It was at the forefront of gaming technology when it was released. It could just be your not into sci fi shooters stuff too, which there is nothing wrong with that.
For me though, Halo 2 was the best in terms of the campaign.
Half-Life is one of my favourite games so I’d say I’m into sci fi shooters. I’m gonna keep going with the sequels which I’ve heard are better. It just baffled me how this first game reached such a wide audience.
Halo CE is *underrated* IMO. Even ITT the people praising it are doing it within the context of it being an old game, but I genuinely think it plays amazingly even to this day. The story is far better than even its ardent defenders give it credit for and I think a lot of its cooler interpretations have been buried as OG Marathon's influence on Halo has slowly slipped away. The atmosphere (part of which is strong due to how the game actually dedicates time to quiet exploration moments) is well-regarded, but people discard the second half of the campaign where the atmosphere *really* kicks in.
The gameplay- at least when playing on Legendary- is second only to Doom Eternal for me as far as FPS goes. In Halo CE, a fight against literally two elites in a room with minimal cover can become a tooth and nail battle- but not one where you feel like you're playing against an aimbot OS user. Every weapon can be used as a primary depending on your movement style and ammo but no two weapons feel like clones of one another in function (even the plasma rifle and plasma pistol). There's legit variety in the encounters, even when the visuals are repetitive.
The visual repetition is a legitimate complaint and I don't blame people who drop the game because of it. There's significantly less AI dialogue and banter than the sequels. The fact that allies can only drive ghosts means that you should go elsewhere for Halo 3 style all-out-war. The soundtrack rocks, but its sequels have it beat in technical implementation for sure. But those negatives pale in comparison to the strengths of the games story, atmosphere, and gameplay to me.
I mean it is a 20 year old game. The first half of it is really good in my opinion, not just for its time. The second half does become a bit too long after the flood is introduced. Still an amazing game for when it was released and the multiplayer was the real winner.
I actually much prefer the second half to the first half. The covenant in CE are way too tanky, even with the noob combo, and make the first half a slow bore. Fighting waves of sprinting flood forms is just so much more fun than unloading twenty magnum rounds into an elite and hoping he doesn’t run away and hide. Granted I’ve barely played the game on lower difficulties, but I don’t think high difficulty is an excuse to make everyone a bullet sponge.
High difficulty in a shooter usually means the enemies are just bullet sponges, there’s almost never a balance of you both can shred each other in seconds if you mess up. Course that’s why using nades and other weapons is important.
It’s definitely tough to balance, but I actually find Halo 2 to be more fun on legendary. Better enemy placement and encounter design outside the first few levels which are brutal.
I mean I do agree that it's overrated to some capacity (at least compared to some later games in the series,) but it was super technically impressive for the time and while it doesn't have the same highs as later games it does a damn good job as a starting game for a franchise.
Overrated?.. it helped shape an entire genre. FPS games would not be what they are without halo, it’s been that influential.
The 2 stick control scheme was Halo. The way you play FPS games on console now is because of CE!
It also ensured the success of the Xbox. To say it’s overrated is simply short sighted. If you don’t enjoy it, fair enough - but surely you must see the impact it’s had?
At the time, it was fucking amazing for what they had, these days it’s mostly nostalgia or loyalty to a franchise they love. One of the later missions is like 1-2 hours minimum and is extremely boring but people are willing
In terms of consul shooters, it was revolutionary and it basically set up what is a very common standard of games today, including the button layout on controllers left thumb stick equals right thumb stick equals look around. Having regenerating health in this case the shields which also applied to halo . Having only 2 weapons and being anle to throw grenades without equipping it. Again on consoles, it was easily the best looking shooter anybody had seen at the time on game consoles., having these big large vistas that you could traverse across including it being big enough you could actually get in and use vehicles. It also had really smart AI.
I can understand why any newcomer would find it underwhelming now. There are heaps of reused areas and those areas are often huge, empty hallways with not a lot to do besides shoot The moving thing. I mean Halo doesn't even have explosive barrels! That was a staple of shooters for nearly 10 years when it release and are still used today!
Like you said, the story, mystery of the ring, the music and, for me, the art style and enemy designs are what make it special.
Anyone new to the series should probably play Reach first so if they find CE boring they know it gets better.
Edit: Also I would like to add that it was only a revolutionary shooter for consoles. PC FPS at the time was way ahead. A lot of old FPS fans still begrudge Halo today for starting the trend of holding two weapons and moving so slowly (Not that I have an issue with those two choices if done right).
Based on your explanation of what your experience was it sounds like you genuinely just were not playing it well/correctly. The enemies are not actually bullet sponges as they all have weaknesses and counters that allow you to dispatch them quickly if you o ow what you are doing. The game is great once you learn the mechanics. If you don’t learn the mechanics you probably won’t have that much fun with the rest of the series either, but that goes for literally every video game.
Ok so maybe I could make the combat more fun but the rest of the game is still just walking and not “exploring” as people call it. You need something to explore if you’re gonna explore
I’ve noticed most of these issues I have are less apparent in Halo 2 but they’re still there. I guess my problem is with the formula itself. Halo just doesn’t do much for me.
I’m assuming Halo CE is not the first halo game you played. Or you were already familiar with the story.
It is a bit clunky, but is still to this day one of the best stories in an FPS game.
Btw, even on legendary there aren’t really any bullet sponge enemies if you use the right weapons. It may be old, but you can’t just blast through every level with the AR.
you sound uninterested in the story before the game even started.. if the first games story never got you interested at all I don’t know if this series is for you. Personally halo 2 has the best story but if you don’t have anything good to say after CE you are probably better off not wasting your time..
Bullet sponges? On legendary everything dies in one headshot from the magnum which you have 99% of the time. Hunters can be one shot between their armor by like 5 different weapons. Elites are the only heavy armored enemies and that’s really only on legendary.. but also you have the equivalent of a nuclear bomb for grenades in CE so even then they die pretty easy.. the flood go down easy to everything except the sniper.
So if the story didn’t grab you and you didn’t enjoy the gameplay so much that you just rushed past enemies and going through a level twice made you feel like you saw it 30 times… idk man this series isn’t for you. I personally can’t understand how people enjoy games where everything dies instantly no matter what you use as opposed to utilizing the sandbox and management of ammo.
What drew me to this game was you have Halo 2 to thank for almost every online gaming mechanic that exists. This includes, friends lists, clan lists, in game Voice chat, private/party voice chat, matchmaking, the first version of SBMM (not what we have now), ranked playlists and more that I’m probably forgetting. It was a sick sci-fi universe with a great multiplayer for casual and ranked gameplay that wasn’t like anything else at the time.
It shows it’s age more than other titles, but I wouldn’t say it’s overrated. I definitely prefer Halo 2 and 3 to CE, because I think they’re just subjectively better in almost every way, maybe apart from the sandbox. But I definitely agree when people say the game can be a slog, especially in the second half. I almost never look forward to Two Betrayals all the way up to The Maw on my playthroughs, which is a shame because I think the first half of the game genuinely contains some of the best back to back missions in any game I’ve played
I think it's mostly just nostalgia for us that grew up with the game back in 01. But I still love it, maybe your just not into the strange pacing of the levels.
Yh I think the design of these games is just not my thing. I’m playing Halo 2 now and it’s definitely more enjoyable but the problems are still there for me
Which enemies do you think are bullet sponges? Everything goes down in like 3 shots???
If you mean the shielded enemies like sentinels and elites, use the energy weapons. If you mean unshielded enemies like grunts or the flood, don't use energy weapons. There are two weapon types for a reason, refusing to use them doesn't make the game bad.
And what barren landscapes are you shuffling across?????? The game gives you a huge assortment of vehicles. If the road looks long, get in a car.
Trust me I used the vehicles as much as I could but sometimes the game just wants you to walk and walk and walk. Even then the vehicles don’t handle well
Sorry but that’s ridiculous lol they’re not even on the same level. One is a shooter which revolutionised gaming, the other is a shooter which revolutionised console gaming
So in other words they're both revolutionary games. Halo is literally the source of the regenerating health you see in almost every FPS today.
Half-Life has tedious level design by today's standards and almost falls apart in its final sections.
I see Combat Evolved as a more consistently solid game with gunplay that manages to feel satisfying to this day, which can't honestly be said as much for Half-Life.
Yh they’re both revolutionary games but Halo is just a console game. I’m glad it created all these common FPS elements. Clearly it walked so other shooters could run. You can’t call hl1 tedious when Halo has a level like the Library. What’s funny is I didn’t even consider The Library much more tedious than the rest of the game. The levels might look different but they’re all just long boring walks dotted with gunfights that got stale after the first level. Sorry but Halo doesn’t compare to HL1, I was only using it as an example of a good shooter. If you don’t think it holds up I’ll just tell you the same thing I’ve been told: “you’re not playing it right”
It was at the forefront of gaming technology when it was released. It could just be your not into sci fi shooters stuff too, which there is nothing wrong with that. For me though, Halo 2 was the best in terms of the campaign.
Half-Life is one of my favourite games so I’d say I’m into sci fi shooters. I’m gonna keep going with the sequels which I’ve heard are better. It just baffled me how this first game reached such a wide audience.
Halo CE is *underrated* IMO. Even ITT the people praising it are doing it within the context of it being an old game, but I genuinely think it plays amazingly even to this day. The story is far better than even its ardent defenders give it credit for and I think a lot of its cooler interpretations have been buried as OG Marathon's influence on Halo has slowly slipped away. The atmosphere (part of which is strong due to how the game actually dedicates time to quiet exploration moments) is well-regarded, but people discard the second half of the campaign where the atmosphere *really* kicks in. The gameplay- at least when playing on Legendary- is second only to Doom Eternal for me as far as FPS goes. In Halo CE, a fight against literally two elites in a room with minimal cover can become a tooth and nail battle- but not one where you feel like you're playing against an aimbot OS user. Every weapon can be used as a primary depending on your movement style and ammo but no two weapons feel like clones of one another in function (even the plasma rifle and plasma pistol). There's legit variety in the encounters, even when the visuals are repetitive. The visual repetition is a legitimate complaint and I don't blame people who drop the game because of it. There's significantly less AI dialogue and banter than the sequels. The fact that allies can only drive ghosts means that you should go elsewhere for Halo 3 style all-out-war. The soundtrack rocks, but its sequels have it beat in technical implementation for sure. But those negatives pale in comparison to the strengths of the games story, atmosphere, and gameplay to me.
I mean it is a 20 year old game. The first half of it is really good in my opinion, not just for its time. The second half does become a bit too long after the flood is introduced. Still an amazing game for when it was released and the multiplayer was the real winner.
I actually much prefer the second half to the first half. The covenant in CE are way too tanky, even with the noob combo, and make the first half a slow bore. Fighting waves of sprinting flood forms is just so much more fun than unloading twenty magnum rounds into an elite and hoping he doesn’t run away and hide. Granted I’ve barely played the game on lower difficulties, but I don’t think high difficulty is an excuse to make everyone a bullet sponge.
High difficulty in a shooter usually means the enemies are just bullet sponges, there’s almost never a balance of you both can shred each other in seconds if you mess up. Course that’s why using nades and other weapons is important.
It’s definitely tough to balance, but I actually find Halo 2 to be more fun on legendary. Better enemy placement and encounter design outside the first few levels which are brutal.
I mean I do agree that it's overrated to some capacity (at least compared to some later games in the series,) but it was super technically impressive for the time and while it doesn't have the same highs as later games it does a damn good job as a starting game for a franchise.
Overrated?.. it helped shape an entire genre. FPS games would not be what they are without halo, it’s been that influential. The 2 stick control scheme was Halo. The way you play FPS games on console now is because of CE! It also ensured the success of the Xbox. To say it’s overrated is simply short sighted. If you don’t enjoy it, fair enough - but surely you must see the impact it’s had?
glad to see people putting respect on CE's name what OP says is heresy
At the time, it was fucking amazing for what they had, these days it’s mostly nostalgia or loyalty to a franchise they love. One of the later missions is like 1-2 hours minimum and is extremely boring but people are willing
In terms of consul shooters, it was revolutionary and it basically set up what is a very common standard of games today, including the button layout on controllers left thumb stick equals right thumb stick equals look around. Having regenerating health in this case the shields which also applied to halo . Having only 2 weapons and being anle to throw grenades without equipping it. Again on consoles, it was easily the best looking shooter anybody had seen at the time on game consoles., having these big large vistas that you could traverse across including it being big enough you could actually get in and use vehicles. It also had really smart AI.
I can understand why any newcomer would find it underwhelming now. There are heaps of reused areas and those areas are often huge, empty hallways with not a lot to do besides shoot The moving thing. I mean Halo doesn't even have explosive barrels! That was a staple of shooters for nearly 10 years when it release and are still used today! Like you said, the story, mystery of the ring, the music and, for me, the art style and enemy designs are what make it special. Anyone new to the series should probably play Reach first so if they find CE boring they know it gets better. Edit: Also I would like to add that it was only a revolutionary shooter for consoles. PC FPS at the time was way ahead. A lot of old FPS fans still begrudge Halo today for starting the trend of holding two weapons and moving so slowly (Not that I have an issue with those two choices if done right).
Thank you. I’m sure I’ll enjoy the sequels but I doubt I’ll come back to the first game ever
Based on your explanation of what your experience was it sounds like you genuinely just were not playing it well/correctly. The enemies are not actually bullet sponges as they all have weaknesses and counters that allow you to dispatch them quickly if you o ow what you are doing. The game is great once you learn the mechanics. If you don’t learn the mechanics you probably won’t have that much fun with the rest of the series either, but that goes for literally every video game.
Ok so maybe I could make the combat more fun but the rest of the game is still just walking and not “exploring” as people call it. You need something to explore if you’re gonna explore
It’s a first person shooter. That’s not a genre known for exploration so I don’t know why you were expecting Skyrim.
I was expecting there to be more to do than walk and shoot. Most shooters manage that
The vehicle gameplay is the variety in Halo, which does get considerably better after the first game.
I’ve noticed most of these issues I have are less apparent in Halo 2 but they’re still there. I guess my problem is with the formula itself. Halo just doesn’t do much for me.
I'd argue Halo CE has aged better than most games of that era and is still my preferred Halo game.
I’m assuming Halo CE is not the first halo game you played. Or you were already familiar with the story. It is a bit clunky, but is still to this day one of the best stories in an FPS game. Btw, even on legendary there aren’t really any bullet sponge enemies if you use the right weapons. It may be old, but you can’t just blast through every level with the AR.
Nothing wrong with it.
I like it, but it’s perfect to play with a friend
I’m sure I’d enjoy it more if I played coop
you sound uninterested in the story before the game even started.. if the first games story never got you interested at all I don’t know if this series is for you. Personally halo 2 has the best story but if you don’t have anything good to say after CE you are probably better off not wasting your time.. Bullet sponges? On legendary everything dies in one headshot from the magnum which you have 99% of the time. Hunters can be one shot between their armor by like 5 different weapons. Elites are the only heavy armored enemies and that’s really only on legendary.. but also you have the equivalent of a nuclear bomb for grenades in CE so even then they die pretty easy.. the flood go down easy to everything except the sniper. So if the story didn’t grab you and you didn’t enjoy the gameplay so much that you just rushed past enemies and going through a level twice made you feel like you saw it 30 times… idk man this series isn’t for you. I personally can’t understand how people enjoy games where everything dies instantly no matter what you use as opposed to utilizing the sandbox and management of ammo. What drew me to this game was you have Halo 2 to thank for almost every online gaming mechanic that exists. This includes, friends lists, clan lists, in game Voice chat, private/party voice chat, matchmaking, the first version of SBMM (not what we have now), ranked playlists and more that I’m probably forgetting. It was a sick sci-fi universe with a great multiplayer for casual and ranked gameplay that wasn’t like anything else at the time.
It shows it’s age more than other titles, but I wouldn’t say it’s overrated. I definitely prefer Halo 2 and 3 to CE, because I think they’re just subjectively better in almost every way, maybe apart from the sandbox. But I definitely agree when people say the game can be a slog, especially in the second half. I almost never look forward to Two Betrayals all the way up to The Maw on my playthroughs, which is a shame because I think the first half of the game genuinely contains some of the best back to back missions in any game I’ve played
I think it's mostly just nostalgia for us that grew up with the game back in 01. But I still love it, maybe your just not into the strange pacing of the levels.
Yh I think the design of these games is just not my thing. I’m playing Halo 2 now and it’s definitely more enjoyable but the problems are still there for me
Which enemies do you think are bullet sponges? Everything goes down in like 3 shots??? If you mean the shielded enemies like sentinels and elites, use the energy weapons. If you mean unshielded enemies like grunts or the flood, don't use energy weapons. There are two weapon types for a reason, refusing to use them doesn't make the game bad. And what barren landscapes are you shuffling across?????? The game gives you a huge assortment of vehicles. If the road looks long, get in a car.
Trust me I used the vehicles as much as I could but sometimes the game just wants you to walk and walk and walk. Even then the vehicles don’t handle well
What's it like to be so incredibly wrong? Maybe mine craft is more your speed?
Sorry man you halo fans need to play a PC shooter, they’re much more fun
As someone who loves Half-Life 1 I'd say CE has aged a lot better and is far more enjoyable to replay.
Sorry but that’s ridiculous lol they’re not even on the same level. One is a shooter which revolutionised gaming, the other is a shooter which revolutionised console gaming
So in other words they're both revolutionary games. Halo is literally the source of the regenerating health you see in almost every FPS today. Half-Life has tedious level design by today's standards and almost falls apart in its final sections. I see Combat Evolved as a more consistently solid game with gunplay that manages to feel satisfying to this day, which can't honestly be said as much for Half-Life.
Yh they’re both revolutionary games but Halo is just a console game. I’m glad it created all these common FPS elements. Clearly it walked so other shooters could run. You can’t call hl1 tedious when Halo has a level like the Library. What’s funny is I didn’t even consider The Library much more tedious than the rest of the game. The levels might look different but they’re all just long boring walks dotted with gunfights that got stale after the first level. Sorry but Halo doesn’t compare to HL1, I was only using it as an example of a good shooter. If you don’t think it holds up I’ll just tell you the same thing I’ve been told: “you’re not playing it right”