After my purchase of Halo 4, I thought about how I should stop being a collector only and start playing the games I have. I was never really interested in Halo to begin with but Halo 4 motivated me give a try. I already had Halo Reach and Halo 3 since 2011. I recently procured Halo 3: ODST and started in chronological order around 3 weeks back. I finished Halo 3 yesterday.
Notes:
Instead of playing Halo Anniversary and 2, I saw the walkthrough videos for both on Youtube.
These reviews pertain to Campaigns only.
Even though I have checked for spelling inaccuracies, grammatical errors and missing words, kindly accept my apologies if you find any more.
And there are spoilers.
Halo Reach
Started with this game first. Being the earliest game in the series, I thought it'd be the best entry for the maximum background information. I was surprised to see a pretty silent protagonist and Bungie's decision to keep his identity a secret. I guess it is to keep players guessing whether the protagonist would end up being Master Chief or not. At a later time, I did find the answer thanks to a conversation between Halsey and Cortana. It kept me guessing whether he'd live to the end given the surviving ship, Pillar of Autumn, departs from Reach.
Game difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: Tough Luck, Famine, Grunt Birthday. Also tried but later disabled: Tilt and Iron
Pros:
• Level design (Function): I see now why people praise Halo for this. While the game is linear, most firefights levels allow for customized play pertaining to weapon choice, point of attack and traversal. The flying bits felt very enjoyable save the weapon selection options. This accommodation for combat experimentation due to well thought out level design and armor abilities is one of the best I have seen on a console game.
• Level design (Form): From skies to the underground caverns, peaks to troughs, dawn to dusk, sunshine to rain and everything in between, Reach is a beautiful game. It has large scale variation for objects in the world and a sense of atmosphere that reminded me at times of Mass Effect. The skyboxes are amazing, albeit static. The framerate holds up quite well regardless of amount of action on screen.
• Graphics: Rich in fidelity and very low on aliasing. Its anti aliasing is appreciated and something I'd come to miss later (badly).The character design quality and facial animation are on par with the best third party games out there on consoles. In short, it is prettiest Halo of them all (save Halo 4).
• Story: Did not expect much and was pleasantly surprised. Plotlines are tied pretty well. The lack of cheesiness in general was a welcome. There is a good sense of the fact that you are a part of a team of soldiers living up to the reputation of Spartans (could be due to the fact that your team mates never died in firefights). In time, I grew fond of the team, especially Kat and Jorge.
• Music/Sound: The music was close to home. Recognizable but pleasantly modified. The sound effects are quite satisfactory. From the plonk, thump, boom of the new DMR to the ever recognizable "tatatata" Assault Rifle to the various "pew pews" to "schew schew" of Covenant weapons. I particularly liked the voice acting, which overall, remains free of corniness. Lastly, the dialogues for Grunts are hilarious!
• Menu options: I loved the RPG-esque character customization options, especially, since it's reflected real time in cutscene videos.
Cons:
• Checkpoints: Checkpoints, checkpoints, checkpoints. For me, the primary and greatest souring point. Playing on Heroic difficulty with Skulls enabled, things can and did get egregiously frustrating on the (iirc) seventh and final mission. I'd dispatch some mini-boss type Brutes and then carry on and later get killed in a different part of the same firefight only to have the game re-spawn me all the way to the point where I'd have to dispatch those mini bosses once again. As a guy who used to be an ardent player of Dark Souls (260hrs plus) it takes a lot to frustrate me and Reach did so to the point where it felt cheap because it was as if the game was going against its core ideology of allowing players to engage in battle any way he/she wants to. I remember there'd be times where I'd try to go to different parts of a scenery to see if the "checkpoint...done" pop up on the bottom left to alleviate my stress level.
• (Un)Friendly and enemy AI : Second only to the awful checkpoint system and would have been equally bad if it affected me as much as the former. During intense firefights on certain levels, I would witness the amazing lack of interaction between friendly and enemy AIs even though they would be within feet of each other with clear line of sight. The enemy AI would make it a priority to hunt me down exclusively if they saw me and the friendly witless imbeciles would just wait and watch. This problem exclusively showed up on levels containing normal soldiers and Covenant forces. I did not face the same issue with a Spartan partner. The enemy AI in general, however, is very good.
Overall, props to Bungie for making this game. In time, I would come to realize just how far they went in updating the graphical engine. The payoff was worth the effort.
Halo 3: ODST
Having seen the playthroughs of Halo Anniversary and Halo 2 on Youtube, I knew that ODST would be the entry to go to next. Once again, playing solo and only the campaign, I gave it the go. An impetus behind wanting to try this game was because I remembered that both Nathan Fillion (one of my most adored actors) and Tricia Helfer had not only given their voices but faces as well. I later discovered that a couple more guys from Firefly, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk alongside Nolan North were all present in major capacities. Oh! what joy I felt. Another reason I wanted to play the game was for its world design as seen at night both with and without the Visor mode. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. Whereas Reach and Halo 3 were all about the macrocosm in action and its ramification, ODST felt much more micro. Trapped in a single city, New Mombasa, you see the smaller details and with time and exploration how layered and expansive they can be. It is also a reason why I feel like the multiple perspectives approach to the narrative works in the game's favour.
Game difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: None
Pros:
• Level design (function): Once again, Bungie delivers. The levels are large enough for plenty of experimentation. The segments where vehicles are involved are as well designed as the parts without them i.e. expansive with logical layout. There are not only horizontal but vertical traversal options in majority of the levels.
• Level design (form): It was both awe inspiring and serene at the same time. Looking at the world at night with and then without visor functionality really brings out the character of the city. From the tall, insurmountable buildings that vie for the sky to the distant view of the same city as cityscape, to being on top of a few of them and be able to witness dusk, the levels are a spectacle to behold in the feelings they can evoke. And, the colour palettes that are chosen, from warm nights to cold days to warm afternoons etc feels very appropriate and adds to the atmosphere.
• Story: I was inquisitive to see whether the multiple viewpoint would work. It sort of reminded me Snatch and I must say, like the movie, things came together in their own unique way. The transition between days and nights between multiple perspectives are implemented well do a great job of staving off feelings boredom. As aforementioned, this game was about a small operation in city that is about to be glassed. The story is not overbearing, rather, keeps on delivering clues when expected. It is about the journey of a selected group of ODSTs on covert need to know salvage operation and the reconciliation of certain characters. The dialogs reminded me Uncharted, i.e. it has a sense of humour. Overall, the narrative is well paced and "Yay" for a satisfactory ending.
• Music/Sound: The single best and most prominent aspect of ODST that separates it from the pack, lends the game a character that is unlike other entries in the franchise and captures the spirit of solitude and loneliness so completely. The voice acting is very well done (has to be expected given the talent being featured). It helps each character have its own identity and personality without, once again, being cheesy.
Cons:
• Graphics: Oh wow! I knew that there would be regression, but darn! It put into perspective Bungie's hard work to overhaul Halo 3's engine for Reach. While ODST artistic beauty pertaining to level design is not in question, the lack of or poor quality of anti aliasing surely is. And the faces of characters at one point made me say, "Oh wow... this looks like it's a generation behind" out loud. While it may be considered a hyperbole, looking at the character detail from Reach and comparing them to ODST and Halo 3 (even worse; we'll get to that later) is like looking at a HD re-release of last gen game at worst, and at best the visuals look as if they belong somewhere between Xbox and Xbox 360 on HD (or near enough). At least the performance was consistent.
Overall, this is my favourite Halo game of the three that I played so far primarily because it is the most unique.
Halo 3
Game difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: None
Finally, the finale or so we all thought. Of course most of us always guessed that this was not the end of the franchise. At the start of the game the familiar original hymn was playing in full force and I knew Master Chef was either going to cook big or go home. And much like Reach, it is a game large in scope, large in action, large in cut scenes and even larger in ramification. This was as big as it was going to get:
Pros:
• Story: The story is kept simple because there are only so many things you can do in the end. The plot twists are unsurprising but delivered well. The story highlights the religious lunacy and depths of a fanatic's conviction pretty well. In this regard, the voice actor for Prophet of Truth did an excellent job. The interjections of Cortana during playthrough ranged from haunting to cheesy. Overall, while it felt like a Michael Bay movie from time to time, it did execute its story intents satisfactorily.
• AI: Tactful and sharp.
• Level design (function): Once again, Bungie knows how to make level designs best suited for experimentations. The vehicle and the aerial segments are very enjoyable albeit smaller in scope. Given the amount of retracing one has to do in Halo games, I think it's a testament to Bungie for ensuring that players do not get lost. It is very evident during the mission where I was escaping after rescuing Cortana from High Charity, I think I only got lost once. Things could have been easily more frustrating because it becomes difficult to assess a situation rationally when you are on an adrenaline rush.
• Level design (form): Things went from good to better after leaving Earth and heading to the Ark. I had quite a few "OMFG" moments as I looked around and up to see the arm of the Ark and Milky Way galaxy. There is a sense of scale variation in several orders of magnitude not unlike Reach if not bigger and is driven home through the unveiling of the new Halo and the Ark in vibrant red and violet towards the end of game (escape sequence). The Ark reminded me of the Citadel from ME. Once again, the level design evokes a sense of wonder and awe.
• Music/Sound: Nothing much to say here besides the obvious decision of sound designers to make players reminisce the days of Halo CE. After all given it is the finale, this was expected. The Halo theme, for me, remains a timeless piece of music. The sound effects are as one would expect, i.e. satisfactory. The voice acting once again is well done albeit a touch cheesy (thanks to the script for Cortana). On the other hand, 343 Guilty Spark was a cold metal charmer.
Cons:
• Graphics: Once again, clearly the worst of the three. Hideous aliasing. I felt like it was going cut my eye balls with its serrated edges. Add to that a lack of any anisotropic filtering (or if there is it was poor) and the ground textures look downright low resolution and blurry if you aren't looking straight down. And may kittens have mercy on the souls of people who did the faces! While most are just serviceable at best, the rendition of horribly detailed Lord Terrence Hood with ghastly lighting was like taking a proverbial Brute Hammer to my eyes. Of course, in end, to put things into perspective, this can be only said to look horrible because we have the luxury of comparing it to Reach's character models and lighting.
• Checkpoint: While not as egregious as Reach's system, it is still a pain in the neck. Two instances it drove me nuts: the first flying segment inthe Hornet and secondly the part where I was trying escape from the Flood infested High Charity; it felt like my progress meant nothing until I crossed a certain invisible line or killed a certain number of enemies. I wish it were more gradual.
Overall, it was a sweet and fast ride with Halo 3. In terms of pacing, this one takes the cake.
One last thing, which has now become a pet peeve of mine for the entire franchise is inability to turn Covenant weapon caches if they fall face down (say a grenade went off near it during a firefight) trapping the weapon underneath making me unable to retrieve them. It becomes frustrating when the only solution is to chuck a grenade near and hope it helps. Given that you have enough strength to flip a Warthog or a Scorpion Tank as if they weighed nothing, the reason for the inability to interact with a weapons cache certainly escapes my logic.
Anyway, so that now I am about to embark on the journey to play Halo 4, can anyone inform me if the checkpoint system has improved or not on Heroic difficulty level?
Also what have your experiences been like from the first time you played these games, if you can remember?
Notes:
Instead of playing Halo Anniversary and 2, I saw the walkthrough videos for both on Youtube.
These reviews pertain to Campaigns only.
Even though I have checked for spelling inaccuracies, grammatical errors and missing words, kindly accept my apologies if you find any more.
And there are spoilers.
Halo Reach
Started with this game first. Being the earliest game in the series, I thought it'd be the best entry for the maximum background information. I was surprised to see a pretty silent protagonist and Bungie's decision to keep his identity a secret. I guess it is to keep players guessing whether the protagonist would end up being Master Chief or not. At a later time, I did find the answer thanks to a conversation between Halsey and Cortana. It kept me guessing whether he'd live to the end given the surviving ship, Pillar of Autumn, departs from Reach.
Game difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: Tough Luck, Famine, Grunt Birthday. Also tried but later disabled: Tilt and Iron
Pros:
• Level design (Function): I see now why people praise Halo for this. While the game is linear, most firefights levels allow for customized play pertaining to weapon choice, point of attack and traversal. The flying bits felt very enjoyable save the weapon selection options. This accommodation for combat experimentation due to well thought out level design and armor abilities is one of the best I have seen on a console game.
• Level design (Form): From skies to the underground caverns, peaks to troughs, dawn to dusk, sunshine to rain and everything in between, Reach is a beautiful game. It has large scale variation for objects in the world and a sense of atmosphere that reminded me at times of Mass Effect. The skyboxes are amazing, albeit static. The framerate holds up quite well regardless of amount of action on screen.
• Graphics: Rich in fidelity and very low on aliasing. Its anti aliasing is appreciated and something I'd come to miss later (badly).The character design quality and facial animation are on par with the best third party games out there on consoles. In short, it is prettiest Halo of them all (save Halo 4).
• Story: Did not expect much and was pleasantly surprised. Plotlines are tied pretty well. The lack of cheesiness in general was a welcome. There is a good sense of the fact that you are a part of a team of soldiers living up to the reputation of Spartans (could be due to the fact that your team mates never died in firefights). In time, I grew fond of the team, especially Kat and Jorge.
• Music/Sound: The music was close to home. Recognizable but pleasantly modified. The sound effects are quite satisfactory. From the plonk, thump, boom of the new DMR to the ever recognizable "tatatata" Assault Rifle to the various "pew pews" to "schew schew" of Covenant weapons. I particularly liked the voice acting, which overall, remains free of corniness. Lastly, the dialogues for Grunts are hilarious!
• Menu options: I loved the RPG-esque character customization options, especially, since it's reflected real time in cutscene videos.
Cons:
• Checkpoints: Checkpoints, checkpoints, checkpoints. For me, the primary and greatest souring point. Playing on Heroic difficulty with Skulls enabled, things can and did get egregiously frustrating on the (iirc) seventh and final mission. I'd dispatch some mini-boss type Brutes and then carry on and later get killed in a different part of the same firefight only to have the game re-spawn me all the way to the point where I'd have to dispatch those mini bosses once again. As a guy who used to be an ardent player of Dark Souls (260hrs plus) it takes a lot to frustrate me and Reach did so to the point where it felt cheap because it was as if the game was going against its core ideology of allowing players to engage in battle any way he/she wants to. I remember there'd be times where I'd try to go to different parts of a scenery to see if the "checkpoint...done" pop up on the bottom left to alleviate my stress level.
• (Un)Friendly and enemy AI : Second only to the awful checkpoint system and would have been equally bad if it affected me as much as the former. During intense firefights on certain levels, I would witness the amazing lack of interaction between friendly and enemy AIs even though they would be within feet of each other with clear line of sight. The enemy AI would make it a priority to hunt me down exclusively if they saw me and the friendly witless imbeciles would just wait and watch. This problem exclusively showed up on levels containing normal soldiers and Covenant forces. I did not face the same issue with a Spartan partner. The enemy AI in general, however, is very good.
Overall, props to Bungie for making this game. In time, I would come to realize just how far they went in updating the graphical engine. The payoff was worth the effort.
Halo 3: ODST
Having seen the playthroughs of Halo Anniversary and Halo 2 on Youtube, I knew that ODST would be the entry to go to next. Once again, playing solo and only the campaign, I gave it the go. An impetus behind wanting to try this game was because I remembered that both Nathan Fillion (one of my most adored actors) and Tricia Helfer had not only given their voices but faces as well. I later discovered that a couple more guys from Firefly, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk alongside Nolan North were all present in major capacities. Oh! what joy I felt. Another reason I wanted to play the game was for its world design as seen at night both with and without the Visor mode. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. Whereas Reach and Halo 3 were all about the macrocosm in action and its ramification, ODST felt much more micro. Trapped in a single city, New Mombasa, you see the smaller details and with time and exploration how layered and expansive they can be. It is also a reason why I feel like the multiple perspectives approach to the narrative works in the game's favour.
Game difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: None
Pros:
• Level design (function): Once again, Bungie delivers. The levels are large enough for plenty of experimentation. The segments where vehicles are involved are as well designed as the parts without them i.e. expansive with logical layout. There are not only horizontal but vertical traversal options in majority of the levels.
• Level design (form): It was both awe inspiring and serene at the same time. Looking at the world at night with and then without visor functionality really brings out the character of the city. From the tall, insurmountable buildings that vie for the sky to the distant view of the same city as cityscape, to being on top of a few of them and be able to witness dusk, the levels are a spectacle to behold in the feelings they can evoke. And, the colour palettes that are chosen, from warm nights to cold days to warm afternoons etc feels very appropriate and adds to the atmosphere.
• Story: I was inquisitive to see whether the multiple viewpoint would work. It sort of reminded me Snatch and I must say, like the movie, things came together in their own unique way. The transition between days and nights between multiple perspectives are implemented well do a great job of staving off feelings boredom. As aforementioned, this game was about a small operation in city that is about to be glassed. The story is not overbearing, rather, keeps on delivering clues when expected. It is about the journey of a selected group of ODSTs on covert need to know salvage operation and the reconciliation of certain characters. The dialogs reminded me Uncharted, i.e. it has a sense of humour. Overall, the narrative is well paced and "Yay" for a satisfactory ending.
• Music/Sound: The single best and most prominent aspect of ODST that separates it from the pack, lends the game a character that is unlike other entries in the franchise and captures the spirit of solitude and loneliness so completely. The voice acting is very well done (has to be expected given the talent being featured). It helps each character have its own identity and personality without, once again, being cheesy.
Cons:
• Graphics: Oh wow! I knew that there would be regression, but darn! It put into perspective Bungie's hard work to overhaul Halo 3's engine for Reach. While ODST artistic beauty pertaining to level design is not in question, the lack of or poor quality of anti aliasing surely is. And the faces of characters at one point made me say, "Oh wow... this looks like it's a generation behind" out loud. While it may be considered a hyperbole, looking at the character detail from Reach and comparing them to ODST and Halo 3 (even worse; we'll get to that later) is like looking at a HD re-release of last gen game at worst, and at best the visuals look as if they belong somewhere between Xbox and Xbox 360 on HD (or near enough). At least the performance was consistent.
Overall, this is my favourite Halo game of the three that I played so far primarily because it is the most unique.
Halo 3
Game difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: None
Finally, the finale or so we all thought. Of course most of us always guessed that this was not the end of the franchise. At the start of the game the familiar original hymn was playing in full force and I knew Master Chef was either going to cook big or go home. And much like Reach, it is a game large in scope, large in action, large in cut scenes and even larger in ramification. This was as big as it was going to get:
Pros:
• Story: The story is kept simple because there are only so many things you can do in the end. The plot twists are unsurprising but delivered well. The story highlights the religious lunacy and depths of a fanatic's conviction pretty well. In this regard, the voice actor for Prophet of Truth did an excellent job. The interjections of Cortana during playthrough ranged from haunting to cheesy. Overall, while it felt like a Michael Bay movie from time to time, it did execute its story intents satisfactorily.
• AI: Tactful and sharp.
• Level design (function): Once again, Bungie knows how to make level designs best suited for experimentations. The vehicle and the aerial segments are very enjoyable albeit smaller in scope. Given the amount of retracing one has to do in Halo games, I think it's a testament to Bungie for ensuring that players do not get lost. It is very evident during the mission where I was escaping after rescuing Cortana from High Charity, I think I only got lost once. Things could have been easily more frustrating because it becomes difficult to assess a situation rationally when you are on an adrenaline rush.
• Level design (form): Things went from good to better after leaving Earth and heading to the Ark. I had quite a few "OMFG" moments as I looked around and up to see the arm of the Ark and Milky Way galaxy. There is a sense of scale variation in several orders of magnitude not unlike Reach if not bigger and is driven home through the unveiling of the new Halo and the Ark in vibrant red and violet towards the end of game (escape sequence). The Ark reminded me of the Citadel from ME. Once again, the level design evokes a sense of wonder and awe.
• Music/Sound: Nothing much to say here besides the obvious decision of sound designers to make players reminisce the days of Halo CE. After all given it is the finale, this was expected. The Halo theme, for me, remains a timeless piece of music. The sound effects are as one would expect, i.e. satisfactory. The voice acting once again is well done albeit a touch cheesy (thanks to the script for Cortana). On the other hand, 343 Guilty Spark was a cold metal charmer.
Cons:
• Graphics: Once again, clearly the worst of the three. Hideous aliasing. I felt like it was going cut my eye balls with its serrated edges. Add to that a lack of any anisotropic filtering (or if there is it was poor) and the ground textures look downright low resolution and blurry if you aren't looking straight down. And may kittens have mercy on the souls of people who did the faces! While most are just serviceable at best, the rendition of horribly detailed Lord Terrence Hood with ghastly lighting was like taking a proverbial Brute Hammer to my eyes. Of course, in end, to put things into perspective, this can be only said to look horrible because we have the luxury of comparing it to Reach's character models and lighting.
• Checkpoint: While not as egregious as Reach's system, it is still a pain in the neck. Two instances it drove me nuts: the first flying segment inthe Hornet and secondly the part where I was trying escape from the Flood infested High Charity; it felt like my progress meant nothing until I crossed a certain invisible line or killed a certain number of enemies. I wish it were more gradual.
Overall, it was a sweet and fast ride with Halo 3. In terms of pacing, this one takes the cake.
One last thing, which has now become a pet peeve of mine for the entire franchise is inability to turn Covenant weapon caches if they fall face down (say a grenade went off near it during a firefight) trapping the weapon underneath making me unable to retrieve them. It becomes frustrating when the only solution is to chuck a grenade near and hope it helps. Given that you have enough strength to flip a Warthog or a Scorpion Tank as if they weighed nothing, the reason for the inability to interact with a weapons cache certainly escapes my logic.
Anyway, so that now I am about to embark on the journey to play Halo 4, can anyone inform me if the checkpoint system has improved or not on Heroic difficulty level?
Also what have your experiences been like from the first time you played these games, if you can remember?
