Brad's Game Reviews: Halo Edition
I did a very small amount of work on the Mac port of Halo, back in the day. One of the consequences of that is that I bought an Xbox and Halo to play the game and see what it was like. At the time, I got to the "Library" level and stopped because, well, it got real repetitive.
Recently we got an Xbox 360 and one of the games I wanted to play was Halo 3, but first I figured I'd go back and finish 1 and 2 to bring me up to speed. Since my saved games were on my old Xbox, I dug it out and finished up Halo 1.
As time has gone on, I've discovered that I'm not really a big fan of shooters any more, and in particular I'm not a fan of Halo's "checkpoint save" system, which meant playing and re-playing certain parts of a level over and over until I finally either figured out the catch or muscled my way through. In particular, I didn't care for the very last level of Halo 1 where you have to drive to a certain point in a certain length of time (and then discover - spoiler! - that oops, you have to go farther still). That said, I enjoyed Halo for what it was. Playing Halo 2 immediately afterwards, I was reminded that this was basically the same game done slightly different. Perhaps a few years gap in between would have helped me appreciate it more, but it felt more like work knowing that the goal was to get to Halo 3.
And so it was that I did get to Halo 3 and finish it (on normal, IIRC). It was enjoyable, but again it felt at times like the same game only much more attractive. Maybe that's the point though, I don't know. For all my gripes with checkpoints and replaying the same things over and over (because I suck), one thing I did like most about the series was the way it presented some challenges in a high-stress way, like the race at the end of Halo 3 to get to your ship before the the surface you are driving on vanishes. It was exciting and stressful the first 3 or 4 times I tried it. Because I suck, it took me 10 or so tries. I respect and admire the person that can complete Halo on the hardest settings.
One thing that didn't click with me was the Cortana character, a supposedly-sexy female Ai or computer construct or whatever with a sassy attitude. I'm not sure a) why someone in the "Halo" universe would design such a construct in the first place or b) what the appeal of it would be, given that it's just a holograph of an AI. I have this vision of fetishists that are into having female computers talk sexy to them, but maybe I'm just missing the point again.
So to sum up: Halo == neat but they lose something if you play all 3 back-to-back-to-back. ;-)
Comments
Well, duh, of course you don't understand the appeal of Cortana. You HAVE someone sexy to talk with IRL. Most Halo fanboys don't.
Posted by: Peter | April 8, 2008 11:03 AM
For what it's worth, regarding Cortana... (ugh, I'm such a nerd for writing this...)
There are two different kinds of AIs in the Haloverse, "smart" and "dumb". Smart AIs are actually created from a human's brain pattern, although they aren't actually a clone of that person. As such, they are similar to a (very, very, very smart) human brain in a box and have personalities, emotions, are capable of learning new skills and abilities, etc. Their form and personality is something they choose, and can change if they like. One thing of note is that they have a limited amount of brainpower they can use; the average lifespan is (IIRC) around 5 to 7 years. Due to all of the above they're fairly rare in the Halo universe; it's been a while since I've read Fall of Reach but if it weren't for the importance of whatever mission MC was on before the events of Halo 1 Cortana wouldn't have been stationed anywhere near something as ordinary as the Pillar of Autumn (the ship you start off on in Halo 1).
Dumb AIs are just very smart computer programs; they have no capability for human understanding beyond whatever their programmer imbues them with. No true emotions, no personality, no limited lifespan. They're fairly common; Pillar of Autumn's original AI was a dumb AI.
Overall I rather like the Haloverse, but honestly I don't think the best parts of it show in the games. The Halo novels are surprisingly not bad; Fall of Reach is especially good and really gives you a good taste of the Halo universe and John-117's backstory; if you're at all curious, it's worth a read. (Just don't read the second book - The Flood - unless you like reading the plot of Halo 1 with some added backstory about a plucky little grunt and his mean Elite master. Seriously, just skip it. The other books are fine, but not on FoR's level.) The I Love Bees audio files are also incredibly good; not cannon, but an incredibly well produced sci-fi radio drama.
I understand if it's not your cup of tea, though. :-)
OK, enough geek diarrhea... back to work...
Posted by: Rufo Sanchez | April 8, 2008 11:59 AM