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Evolution of Halo Video Finally Released Online
An anonymous reader writes "Halo.bungie.org has made available a video showing the evolution of Halo, from its initial conception as a PC-based RTS game to its final release on the Xbox. The video is 14 minutes long, and is a 'look at some very early builds of Halo, with voiceover and commentary by 4 Bungie employees'. The video was originally shown to a group of Bungie fans at E3 in 2002, and has never been available save 'a [rudimentary] shakycam version' until now - it's being distributed via BitTorrent."
is there a list somewhere of all the various changes that MS insisted on? I've heard people say that MS made bungie change the game to suit the typical console gamer (with a lower attention span) but I haven't ever seen any concrete evidence of that.
As for the emergent gameplay, I am impressed with the technical expertise that must have gone into it. Still, I think the effort was largely wasted due to some other problems -- mainly, the much-lamented repetative nature of the game in general. It's nice to have something crazy happen, but I don't want to have to move through dozens of identical areas hoping something will. And that problem applies even more when it comes to questions of replayability. I know this is a console game, I've noticed console games do, really, tend to be slightly more repetative than PC games (or maybe Half-Life just tips the balance and throws my perception all out of whack) but I got bored quickly playing Halo.
The vehicles were nice for a while. But if I wanted a destructive rally like you'd suggest, I'd probably go out and buy Twisted Metal. There's something about multiplayer that I find boring as well -- fun for a few minutes, but the same thing always ends up happening, and it's not really a fun thing. I again place the blame on level design, and possibly weapons. I say that because I'm thinking back to Goldeneye and what I loved about that. (Warning: If you don't know Goldeneye like the back of your hand, prepare to be a bit confused) I didn't like the temple, or the archives level; I liked the complex, I liked the facility. The varied levels. Halo doesn't seem to have things like that. If the same things did end up happening, there was something about the game, or the repetitive event that could keep them fun. For example, in the facility, 2v2 games would inevitably involve one team holing up in the long hallway with the body armor in the room at the end. I think the wide weapon selection kept that fun, as well as the better level design. Well, it doesn't seem wide now, but compared to Halo, there was a lot of variety.
I'm not saying that Halo is bad. But I AM saying that I would never choose to play it again. If I'm with some people, and they're playing it, fine. If there's a 16 player match set up in the CompSci room at my old high school and I can skip class and go there instead, well, hey, that's the first time I ever played. But as far as I'm concerned, there's always something more fun to play.
I'm really only bitter because everybody seems to love it so much, and gets far more respect than I think it deserves--often from people who, it seems, have never played another console FPS that actually deserves the respect (and sales figures) that Halo enjoys.
I guess I just love my favorites and care what happens to them.