Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Still Playing...Halo


So I've probably put about 4-5 hours into this game so far. Since this game was the flagship launch title for the original Xbox I have been trying to play it from the mindset of someone who had just bought the system and the game. Someone who had made the decision to buy an Xbox rather than a PS2 or a Gamecube. I thought, "If I had made that decision, would I be happy based on playing this game." And the answer is a resounding yes.

The music, the graphics, the cinematic storytelling all lend themselves to the feeling that you have just purchased a system that can kick some serious ass. And barring some flat textures and the lip syncing working more like marionettes than humans, the game still holds up today, nine years after it's release.

I was talking with a friend a lunch today and I said it's remarkable that I didn't even have to think twice about the controls. I jumped right in and it was just as if I was playing a game that was released yesterday. It really speaks to the FPS control blueprint the Bungie team laid out that it's just as easy to play the first Halo as it is to play Modern Warfare 2.

So I just turned off the power on that island thing so I could access that door. Does anyone remember how much longer is left in the game after that?

3 comments:

  1. The Island is the 3rd mission, IIRC, and there are 9 or 10 in total.

    Halo gets a lot of flack for one mission in particular, The Library, and you'll see why. It also catches flack for having you do a lot of backtracking in the 2nd half of the game.

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  2. Yeah, you're maybe 30% of the way through the game. Rough stuff ahead with the Library, and there's a new enemy type coming up that makes it stickier.

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  3. In hindsight I thought the library was pretty cool. It lends itself to making the game creepy and it's pretty epic to fight back all those flood baddies. As for the backtracking, although it's the same levels it's still fun and interesting, especially to see the flood interact with the Covenant.

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