The Making Of Halo Illuminated

Thanks to Gamesradar for their Edge-reprinted feature on the making of Bungie's seminal Xbox FPS, Halo. According to a Bungie producer, the team "...decided they wanted to go back to the roots of a game like Marathon, combining it with some of the things we learnt from Myth." Other topics include the originally impossible tutorial level ("I actually had several play testers decide they wanted to quit playing the game and go home, rather than go through the opening level"), and the relative disappointment of The Library level ("A lot of the little things like that added up to make the Library a lot less than what we wanted it to be.")

Comments

2 YEARS!!!

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

2 years later and we're still discussing the making of it and it's still being sold for $50 on the XBox? Come on...

Sure, it's a good game. But there are other good games that have been made in the two years since. How about a little interview with someone who's working on Halo 2? I'm sure people are a lot more interested in how that production is coming than how the creation of Halo has gone.

What's the fuss about, though?

[Txiasaeia]

As a PC-only gamer (okay, okay, I have a GBA SP, but that doesn't count right now), I really don't understand what all the fuss was about Halo. The opening level was impressive, I'll give you that, but the majority of the game was fairly bland. The Library level was the worst level of *any* video game I've ever played (all the way back to some of the later levels on Jumpman... were those ever freaking impossible!), the weapons were mediocre, the enemies were laughable (aliens speaking English, saying, "Oh no, here he comes, help!"), and the plot wasn't compelling.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I thought that Quake I was much, much better than Halo, and that's even counting the visuals in both games. Of course, I didn't play it when it came out for the X-Box, I never played it in co-op, and I played it three years after it was released. Understandably, my view might be a bit skewered, but Deus Ex came out around the same time (as well as Max Payne), and I'd much rather play either of those two games right now than Halo.

Re:What's the fuss about, though?

[tf98]

Halo is worth the fuss.
There's so many good things about Halo but if I was to name the best I would say it was the vehicles. When you get in a vehicle the view moves from 1st person to 3rd person and the feel of the game totally changes increasing variety and pace. Other AI players on your side can hop onto a vehicle that your piloting and fight along side you.
Enemy AI is the 2nd excellent feature making combat so much fun. Each enemy offers a challenge which you have to tackle in unique ways.
The storyline is week, classic sci-fi. But it is full of twists and there's enough atmosphere in the game so that the storyline is able to be quite scary in places.

Re:What's the fuss about, though?

[Reapy]

I play both consols and pc games, though I've been playing pc games for much longer and more frequently then the consols. Halo was great. It should have come out on the pc first though as was oringally planned, those bastards.

In any event, I didn't play halo until a few months ago. I loved it, and I don't know why. Level design was so so, graphics weren't that good, most of the time you were going to one end of a level then fighting back out of it, yawn?

But, wow, I loved killing aliens. I would say the best feature of halo was not the vehicles, those bored me, but the grenades. I don't know how much fun I'd have giggling when a plasma grenade stuck to an alien and he ran around screaming "get it off get it off" then would blow up and fly into the air and send his buddies with him. Even better was when it would ignite a pile of grenades laying on the ground near by, I could do that all day.

I love the sound and feel of the pistol and the marine machine gun, they are just so fun to light aliens up with. I also love clubbing them on the head with it, it was just very cool.

And that's where it sold me, It was just very cool. My roomate was playing it the other day on the pc (we were disapoitned with the debacle, no co op, wtf?) but he said "i'm halfway through the game already and I dont even know why I'm playing it, it doesnt look good, I've already played through it 3 times, but I just cant put it down".

To me, that's what makes a good game. I dont care about theme, I dont care about story, I dont care about level design (unless its really bad), hell, I even had a pretty easy time with the xbox controler. I care about the gameplay, and halo's was great, and thats why I couldn't put it down, and that's why it deserves the attention it gets. It's just one of those rare games where everything clicks, and it plays like the developers intended, and is just FUN to be playing.

Re:What's the fuss about, though?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have not played Deus Ex, though I've seen it on a friend's PC. Possibly his machine was woefully underpowered at the time, but I would say that one think Halo does better than Deus Ex is graphical presentation. Maybe Deus Ex kills it with high detail, 4xAA and high resolution, but in my experience Halo is a noticably better-looking game.

I kind of agree with you about the plot - it certainly was not the groundbreaking science fiction that some people talked about, but it did an effective job of creating a broader framework for you to operate in. Alien attacks are overdone, and the ring concept is not particularly original (too bad Halo is on such a smaller scale than Ringworld - could have had fantastically varied terrain). But I don't thinke the plot hurts the game. I'd say it gets the job done.

I completely disagree about Deus Ex's ability to carry more weapons being 'better.' The ability to carry only two weapons forced you to be much smarter in Halo than would have otherwise been the case. You had to work with what you had instead of just defaulting to whatever you happen to favor. 'Do I take the sniper rifle with low ammo or the plasma pistol that's full?' I thought - and I doubt I'm alone - that being forced to think about the weapons was one of the best features of the game. And it definitely made the Flood section more challenging, since the best weapons to use against them were rarely the same as the best to use against the Covenant.

You also said that Deus Ex had aliens that 'freaked the hell out of me.' How is that relevant? I never thought that the Covenant soldiers were supposed to be particulary freaky; being non-human and impressively smart was fine. They weren't aiming for an Alien vs. Predator experience.

I'll readily admit that the Library and many of the interior levels of the game are boring, and that the plot is highly generic. But the game did a lot of things right and some of your criticsms read more like you refuse to like the game than you looked at it with some objectivity.

Re:Seminal? My bass!

[antin]

Why isn't the parent modded troll? WTF is up with mods these days. Halo was a great game, and anyone who says otherwise is either a troll, or in the minority. Don't mod things merely because they complain about what is popular or successful, and certainly don't do it just because it is associated with Microsoft.

Apart from anything else the sales speak for themselves. The people have spoken and they don't agree with the parent. In fact apart from a record number of sales, Halo kept the xbox alive nearly single-handidly, and Halo 2 is currently one of the most anticipated games...

Have you actually played the game or own an xbox? Halo is still graphically one of the most impressive games on the system - so I am not entirely sure what your gripe with the graphics is. As to the framerate, it keeps around 30 most of the time - although it does dip a lot in co-op (a feature more games do not have).

Speaking of co-op, has any other game delivered it in such a full and fun manner? Co-op really is double the people, double the fun in Halo.

Lets see about the other innovations - oh maybe a regenerating shield which really does rock. No more searching for health packs, or shield kits or whatever. And no more stupidly esay enemies just so your health doesn't run out. Halo provides a challenging experience and has tough enemies that will thrash you unless you properlly manage your shield. It is a much more elegant solution to a myriad of health packs, and I think it provides substantially more fun in the gameplay - you actually feel that you are up against a decent foe.

The 2 weapon idea worked very well - especially as you can switch at any time. Halo really isn't a game like other FPSs where the bigger the weapon the more useful it is. In every situation there are especially well suited guns in Halo and you will select them for that purpose - rather than lug along whatever the newest thing you have unlocked as in other games.

Oh should we mention the AI? Yeah seems that it was nothing special... back-up marines that are actually a help not a hindrance (as in all other 'team' games). Enemies that actually duck for cover, outflank your, or react to changing situations. Half-life really shone there didn't it... bring on the Doom style enemies any day.

The controls are perfect - up until Halo no FPS on a console played quite right. Sure everyone raves about Goldeneye, but play it today and you feel constrained. Halo really shone in this regard - in fact if this was the only thing it did right, it would still be a game deserving respect. Nearly every console FPS has copied Halo's control style.

Another feature that doesn't get mentioned much is a button dedicated to grenades... It actually makes them a useable weapon, rather than something that will get you killed while you try to scroll to them in your inventory.

Finally the vehicles. Other games have put in cars etc... but they always feel out of place. They don't control well, they aren't resposnive and they get you killed. Halo demonstrated how to integrate vehicles into your game.

I won't bother mentioning the physics (which is amongst the best in any game), or the story - which you might whinge about, but which was delivered through a great use of cut-scenes, terrific voice-acting and provided a lot of suspense and enticement to continue playing.

You sir, are a troll. In fact I think you are a PC playing troll - because nobody who owned the game on the xbox would agree with you. And BTW it did release nearly 3 years ago... (well 2 but who is counting).