Do You Like Halo, Then?
Do You Like Halo, Then?
The eternal question…
When you invest so much in videogames, it’s often crushing to keep meeting people who don’t share the same passion. But, as Lewis Denby’s come to realise, maybe it’s okay that they don’t.
“Oh, really?” says the guy. We’re standing outside a Leeds nightclub, a crowd of people gathered roughly in line, waiting for permission to enter. Smoke blows around in the cold air, while drops of water fall from the underside of the bridge above. I cringe.
“What do you do?” he’s asked, a few seconds before. I wouldn’t mind. It’s nice when people show an interest in your life – even complete strangers. The problem is I know what’s coming next. As soon as those words escape my mouth – “I write about videogames” – there’s only one follow-up question that ever arrives.
“I write about videogames,” I say, after a sigh and a pause.
“Oh, really?” he says. “Do you like Halo, then?”
A hero comes along
The Master Chief has become the poster child for popular videogame culture. A nameless, faceless super-soldier, he’s a figure of mystery and intrigue, and a dab hand with futuristic weaponry to boot. He’s a hero. Videogames are full of them.
And I think that’s always been my issue with the Halo franchise. I’ve never disliked it, as such. I fondly recall the days where, as a teenager, I’d wander up to the local LAN café with a friend, at the times we knew would be busiest, just to sit and play Halo on the Xbox while we waited for a computer. I didn’t own an Xbox at the time, but when Halo emerged on the PC 
in 2003, its ultra-refined combat mechanics had me gripped to the mouse and keyboard for its entire duration.
As the series progressed, though, it lost some of its magic. Halo, this remarkable, polished, next-generation masterpiece of first-person shooter design, became tepid through its own success. It spawned sequels and novels and feeble imitations of both. The Master Chief had become the poster boy for next-gen blasting, but his game, propagated to the nth degree, lost something in the process.
So. How to respond? I mean, the answer is “yes,” it absolutely is. I loved Halo. Its sequels are strong first-person shooting games. But it’d be a defeated nod, at best. Yes, I like Halo. Yes, the series is a strong one, towards the more consistent end of the gaming spectrum. But I lost my enthusiasm for it long ago, and now, anyone who mentions its name – especially so soon after discovering the unlikely line of work I’ve chosen – becomes a kind of unfortunate enemy.
Attempting to categorise those who play videogames is a horrible thing. Hardcore, casual, male, female, whatever – it doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose. Even the term ‘gamer’ itself is a hideous one, devoid of any real use other than to pigeonhole and stereotype. Hands up, though, because I find myself doing just that, each and every time this happens.
Oh, he’s one of those gamers, I think to myself, as I try in vain to establish the best possible response.
I put it to you Lewis that Modern Warfare 2 or ‘COD’ is becoming, or has become, the new Halo. At least in my experience most people at work talk about playing COD (or FIFA) and Halo is no more than a distant memory to them.
If I were asked the question you were posed I would reply ‘The first one was fun, bugger the rest’
I’d love to be back in that mans position after playing ‘The Path’ and ‘Pathalogic’.
Ignorance, sometimes, really is bliss.
Brilliant article, the amount of times I’ve been asked ’so what do you think about CoD?’ is genuinly starting to grate.
But yes, a well crafted piece and with a great message, thanks.
Was Halo the first major FPS to implement a regenerating health system? If so, the game might be responsible for shaping the modern shooter. It could very well be that we wouldn’t have all of this cover-based gunplay in games like Gears of War or its many imitators if it wasn’t for Halo. I mean, I just recently downloaded the Perfect Dark remake on XBLA, and man, I forgot how different console shooters used to be.
Oh, good article, by the way.
Gotta agree with Chris — Call of Duty has taken over Halo’s place as the frat boy game of choice. There was a period when I was fairly against the series because the PC had better shooters, and Halo 2 left a bad taste in my mouth — bad experiences on Xbox Live and the like.
Looking back, Bungie has really tried to do something great with each and every Halo game — even Halo 2 pioneered the lobby system that we see everywhere in online console shooters. Halo Reach’s multiplayer options look absolutely ace, and really make me wish I owned a 360.
And that was a great article, thanks for sharing.
I never quite “got” Halo. Bungie did well with it over the years taking the essence of the FPS and refining it (a la Command and Conquer and the RTS), but it’s not up there in my list of games I want to play.
It’s situations like the one described in the article that mean I will never, ever delete Passage off my iPhone.
Fantastic article.
Halo 3 reminds me a lot of Quake 3, with its addictive and arcade style multiplayer. But I’m a huge fan of the Halo franchise and its epic narrative, and I’ll defend to the death the integrity of its story.
Hated Halo and Halo 2 but absolutely loved Halo 3. Epic stuff.
We’ve all been in situations like this, this was a brilliant read, perfectly pitched.
Chris and others: I’ve had a situation almost identical to this in which the guy said “Modern Warfare 2″ instead of “Halo”, but the two are kind of interchangable. Both have the same effect.
Sean: I suspect showing someone Passage when they’re trying to have a good night out wouldn’t go down brilliantly.
Great article. I hope that end actually did happen, it gave me a huge smile!
I must admit that if someone asks me about games I’ll usually go for the obvious touch stone first, CoD/Halo, even though I actually never play them. Perhaps this guy had similar thoughts to you?
“The Halo Effect” as some people have dubbed it has really spread to CoD ever since the advent of Cod4. People talk about it constantly at my colledge and yeah it’s ok, its generic, its community is full of pre-pubecent dick-holes who are waling adverts for not drinking during pegnancy. But all i nd up saying is “yeh, it’s ok” and you sometimes even get funny ook for that as if you should be saying “YEAH! BEST GAME EVER!!”
It’s not, its just the mass market face like halo was/is. I like the unnerving world of the STALKER games probably best of all, i like RTS, i like RPGs as diverse as Shin Megami Tensei and The Witcher.
An excellent read, and very though provoking- thanks!
thought* !
I haven’t had a proper/real job for years, so I am a master of making up whatever answer I think suits the situation when asked “what do you do?” … if I don’t want to talk about it I will make up something so non-descript that there is almost no possible follow-up. If I *do* want to get chatting to someone I will mention some wierd and wonderful ‘business ideas’ or something interesting I have done in the past taylored to what they might be interested in.
As for games – I am thinking about if someone said they reviewed novels. My ‘being chatty/sociable’ follow-up might be to mention the only modern novel I have actually read in the last few years (Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell back in 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_%28novel%29 ). I don’t really have much of a clue as to how it is reguarded by literary people or any clue how it measures up to other modern novels, none of which I have read.
Another comparison is my love of African and/or other world music (plus other off-beat stuff) – I really don’t care if it never becomes mainstream. I’m happy enough listening to late night radio shows on ‘listen again’ and never touch the mainstream daytime stuff.
I suppose with videogames the risk is that many game developers will only put the money into mainstream games and the kind of stuff we like will not be made as full-length games – This is different from music, where the offbeat stuff *will* continue even if it never charts or is playlisted on mainstream and daytime radio/TV outside the occasional appearance on Jools Holland.
I also suppose that I would care more about saying what I actually did for a job if I a) actually had a job and b) that job involved my persdonal creative efforts that I wanted people to appreciate.
Lovely article, Lewis. I guess we could have worse ambassadors than Halo, eh?
“Oh, you’re a movie critic? Do you like Avatar?”
Since I started thinking about games more analytically and playing more under-the-radar stuff I’ve been aware that nobody beyond a small group of enthusiasts cares, and we’re a niche within a niche. It didn’t really hit home until recently though, when I overheard two workmates talking about Mass Effect.
“Have you played Mass Effect 2?”
“Yeah, but only for a couple of hours. Don’t have the time really, might trade it in soon, wasn’t too keen on the first one.”
“You should play more, it’s way better than the first; has better weapons and graphics.”
Halo fans are inept gamers who don’t like other and far superior titles than Halo, because those games challenge the players mind while Halo does nothing but give casual gamers comfort and mildly amuse hardcore gamers.
The games that Halo fans don’t like are:
Star Control II
Portal
Another World or Out of This World in the U.S.
Tetris
Mario series
Silent Hill series
The Legend of Zelda series
GoldenEye 007
Killer7
No More Heroes series
F.E.A.R.
No One Lives Forever series
Perfect Dark
TimeSplitters series
Thief series
Chrono Trigger
Ninja Gaiden (Both the remake and the original three games for the NES)
God of War
Fantasy World Dizzy
Call of Duty 1 & 2 (Definitely not the others)
Half-Life 1 & 2
Rainbow Six series
Ghost Recon series
System Shock 2
Black
God of War 1 & 2
Mass Effect 1 & 2
Planescape Torment
Fallout series
Metroid series
Metal Gear Solid series
StarCraft
Space Quest 1-5
Myst series
Blaster Master
Contra 1, 3, and 4
Sonic 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles
Prince of Persia series
Painkiller
Tecmo Bowl
Monkey Island series
Age of Empire series
Mega Man series for the NES, 9, & 10
Braid
LittleBigPlanet
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Crysis
Far Cry
Sam & Max series
Double Dragon series
Streets of Rage series
Castlevania series (Except for the 3D ones)
Splinter Cell series
Devil May Cry series (Except for 2 and possibly 4)
Diablo series
Serious Sam
M.U.L.E.
Ultima series
Wing Commander series
Gabriel Knight series
King’s Quest series
WarCraft series
Tekken series
Civilization series
Streets Fighter series
Virtua Fighter series
King of Fighters series
Soul Calibur series
Samurai Shodsown series
Deus Ex
X-Com: UFO Defense
Strider
Neverwinter Nights
Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2
The Elder Scrolls III Morrowidn
Counter-Strike
Team Fortress 2
2D Shinobi games
Ghost n’ Goblins
Shenmue series
Ghost n’ Ghouls
2D Phantasy Star games
Flashback Quest for Identity
Vectorman
Gradius
M.U.S.H.A.
Tribes
Grand Theft Auto III, San Andreas, & Vice City
Earthbound
Actraiser
Twisted Metal 1, 2, & Black
Axelay
The Legacy of Kain Blood Omen (The first one)
The Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver
F-Zero series
Panzer Dragoon series
NiGHTs into Dreams
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie
Battlefield series
Wave Race 64
Mafia A City Lost of Heaven
Star Fox 1 & 64
TetraSphere
Mega Man X 1-3
Rayman 1 & 2
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1-4 & Underground 1 & 2
Gran Turismo series
Xenogears
Suikoden series
Alundra
Spyro 1-3
Crash Bandicoot 1-3
Syphon Filter, Dark Mirror, & Logan’s Shadow
Marvel vs. Capcom series
Capcom vs. SNK
Psychic Force series
MDK series
Marathon series
Myth series
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic series
Jet Grind Radio
Skies of Arcadia
Burnout series
ICO
Shadow of the Colossus
Ratchet & Clank series
Jak & Daxter series
Uncharted series
SSX series
Guitar Hero 1 & 2
Rock Band series
Katamari Damacy
Winning Eleven series
Sly Cooper series
Mortal Kombat II
The Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay
Psychonauts
Oddworld series
MechWarrior series
MechAssault series
Top Spin
Forza MotorSport series
Saints Row 2
Deathrow
Brothers in Arms series
Medal of Honor 1, Underground, Frontline, & Allied Assault
Beyond Good & Evil
Eternal Darkness Sanity’s Requiem
Viewtiful Joe 1 & 2
Valkyria Chronicles
Max Payne series
Total Annihilation
Command & Conquer series
Red Faction
infamous
Freedom Fighters
Hitman series (Except for the first one)
Giants Citizen Kabuto
Sacrifice
Alice
Wolfenstein series
Quake series
Unreal Tournament series
Unreal
Shogo
Caesar series
SimCity series
MadWorld
Disgea series
Rygar
Ogre Battle series
Duke Nukem 3D
Advance War series
Golden Sun series
Kingdom Hearts series
Syndicate series
Populous series
Left 4 Dead series
Dead Space
Persona series
Operation Flashpoint
Chu Chu Rocket
Donkey Kong Country series
Galaga
Killzone 1 & 2
Descent series
FreeSpace series
HomeWorld
Company of Heroes
SOCOM series
Halo fans have never played, liked, or heard of the games I’ve listed because they fans of Halo. Halo fans play other games that don’t stimulate thought but give them mindless comfort such as; Gears of War, Modern Warfare series, DOA series, GTAIV, BioShock, and the Madden series. Just because a game sells millions doesn’t mean it’s great, McDonalds isn’t a great restraunt and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (A movie most Halo fans like) is an abysmal movie. The Halo games aren’t bad as they’re solid games, but they’re not excellent games like the games I’ve listed. If you think Halo is better or just as good as many of the games I’ve listed, you have poor taste and low standards in video games my friend. If you believe Halo is excellent, then you might as well think Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is a good movie. Halo is popular because marketing is so powerful that it can get you anywhere.
You can call me a troll or a hater, but you cannot deny the facts because there are sadly and painfully true. Halo is objectively not an excellent game. Halo is the antithesis of games developing as a art form. Passionate, hardcore, and true gamers are not Halo fans.
I kinda suggest you’re talking nonsense there. But that was a long post – you’re impressively dedicated to doing so!
“pre-club wine”
Oh, he’s one of THOSE drinkers.
(Too good for triples-for-singles at the Nags, are yeh? Hold that thought, I need to vomit on my shoes.)
Forgace,
Way to pigeonhole about 8 million gamers there. I think it’s important to differentiate Halo “fans” from Halo “fanboys.”
I would argue that most “hardcore” gamers are more than mildly amused by Halo. Claiming a game is far superior is also a subjective matter. You are talking about a game that defined a genre on consoles, which is an achievement few have come close to equaling.
I’m not even going to touch that “games as an art form” comment so typically associated with elitist comments like yours. I will say, half the games you mention in your exhausting list are right in the Halo fan’s wheelhouse.
Perhaps you’re not that different after all….
@Forgace I’m a halo fan I guess I should throw out all my OTHER games because I’m a halo fan??? please,the only game i see in your list that halo “fanboys” (not fans) would hate is killzone 1-2… but that is getting in to the console wars. I love that your can speak for all the people who are fans of the game. It’s your metaphor hey I like MacDonald’s! but I’m not gonna generalize everyone who eats there as a lazy obese person.
I think calling BioShock or GTAIV “mindless” is a bit of an insane thing to do, as well. One’s a game about objectivist philosophy, the other’s one of the smartest pieces of satire so far this century.
“You cannot deny the facts”.
Sigh.
There are no facts in Forgace’s comment at all, just opinion.
Lewis Denby, you are an idiot! BioShock is a dumb downed System Shock 2 (an amazing game that no Halo fan has played) and GTA IV is a pretentious shit game that took the series a step backward. Like Halo did for the FPS genre.
Give it a rest, Forgace. I just confessed to being a Halo fan in the article, right? And I love System Shock 2. Point disproved.