[Aptorian]

Games I have bought recently:

Borderlands 2
Dishonored
Hell Yeah
Pre-purchased Assassins Creed 3
Shadow Complex
Fez
Halo: Anniversary Edition
Halo 3
Halo Reach
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Crackdown
Fable 3
The Unfinished Swan
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Dead Rising 2: Off the record.
Oh, and a console.

EDIT: Wow, I just realised how many games I bought over the past month. And the Steam Christmas Sale hasn't even started yet.

This post has been edited by Aptorius: 25 October 2012 - 09:25 PM

[Defiance]

Are you going to be purchasing Halo 2? Given that you'll be playing Anniversary Edition it'll be a major change of graphics between 1 and 3, but it's definitely worth playing to see how the series has evolved as well as to follow the plot. I know a lot of people thought that Halo 2's campaign was rather mediocre, but I really enjoyed it - I replayed it about half a year ago and found myself pleasantly surprised with how much I was enjoying it. The level design isn't always the greatest, but the score is fantastic (probably one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time), and it does a great job of fleshing out the Halo universe's plot, especially considering when Halo: CE was made there weren't originally plans for a sequel.

I've just reserved my copy of Halo 4. I'm both nervous and excited about this game. My largest concern relates to the music. Since it's being developed by 343i, Martin O'Donnell (Bungie's composer) didn't create the soundtrack. In most games, a different composer isn't an issue, as most game music is hardly memorable. I've always felt that Halo's music goes beyond memorable, though; it's as much a part of the series as its story and gameplay.

I'm hoping to purchase Forza 4 and a used racing wheel sometime this Christmas season. I've wanted to play a good racing game for a long time now, but for the longest time Forza wouldn't drop below $50 (I'm cheap, sue me). I hear that it's bundled in a holiday 360 pack, though, which I expect will really bring down the price (not to mention a new Forza game is coming out, or maybe it came out this Tuesday...).


Roldom: The Mass Effect games are great. Be warned, though, they shift more toward a 3rd person shooter with each title. I think Mass Effect 2 had the perfect balance between shooter and RPG (although I would have liked a little more customization options), but I found that 3 dumbed down the RPG mechanics a little too much (far fewer conversation options overall, and a lot more "auto" conversations where you don't have any dialogue options). Not to dissuade you from buying the next two games, as I said they're great, but they do have their own pitfalls.

[Silencer]

The best single thing about the Halo games; Marty O'Donnell. There, I said it.

[MTS]

Just noticed Left 4 Dead 2 was on sale for $5 on Steam. Instant purchase.

[Roldom]

Silencer, on 26 October 2012 - 11:31 AM, said:

The best single thing about the Halo games; Marty O'Donnell. There, I said it.

the best thing has to be using sticky grenades on your friends on multiplayer

[Aptorian]

Defiance, on 26 October 2012 - 06:05 AM, said:

Are you going to be purchasing Halo 2? Given that you'll be playing Anniversary Edition it'll be a major change of graphics between 1 and 3, but it's definitely worth playing to see how the series has evolved as well as to follow the plot. I know a lot of people thought that Halo 2's campaign was rather mediocre, but I really enjoyed it - I replayed it about half a year ago and found myself pleasantly surprised with how much I was enjoying it. The level design isn't always the greatest, but the score is fantastic (probably one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time), and it does a great job of fleshing out the Halo universe's plot, especially considering when Halo: CE was made there weren't originally plans for a sequel.

I bought Halo 2 for the PC like 5 or 6 years ago. Didn't like it. The controls were weird and it's generally a really bad port. But seeing as it's hard to find an x-box version of Halo 2 now a days I will probably just reinstall it and play through it on easy.

I am primarily playing these games to see if the story is all its cracked up to be. I hate playing games that are a sequel with out knowing the full story so I have to start from the beginning and work my way through the subsequent chapters of the story.

[Defiance]

If you're fine with using Amazon and have $20 to spare:

http://www.amazon.co...keywords=Halo+2

In terms of story, Halo is definitely a notch above the other FPS games out there. Don't expect anything on the level of an RPG, but (at least in my opinion) the story is really solid, and it delves into some religious themes in a pretty interesting way.

[Gothos]

I bought Halo a long, long time ago and I didn't like it at all, to be honest. Please tell me it picks up after 3 or 4 hours or later because what I saw was mediocre at best.

[Loki]

Favourite MOH review so far -

Spoiler

"@bajopants: Once you notice all the character models in MOH have slightly larger than normal size heads, it becomes hard to take it seriously. #bobbles"

Funnily, this makes me want to play it even more.
(Goldeneye, anyone? )

[Traveller]

I always end up getting the newest AC game as I always think they might have got it right at last, and then finding the same weak gameplay.

Except Revelations.. someone bought it for me, and I only played about 30 mins of it before I got fed up with it. I wish they'd just ditch the whole animus concept.

Just downloaded Artorius of the Abyss.. new dlc for Dark Souls. To access the new content, you have to have reached the Dukes Archives, to find the pendant that unlocks the new bit located behind the first Hydra in Darkroot Basin.

Fortunately my last save is right at the end of newgame+, but some people will have to do quite a lot just to reach the new stuff - which has some tougher new bosses.

Can't wait to put it on later.

EDIT. .. Ha, huge lightning-bolt spewing Manticore boss in first clearing, here we go.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 October 2012 - 07:23 AM

[Loki]

Traveller, on 28 October 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

Just downloaded Aptorius of the Abyss.. new dlc for Dark Souls.

They need to make this.

[Defiance]

Traveller, on 28 October 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

Except Revelations.. someone bought it for me, and I only played about 30 mins of it before I got fed up with it. I wish they'd just ditch the whole animus concept.

Yeah, I've always found the Animus to be incredibly distracting. Granted, I've only beat 1 and 2 (played about half of Brotherhood), but I could never bring myself to care about Desmond and everyone. I would have preferred a game (or even series) that is 100% set in previous periods of history. Seeing giant white walls, little squares fly off of you when you get hit, and so on really ruins what would otherwise be some great immersion. I would have also liked the games to focus a little more on assassination. I wouldn't want it to require you to be 100% stealthy to pull off your objectives, but as it stands you're hardly even an assassin (really just a mercenary). Fun games despite their flaws, though.

I do need to buy the Dark Souls DLC sometime. Possibly this week, as next week Halo 4 is going to consume my time.

[Dolorous Menhir]

Aptorius, on 25 October 2012 - 09:15 PM, said:

Games I have bought recently:

Borderlands 2
Dishonored
Hell Yeah
Pre-purchased Assassins Creed 3
Shadow Complex
Fez
Halo: Anniversary Edition
Halo 3
Halo Reach
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Crackdown
Fable 3
The Unfinished Swan
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Dead Rising 2: Off the record.
Oh, and a console.

EDIT: Wow, I just realised how many games I bought over the past month. And the Steam Christmas Sale hasn't even started yet.

You can afford to buy all that and have time to play? what alchemy is this?

[Aptorian]

No kids, No wife or girlfriend, disposable income, a 37 hours a week job. I'm living the dream (of a ten year old kid), baby.

It's not like I am going to chew through this list in a month though. The games will surely last me past Christmas. Maybe. Shadow Complex, Dishonored, Borderlands 2 and unfinished Swan are already taken care of. Nearly done with Halo as well. That is a very long and repetitive game.

[Roldom]

Aptorius, on 29 October 2012 - 04:17 AM, said:

No kids, No wife or girlfriend, disposable income, a 37 hours a week job. I'm living the dream (of a ten year old kid), baby.

It's not like I am going to chew through this list in a month though. The games will surely last me past Christmas. Maybe. Shadow Complex, Dishonored, Borderlands 2 and unfinished Swan are already taken care of. Nearly done with Halo as well. That is a very long and repetitive game.

You could argue that most fps are repetitive but the story on halo always kept me entertained. Theres a halo T.V. show now, not really sold on it. Wait till you bump into the flood (halo2 i think...)

[Aptorian]

Flood appears in the first game. It is the reason why the Halo ring exists.

When I say that the game is repetitive it is meant quite literally. You fight through installations that are basically just the same room or corridor design used again and again. With the same enemies and the same weapons. Some times you back track through those rooms and corridors, some times you go to another area with similar rooms and corridors. Every thing is stretched out and padded by just reusing interiors and creating "find and destroy artifact A, B and C" objectives. Logically it makes sense that the same architecture and engineering design would repeat itself through out the entire structure of the Halo but in terms of appealing gameplay it takes some of the fun out of the game. Especially when everything blurs together and you lose your sense of directions because the game doesn't use mission marks or mini-maps and you can't tell if you just entered a new area or went the wrong direction and entered an old area.

There was one mission where you have to fight your way through "the library" making your way through 10 locks/seals. THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME 10 LEVELS with some bridges and tunnels thrown in between to mix it up. It was the most tedious thing I can remember experiencing in a long while. Luckily it's pretty fun mowing down hordes of Flood infected mobs but god damn. It's obvious that they were working on a limited budget with limited technology but the game bears the hallmarks of a game that had to cut some corners in terms of creativity.

The game is still fun, it's just old.

This post has been edited by Aptorius: 29 October 2012 - 03:32 PM

[Defiance]

You're spot on with your criticism of the first game. As someone else said in this thread (or maybe another game-related one), the first Halo game really shows its age. I can put it on and have a blast with it, not suffering from the repetitiveness or anything like that, but I'm sure it's because I played it back in '01 when it came out. What felt refreshingly new and innovative back then feels rather generic now. Copy-paste level design just doesn't hold up that well in 2012. Nostalgia is definitely part of why the game still gets so much love.

It'll be interesting to see your reaction to Halo 2. Out of every game in the series, I think people are most divided on 2 (some love it, some hate how they handled certain things).

[POOPOO MCBUMFACE]

I don't think Halo brought anything new to the table generally, even Bungie's own Marathon did most of the same things better. It set the standard for a few things, but I wouldn't necessarily say for the better (bloody two-weapon limits). The multiplayer was such a blast at 13 with a few friends that I can't bring myself to criticise it much, though.

[Gothos]

POOPOO MCBUMFACE, on 30 October 2012 - 10:33 PM, said:

I don't think Halo brought anything new to the table generally

regenerating health/shields, the scourge of modern FPS

[Defiance]

What Halo did worked really well for Halo, at least in my opinion. When you're a Spartan in MJOLNIR armor, having regenerating health (shields) is completely believable. I'm not sure if Halo was the first, but it standardized one-button melee attacks (in previous FPS games you usually couldn't melee with most of your weapons) and having a designated button for grenades (again, in previous FPS games I've played, you actually had to switch to your grenade). Also, Halo 2 is the first console game that I can remember having an excellent online matchmaking system.

It standardized the two-weapon limit, I think. In Halo, I've never had a problem with this, as it allowed you to create your own weapon combinations that you enjoy. It forces you to weigh your options sometime - a rocket might have more firepower, but it has less shots and less utility than other guns. Do you take it knowing that you'll largely be relying on your other gun?


I'm not as much of a fan for what it's done to other FPS games, though. It works in some, in others it just feels out of place. It really harms the survival aspect of many FPS games out there. 2-weapon limit works for some games and doesn't work for others. For example, I would never want to see a weapon limit in a series like Half Life.