GamePro looks at Halo's influence on gaming

by David Hinkle on Apr 15th 2010 8:45PM

We'd explain that Halo influenced gaming in that it influenced many to play it, but that's hardly a secret. It's a cash juggernaut; an epic tale of dudes in space suits that cost more than it does for us to go to space right now. And, of course, bags of tea.

But GamePro offers its own, more poignant analysis of Microsoft's biggest franchise. There are the obvious effects of Bungie's success -- such as regenerative shields and the popular control scheme mimicked by many of Halo's successors -- but one of the biggest is the emergence of online multiplayer in the console FPS. The series has helped pave the way for some of console gamers' favorites.

We can't help but point out that GamePro is neglecting one crucial item: Theater mode. Before Halo 3, just about everyone's crazy stories of conquest or humiliation were suspect and impossible to prove. Now every console player on the message boards can see how awesome you are, and you can't really put a price on that now, can you?

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Tags: bungie, fps, halo, halo-2, halo-3, microsoft, multiplayer, regenerative-shields, shields, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (101)

Ah, teabagging. Or, "celebratory crouching" if you prefer.

Halo has and continues to set the standard for console FPS's.

people were "teabagging" long before halo

Actually JJ is 100% right. People have been tea bagged since Counter-Strike (possibly before that).

I also believe "pwned" and "!!!1!!1!!!" originated from CS. Extremely twitch-game mixed with keyboard chat mixed with emotionally charged boys makes for interesting misspells.

Yeah, Halo really just brought a culture already alive on PC to the console (all the good and bad).

But he did say console FPS, not PC. So he's pretty much right.

INB4 Teabaggi... god dammit Ezio.

mmmmm I love me some Halo tea.

lolwut

How about the rise of melee weapons being stronger than ammunition. I HATE the sword from Halo...so I'm paid back with the knife in CoD. According to the modern FPS , the US military should replace all handguns and rifles with daggers and Claymores.

You sir need to play BFBC2....

Actually they just decided to combine them . . . . . .

way more practical.

A gun that shoots knives? Sign me up!

the fact that you have to be 2 feet in front of somebody to melee them is reason enough for them to be that strong. Nothing beats a good ol' sniper rifle.

Don't get me wrong I loved Halo and love CoD. But I kinda found it more plausible that a hand to hand weapon was a last ditch effort. Not a first line of defense. I always liked the BF series, that's why I play BF1943. I might check BFBC2 though.

no actually i thinking more along the lines of a bayonet . . .

The reason why the melee is so strong in Halo is because Spartans are physically stronger than the average UNSC soldier. They went through body augmentations at around the age of 15.

well for one thing, the sniper rifle takes two body shots to kill in halo, whereas it's usually 3 or 4 melees to a fully shielded opponent (depends on weapon and whether you are moving toward them or not). melee's will also kill slower than a BR if you land all of the BR shots. melee's in halo are only useful if your opponent's shields are gone or very close to gone (hitting the back is another story).

so where are you getting that melee's are overpowered in Halo?

Spartans had their muscular structure increased to superhuman levels, their bones grafted to make them virtually unbreakable, had their eye sight and nerves enhanced giving them super human eyesight and reflexes. They were outfitted with the most technologically advanced suit of power armor in human hands that weighs half a ton, allows them to run at something like 32km/h and pick up and flip tanks. AND people still go lolwut that's stupid when something goes splat from you punching it in the Halo games. It's only ridiculous in games like Modern Warfare 2 where you aren't a seven feet tall WALKING BATTLETANK CYBORG OF DEATH.

you guys are forgetting that their armor gives them added strength. it's because of their bone strength that the armor doesn't break their bones.

Oh, so Zack, I guess since they're "physically stronger than the average UNSC soldier", their space age super suits and energy shields are no match for them?

I hope they mention how Halo inadvertantly started Sprint in your common FPS.

Its no coincidence that Bungie touted sprint as an ability early in Halo 2's development and Guerrila games adding it to Killzone.

What are you talking about? There is no sprint in any halo.

If i remember correctly, during the development of Halo 2, they announced and even showed some footage of the Spartan dropping his weapon and sprinting.

You could put away your weapon to run faster. They also had a bunch of other stuff that they ended up not having in the final version like snow and troop carrier versions of vehicles.

I think half of Halo's success is due to it having the most polished match-making system. I still have yet to play a game on PC/Console that has the polish their setup.

Halo 2's communication was so good it influenced the was the Xbox360 dashboard was made. That speaks bounds to how much work Bungie put into that system and the work paid off...

Great points!

"...such as regenerative shields and the popular control scheme mimicked by many of Halo's predecessors" - don't you mean successors?

Right trigger, shoot. Left trigger, grenade. Even Peter Griffin can understand that. Oh, wait... http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/family-guy-gets-pwnd-in-modern-warfare-2/

Don't forget theater mode, vehicles, stat tracking (as in depth as Bungie.net), Forge, matchmaking...

Also, four player campaign co-op, with scoring.

So, I try to be nice and correct the guy (the article has now been updated to reflect the change - "successors" for "predecessors"), don't get the credit for it and still get downvoted? That is just mean, Joystiq.

And David Hinkle, you know what you did. Go sit in the corner.

Next time I'm taking print screens. AND I MEAN IT.

Halo is one of the most influential franchises this generation, all jokes aside. No one can deny that.

Don't you mean last-gen Trey?

wasn't halo the first game to implement a 2 weapon only system

goldeneye?

oh, disregard, i thought you meant dual wielding.

Marathon would like to have a word with you. Which was also made by Bunjie, back in the day's of Oni and Myth.

Those where good days.

It's still pushing the envelope this gen. Custom content, theater, spectacular matchmaking, balanced gameplay, Live integration...

I think every FPS should implement some sort of theater. I have had some sweet kills on MW2 and BFBC2 and I will never get to see them again :(

Terrible article. 3 of the 6 items mentioned have been done before, with only one of them being a good thing. I'm sorry, how did HALO influence gaming with melee? How did a control scheme that was done on the PS2 influence gaming? How the hell is regenerating health A GOOD THING!?

UGH.

Waah, waah, waah.

Regenerating health is a good thing, as it mixed things up. Of course, now Halo's moving back to a Shield/HealthPack system, so take that as you will. And it was the first time a console FPS really worked control-wise.

Explain to me in words why regenerating health is a good thing. Cite examples.

Agree on regenerating health. It not only killed off arena shooters for good, it made a lot of realistic shooters into paradoxes. How the hell does crouching in a corner heal yourself in a realistic game?

People can concentrate on the combat, rather than looking for a healthpack.

There is still an underlying 'health' system in Halo 3, it's just not visible.

me and one guy have a good shoot out wher he took out 2/3 of my health . . . .

why should 5 min later someone be able to finish me off even though he did no work.

just admit it. you may not like it, but it adds another layer of strategy.

Did you just skim the article?

"It allowed for bold strategic maneuvers like rushing into the fold for a few critical seconds; gamers could gamble a little, safe in the knowledge that they could compensate for their suicidal ways by ducking back to safety and letting their shields come back online ... the shield allowed us all to keep our focus where it belongs: on dishing out the pain, rather than trying to micromanage it."

Halo is a futuristic space shooter. Why on earth do you expect it to be realistic? And why blame it for other devs inability to innovate?

Goldeneye worked just fine.

yes strategy . .. .

i shoot someone enough to make him retreat (happen all the time in halo, with long range shootouts) should i pursue him, knowing he might have regenerated in the time between me closing the distance or should let him run and just finish the job next time? and lets not even talk about been on the defensive side of this scenario , , , ,

And the bullets thing is a weak excuse. YOU KNOW THIS IS THE FUTURE RIGHT!? see i can use dumb logic too.

Quit your bitching. I'm so tired of all the anti-Halo bullshit and people not realize where shooters on consoles were before the Halo 1, where matchmaking was before Halo 2, and where customization and player created content was before Halo 3. The modern first person shooter would not be a tenth of what it is today without Halo. You've obviously got your biased, jaded, slanted opinion formed and your mind made up, so I highly doubt any GamePro article is gonna change that.

Let's put it this way. How many other nine year old console FPS's are still fun to play? Perfect Dark? Yeah, it's okay, but the controls are horrid. Even the XBLA port couldn't fix that.

to everbody complaining about regenerative health . . . .

i dont think you guys remember how awful it felt to run around a map knowing one more shot would kill you and hiding from other opponents just because of low health a terrible game mechanics

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GamePro looks at Halo's influence on gaming

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