Why is Halo so popular?

I just dont understand it. People are just obsessed with this game and i cant see why. the controls kinda suck i think and its just not entertaining in the least. Ill give it graphics but thats all ill give it. Whenever i tell someone i hate Halo theyre shocked and they go "you dont like Halo? How can you not like Halo! its awesome!" evry single time. does anyone understand this?

its a really fun game once you get into it, i dont like it that much, but only because i suck at it; i normally try to do build towers and do stuff that the game was not designed for.

Do you mean Halo or Halo 2? Either way they're both good. Surprisingly though, the graphics aren't all that great on it, dunno how you see it, though Halo was good for its time.

Originally Posted by Scoria

Do you mean Halo or Halo 2? Either way they're both good. Surprisingly though, the graphics aren't all that great on it, dunno how you see it, though Halo was good for its time.

Oh don't worry, more will come ; You can't expect Microsoft not to make a third one without their latest X360. My opinion? Well I don't own either game (nor either system), but I have played it with my friends. Like many games, you have to get used to the controlling. Do I know why it's popular? I have a few guesses:

• Millitary based game
  • Different Guns
  • Becoming a war hero
  • co-op/ online co-op plays
• Futuristic
  • Vehicles
  • Weoponry/Armor
  • Landscapes
• Alien killing/ blood and guts

I only played the co-op killing portion of the game (four players, try and kill eachother), and it didn't care to me that much. I'm not a person that likes guns (in my house, nor in a video game). I'm more of a swords/lances/sheilds/wands/magic kind of a guy. The only acception to gunplay would be Lara Croft (because it's not only kill everything in sight, it has easy gameplay aswell as well as good puzzles).

-BGS

These days, guns and violence in any form sell, that's another thing.

Bring on Red Steel.

Halo is alllright, not great, but allllright, I like System link play and driving the warthogs and running people over, oh and how the hell can people get excited over using a freaking sniper, I say just go in kamakaze, its not like its real or anything!

I dono i found it kinda funny on James Bond Night Fire or some game when i got a sniper on multiplayer and went to this one town and owned my friend.

never played Halo to be honest, only own my GC. But to be honest most of the time i prefer to play medieval games with swords and stuff such as Zelda.

but yea, you get a game with good graphics blood and guts, and lots of guns and explosions and your almost garanteed to have a popular game.

I think Halo is popular for it's multiplayer. Yeah the single player is cool, but it's in the multiplayer where it really shines.

I'll never understand it either. It seems like everyone looks at Halo like its the king of the fps. I will never get this! I fail to see what Halo has that other fps games don't that makes people think its great. Seriously, tell me what Halo has that makes it so special.

Why was Goldeneye popular?

The answer is essentially the same: Both are solid FPS games. Both had a long list of notable faults or shortcomings, particularly compared to PC FPS games. But both entered a pretty barren market with gamers desperately looking for something new to play.

Goldeneye was popular in no small part due to being the only good new game for the N64 for a lengthy span of time. The only other good multiplayer game on the console was Mario Kart 64, and if anything it simply wetted gamers' appetites for upcoming multiplayer games. Goldeneye rode this wave to early success, and developed a surrounding culture by virtue of its popularity.

Halo and Halo 2 rode a similar trend. Halo 2 in particular was the first real killer app for Xbox Live. The mass of marketing behind it ensured that it would sell well, and once it was in the hands of enough gamers it developed its own culture as well. There was a period where absolutely everyone I knew - even people who'd violently condemned the Xbox previously - were playing the game online and at parties.

Both good games, but I'd contend that neither would have become near so popular if they'd entered healthier markets.

[*]Futuristic[list]

I doubt the futuristic theme had much to do with its popularity. As a whole, I would assume that many casual gamers, the same people who make up a good portion of the Halo fanbase (considering the fanbase is so large) might find a futuristic theme unappealing. Otherwise Metroid Prime and F-Zero GX might've done better. Truth be told, as much as I love the Metroid Prime series, it is only for a niche audience. It is my believe that it is a vastly superior game to Halo (or even Gamecube favorites such as WW or RE4), but its slow paced gameplay does not attract the masses. I expect this to change at least to a small degree with Metroid Prime 3, which I'm almost sure will incorporate faster, more action oriented gameplay while still maintaining the soul of the first two Prime games . . . oh, and online multiplayer won't hurt either.

Halo is underrated by Nintendo fans and overrated by everyone else. It is obviously a top notch FPS. The control is beautiful and the gameplay is balanced. The graphics are phenominal and the multiplayer/online is borderline incredible. On the other hand, it lacks originality and I believe that it is quite bland. But there's no denying it accomplishes what it sets out to do.

Xbox may have tanked without Halo. Which can also further explain its popularity. When there is no other good software around, console adopters must cling to what is there. So that may also explain how it got to be so overrated. This also explains why Tales of Symphonia and Baiten Kaitos are regarded so highly . . . Gamecube has no good RPGs, so when a decent one is finally released, everyone overrates it.

To start off with, Halo, like any other first person shooter, was bound to be a great game to begin with. In any fps, most players achieve some kind of ecstasy-esque feeling from trying to hit others with perfect accuracy while trying to avoid nearly every thing that whizzes past them. Also like most other fps games, Halo contains quite a few levels where your character is supported by a team to help you out. This feature (although to not much of an extent) further increases the player's pleasure naturally because when you play a first person shooter, being "backed up" by a team who supports your goal gives you the feeling that your experiences are shared by the team. The most important factor, however, involves the introduction of playing over an Xbox Live connection. Through this interaction, the player (regardless of playing a team or solo game) naturally feels that they want to be the best at this game.One specific point of interest in "Live" is playing with the sniper weapon. When playing over the connection, you will often encount players who snipe "like crazy". This naturally drives your want to master the weapons even more so, hence the popularity. The other, and much more simpler, reason is because people hear about the game from a friend, try it, hear the "dissing" comments said by opponents, and are then driven to beat those people specifically.

Sorry I wrote this out so long . Like I said, I tend to write long stuff. Also, you'll find that I'm very passionate about video games. But ,Hey!!, what can I say? They Rock!!!

a few months ago i bought the xbox...i already own gc and ps2. i bought it so i could play the exclusives. i had always been kinda iffy about halo but hadnt really played or even seen much of it. but it is a very fun game. its the kind of game that reminds me of old nes and arcade games where the point was to kill alot of things and not be killed yourself. no sneaking around in the dark, no finding keys, just killing ALOT of enemies. and halo throws alot of them at you constantly. multiplayer is very fun too. its that kind of game. although games have gotten alot more complicated with you doing different objectives etc this is one that tries to recreate old shooters in a new 3d environment.

I used to hate it as well, but now I actually like the first one. The second one is not that good, and I don't get why the heck people think it's so fun. It has been done a billion times before. It's seriously nothing new, and I very much doubt that people love it because it offers a 'never before seen dual-wielding system!'.

I guess it's the newbies to gaming or FPS games that worship it. I own both Halos, by the way. I don't recommend playing online though, the stupidity is truly disturbing.

They don't suck at all though, they're just nothing special. I also think it's mostly just Americans that love Halo, because in Halo you play as an American soldier for the US army. That, and the console and the makers of the whole thing are American, and (no offense) Americans are patriotic, so it makes sense.

What is also quite mind boggling is how Halo manages to remain in the stoneage when it comes to certain parts of a FPS game that even early N64 games managed to pull off. The maps are quite small and too "deathmatch"-like (leaving no room to be hiding or doing anything advanced - just kill kill and kill) and the game has almost no guns at all. I admit it has two-three good maps at tops. Anyway, the lack of creative weapons and vehicles has also left me confused. Why would they do that? You can just compare these flaws to Perfect Dark and see what I mean.

Alrigt, alright.

Someone please give an in-depth review of Halo. Afterwards, I can easily answer the question this thread asks.

The way I see it, people play Halo because it's FUN. Sure, my friends are into it, but they don't talk about it all the time. It has pretty good graphics, and the storyline is actually interesting, but the main part is the fact that it is FUN.

Whenever I play it, single or multiplayer, I have a blast. My heart gets pumping, my mind races, and I have a great time. My endorphine levels go through the roof.

Now, I may not be like the rest of you, but Halo and Halo 2 are my favorite FPS's ever. I may get flamed for this, but they're a lot more fun then Zelda, honestly.

And that's why it sells!