Halo *what it could have been...*

I'm not sure how many people on SW were aware of Halo, BEFORE its release in November 2001, or were actually hyped for the game prior to its release.

One thing that seems clear, is that not many people, even know what this rumoured game Halo was like BEFORE Bungie was bought out by MS, and changed Halo into an Xbox title.

I was one of the people who was hyped for Halo's PC launch, following that the Xbox launch, after reading many previews of what an revolutionary game this was set to be. What astounded me when I first played through it after launch was how different it had become.

Here is a sample to all gamers of SW of what this game Halo, was setting out to be - after it was changed from an RTS into an FPS -for PC and Mac - before it went to Xbox.

Hope this also adds a bit of nostalgia before the Halo 3 launch..........

Was the changes better or for worse? What could have become of the series?

Read on and discuss.

Preview 1:

The human race is in jeopardy. An alien league called the Covenant is bent on eradicating the entire species. In a last ditch effort, a lone earth battlecruiser lures the Covenant fleet away from Earth, deep into uncharted space. Low on supplies, the earthlings find a haven on a Niven-esque world in the shape of a ring that's over 10,000 miles in diameter. On this artificial world, the humans must fight a guerilla war, trying to stay alive as long as possible. At least they chose a gorgeous place to make their last stand.

Halo is the work of Bungie, makers of the fantastic Marathon and Myth series. It debuted last year at MacWorld and made the audience collectively gasp. Since then, very little has been released about this upcoming game, leading many to believe it was either a hoax or the developers had failed to create what they promised. Neither could be farther from the truth. Halo is real, ladies and gentlemen, and, simply put, amazing.

Rumors abound about Halo and Game Revolution is here to help you separate fact from fiction. If you're staring at the screenshots right now, you'll be please to hear that they were all taken from gameplay. While it might sound unbelievable, what you are seeing was all created by the in-game engine. On top of that, you don't need a god-box in order to play the game. The E3 demo that GR made sure to see was done on a Pentium 450 with a TNT2 card. Expect the minimum system requirements to be lower than that, but Halo just might be worth investing in a new computer or video card.

The single player game will be a non-linear action game. There are no levels, - simply you, the aliens, and a gigantic arena for you to explore. This is not to say that the game is pointless; every action you do, every alien you kill, alters the gameworld dynamically. There are underground bases to explore, weapons to find, and missions to complete. Bungie just didn't want to break up the gameplay into sections. Your goal is to win a guerilla war; if only you had Che Guevara to help you...

The multiplayer will allow you to play as either the aliens or the humans. Focusing on fast combat and team tactics, you're not going to succeed unless you work as a group. For example, the vehicles in the game (cars, boats, and airplanes) can all be player-controlled. While one player is driving, another might choose to hop on the back and man the cannon. For all the FPS fans out there, there will still be a simple deathmatch mode, but aren't you tired of that by now?

If Bungie is able to pull off Halo, it will undoubtedly become a benchmark on which other games will be compared. The dynamic gameplay and non-linear storyline is sure to drain away all the free time you thought you might have. So, say goodbye to your loved ones and make sure the pets are well fed, because Halo is coming to town.

You still have some time to enjoy sunlight! Halo is due out the beginning of 2001 for PC and Macintosh.

An even earlier Preview 2:

Halo sets the player in the roll of space marine taking a desperate guerilla stand against a numerically, physically and technologically superior alien race (the Covenant) on a Ringworld ****halo discovered in deep space, the whole future of mankind hanging in the balance.

Halo distinguishes itself on all fronts. First, the game is not mission based. The player is free to wage guerilla war on their own initiative and according to information and events generated on the fly. The attempt is to situate the player inside a larger conflict and give him or her, based on individual initiative and preference, the opportunity to make a difference in the conflagration. The game should flow differently for each gamer, each time through with nary a break throughout the experience (unless you pause to eat, drink or pee).

Bungie is also working on a universal physics model, which allows each item in the game world, be it human, jeep, aircraft or projectile to follow accurate physics and respond realistically. The E3 movie shows space marines bucking with the recoil of their rifles, swaying even with their own breathing. It shows a fallen marine slide realistically over a cliff and vehicles move with amazing realism, jeeps demonstrating solid and responsive suspension. Those demonstrating the game engine emphasized that moving a marine, driving a jeep or flying an aircraft (the player can hop into any in-game vehicle and take it for a spin) is all accomplished with the same controls, yet also demonstrated some advanced maneuvers with the vehicles that someone specializing in their use might master.

Halo is being designed to support online cooperative multiplay, where gamers are encouraged to specialize. A skillful driver partnered with a good machine gunner and a quick marine riding shotgun will be a formidable force in online play and all specialists will garner points for skillfully executing their chosen tasks. Multiplay will also support more antagonistic play where some will play Covenant soldiers and some Human marines.

Everything about Halo looks to propel gaming beyond its current levels. Halo is graphically superior, gameplay innovative and technically astounding, a very strong contender for game of the show period. It's so good that everyone has nearly forgotten Bungie West's project Oni which also looks great and is much nearer completion. Halo is said to be about 60% complete and while Bungie claims that the game could still ship in 2000, given the scope and originality of the project, we'll be happy to wait and have it be the game of 2001 rather than the game of 2000.

link 1

link 2

Was the changes better or for worse?

What could have happened to the series if it never launched on the Xbox?

Discuss

exellent postginglejangle

Hope this adds a bit of variety amoung all these re-occurring Halo threads.

It would have been a better game on PC but no way could it have gottten this big if it wasn't for M$.

And yeah good post....I remember being hyped for Halo the RTS which was said to be just like Myth but only in a Scifi setting.

Well for me in particular I was exited about:

The non linear enviroment, where missions were generated on the fly, across the ring world - each player had a different experience. How cool would have that been.... Waging a Guerilla war against the covenant with no load times across a single consistant ring world.

ANY vehicle was also driveable. That included the Pelican drop ships, multiple aircraft, even boats...... Sure it was after Tribes, but that was a huge variety. Pity Opertaion Flashpoint and Tribes 2 trounced the vehicle selection.

And Full online multiplayer co-op. Imagine that in such a huge open world - non Linear enviroment. Freaking amazing.

Even though im hyped for Halo 3, I still cant feel a bit of dissapointment of what the series could have been.

A lot of games seem incredible or far reaching when they are in development, but the actual product usually is different than what was initially planned in the brainstorming sessions. Look at Fable/Project Ego. They aimed for the sky, but when they actually had to produce the game, it was far less than what they had dreamed about.

Halo was an excpetional game. Yes, any game could always have been better, but it delivered.

Im surprised this thread has been snowed under so quickly.

Hell its about freaking Halo - usually the masses flock ot threads only remotley mentioning Halo.

Ah well at least there is a variety of opinions!

Oh man, I remember reading about the Halo RTS and then TPS SOOOO long ago...

Any ways, I think Bungie was wise to completely redo the game. I bet it wouldn't have sold nearly as well if they hadn't

Actually im quite surprised how Halo was under the radar for so many gamers, prior to its Xbox launch.

All my PC gaming mags prior to the launch, dating back, covered Halo frequently - hell there was even a Halo CE Xbox review when it was released - in a PC gaming mag... Thats how big the hype was for PC gamers lol.

I knew the game was originally an RTS, but I must admit I hadn't really followed the game much until it became a launch game for the Xbox. But I am happy with how the game turned out, seeing as how I took a leap of faith buying that $400 VCR for that game alone.

I've been with bungie (as a fan) since '96, I was there when the first Cortana letter was "published", I was there when Bungie was bought out by MS.

With that out of the way, I think the fact that Halo turned out the way it did was good in the sense it gave Bungie the fame they so much deserved, but on the other hand I can't but imagine what could've been if they've would've stayed with the original concept. IMO the myth series is one of the most underrated rts series ever and seeing what bungie would've achieved in the sci fi rts genre would certainly have been interesting. In a way it was much easier to be a bungie fan before they got their halo fame as well, nowadays "bungie fan" is pretty much synonymous with "screaming teenage fanboy".

Superb post btw. Refreshing, intellectually stimulating etc.

Edit: Somehow I lost a "with" in the first sentence. I don't work for bungie :P.

I saw a Bungie documentary that talked about this.And it also talked about how the game was recieved poorly the E3 before release.And look what happened.Great post by the way.

I'm not sure how many people on SW were aware of Halo, BEFORE its release in November 2001, or were actually hyped for the game prior to its release.

One thing that seems clear, is that not many people, even know what this rumoured game Halo was like BEFORE Bungie was bought out by MS, and changed Halo into an Xbox title.

I was one of the people who was hyped for Halo's PC launch, following that the Xbox launch, after reading many previews of what an revolutionary game this was set to be. What astounded me when I first played through it after launch was how different it had become.

Here is a sample to all gamers of SW of what this game Halo, was setting out to be - after it was changed from an RTS into an FPS -for PC and Mac - before it went to Xbox.

Hope this also adds a bit of nostalgia before the Halo 3 launch..........

Was the changes better or for worse? What could have become of the series?

Read on and discuss.

Preview 1:

Aiming for the Heavens.

The human race is in jeopardy. An alien league called the Covenant is bent on eradicating the entire species. In a last ditch effort, a lone earth battlecruiser lures the Covenant fleet away from Earth, deep into uncharted space. Low on supplies, the earthlings find a haven on a Niven-esque world in the shape of a ring that's over 10,000 miles in diameter. On this artificial world, the humans must fight a guerilla war, trying to stay alive as long as possible. At least they chose a gorgeous place to make their last stand.

Halo is the work of Bungie, makers of the fantastic Marathon and Myth series. It debuted last year at MacWorld and made the audience collectively gasp. Since then, very little has been released about this upcoming game, leading many to believe it was either a hoax or the developers had failed to create what they promised. Neither could be farther from the truth. Halo is real, ladies and gentlemen, and, simply put, amazing.

Rumors abound about Halo and Game Revolution is here to help you separate fact from fiction. If you're staring at the screenshots right now, you'll be please to hear that they were all taken from gameplay. While it might sound unbelievable, what you are seeing was all created by the in-game engine. On top of that, you don't need a god-box in order to play the game. The E3 demo that GR made sure to see was done on a Pentium 450 with a TNT2 card. Expect the minimum system requirements to be lower than that, but Halo just might be worth investing in a new computer or video card.

The single player game will be a non-linear action game. There are no levels, - simply you, the aliens, and a gigantic arena for you to explore. This is not to say that the game is pointless; every action you do, every alien you kill, alters the gameworld dynamically. There are underground bases to explore, weapons to find, and missions to complete. Bungie just didn't want to break up the gameplay into sections. Your goal is to win a guerilla war; if only you had Che Guevara to help you...

The multiplayer will allow you to play as either the aliens or the humans. Focusing on fast combat and team tactics, you're not going to succeed unless you work as a group. For example, the vehicles in the game (cars, boats, and airplanes) can all be player-controlled. While one player is driving, another might choose to hop on the back and man the cannon. For all the FPS fans out there, there will still be a simple deathmatch mode, but aren't you tired of that by now?

If Bungie is able to pull off Halo, it will undoubtedly become a benchmark on which other games will be compared. The dynamic gameplay and non-linear storyline is sure to drain away all the free time you thought you might have. So, say goodbye to your loved ones and make sure the pets are well fed, because Halo is coming to town.

You still have some time to enjoy sunlight! Halo is due out the beginning of 2001 for PC and Macintosh.

An even earlier Preview 2:

Halo sets the player in the roll of space marine taking a desperate guerilla stand against a numerically, physically and technologically superior alien race (the Covenant) on a Ringworld ****halo discovered in deep space, the whole future of mankind hanging in the balance.

Halo distinguishes itself on all fronts. First, the game is not mission based. The player is free to wage guerilla war on their own initiative and according to information and events generated on the fly. The attempt is to situate the player inside a larger conflict and give him or her, based on individual initiative and preference, the opportunity to make a difference in the conflagration. The game should flow differently for each gamer, each time through with nary a break throughout the experience (unless you pause to eat, drink or pee).

Bungie is also working on a universal physics model, which allows each item in the game world, be it human, jeep, aircraft or projectile to follow accurate physics and respond realistically. The E3 movie shows space marines bucking with the recoil of their rifles, swaying even with their own breathing. It shows a fallen marine slide realistically over a cliff and vehicles move with amazing realism, jeeps demonstrating solid and responsive suspension. Those demonstrating the game engine emphasized that moving a marine, driving a jeep or flying an aircraft (the player can hop into any in-game vehicle and take it for a spin) is all accomplished with the same controls, yet also demonstrated some advanced maneuvers with the vehicles that someone specializing in their use might master.

Halo is being designed to support online cooperative multiplay, where gamers are encouraged to specialize. A skillful driver partnered with a good machine gunner and a quick marine riding shotgun will be a formidable force in online play and all specialists will garner points for skillfully executing their chosen tasks. Multiplay will also support more antagonistic play where some will play Covenant soldiers and some Human marines.

Everything about Halo looks to propel gaming beyond its current levels. Halo is graphically superior, gameplay innovative and technically astounding, a very strong contender for game of the show period. It's so good that everyone has nearly forgotten Bungie West's project Oni which also looks great and is much nearer completion. Halo is said to be about 60% complete and while Bungie claims that the game could still ship in 2000, given the scope and originality of the project, we'll be happy to wait and have it be the game of 2001 rather than the game of 2000.

link 1

link 2

Was the changes better or for worse?

What could have happened to the series if it never launched on the Xbox?

Discuss

skrat_01