Pirates Of The Caribbean

[Derek]

I'm sure its fun, but it also feels like its gameplay you can find in other games that have a more appealing style. So I can't say I feel the urge to play it.

Well, it's not really gameplay you can find in other games... it is in the sense that you shoot things, but it's much more loose, and I like that.  The playground feeling is exactly what Metroid Prime doesn't have, and it's fun.  In Halo, you can run around all over the place, jump in vehicles, bounce around the landscape, toss grenades around (I love the sticky grenades), blasting aliens and friends alike... it feels great to throw a sticky grenade on a guy and watch him run screaming into his friends and blowing up.  And I don't think there's any pretension to make the game very serious... it's pretty obvious just from the grunts that it was meant to be a bit silly.  The colors are bright and cartoony all the way through.

Metroid's much better designed all the way around, and obviously I respect it much more, but then again, it's hard to screw around in that game.  It's almost too tightly made... there's no room for you to "play."  Halo is definitely a gamey game, and that's why I like it.  I like gamey games, and like I said, I can amuse myself easily (as is evidenced by how much hard time I spent with Hard Time).

It's like having a model ship you put together versus a big bucket of legos that you can just tool around with.

[Alec]

Yeah, what I'm trying to say is I like "gamey" games too, but I prefer the ones that have a better or more suitable or more consistent style/feel. I have nothing against games that have a "childish" style. I mean I love the original SNES Yoshi's Island. That game was built with a solid vision. But to me it really feels like Halo is trying to be cool, while at the same time being completely silly.

It really reminds me of seeing ads in the theater for Zelda 64 that had all this orchestrated music and made it look like some dramatic fantasy epic. Then you played the game and it had honky-tonk music, freakish transvestite fairies, an owl that wouldn't shut up.

Now with Zelda, I don't think Nintendo was trying to make it a huge serious epic. Its the marketing department that threw that idea out there. But with Halo, I get the impression (based on the way the music is written, and how they try to deliver the story) that they wanted it to feel like a big budget hollywood movie in a way. I feel like that really jives a bit with the actual gameplay, but moreso, the visual style and annoying sound effects.

But again, everyone has their own taste.

[Cobar]

It seems to me that all movies have the same curse of degrading as they progress.  And this is no different.  First one > second & third together.

[xander]

It seems to me that all movies have the same curse of degrading as they progress.  And this is no different.  First one > second & third together.

Can I offer a couple of possible counter examples?  Star Trek II was much better, in most people's minds, than Star Trek: The Motion Picture (though I really liked first movie, most Trek fans seem to hate it).  There are also several other good Star Trek movies (IV, VI, First Contact).  There are several very good Bond films after the first (and, while several of the recent ones have been disappointing, the most recent one renewed my faith in the franchise).  Just to mention two...

xander

[Toom]

I just have to say that I enjoyed Halo.  It's fun!  The story is crap and there are some boring bits, but the actual combat is fun, and the way you can screw around with the game is quite enjoyable (e.g. Warthog Jump).  I love throwing grenades... in any 3d game, if you can throw grenades, I'm happy.

Then again, I think I eked like a week's worth of fun messing around with the Postal 2 demo, and probably 2 weeks out of a single-level demo of Hitman 2, so... yeah, when you're an only child you can entertain yourself quite easily.

Weird, the storyline is about all I do like about Halo. I love the whole interconnected mythos that Bungie have got going; you know that every single game they've done shares some story elements?

[Alec]

They all suck in a similar way? 

It all comes down to your personal taste.

[shinygerbil]

They all suck in a similar way? 

*high five*

[Cheamo]

Weird, the storyline is about all I do like about Halo.

I would agree for Halo 1, but it really degraded after that. I think Bungie was like, "Wait, succesful shooters don't need stories!" ... or bots... 

[PHeMoX]

I quite enjoyed the first one, thought the second was kind of weak (augh cinematography so nasty ugh horror), and I got through about twenty minutes of the third one before walking out.

Hahahaha! You missed the best part then at 23 minutes.

Anyways, I totally loved part 3, it's great, awesome, superb, no words! no words! ... D@MN ... I WANT MORE!!!!

I liked it better than part 1 and 2. Better jokes, great plot and I loved the whole style and action. Awesome!

[Assault]

Weird, the storyline is about all I do like about Halo.

I would agree for Halo 1, but it really degraded after that. I think Bungie was like, "Wait, succesful shooters don't need stories!" ... or bots... 

The problem with Halo's story is not the story itself, it's the storytelling. Halo 2 has a really great story, it's just not presented in the right way. There is too much information bottled up in a few sentences that Cortana, Guilty spark and Truth say. So in a few seconds, you get such a leap into the story's progression, easily missing valuable information. They also don't repeat themselves throughout the game, so if you missed it, you need to guess it.

The biggest problem with this, is that they need to present key parts of the story visually, rather than vocally. It's rule number one when directing movies, which Bungie didn't learn. "Don't tell. Show.". In case of smaller information, they need to be able to repeat those details more than once or explain them slower. So the player has a better chance of understanding.

Don't forget that a game is something you play, save, and pick up later; so you might forget some details of the story the next day you continue to play. Especially in Halo's case, when the story is presented with some great cinematics but bad directing.

[Ezlo]

It's almost too tightly made... there's no room for you to "play."

You haven't seen speedruns of it have you then. Plenty of ways of fooling around, especially if you skip the dark suit! Lot's of fun to be had there, it racks up the difficulty by about a factor of 10!

And yes, I loved the first Pirate movie, felt that the second one was okay, and I haven't seen the third one yet, but I hear it's good.

[PHeMoX]

The problem with Halo's story is not the story itself, it's the storytelling. Halo 2 has a really great story, it's just not presented in the right way. There is too much information bottled up in a few sentences that Cortana, Guilty spark and Truth say. So in a few seconds, you get such a leap into the story's progression, easily missing valuable information. They also don't repeat themselves throughout the game, so if you missed it, you need to guess it.

This is very true, I definitely remember being somewhat overwhelmed by the information and indeed had trouble putting the pieces in place. I lost track of the story about halfway through. That's a really really bad thing for a game that relies quite a lot on it's story. I mean, in my opinion that's what made part 1 that interesting. :-)

[PHeMoX]

By the way, it seems i've missed a few seconds of the movie   .. there was something after the credits ... 

[shinygerbil]

By the way, it seems i've missed a few seconds of the movie   .. there was something after the credits ... 

Bah, it's nothing special. I can clue you in if yer wants me to..

[PHeMoX]

Aie! Give it to me baby  hahaha, yeah, me likes to knorw what I quote missed unquote ..