Does anyone else think that Halo 3 is just Halo 2 with a fresh coat of paint?

Doesn't it have new weapons, a new health system, a different HUD system (the sides of the screen are supposed to be a bit "periphiral visionized" to add another level of immersion; like Metroid Prime's helmet vision effects...and new vehicles?

They could do much more with some additional content...which is probably going to be for sale on the XBOX LIVE MARKETPLACE OF THE EVIL EMPIRE.

Thats what every sequel essentially is. The same game with a fresh coat of paint. Thats exactly the way the fans like it.

Every once in awhile a formula gets so stale that a change is in order (RE0-RE4), but that is a rarity.

Thats what every sequel essentially is. The same game with a fresh coat of paint. Thats exactly the way the fans like it.

Every once in awhile a formula gets so stale that a change is in order (RE0-RE4), but that is a rarity.

The_Duke_Lives

I think formulas like you stated are slowly wittling away at what makes gaming so great. I don't think the Bubble Shield warrants a sequel. Even the devs don't care about the story or continuing anything from the original, it's built around multiplayer and you all know it. 

I'm a big Halo fan (esp after Halo 2) but Halo 3 depresses me graphically.  I've played the beta and just like when I first played Forza 2, the first thing that came to my mind was:  "That's IT?"

 Being a 1st party team, I'm expecting to be blown away but that's not the case with these two very high-profile games.  

I honestly think Gears of War set the new standard. Now Bungie has a larger burden to bear.

With that said I think Halo 3 is basically Halo with better graphics. The HD graphics look nice....but it doesn't blow me away like Gears of War does.

Yeah, I know, you can credit Halo's art-direction for this similarity, but to tell you the truth, the mountainous terrain, rocks, and the environment don't look impressive. The mountains don't look real but they look like textures created through a more powerful hardware over the original Halo's design. Motorstorm has better looking mountains. Even FFXII has better designed backgrounds. I was hoping for ultra-realistic terrain that looks like the mountains in Gran Turismo HD, basically having Master Cheif running through an environment that looks like a photograph. Right now, Halo 3 doesn't look all that impressive from a graphical point of view.  

This is the impression I get from this. Maybe Bungie can spruce up the graphics a bit but can they do it in time? Of course, the saving grace is the single player campaign mode. And you can also say that even the original Halo 1 & 2 didn't have impressive graphics compared to some of the other games that did like RE4, Chronicles of Riddick, Doom 3, Metroid Prime, and God of War, yet it did well. So maybe that's the same approach Bungie is taking this? But personally, after playing Gears of War I have a higher expectation for Halo 3 especially since Halo is Microsoft's trump-card....if it fails to impress than I'm afraid Microsoft will have a new king named Marcus Fenix.

Things new in the beta:

Improved matchmaking with new ranking system, party up system.

Video replay feature

New game modes

New grenade, guns vehicles

Added equipment being bubble shield, grav lift, landmine, power drainer.

Overhauled hud with new spacing and more wide view.

You guys be the judge knowing that they could add more in the whole game.

Oh yay another one of these threads. Its the Beta (not demo) and its limited MP only. Which would you rather have: an amazing looking but hardware intensive and unstable MP, or a less shiny but smoother and more stable MP experience? And you failed to mention that it has new weapons, vehicles, equipment, HUD, etc. Its not the demo and they aren't going to show everything all at once. So yes, just wait till the game comes out.

This is the impression I get from this. Maybe Bungie can spruce up the graphics a bit but can they do it in time? Of course, the saving grace is the single player campaign mode. And you can also say that even the original Halo 1 & 2 didn't have impressive graphics compared to some of the other games that did like RE4, Chronicles of Riddick, Doom 3, Metroid Prime, and God of War, yet it did well. So maybe that's the same approach Bungie is taking this? But personally, after playing Gears of War I have a higher expectation for Halo 3 especially since Halo is Microsoft's trump-card....if it fails to impress than I'm afraid Microsoft will have a new king named Marcus Fenix.

ASK_Story

What?

Halo 1 was probably the best looking game out there in 2001, other than MGS2. I don't know a single person that wasn't impressed with Halo 1's graphics. Halo 2 wasn't as impressive as Halo 1 was for its time, but it was still a great looking game in 2004. I don't see how you can say it didn't look impressive.

Hell, I popped Halo 1 in last night, and it still looks better than many games. In some ways I think it looked better than Halo 2. The approach they took to the graphics in the first game, well, they just did something right.

Halo 3 just doesn't seem like as much of a jump graphically as many other games on 360. It looks good but not even close to "Halo 1 in 2001" impressive.

As someone who played Halo 2 every day for years (a recent look on my stats at Bungi.net showed that I have all in all 50,000 kills and that's just in matchmaking), I can notice many many small changes they've made and general tweaks here and there.  Its not a re-run in the style of Madden, but its a lot more refined and is as big of a leap in gameplay as there was between Halo 1 and Halo 2.

Graphically, yeah its no Gears of War but it looks good.  Something thats been getting on my nerves is that when it comes to the Wii, bash the graphics and everyone uproars with "Its graphics not gameplay man!", yet for any non Wii game it is okay to bash graphics even when they are great, and in the case of Halo 3, play amazingly.

Graphically, yeah its no Gears of War but it looks good.  Something thats been getting on my nerves is that when it comes to the Wii, bash the graphics and everyone uproars with "Its graphics not gameplay man!", yet for any non Wii game it is okay to bash graphics even when they are great, and in the case of Halo 3, play amazingly.

nuttybar

I think its because people know what 360 can do, and its expected that a game like this will push it to the next level. Its like if Wii was as powerful as 360, people would be in a rage at how Metroid Prime 3 looked in the last video. But since its not, well, what can you do?

Myself, I'm a bit underwhelmed by it but at the same time it does still look nice enough and I'm sure SP will be a lot more impressive. I'm much more concerned about the gamplay in the single-player campaign, as well as the length of the campaign, at this point.

Thats what every sequel essentially is. The same game with a fresh coat of paint. Thats exactly the way the fans like it.

Every once in awhile a formula gets so stale that a change is in order (RE0-RE4), but that is a rarity.

The_Duke_Lives

I agree and would also like to add that this is a trilogy and that each story takes place one after another. There's not much they can add because of this. It's pretty much like the Lord of the Rings... they can make the battles bigger, throw in more plot elements, push the FX a little more but other than that, they aren't supposed to ruin the continuity  of the series by totally altering gameplay and things of that nature.

Oh yay another one of these threads. Its the Beta (not demo) and its limited MP only. Which would you rather have: an amazing looking but hardware intensive and unstable MP, or a less shiny but smoother and more stable MP experience? And you failed to mention that it has new weapons, vehicles, equipment, HUD, etc. Its not the demo and they aren't going to show everything all at once. So yes, just wait till the game comes out.

capthavic

 yes, i know its the beta.  graphically speaking however, usually only minor tweaks are made between that and the final product.  i'm not bashing the halo series: they have all been great games.  i will say that if you stack Halo 3 against something like Bioshock or Mass Effect, it is graphically no contest.  seriously, its taken Bungie YEARS to develop this, and i just expected a little more, even in the beta form.

I dunno...I'm definitely not insulting anyone here, so PLEASE don't put your fanboy comments on this thread.  However, after playing the beta, I'm pretty underwhelmed.  Better weapons balance, shinier graphics, that's about it.  Call me crazy, but I think its just a complete recycle of Halo 2.  Guess I'll have to wait until the game release to see how the final product pans out.clone01

/agree

its gameplay looks the same :( 

I didn't come to GGD back in 04, so I have to ask was there the same backlash against Halo 2?, because that barely changed over Halo 1 too...nuttybar

In 2004 the backlash was against the G-spot rating for Halo 2, and how they "only" gave it a 9.4 here. It was pretty funny. I personally would have given it more like a 9 tops, but many here felt that it needed a 10. I've never seen such an uproar over a rating in the mid-9 range. :P

I think Halo 2 was accepted more since it was a last-gen game on the same system though, graphically. I kind of liked the graphics better in Halo 1 though (no pop-up from 3 feet away).

[QUOTE="nuttybar"]I didn't come to GGD back in 04, so I have to ask was there the same backlash against Halo 2?, because that barely changed over Halo 1 too...EdgecrusherAza

In 2004 the backlash was against the G-spot rating for Halo 2, and how they "only" gave it a 9.4 here. It was pretty funny. I personally would have given it more like a 9 tops, but many here felt that it needed a 10. I've never seen such an upraor over a rating in the mid-9 range. :P

I think Halo 2 was accepted more since it was a last-gen game on the same system though, graphically. I kind of liked the graphics better in Halo 1 though (no pop-up from 3 feet away).

Well, fair enough, I'm quite lenient graphics wise and so long as something doesnt look bad, I dont really care if it looks good or amazing.  I thought Halo 2 was really great and deserved a mid 9...but only for multiplayer.  If the singleplayer wasnt so dissapointing and actually had an ending, maybe it would have been as perfect as some people wanted it to be.   

Also, although this site is not perfect with reviews, it seems to never be able to "win".  Give a game an 8.8, too low, give a game a 9.4 also too low :?