What makes Halo so much better than other FPS?

[fishface]

I think for a lot of players it was their first real fps, what with it being a major xbox release (and up until that point, the console fps genre was pretty niche). Talking to my friends, their opinion of it ranges from adoration to indifference and it seems directly tied to the fps-es they played before and after Halo.

Personally I don't like Halo. I've never been able to get into it because it's on a console and playing shooters with a gamepad makes me physically uncomfortable. When I have played it's been to humour my friends and Its never really impressed me, just run of the mill.

[Abominator]

I grew up with Halo, it was the first game I ever played and fell in love with, it has played a major role in defining my life. All that aside I loved the games for what they were campaign and multilayer. Halo took a turn for the worse with Halo 3 and Reach, they weren't bad, they just could have been done better and didn't hold me for an insane amount of time like Halo 1 and 2 did. Halo 4 is looking on track to turn around the Halo series and bring it to new highs, I'm totally excited. Also the books and lore behind it all are amazing. I would be a different person without the Chief and Cortana.

[Dakia]

Halo was a superb game for its time. IIRC, it was a launch title and was simply amazing compared to what people had seen in the past. My own personal opinion is that Halo 2 was also great, but the subsequent titles just have not been up to par with other FPS games.

[Shrouded]

I've always thought Halo has been extremely mediocre, both in story and gameplay. I've only played the original game though, but I was vastly underwhelmed at the time after all the hype. The only thing that was special about it was that it played reasonably well on the console, which was more or less unique at the time.

[Aoyi]

It was simply the flagship game for the Xbox. All the hype behind it, plus the actually good single player game got a lot of new gamers into fps gaming. It was also the first real console game that had lan play which for console gamers was a big deal. I was really into the first Halo, but lost interest in all the following games.

[Deleted]

I think its why 90% of people actually bought the original xbox for.

Thats why i bought both my Xbox and xbox 360 for Halo 2 and Halo 3

OT: The story is the main seller for me i dont like most fps games online only i play is TF2 and PS2 beta there is just something special in the story line that none other at the time had done it was just amazing.

[Tyratops]

I've never considered it any better than most FPS'.

[Zhinkis]

I prefer Quake.

[Zdrasti]

Halo was the game that made me stop playing FPS games entirely. I could never understand the obsession as it was so much worse than counterstrike and other PC FPSs.

[Mosotti]

Beats me. I remember playing Halo 1 and thinking "if this isn't the most boring and retarded FPS ever, what is that?". Countless corridors with the same crap in them, that's what I remember about that game. I suppose the sequels were much better, but never bothered

[ItZMuRdA]

I really don't agree with this sentiment at all. When Halo 1 first came out it was a cool new thing, but I really just haven't been interested in it since. I don't care much for Call of Duty either, but I personally think Battlefield is a much better FPS, as you put it. Then again, my classic idea of an FPS are games like Unreal Tournament and Quake, so that is where I'm coming from. Nowadays there are single player campaigns that actually have a storyline and notable characters, etc., and if that's your thing (not saying I don't care about that at all), I could see how you would enjoy Halo more than a UT/Quake type of game -- though I'd hardly define the criteria as a "better FPS" by the single player campaign.

[Shiny212]

The original trilogy was and still is amazing. Brand new idea in its time; shaped FPS as a multiplayer genre really. Excellent story and characters. Then it fell through in ODST and Reach. Awful, awful games; can only hope halo 4 changes the trend.

[Kaibhan]

I feel the series has fallen back in line with everything else. But the original Halo was an amazing multiplayer experience a cut above the rest of the games out at the time.

[Salandrin]

The original trilogy was and still is amazing. Brand new idea in its time; shaped FPS as a multiplayer genre really. Excellent story and characters. Then it fell through in ODST and Reach. Awful, awful games; can only hope halo 4 changes the trend.

Hey man, Halo ODST alone on legendary was crazy good let's be honest. Not worth 60 pounds, but incredible anyways. Reach though just sucked.

[jmacphee9]

the story must be amazing, because as a nuts and bolts FPS, its shitty.

[Chaochamp]

I have very fond memories of Halo 3 custom maps with 10+ Xbox friends at once (fat kid ftw).

So for Halo 3, I feel the custom games really made it unique and interesting, ever changing.

The other Halo games are mainly driven by a great story, and matchmaking.

[OrcsRLame]

I've always thought Halo has been extremely mediocre, both in story and gameplay. I've only played the original game though, but I was vastly underwhelmed at the time after all the hype. The only thing that was special about it was that it played reasonably well on the console, which was more or less unique at the time.

As far as story goes, the original was the worst, so you shouldn't judge the story based on that. They really fleshed out the universe after the first game.

[Lilfrier]

I like a lot of various FPS titles. In the case of Call of Duty, the gameplay has more potential, I think. However, it is riddled with poor design choices, meaning the perks and killstreaks are in not way balanced, and there are weapons that have a major advantage in the game. The story is not bad, but you also have a split series, where you have developers changing between games. Then you have the oversaturation of those games, where there is little change from one title to the next, meaning HIGHLY redundant gameplay, where all you might get is a minor change in how perks are aligned (perk 1, per 2, or per 3 choices), and the story ultimately lacks any kind of sense of attachment.

In the cases of Quake and Unreal, those games haven't had new releases in a LONG time. That, and they never had much for campaigns. Quake 4 had something of a good campaign, but as someone who didn't really get into FPS gaming until 2001, on the original Xbox, I do not know if previous installments in the franchise had anything to speak of on the story mode front. The same could be said forr Unreal, where the campaign felt more like training with bots for online play.
I have not played a LOT of Counter-Strike, but there, you have no story. It is a game with a limited set of maps (at launch, and one console, since only the PC gets community support like that), and it is built solely for hardcore competition. Even then, consider that it has been a PC competition staple for more than 10 years, and I would say that it might have a more devout following than Halo, when you consider how barebones it is.

I've never played Battlefield, but I can say that I like Halo more simply because it is not made by EA. I have refused to buy from them since they instituted the Online Pass. The last EA game I bought was probably Madden 08, if I actually bought that.

Umm...who else is there? Gears of War is not a FPS, but it is a very popular shooter. Personally, I felt like the gameplay was a bit to slow and momotonous, for whatever reason. I just didn't like it as much online, but I loved the campaign.

Honestly, Halo is the only FPS that I can think of where there was a great story and well-built online play. As was mentioned, weapon balance is PRETTY good (though the Needler's tracking still makes it overpowered on a good deal of maps), but it does everything it implements well, in my opinion.

---------- Post added 2012-09-04 at 04:49 PM ----------

the story must be amazing, because as a nuts and bolts FPS, its shitty.

I'm glad you based your statement on logic and facts, and didn't just leave a one-liner that gave no explanation.

[Howard Moon]

This is coming from someone who's very first FPS were Wolfenstein, Doom I, II, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D.

Of the Halo series I only played the very first one on my roomate's Xbox. We spent entire weekends playing splitscreen coop and deathmatches, and it was amazing. I loved that game. What I loved about it:

1) The story. The whole ring world concept, the Flood, the Master Chief, Guilty Spark, Cortana, everything was very immersive and awesome.

2) Balance. I was always impressed how well balanced all weapons (terran or alien) were. There was no crappy weapon, they were just different. Even the little pistol was deadly if you knew how to use it in the right situations.

3) The vehicles. They were all very fun to drive, and a lot of them had a gunner seat or similar for your friend.

4) Variety of scenery. There was an ice level, a jungle level, a forest level, a bunch of spaceship levels, underground levels, everything! For me the visuals never got boring because every place looked so different.

[Deleted]

I've never really got into the halo series, I've always felt something was missing, it just seemed a bit basic, and didn't seem to have a high skill cap. And also the fact it's on consoles (newer games) really does put me off from even trying them out any more.

However, Counter strikes series will always be the biggest fps game in my eyes, it's had some downfalls such as cz and source but as 1.6 is slowly dying and csgo has recently been released it looks really promising that we'll have a more rounded community.