above it all in some places...

And having played through The Library on Legendary, perhaps it should be seen as an entirely different kind of game.

The wide open spaces encourage relaxed sniping etc....The library changes the pace....it's a "Run The Guantlet" affair....wave after wave of enemies, attack after attack, and only the breifest of respites when your each the lift....It's that kind of grinding you down, without resorting to respawning enemies that makes it an acheivement when you finally get to the end...

[Spacehost]

You was playing on normal wasn't you.

Yes. Because I am normal. And 'cause I still had to repeat sections 3-5 times due to getting constantly whupped anyway...

[rmg]

Apropos of nothing, without the pistol halo would be poo.

[Alex W.]

Why are people comparing indoors in Halo to the Voids in Mario Sunshine? The indoor levels were the weak spots of a great game, and the void levels were the redeeming features of a weak game.

[Jim Miles]

Why are people comparing indoors in Halo to the Voids in Mario Sunshine? The indoor levels were the weak spots of a great game, and the void levels were the redeeming features of a weak game.

Because not everyone believes the indoor areas in Halo were bad. Or that the void levels in Sunshine were great. Particularly with regard to Halo. Granted, it's pretty much consensus that the void levels were the best in Mario Sunshine.

[Alex W.]

So, wait, people are saying that the indoor bits of Halo were the best bits now? What?

[Jim Miles]

Ah yeah, I see what you mean. I was just trying to say that Halo's indoor sections being bad isn't anything like as widespread an opinion as that Sunshine's voids were good. But what you say shows that's a rather unhelpful observation.

[Alex W.]

Indeedy.

I actually thought that, Library going on too long aside, the indoor sections were great. If the Library had been shorter, and if I could've shot 343 Guilty Park with the rocket launcher, it would've been better.

[Jim Miles]

Yeah, I didn't really see any quality or fun difference between indoor and outdoor sections in Halo. But then, I didn't in Mario Sunshine either, I just thought it wasn't as fun as Mario 64 and I'd be glad once I'd got those last damn blue coins so I could stop playing it.

[Alex W.]

You know, the Library would've been far more fun if you had some sort of vehicle, and the scale of the sections suggests to me that it was meant to.

[Jim Miles]

Yes it would have been far more fun with a vehicle. The scale may suggest that it was meant to have one, but perhaps not, given the claustrophobic tunnel areas. Maybe something small like a hover board, or a scooter .

[sausage]

'The Library' would have been good if the enemies didn't respawn . Maybe if they had it so some enemis don't come out until you've killed all the others, so you think its over and then, wham!

I doubt it was meant to have a vehicle, you can certainly tell that Bungie also developed the Marathon games from the coridoors.

[The Note Keeper]

Yes it would have been far more fun with a vehicle. The scale may suggest that it was meant to have one, but perhaps not, given the claustrophobic tunnel areas. Maybe something small like a hover board, or a scooter .

That alone would make the Library 100% more fun, on a hoverboard it'd be similar to Psi Warrior on the C64. Hoverboards, plasma grenades and rocket launchers. Yes please.

[The Note Keeper]

'The Library' would have been good if the enemies didn't respawn . Maybe if they had it so some enemis don't come out until you've killed all the others, so you think its over and then, wham!

I doubt it was meant to have a vehicle, you can certainly tell that Bungie also developed the Marathon games from the coridoors.

Re-spawning flood wouldn't be a problem if you could destroy the places that they generate from, as in Gauntlet.

[The Shadow]

'The Library' would have been good if the enemies didn't respawn  . Maybe if they had it so some enemis don't come out until you've killed all the others, so you think its over and then, wham!

I doubt it was meant to have a vehicle, you can certainly tell that Bungie also developed the Marathon games from the coridoors.

Re-spawning flood wouldn't be a problem if you could destroy the places that they generate from, as in Gauntlet.

Do they respawn?? I always just hang around until I've killed all of them, I've never had any respawning happen upon returning to a section I've completed, only dead bodies. They're called the Flood because there are loads of them. But I might be wrong. Or you guys might be rushing it a bit.

In any case, the best thing about this thread so far is that we're up to six pages now of consistently interesting discussion on a gaming topic, with no-one calling anyone else a c*nt, shitbiscuit, dickwad, twat or whatever other favourite expletive. Makes a refreshing change from many of the other threads.

[Alex W.]

No, they don't respawn. Ever. It's actually quite fun fighting them, until you do the same coridoor for the third time, when it gets boring.

[Ktw]

Do they respawn?? I always just hang around until I've killed all of them, I've never had any respawning happen upon returning to a section I've completed, only dead bodies. They're called the Flood because there are loads of them. But I might be wrong. Or you guys might be rushing it a bit.

Hear, hear.

While enemies actually seem to be respawning on the Library (and Keyes) as opposed to every single other level in the game, as long as you're not rushing you won't have trouble with them.

And if you do rush, that's when you suddenly realise you have a bunch of carriers behind you and a couple of workers charging at you from the front... And those moments of pure fear are just another thing making it The Best Game Ever.

No other game I've every played have so many memorable moments.

And if you think the Library or AotCR are longwinded and dull, then by all means charge ahead and you'll certainly have a quite exciting experience, even if the rooms "look the same"...

[JoeK]

No, they don't respawn. Ever. It's actually quite fun fighting them, until you do the same coridoor for the third time, when it gets boring.

Actually, having a vehicle in the library section would be great fun- I'm kind of thinking along the lines of that bit in 'Aliens' when Ripley comes crashing through the icky stuff to rescue some troops...

Oooh. Now there's a thought.

[Graham S]

No, they don't respawn. Ever. It's actually quite fun fighting them, until you do the same coridoor for the third time, when it gets boring.

Are you sure about that? I could have sworn I endlessly defended a particular section of under-floor corridor in the library, and they respawned as soon as I was out of sight of the respawn point, with no other way for them to be there. And on one of the ships on a later level.

[Cyhwuhx]

Indeedy.

I actually thought that, Library going on too long aside, the indoor sections were great. If the Library had been shorter, and if I could've shot 343 Guilty Park with the rocket launcher, it would've been better.

.::: I'm sure that IF you could have shot him a large 8-bit pixelated grinning dog-sprite would fall from it.

Of course after unlocking that cheat all of the Flood would turn into Duck-sprites.

[Ktw]

Are you sure about that? I could have sworn I endlessly defended a particular section of under-floor corridor in the library, and they respawned as soon as I was out of sight of the respawn point, with no other way for them to be there. And on one of the ships on a later level.

The flood indeed respawns as opposed to the covenant, but to my knowledge only on the Library and on Keyes (which is actually the level I hate the most although it has a redeeming final third when you get to battle spec ops covenant, easily the most rewarding enemies EVER).

EDIT: Of course, the flood also respawns in some areas of the Maw, most notably the room where you have to blow up the reactors.

[Alex W.]

Indeedy.

I actually thought that, Library going on too long aside, the indoor sections were great. If the Library had been shorter, and if I could've shot 343 Guilty Park with the rocket launcher, it would've been better.

.::: I'm sure that IF you could have shot him a large 8-bit pixelated grinning dog-sprite would fall from it.

Of course after unlocking that cheat all of the Flood would turn into Duck-sprites.

*DUCK HUNT MUSIC*

[slimbot]

I like the library level, I like pretty much all of the indoor sections on the other levels and I thought the void levels were the most enjoyable on SMB

I have a question for all you people with modded xbox's and Halo

Could you spawn a warthog on the library level or is that just stupid?