The Halo series has been dealt its fair share of praise for each of the games in the primary trilogy and again with ODST. While I have purchased each title, I frequently have questioned whether they deserve all the awards. The setting and the story itself I have no problems with. The universe is interesting, the aliens unique, and the weapons fun to use.
Yet I have never been fully drawn into any of the games. Maybe it has been the lack of a cast of characters that you care about, or maybe it is the often repetitive map layouts (the library was a dreadful level in the first game). Halo 3 and ODST have done the best but still not anywhere close to their storytelling potential.
Thoughts?
I agree that the storytelling in the Halo games is less than stellar, but they do have some high points. Ones I can think of off the top of my head include:
ReplyDeleteHalo 1: The first time you come across the Flood.
Halo 2: The story of the arbiter and the prophets is a cool look at social structures.
Halo 3: 343 Guilty Spark and the use of all of the halos as a weapon to "cleanse" the universe.
As to whether or not the plot makes you care at all about the characters like a Half-Life or a Bioshock, that is another story. Its kind of hard to care about a faceless cyborg hero or a sexy artificial intelligence... If you want the best part of the Halo story arc you should read the prologue book Halo: The Fall of Reach. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_The_Fall_of_Reach
I agree with you for the most part. Especially in the age of (I know it has already been mentioned, but) Uncharted and the like, I find myself way more drawn into those games than the Halo series. Even Assassins Creed, which was very repetitive, had me more drawn in. I feel like that has to do with the structure of the game.
ReplyDeleteHalo 2/3/ODST was made much more for its multiplayer capabilities than its story line. Almost everyone I ask will say they buy it for that purpose alone. In the age of online gaming, does story matter so much?
C-Dub, I believe you forgot to mention him getting sucked out and busting out a triple salchow (that's the spelling, I looked it up) and sticking the landing in (1, 2, whichever)...
I would say that if you try to make a single player campaign or a co-operative online game, then yes story does matter. Even look at WoW. The player can delve into the story as much or as little as they want to.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to think of what you were talking about with the figure skating move, but do you mean when he dives off the exploding ship to land on his feet on Earth? I give him a 9.5.