Halo: CE or Half-Life

Which game do you think was more important to gaming?

I personally am not sure. :P

Halo CE was the only Halo i truly enjoyed.

Half-Life was better, imo

I never played Half Life but Halo: CE was terrific.

Half-Life completely changed the FPS genre as a whole and took it to a new level of gameplay, ai and story-telling. Halo:CE wasn't as impressive when it came to me but it was certainly epic for the time.

Which game do you think was more important to gaming?

I personally am not sure. :P

longtonguecat

I can't choose between the two. Both were some of the best FPSs I have ever played in my life.

BTW, the poll is not going to be accurate in SW. PS3/Wii fanboys are going to vote against Halo...-GeordiLaForge-

I would say Halo, I didnt enjoy HL as much as halo

i didnt like both games but i would say halo CE was better for gaming, it saved xbox

i didnt like both games but i would say halo CE was better for gaming, it saved xbox

sikanderahmed

Half Life shaped the modern FPS to what it is today.skrat_01

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]Half Life shaped the modern FPS to what it is today.-GeordiLaForge-

Yikes.

Its *intelligent* level design - use of vertical spaces for instance, integration into story telling, use of environmental set-pieces - in general it being - a huge step fowards from any other title, its pacing and change in gameplay dynamics - puzzles, usage of the environment, focus on survival, intelligent reactive a.i. (especially in combat), its story telling methods - using scripted sequences, its use of the first person perspective; giving meaning to the faceless, voiceless protagonist. Oh yeah there is also the Golen Source engine's SDK - and its distribution, which made much more of a global impact and influence than that of Duke 3Ds (even if it did have extremely good level design tools and modability).

The scope of its impact isnt something as light as 'free look' or 'recharging health', a single design change or innovation.

This is core game design - the game at a whole was an amazingly progressive piece; like the game or not.

Now i'm only scratching the surface, hell not even.

Games like Wolf 3D and Doom 2 were extremely progressive titles. Duke 3D while not as progressive as the others still made a major impact, as did other titles like Goldeye (which i'd argue was more progressive - and influential than Duke 3D) and Quake.

However Half Life marked the next major leap forwards in the evolution of the genre since Doom, and well since then, essentially every FPS title borrows something from Half Life's extremely progressive design.

Half life is horribly overrated in my opinion.

I can remeber back in the day, it was the single game that actually turned me off FPS.

Halo CE SP brought much more to the genre and is still as enjoyabel today as it alwasy was.

Obviously itll get slaughtered in this poll though.

Half life is horribly overrated in my opinion.

I can remeber back in the day, it was the single game that actually turned me off FPS.

Halo CE SP brought much more to the genre and is still as enjoyabel today as it alwasy was.

Obviously itll get slaughtered in this poll though.

mijkil

I would have to say Halo: CE for me. It had more things to do than HL.

Might as well remove the poll, A multiplat VS an exclusive on a fanboy infested website isn't going to give you any sort of reasonable idea.

Halo wins anyway, only reason HL got big is because there was little else at the time. Halo on the other hand single handedly inspired all the shooters you see today. Not a good thing in my book but it's dominated the FPS genre for coming up to 10 years now? 8-9?

Master Chief is the face of the FPS genre, not some nerd with his crowbar. Halo has made multiplayer what it is today, Halo started the trend, Halo sparked it what you see today, the length multiplayer games have got to and in so many numbers is down to halo. It can't take credit for it all but if it hadn't provided such good online play you'd not see developers like IW, Epic, Insomniac and so on wouldn't have online sections even remotely as good as they do today.

Did Halo borrow ideas from other games? Yup. But it did what no other game managed, including half life; it brought them all together, made them work perfectly and sparked a revolution in gaming that HL could only dream of.

That and Halo: CE is just the better shooter anyway, that's all that counts really.

edit: I should probably meantion when i say Epic i mean there console efforts, I'm aware of there PC past and choose to pretend it didn't exist, They've seen the light now and i see no reason to bring up there bad past.

Alot of people just didn't get into first person shooters and 3D accelerated games until about the time Half Life was released I guess...-GeordiLaForge-

I like how it's not enough that the game just doesn't appeal to you; everyone who does like it has to be STUPID and WRONG.

Halo CE SP brought much more to the genre

mijkil

Here's how I view it.

Half Life, and Halo CE both have great stories, great weapons, great enemies, great AI. Halo CE has co-op, vehicles, and great multiplayer.

I'd say Half Life set the standard, but Halo CE took it to the next level by taking everything great about Half Life, and adding more options.

Halo had better graphics, better level design, more tools to use against enemies, etc.

But know what I think beat Halo CE in terms of great FPS? Half Life 2 which I still consider to be the best single player shooter available still.

I think both Half Life and Halo CE shaped the industry together because now BOTH platforms are loaded with FPS games because every dev looks at the success of both, and wants to cash in on it.

I'd like to think its a fakeboy post, even with the PSN sig, but i'll reply anyway.

Might as well remove the poll, A multiplat VS an exclusive on a fanboy infested website isn't going to give you any sort of reasonable idea.

Halo wins anyway, only reason HL got big is because there was little else at the time. Halo on the other hand single handedly inspired all the shooters you see today. Not a good thing in my book but it's dominated the FPS genre for coming up to 10 years now? 8-9?

Master Chief is the face of the FPS genre, not some nerd with his crowbar. Halo has made multiplayer what it is today, Halo started the trend, Halo sparked it what you see today, the length multiplayer games have got to and in so many numbers is down to halo. It can't take credit for it all but if it hadn't provided such good online play you'd not see developers like IW, Epic, Insomniac and so on wouldn't have online sections even remotely as good as they do today.

Did Halo borrow ideas from other games? Yup. But it did what no other game managed, including half life; it brought them all together, made them work perfectly and sparked a revolution in gaming that HL could only dream of.

That and Halo: CE is just the better shooter anyway, that's all that counts really.

edit: I should probably meantion when i say Epic i mean there console efforts, I'm aware of there PC past and choose to pretend it didn't exist, They've seen the light now and i see no reason to bring up there bad past.

CreepyBacon

Half Life got 'big' for a multitude of reasons, including its critical acclaim and influence in the industry - and it was released around a time that the market was *saturated* with shooters and big name IPs.

Master Chief isn't the face of the 'genre'. Quite frankly there isnt one, hell for the vast majority of genres there isnt. MC is the face of Halo, as he always has been.

Halo made multiplayer what it is today? The trend? What? Honestly scratching out over a decade of online gaming to call a game that didn't have much influence in the gaming spectrum, aside from its own console's is ridiculous.

Halo CE's multiplayer was great - I sunk a huge amounts of hours into playing it over system link. Did it start a 'trend'? Hell no. What it proved, was that it was damn addictive and enjoyable multiplayer, some of the best split screen FPS fun since Perfect Dark and TimeSplitters. For consoles this was a major step in the right direction, on the PC spectrum design had moved far beyond the scope, as far as shooters go.

Borrowed from games? What? It borrowed some design elements sure, and it implemented things that had been done before, but much of its design was unique in its own way.

Other than that it was far from revolutionary. It never was, and the Xbox version never intended to be. What it was, was an evolutionary step forwards for the genre. Now the original shooter design for Halo pre Xbox was revolutionary - arguably moreso than Half Life. Pity it was scrapped during Xbox development. - Anyway fakeboy or not, there has to be some logic.

Also, why do people claim Half-Life has this great story? It has no story whatsoever.Zero5000X

Half Life has a story, though its nothing extraordinary.

What is amazing is its storytelling - which was years beyond what many games had achieved at the time. It made the story far more immersive and involving then story on paper should have been.

[QUOTE="-GeordiLaForge-"]Alot of people just didn't get into first person shooters and 3D accelerated games until about the time Half Life was released I guess...Cherokee_Jack

I like how it's not enough that the game just doesn't appeal to you; everyone who does like it has to be STUPID and WRONG.

HL1 had a much bigger impact on the industry. Halo honestly didn't do much but prove there was a demograph for FPS on consoles.

HL1 had a much bigger impact on the industry. Halo honestly didn't do much but prove there was a demograph for FPS on consoles.

Espada12

YES! Votes are going to the mother of FPS- Half-life!

Halo CE was still fun though.

[QUOTE="Espada12"]

HL1 had a much bigger impact on the industry. Halo honestly didn't do much but prove there was a demograph for FPS on consoles.

-GeordiLaForge-

better level design, more tools to use against enemies, etc.

But know what I think beat Halo CE in terms of great FPS? Half Life 2 which I still consider to be the best single player shooter available still.

I think both Half Life and Halo CE shaped the industry together because now BOTH platforms are loaded with FPS games because every dev looks at the success of both, and wants to cash in on it.

Mr_Nordquist

No way Halo had better level design - even including Half Life's plain poor Xen sections.
And saying that Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room are some of the my favourite levels in a shooter.
Levels like Blast Pit, in Half Life still remain better than the vast majority of shooter levels nowadays. Which from a design perspective - is damn frighting.

For uni I had a good look through the design structure of shooter level design including the above, and to say the least the creativty and thought process involved for that era isn't like anything else. Still, the Silent Cartographer had an amazing spiral design to its core structure - something else so far ahead of many shooters; and its own sequels.

Anyway options? I dont understand, but tools - I disagree. Halo did have a nice variety of weapons, however i'd again argue Half Life was in front. Things like laser trip mines and Snarks changed the gameplay dynamics quite dramatically - and of course you can factor in environmental assets that you could use (e.g. mounted guns, artillery etc.) Heck the grenades alone - the way the a.i. would suppress, then flush you out with grenades (or even being able to cook grenades)...

[QUOTE="Cherokee_Jack"]

[QUOTE="-GeordiLaForge-"]Alot of people just didn't get into first person shooters and 3D accelerated games until about the time Half Life was released I guess...-GeordiLaForge-

I like how it's not enough that the game just doesn't appeal to you; everyone who does like it has to be STUPID and WRONG.

Let me recap for you: the part of your post that I quoted implied that only naive new gamers would think Half-Life was good. I pointed out that such a statement is ridiculous, and is only a way to artificially validate your own opinion.

Does that clear it up?

[QUOTE="-GeordiLaForge-"][QUOTE="Cherokee_Jack"]

I like how it's not enough that the game just doesn't appeal to you; everyone who does like it has to be STUPID and WRONG.

Cherokee_Jack

Let me recap for you: the part of your post that I quoted implied that only naive new gamers would think Half-Life was good. I pointed out that such a statement is ridiculous, and is only a way to artificially validate your own opinion.

Does that clear it up?

[QUOTE="-GeordiLaForge-"][QUOTE="Espada12"]

HL1 had a much bigger impact on the industry. Halo honestly didn't do much but prove there was a demograph for FPS on consoles.

mario_gamer

[QUOTE="-GeordiLaForge-"][QUOTE="Espada12"]

HL1 had a much bigger impact on the industry. Halo honestly didn't do much but prove there was a demograph for FPS on consoles.

mario_gamer

[QUOTE="Cherokee_Jack"]

[QUOTE="-GeordiLaForge-"]lol, what?-GeordiLaForge-

Let me recap for you: the part of your post that I quoted implied that only naive new gamers would think Half-Life was good. I pointed out that such a statement is ridiculous, and is only a way to artificially validate your own opinion.

Does that clear it up?