First Strike and Ghosts of Onyx are still the best Halo books. Fall of Reach might have been wonderful, but it wasn't the best.
But we're not talkin' about books here. That video was about the Spartans and gameplay, so here are some comments on Halo gameplay...
Honestly, out of the entire trilogy, my personal favorite Halo game is Halo 2. Most people would argue that Halo 2 is the worste in the trilogy and that Halo: Combat Evolved is the best, but l beg to switch that around.
Here's what's up.
When Halo: Combat Evolved was made, it was the basic game. Bungie had never created a previous Halo game, so this layed the foundations for the franchise. Go figure people loved it and people wanted more.
So Bungie made Halo 2. What they wanted to do with this was make a [i]more interesting[/i] and more [i]expanded[/i] sequal to the game. So what they did was change things around... the enemies were weaker, there were new vehicles, dual weilding, boarding, a [i]very[/i] extensive and more confusing campaign, more Covenant history...
I don't think people got too upset with the dual weilding and boarding. Infact, l think people liked those elements. l think what got people upset was that the story was so extensive, there was too much Covenant stuff and the plot was too wild.
But those were the three things that l liked [i]best[/i] about Halo 2. I thought that those elements were what made the game great. Bungie focased more on what made a game [i]epic[/i] and [i]cool[/i] and focased less on those "thirty seconds of fun" that everybody keeps talking about.
Now changing those priorities and making a game universe "bigger" and "broader" made people mad, but boy did l love it. I think that my favorite levels are the ones that are [i]very[/i] "Halo 2-ish". For example, my all time favorite level in any videogame ever is Gravemind. What elements does that level have? 1. lt branches out far into the Halo Universe (High Charity) 2. It involves the Covenant/Civil war 3. The Covenant Civil war provides the "cool" element 4. Long/Extensive plot undertones.
That level follows all the tendencies of the difference between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
When Halo 2 was "over", people kept crying that the game wasn't like Halo: Combat Evolved. People begged for a more "classic" feel. So when Halo 3 was made, Bungie intentionally made it to be more like the original Halo game, combining those elements. The "thirty-seconds of fun" the more [i]Human only[/i] oriented feel. And for the most part, the plot wasn't too extensive. Besides the last level the whole game basically took place on Earth and the Ark.
That's why when l rank my favorite Halo games from [i]favorite[/i] to [i]least[/i], my list looks like this.
Halo 2
Halo 3
Halo: Combat Evolved
Now don't get me started on Halo Wars. That's a different story.
So there you have it. I just compared all of the Halo games to each other. Unfortunantally, this thread was designed so that we could compare the Gears of War series to Halo. Oops.
Sorry, I just write and write and sometimes (a lot of times) l forget about what I was supposed to be writing about and I just go off topic. Anyway, time to get back on track.
Halo is a great series... it set the foundation for most modern shooters and is still like one of the top played games. Gears is third person and involves very different and more conservative fighting styles. Halo is all about running up to the enemy and taking bullets. In Gears, you must hide and kickass only when the enemy comes to you. That's the fundamental difference between the two games, and therefore I don't think that they can be compared in that manner.
However, if we are comparing the individual characters, well... anyone read the Gears of War novel? Gears of War: Aspho Fields talks all about Marcus's past as a kid and stuff. So does Halo: The Fall of Reach. These stories are all simular, but the one thing that is different is that Master Chief is a superhuman and Marcus is just some toughass dude with a kickass scar. If you read The Fall of Reach at all, a battle happened that reminds me of this imaginary Marcus vs. Chief situation.
When John (Master Chief) was a kid (this is post-Spartan Project), he took on a group of tough Helljumpers. Those guys were all described in the book as being big muscular, tatooed men with a grudge. Hey, that sounds a lot like Marcus. Do you know what happened to those guys? They got their ribs cracked and they almost died.
They fought Master Chief when he was a kid and got demolished.
Trust me, Marcus Fenox would stand no chance... not at all.
And yes, my comments on Halo 2's campaign, still stand, despite being off topic.
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