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putamare · Jan 17, 2003, 03:00 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
On average how many hours does it take to compleate Halo?

Again, the real Halo isn't a game you "complete," its the multiplayer game you play over & over and stays fresh because the intelligence behind your opponent is not an AI you can learn to outwit, but a real human with changing strategies.

I've played Halo against quite a few noobs (no southpaws though), it doesn't take long for them to be competitive, and they've all enjoyed playing even while they weren't. I don't really agree with the "FPS don't belong on consoles" statement because all you really need it to be able to move, look, fire and switch weapons, anything more just complicates the issue (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse). The attraction of the console is the across the board evenness of the platform: I can't spend an extra $300 on a video card, or apply a cheat patch to gain an advantage over other players.

Jansar · Jan 17, 2003, 03:00 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
On average how many hours does it take to compleate Halo?

On the Legendary difficulty, I would guess around eight hours.

you can go faster if you "cheat" and play it cooperative, where one person stands elsewhere while the other person fights. If that person dies, they'll respawn if you're far enough away from the action.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 17, 2003, 03:03 PM

Originally posted by Jansar:
On the Legendary difficulty, I would guess around eight hours.

WHAT?! That is pathetic!

starman · Jan 17, 2003, 03:16 PM

Originally posted by Jansar:
On the Legendary difficulty, I would guess around eight hours.

It's gotta be longer than that. More like 10 on normal if you're not running in a straight line.

Mike

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 17, 2003, 03:17 PM

Originally posted by starman:
It's gotta be longer than that. More like 10 on normal if you're not running in a straight line.

Mike

Still I remember people complaining that Luigi's Mansion was horribly short at about 8-10 hours. It was.

Since I am not into Multiplayer I think this 10 hour thing just totally talked me out of Halo. Shame.

Hawkeye_a · 03:30 PM

wow, ive been doing soem research on metroid prime and was very very glad to see that there are no load times what-so-ever. thats a great quality right there, ive played xbox, PS1 and PS2 games and that has always annoyed me a lot. this is what games 'should' be.

I think this n rogue leader are going to be my first console gamecube games since Tazmania for the Genesis/Mega-Drive.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 17, 2003, 03:35 PM

Originally posted by Hawkeye_a:
wow, ive been doing soem research on metroid prime and was very very glad to see that there are no load times what-so-ever.

There is actually, some door have a bit of a delay opening and you get to watch Samus ride the elivator for about 10 seconds because the game is loading and tricking you into thinking it is not. No biggie though.

babble · Jan 17, 2003, 04:17 PM

The 10 secs delay in the elevators are to give players a little break. Take a big breath, remove moisture from your hands and jump back in the action.

As for, the "delay" for some doors, I never experienced it. The only time you'll get something is when your changing world/region and you get a 3D pan view of the new region and the name of it when you open the access door. But, it's really not a delay. It's not like Luigi's Mension or Resident Evil's delay/loading at each door.

I'd also like to respond to another poster who said that FPS from Bungie are not strong in the story department. EXCUSE ME!? Marathon Infinity was one of the best story mode I ever saw. The story mode was a good as the multiplayer mode. So I really think that the story mode in Halo, was cut back for it to be released at the system launch.

Bungie's always been really good for doing story modes in all their games, It's a shame that they didn't get the chance to do it again this time with Halo.

starman · Jan 17, 2003, 04:24 PM

Who said they didn't? There's an entire 350 page novel written as a backstory for Halo.

Mike

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 17, 2003, 04:33 PM

Originally posted by starman:
Who said they didn't? There's an entire 350 page novel written as a backstory for Halo.

Mike

That's kinda obsessive isn't it. I rather have an intresting story that plays itself out throughout the game, Metroid does this by scanning objects. Better then reading a book when you rather be playing.

starman · Jan 17, 2003, 04:43 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
That's kinda obsessive isn't it. I rather have an intresting story that plays itself out throughout the game, Metroid does this by scanning objects. Better then reading a book when you rather be playing.

There are so many spelling and punctuation errors in that message I'm not surprised you'd rather play than read.

Mike

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 17, 2003, 04:51 PM

Originally posted by starman:
There are so many spelling and punctuation errors in that message I'm not surprised you'd rather play than read.

Mike

You are totally retarded. Every time you don't know how to reply you come up with a stupid comment like that to avoid the issue. Do us a favor and quit replying to this topic, better yet read your Halo book.

Hawkeye_a · Jan 17, 2003, 06:11 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
That's kinda obsessive isn't it. I rather have an intresting story that plays itself out throughout the game, Metroid does this by scanning objects. Better then reading a book when you rather be playing.

I agree with you on this. games are a great medium for entertainment. the best games, the cream of the crop, are those which take advantage of that medium to create an immersive experience, bringing together visuals, sounds, and story and presenting them in an overwhelmingly hypnotic, immersive fashion. Content is what drives games, movies, music, books, art (imo) which are merely mediums used to carry the content.... content which is 'complete' dosent need referal to a history of it's origin, but should involve incorportaing the etertainee into that story.

For example, imagine New Line releasing just The Two Towers w/o FOTR. You'd probably have to read FOTR to understand whats going on in TTT, and that wouldnt be good 'content' just cause it involves those experiencing it not getting all the content in the medium.

This isnt saying reading is bad, imo it's probably the best of them all. But imagine a book that just starts in the middle of the story, and then a movie is released explaining what happened in the begining.

Either way, the point of games is to create an experience, if you have to research some long story to understand(or get a better understanding), it isnt being effective in reaching it's goal.

my point ? ... Metroid Prime is better

kidtexas · Jan 17, 2003, 06:53 PM

I played Halo on a friends Xbox over christmas. Me and another friend started playing it cooperatively (on normal mode most likely) and bet it in 9 hours. Neither of us ever played it before. It was a pretty cool game. I like:

-how it didn't have hoards and hoards of monsters.
-weapon balance - could use enemies weapons, only carry 2 at a time, and most weapons had their strengths and weaknesses.
-cooperative play was pretty cool

That being said, I really really liked the outside levels (snow, night and the first one outside). The other ones were ok. I'm not a huge fan of deathmatch kinda games, so I don't think there would be a lot of replay value for me. But then, metroid probably won't have a lot of replay value either.

Metroid is badass. I personally think the graphics are better (as they should be since it came out a year later). It is really well done in my mind. Sure I play it a little slower than some, but at 10 hours, I have 34% completion. If this is the only game you would play on xbox, my word of advice would be to find a friend with an xbox or rent one and play halo over the weekend. I wasn't too big of a fan of the other games my friend had (some racing game, some skateboard/graffiti game, and Wreckless).

itai195 · Jan 17, 2003, 07:14 PM

Originally posted by kidtexas:
I like:

-how it didn't have hoards and hoards of monsters

It didn't? You sure you played through the whole game?

My main point of comparison between Halo and Metroid is this: Metroid will be remembered in 10 years, and Halo will not be. That may be arguable to some people who are diehard Halo fanatics, but in general I think that will be the case. Halo features high production values (graphics, sound, etc) but it's still a relatively shallow game that brings nothing new to its genre. Metroid, on the other hand, also features high production values but adds a sense of atmosphere and quality, organic level design that surpasses anything else in its genre. I also give Metroid Prime kudos for taking the Metroid series into 3D, when many thought it could never be done successfully.

But again, I have to add the disclaimer that this all really boils down to personal opinion and you really should play both games

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 17, 2003, 10:32 PM

Originally posted by itai195:
It didn't? You sure you played through the whole game?

My main point of comparison between Halo and Metroid is this: Metroid will be remembered in 10 years, and Halo will not be.

Ya you are probibly right about that one.

Hawkeye_a · Jan 17, 2003, 11:13 PM

Just found out ..... 3 alternate endings to Metroid Prime depending on your performance throughout the game. very very cool....this game will last more than a week...i hope

starman · Jan 17, 2003, 11:23 PM

My main point of comparison between Halo and Metroid is this: Metroid will be remembered in 10 years, and Halo will not be.

That's such a horsesh*t statement. Eight years later, we're still talking about Marathon. What makes you think we won't be talking about Halo in 8-10 years?

Do us all a favor and go back to your Gamecube. Nothing to see here.

Mike

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 18, 2003, 12:05 AM

Originally posted by starman:
That's such a horsesh*t statement. Eight years later, we're still talking about Marathon. What makes you think we won't be talking about Halo in 8-10 years?

Do us all a favor and go back to your Gamecube. Nothing to see here.

Mike

I ask you to do us a favor and stop posting in this topic, you haven't. So why do you expect him to do you a favor?

wataru · Jan 18, 2003, 02:26 AM

Originally posted by starman:
That's such a horsesh*t statement. Eight years later, we're still talking about Marathon. What makes you think we won't be talking about Halo in 8-10 years?

Do us all a favor and go back to your Gamecube. Nothing to see here.

Mike

Wow, you'd think someone insulted your mom or something, jeez. He's entitled to his opinion.

itai195 · Jan 18, 2003, 02:45 AM

Originally posted by starman:
That's such a horsesh*t statement. Eight years later, we're still talking about Marathon. What makes you think we won't be talking about Halo in 8-10 years?

Do us all a favor and go back to your Gamecube. Nothing to see here.

Mike

Hmm, I have an xbox too, does that surprise you? It may be just my opinion, but I'm fairly certain it will be the case. Games like Halo (ie ones that don't really innovate) are often forgotten.

Hawkeye_a · Jan 18, 2003, 12:16 PM

Originally posted by wataru:
Wow, you'd think someone insulted your mom or something, jeez. He's entitled to his opinion.

hehehehe. i agree with you man. it's just a video game for heaven's sake.

kidtexas · Jan 18, 2003, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by itai195:
It didn't? You sure you played through the whole game?

At points it did - those were the level I really didn't like. But when you weren't battling the flood, it wasn't this Doom-like hoard of monsters you were fighting. It was me, my buddy, and a couple of marines against a reasonable amount of monsters. I forgot about the flood though. I actually didn't like those levels at all.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jan 18, 2003, 04:33 PM

Hmmm, unless another good game comes out for Xbox I think I am going to wait for Halo to ship for Mac's.

itai195 · Jan 18, 2003, 06:27 PM

Originally posted by kidtexas:
At points it did - those were the level I really didn't like. But when you weren't battling the flood, it wasn't this Doom-like hoard of monsters you were fighting. It was me, my buddy, and a couple of marines against a reasonable amount of monsters. I forgot about the flood though. I actually didn't like those levels at all.

I can see where you're coming from... I didn't like the flood levels either, though they were technically impressive. I don't know anybody who likes the flood levels...