Ah, there’s the problem. You’re comparing Halo to shooters on PC, which were much more developed when it came out. Console shooters were in such a bad state that Halo 1 was still competing with Golden Eye. Just having fluid motion and an aiming scheme that emulated mouselook was a massive step up in the console space.
Personally, I enjoy the wide variety of enemies and quirky weapon behaviors. The only other shooter released since then that’s scratched that itch for me is Doom 2016. Doom Eternal probably would if it didn’t hurt to play. Most other shooters I’ve tried just used human enemies with no variation in behavior and guns that all felt very samey.
I know a lot of people don’t like the long time to kill, though, and the high points for narrative and gameplay are completely divorced from each other.
… and the high points for narrative and gameplay are completely divorced from each other.
Yeah, this is the other issue I have with Halo; I’ve been told repeatedly that the story of Halo is incredibly deep and next level. Gave me the impression I’d get story and lore comparable to Mass Effect.
The one thing I was impressed by in Halo was enemy AI. That was really well done. Somehow, despite it being so old, most games don’t bother making AI like that today.
I have absolutely no idea who said that to you about the story. It’s good for a turn-of-the-millenium FPS, but it’s not amazing or anything. The game writing peaks with Halo 2 in complexity and ambition, with later games being good at hitting vibes or emotional cues, but lacking the intrigue and twists that 2 had. I remember the expanded universe being interesting, but Halo’s continuity eventually started being dependent on reading all the books to understand the games after 343 took over from Bungie and the whole thing really suffered for it.
The one thing I was impressed by in Halo was enemy AI. That was really well done. Somehow, despite it being so old, most games don’t bother making AI like that today.
It really is one of the best things about the games. Each species of enemy has its own AI package with distinct behaviors, and depending on the game, there are up to three, I think, variations on that that scale with rank. Higher ranking Grunts/Unggoy are less likely to panic if their leader is killed in most of the series, for instance. It’s really weird that this kind of thing doesn’t seem to be common outside of high fantasy games. Zelda does it, but Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t have much difference between low level bandits and high level Mongols other than their health bar and damage output. I might have to check out the handful of fantasy FPS games to see if they have similar enemy variety.
Ah, there’s the problem. You’re comparing Halo to shooters on PC, which were much more developed when it came out. Console shooters were in such a bad state that Halo 1 was still competing with Golden Eye. Just having fluid motion and an aiming scheme that emulated mouselook was a massive step up in the console space.
Personally, I enjoy the wide variety of enemies and quirky weapon behaviors. The only other shooter released since then that’s scratched that itch for me is Doom 2016. Doom Eternal probably would if it didn’t hurt to play. Most other shooters I’ve tried just used human enemies with no variation in behavior and guns that all felt very samey.
I know a lot of people don’t like the long time to kill, though, and the high points for narrative and gameplay are completely divorced from each other.
Yeah, this is the other issue I have with Halo; I’ve been told repeatedly that the story of Halo is incredibly deep and next level. Gave me the impression I’d get story and lore comparable to Mass Effect.
The one thing I was impressed by in Halo was enemy AI. That was really well done. Somehow, despite it being so old, most games don’t bother making AI like that today.
I have absolutely no idea who said that to you about the story. It’s good for a turn-of-the-millenium FPS, but it’s not amazing or anything. The game writing peaks with Halo 2 in complexity and ambition, with later games being good at hitting vibes or emotional cues, but lacking the intrigue and twists that 2 had. I remember the expanded universe being interesting, but Halo’s continuity eventually started being dependent on reading all the books to understand the games after 343 took over from Bungie and the whole thing really suffered for it.
It really is one of the best things about the games. Each species of enemy has its own AI package with distinct behaviors, and depending on the game, there are up to three, I think, variations on that that scale with rank. Higher ranking Grunts/Unggoy are less likely to panic if their leader is killed in most of the series, for instance. It’s really weird that this kind of thing doesn’t seem to be common outside of high fantasy games. Zelda does it, but Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t have much difference between low level bandits and high level Mongols other than their health bar and damage output. I might have to check out the handful of fantasy FPS games to see if they have similar enemy variety.