Confessions of a Halo Noob

Written by Ryan Johnson (RyanDJ) Friday, 04 November 2011 12:55

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This month, there are a LOT of amazing games coming out. Yet even though I have never touched the series, I find myself excited about Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Looking back at the phenomenon that is Halo, I decided to try it out. My last 10 years of gaming have been full of the myriad of other games that have come out. Even if you are a millionaire, you only have so much time in your day, and I was invested in JRPGs far too much to show interest in the next FPS down the line. When Halo 2 and the rest came out, I kept thinking "Well, it'd be neat, but I don't know the first." I got Halo: Reach out of last year's Microsoft Beta Program for free, but have barely scratched the surface. So read on, and you'll know why someone who hasn't even played the Halo games is excited for this release.

1) Insta-swap to classic graphics: There are a rare few games that do this (Monkey Island and Tecmo Bowl are the only ones that come to mind). When a game is "re-made," I prefer it to have a similar feel, perhaps even identical, to the original. When the latest Goldeneye came out, I am sure it disappointed many simply because they were expecting "Goldeneye64 HD Remake." It'll probably happen again to people with "Goldeneye Reloaded." The new Goldeneye is a good game, and it certainly isn't a cash-in like last generation's Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, but I feel it needed a bit more of a classic feel. Sometimes, In Monkey Island, I would just swap back and forth between the graphical modes simply because I could. I marvelled at how the developers lovingly kept the original rich gameplay and literally modified it directly into a new game to the point that a single button press got you to the unmodified original version. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is going to be a historical phenomenon in the fact that you will be able to see the impressive graphical jumps made in the last 10 years of 3D graphics at the touch of a button. Sure, in casual game play I doubt you'll be using it, but I know I'll appreciate its' existance.

2) A great starting point. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a good chance for those of us who have never played to start the story where we should have. Having an understanding of the first game can get us in on some great stories, not only in gaming, but in comics, novels, video animations, and toy collections. You name it, Halo has been there. It is a commercial success for a reason. If you are only interested in the games, though, most previous entries can be acquired for a couple hundred Goozex points or $20 or less on Amazon.

3) Getting in on "the club." In researching for my Halo articles, I learned of Halo: Waypoint, a downloadable app on the Xbox that basically serves as a dedicated Halo dashboard. From there, I saw user-created content, preview videos, even Major League Gaming tournaments. I think that impressed me the most, but it also intimidated me. Much akin to how I feel about sports games, I saw a diehard dedicated fan base talking way over my head in regards to tournament game play. I only hope that the guaranteed influx of newbies is welcomed and trained, not teabagged into oblivion.

4) Kinect support. Yeah, diehards, mock me all you want, but I cringed when Microsoft made the tagline for the Kinect "You Are the Controller." I knew that meant focusing on using the Kinect alone, and never integrating both a controller and Kinect. That is changing now, with this title and others such as Steel Battalion making use of both interfaces simultaneously. As time goes on, I look forward to how game companies make use of the mixture of interfaces.

5) It's Halo. I really wanted to try it back then, but like I said, there's just too many good games out there. A lot of you would probably say I really missed out, but I probably played a few games you didn't that I feel you missed out on as well. The franchise has made quite a name, turning Master Chief into as close of a mascot as the Xbox franchise has ever had.

So, as a fresh newbie preparing to be slaughtered in his first online multiplayer matches, I say "bring it on!" I'm ready to see just why this series has reached the level it has, and look forward to meeting you all, both new entries like myself and storied war veterans, out there on the battlefield!