[IceFire]

Originally posted by mikhael

On consoles.

Its pretty substandard when compared against most FPSes on PC. System Shock 2, No One Lives Forever,  SHOGO, and Deus Ex were all better and more innovative in their various ways than HALO was. Halo is most notable, IMO, for its addition of a secondary weapon system (grenades).

Thats probably a fair assesment.  I haven't played most of those so it is hard for me to say how they all stack up.  I still think Halo has an excellent possibility for movie making quality.

I think the key is in the universe that Bungie built around their game.  They did spend quite a bit on it.  If you look at the variety of foes for instance that we've seen in all of the FPS'es.  Not many have a detailed backstory...few have any rhyme or reason at all about them and fewer still see this play out in the actual gameplay.  My first introduction to Halo was the MacWorld preview that Bungie did years ago (the video game on a PC Gamer CD).  It presented the Covenant as a fairly diverse group of aliens (not just one species) with their own religion and goals.  The games built on this but it was evident from the start that there was a bit of thought going into this.  The mystery of the Halo rings, the Forerunners, the Flood, and so on and so forth weave a fairly intricate storyline.

Lots of the average FPS guys skip over that.  Honestly, if all I did in Halo was just the shooting...then yeah, its fairly straight forward FPS game with a few bits of innovation and lots of stuff melded together to form a fairly competent but not earth shattering FPS game.  But I like stories and I like understanding and guessing the plot (I know, I'm weird!) and Halo has a neat backstory and plot.

Its obviously still just a video game with a video game plot...but I think of us felt like FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2 did a pretty good job of telling the "big story"...the reasons and motivations for the three factions in this game have got all of us mission and campaign builders going for years.  I think the same in many ways can be said about Halo.

SO my feeling is that, with the right team behind it, they can craft a very neat and interesting and ultimately fun story that may even be enjoyable at the theater.  If the trailer comes out and I see "appeasement to the lowest common denominator" and a truckload of gimicks then I think I'll skip it.  If on the other hand, we see some of that universe building and a grander scheme and concept...then maybe we've got something here.

In my opinion, Lord of the Rings was a very powerful adaptation of the book.  Not a perfect one but for 7-8 hours of total viewing time you get most of the books and a very compelling and dramatic story.  Perhaps that can be done again...?

[WeatherOp]

I think whoever makes this movie is gonna have to work their butt off, so I'll give them that. It's gonna be hard to take one person and a talking computer program and make a movie about it, and a good one at that, it's gonna be ever worse for the Metroid movie they are talking about making. No matter how good the plot is.

However, I really doubt they can pull it off. I think it's gonna be a one person shoot e'm up movie.

[BlackDove]

Originally posted by IceFire

Thats probably a fair assesment.  I haven't played most of those so it is hard for me to say how they all stack up.  I still think Halo has an excellent possibility for movie making quality.

I think the key is in the universe that Bungie built around their game.  They did spend quite a bit on it.  If you look at the variety of foes for instance that we've seen in all of the FPS'es.  Not many have a detailed backstory...few have any rhyme or reason at all about them and fewer still see this play out in the actual gameplay.  My first introduction to Halo was the MacWorld preview that Bungie did years ago (the video game on a PC Gamer CD).  It presented the Covenant as a fairly diverse group of aliens (not just one species) with their own religion and goals.  The games built on this but it was evident from the start that there was a bit of thought going into this.  The mystery of the Halo rings, the Forerunners, the Flood, and so on and so forth weave a fairly intricate storyline.

Lots of the average FPS guys skip over that.  Honestly, if all I did in Halo was just the shooting...then yeah, its fairly straight forward FPS game with a few bits of innovation and lots of stuff melded together to form a fairly competent but not earth shattering FPS game.  But I like stories and I like understanding and guessing the plot (I know, I'm weird!) and Halo has a neat backstory and plot.

Its obviously still just a video game with a video game plot...but I think of us felt like FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2 did a pretty good job of telling the "big story"...the reasons and motivations for the three factions in this game have got all of us mission and campaign builders going for years.  I think the same in many ways can be said about Halo.

SO my feeling is that, with the right team behind it, they can craft a very neat and interesting and ultimately fun story that may even be enjoyable at the theater.  If the trailer comes out and I see "appeasement to the lowest common denominator" and a truckload of gimicks then I think I'll skip it.  If on the other hand, we see some of that universe building and a grander scheme and concept...then maybe we've got something here.

In my opinion, Lord of the Rings was a very powerful adaptation of the book.  Not a perfect one but for 7-8 hours of total viewing time you get most of the books and a very compelling and dramatic story.  Perhaps that can be done again...?

I've never read the books, but I thought LotR was abysmal. Because I haven't read the book, I'm fairly certain that the books contained some kind of a "true" message which was somehow left out of the movies for the common retard to be able to enjoy.

Not that people who thought it was good are retards of course ( I bet most of them are just fans of the books), but the fact that retards are able to grasp it isn't such a huge score in the movies' quality.

Halo's universe may be great, and its execution to the FPS may be great, but bottom line, it's just another FPS with a story behind it, as opposed to an FPS without a story. The fact that it's on a console also diminishes its value significantly, seeing how FPS' are native to PC's.

We've already had great FPS' on the PC's. In fact, we had so many that they have to be really special in order to be notable. SS2, SHOGO, DEx, etc. all have something new and special (heh, now old, but at the time they were made) with them. That's what made them unique.

Halo is a culmination of the basic FPS elements (basic, as in, already been done before) with a good story, and the story part is always open to interpertation. That's mediocre. At best.

I seriously doubt that a movie based on something as average as the game will be good. I could be wrong though.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Deepblue
It is not substandard when compared to such games. While it did not innovate much, it took elements of many games and combined them into something greater. It did innovate the role of vehicular combat in an FPS. To date I have not seen a better system in any other game. Then you have co-op. That's another one. Not to mention the perfectly balanced multiplayer.

It took elements of other games and made them into something fairly forgettable. The best part of Halo is all the stuff that's not really in the game proper. The background, the universe, etc. That's got to be some good reading. But that doesn't really carry over into the game much. The "story" of Halo didn't catch me though. Between the story lacking any real "hook" to make me want to play, and the gameplay being, essentially, Unreal 1, I just couldn't force myself to go through all those monotonously similar corridors any more.

You raised points about Halo that all depend on other players (with the exception of the vehicles). I don't care about that stuff. I only care about the single player game. If that can't stand on its own, the game will get uninstalled pretty quick.

I can't comment on "perfectly balanced multiplayer" or the "co-op". I don't play multiplayer games, so those things almost never come up in my judgement of a game. In the immortal words of Wizards of the Coast, "If you're going to stay up in your basement all night pretending to be an elf, at least have some friends over to do it." or something like that. I don't play video games with my friends. The sole exceptions are Starlancer (Co-op campaign mode was just unfair. Wingmen that are useful? those commie space bastards didn't have a chance) and System Shock 2 (Navy, Marine and PsiOp: the ultimate way to play).

Now for vehiclular combat, I must be the only person unimpressed. I hated the control system for Halo's vehicles. I didn't like riding gunner, I didn't like driving. About the only good thing I can say about Halo's vehicles is that they inspired a nifty flash game.

[WeatherOp]

Originally posted by mikhael

Now for vehiclular combat, I must be the only person unimpressed. I hated the control system for Halo's vehicles. I didn't like riding gunner, I didn't like driving. About the only good thing I can say about Halo's vehicles is that they inspired a nifty flash game.

Aww, comeon, playing with some other people, runing Warthogs into each other and see who blows up first, is the funnest part of the game.

[Deepblue]

http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/warthog_launch/

[BlackDove]

Originally posted by WeatherOp


Aww, comeon, playing with some other people, runing Warthogs into each other and see who blows up first, is the funnest part of the game.

Not worth $76 though ($31 now, but as new that's its price here), no matter how fun that may be.

[WeatherOp]

Originally posted by BlackDove


Not worth $76 though ($31 now, but as new that's its price here), no matter how fun that may be.

Nah, it's not even worth $19, it's just the funniest part. Other than the level with that windmill like thing, where you can get your Tank stuck.

[Deepblue]

Zanzibar (windmill level) is great for taking a ghost, running over the fusion cores, and watching the remains of your ghost and your body fly very, very high.

[mikhael]

Originally posted by WeatherOp


Aww, comeon, playing with some other people, runing Warthogs into each other and see who blows up first, is the funnest part of the game.

Actually, for me, that's the LEAST fun part of a game. Pen and paper RPGs and boardgames are what I play with friends. Videogames are something I prefer to do alone.

[Mefustae]

Originally posted by Deepblue
It is one of the best FPSs of recent times though.

Why am I not surprised in the least by that remark. Halo only gained noteriety as it was one of the premier games (read: only good game) of the Xbox early on, meaning it was hyped to all hell & back. It's not one of the best FPSs of recent times, nowhere near so. It might be considered one of the best console FPSs of recent times, but that title should be saved for the true Gods of gaming, like Goldeneye007 from the '64 (argueably the best console FPS ever) and such. Halo was well designed, well concieved, and overall an exceptional game. But it was hardly revolutionary, new, or even original, something that a game really needs to be 'one of the best'.

In terms of the movie, I think recent adaptations of games to the medium of film has shown that, more often than not, you end up with a horribly sub-standard film that insults both the Gaming & Film Industries (See: 'Resident Evil', 'Super Mario Bros.', and to a lesser extent 'Alien vs. Predator'). These movies all plainly show that, just because a story or premise behind a game sounds really great; shoddy adaptations (ie. 'Wing Commander') or substandard Directors (ie. Uwe Boll, who you just know is going to ruin the BloodRayne, Farcry & Dungeon Siege movies) can easily ruin it. So the chances of the Halo movie being good are really, really bad. Not to mention the fact that the chances of the Halo movie being what Halo fans want is essentially nil.

[Ford Prefect]

Maybe he thinks it's one of the best because he likes it the best.

Just a shot in the dark....

[StratComm]

Actually Halo had some really groundbreaking things that set it apart from other FPS titles.  Suprisingly, it was not the grenades, but rather the ability to use any weapon as a melee weapon (and the power of a melee attack in general) that were and still are quite different from any FPS out there.  The inability to carry around the equivalent of a national arsenal was also a refreshing change.  But discussion of the game's merits as a game are somewhat pointless; the most common complaint is that the levels are repedative (which is true) and that it wasn't groundbreaking as a FPS, but that's really not what would get used if you're making a movie anyway.  It's got a hero (Master Chief), a rather deep story arc, interesting settings, (REACH -> Halo -> Earth -> ect.), and so on.  To knock the movie on anything about the game but its story is like saying the LotR movies were too long because the books killed too many trees.  It's a non-sequiter.

[Mefustae]

I was merely replying DeepBlue's skewed opinion of Halo as 'one of the best FPSs of recent times', not saying that its quality as a game would impact the movie at all...

...and anyway, just because it has a reasonable story does not mean the movie will capitalise on it. Wing Commander was up 4 and a pretty big franchise, it also had a pretty good story, with Humans on the brink of annihilation and such, that old chestnut. The movie version did little to capitalise on said story, presenting movie that was just...bleh! So honestly, a good story doesn't mean squat towards the movie being any good. Obviously, you've not seen the first film adaptation for Lord of the Rings *shudder*...

[Deepblue]

I actually thought one of the best parts of Halo was the enemy AI. It actually knew when to take cover and when to attack.

[StratComm]

Originally posted by Mefustae
...and anyway, just because it has a reasonable story does not mean the movie will capitalise on it. Wing Commander was up 4 and a pretty big franchise, it also had a pretty good story, with Humans on the brink of annihilation and such, that old chestnut. The movie version did little to capitalise on said story, presenting movie that was just...bleh! So honestly, a good story doesn't mean squat towards the movie being any good. Obviously, you've not seen the first film adaptation for Lord of the Rings *shudder*...

True.  But having a good story is a prerequisite to making a good movie.  Doom is doomed to suck.  Super Mario Bros really was too, as are almost any movie-from-videogame that have made it to the big screen.  Wing commander is sort of an exception in that it was done exceptionally poorly (hardly necessary), but the WC story spans a LONG time and doesn't have the central hero figure to fold a plot around that Halo does.  Plus, it really was about ships more than it was people, and that's inherently difficult to translate into a watchable thing.  I'm not saying that Halo will automatically be good, it just has more potential to be so than any other movie to have its origins in a videogame.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Mefustae
I was merely replying DeepBlue's skewed opinion of Halo as 'one of the best FPSs of recent times', not saying that its quality as a game would impact the movie at all...

...and anyway, just because it has a reasonable story does not mean the movie will capitalise on it. Wing Commander was up 4 and a pretty big franchise, it also had a pretty good story, with Humans on the brink of annihilation and such, that old chestnut. The movie version did little to capitalise on said story, presenting movie that was just...bleh! So honestly, a good story doesn't mean squat towards the movie being any good. Obviously, you've not seen the first film adaptation for Lord of the Rings *shudder*...

1. Game rankings

Halo: 95.6% (Xbox version, much better than PC version)

Halo 2: 95.0%

Half-Life: 94.5%

Half-Life 2: 95.5%

Like I said, one of the best FPSs THIS gen.

2. Bungie is overseeing development of the movie to make sure it stays on track.

[Mefustae]

1. Where'd you get these game rankings? Are they formed from opinion? Statistic? Abstract guessing? Linky please?

2. Okay, cool, I didn't know that. Let's just hope nobody at Bungie suddenly gets the urge to 'make the story "better"...'

[deep_eyes]

peter jackson is gonna rock cause that means that hes going to have the same support and technology and more from what hes done with LOTR, especially since halo will be kinda like a trilogy.
with Halo 1 etc., then halo 2 that has since passed, i wont be suprised if he does some crazy ill trilogy "film all 3 movies" at once thing and make an awesome product!

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Mefustae
1. Where'd you get these game rankings? Are they formed from opinion? Statistic? Abstract guessing? Linky please?

2. Okay, cool, I didn't know that. Let's just hope nobody at Bungie suddenly gets the urge to 'make the story "better"...'

gamerankings.com

Averages all the major reviews.

Convinced?