830°

Halo Reach is what’s wrong with the gaming industry today

Don Reisinger: Halo Reach hit store shelves this week, and already Microsoft is touting it as the best Halo release it has ever had. In fact, the game generated $200 million in revenue for the company. Since the launch, the game has been extremely popular on Xbox Live. And most folks that have had the chance to voice their opinions on the title have said that it’s an outstanding offering that puts a fine end to the Bungie-developed Halo franchise.

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Dance4961d ago

all companies like touting about their games and how many it sold not just microsoft

Windex4961d ago (Edited 4961d ago )

brought up their numbers using promotion and ads. and they make it seems like their game is better than others because they sold more.

they been giving away the game with 20 dollars for months now.

BB, GS, Amazon, Target, Walmart, Toysrus. any major retailers you could think of had this 20 dollar gc deal.

they did this to bring up the halo sales. also, their marketing budget is enormous which has alot to do with the sales.

so in the end, sales does not depict how good the game is. it usually means how well it was promoted and how well it was advertised. just look at youtube videos. halo ads. Tvs. halo ads. gaming sites. halo ads.

N4PS3Fanboys4960d ago

The Halo franchise is also one of the highest rated in gaming. It's not just applauded for its sales, but for its quality as well.

creatchee4960d ago

"but MS
brought up their numbers using promotion and ads. and they make it seems like their game is better than others because they sold more."

Their game sold a lot because IT IS better than a lot of others.

Just because something is hyped or overhyped doesn't mean that it isn't amazing or at least pretty damned good.

lowcarb4960d ago

"but MS
brought up their numbers using promotion and ads. and they make it seems like their game is better than others because they sold more."

Gosh the jealousy here of MS being in the position many of you want SOny to be in is just astounding. Don't worry you have GT5 which will sell 15 million in a week.

sack_boi4960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

On N4G, it's seen as cool to hate on anything popular (GTA, CoD, Halo, Final Fantasy...).

socomnick4960d ago

First of all ms did not bring up sales by offering 20 dollars. Ms does not even have anything to do with that. The retailers that sell the game know reach is a huge seller by offering bonuses the they get a larger chunk of those sales. It worked well for amazon.

Johnny Jiron4960d ago

And so do about 90 other games on Amazon...GT5 had a $10 promo, Castlevania $20, Enslaved has $10+Official SoundTrack download...

NewShadow1014960d ago

@windex

when a game sells more than others, that doesnt mean for a fact that its better. i know that its your opinion but when a game makes $200 million dollars, you gotta admit there doing something right. yah there are alot of people that dont like it, but there are WAY MORE people that LOVE IT!

tacosRcool4960d ago

I agree with you. MS over hyped this game along with all of the Halo games. Nintendodogs and many of the crappy games for the Wii and DS are just pure crap and yet they sell millions.

@N4PS3Fanboys
Did you read any of the reviews for all the Halo games? Most reviewers where hardcore Halo fans and even with the many flaws and things they didn't find all to appealing the games got higher scores than they deserved. Everybody can disagree with me all they want. I have played all the Halo games with the exception of Reach, Wars, and ODST and I have to say they are good but not great. Apparently most people who loves Halo never played PC FPS before and thats all they know

Arnon4960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

Halo 3 - 94/100
Halo Wars - 82/100
Halo 3: ODST - 83/100
Halo: Reach - 92/100

So... where does this biased hardcore reviewer come in? Halo's just a good series, and reviewers most certainly addressed the issues in each Halo. If they didn't, they wouldn't have anything lower than a perfect score, right?

CombatEvolving4959d ago

It is more than marketing when a game is played for years by many. If Halo: Reach is anything like 1, 2 or 3 you will be hearing about it for years to come.

gamingdroid4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

"they been giving away the game with 20 dollars for months now."

So now we are complaining about discounts and promotions. I for one, am very happy about discounts!

When you get millions upon millions of people buying Halo: Reach and the reviews are nothing, but stellar, I would say the game is great and the badmouthers just jealous haters!

However, there are plenty of cheap not so great games that sell terrible even at $10-20.

I just don't get it, it is one thing to dislike something popular simply because it doesn't appeal to you, it is another to hate on it....

dillydadally4959d ago

Like Socomnick said, that's the retailers trying to compete with such a highly demanded game, and has nothing to do with the publisher.

I could agree with this article if it talked about nearly any other big budget game out there, but anyone that follows Bungie closely knows that Bungie is everything that is GOOD in the gaming industry right now. I don't know of another gaming company that listens to their customers more than Bungie. They had an open beta with direct changes as a result, a weekly update relaying in depth what they are doing and changing, a forum with a ridiculous amount of posts... of which they read every single post! Halo: Reach is a very good game and it's largely because of the way Bungie approached it. Any other game and company you could use for this article - but whether Halo: Reach is your type of game or not, Bungie is at least doing it right.

Sarcasm4959d ago

^nobody read the article it seems. lol

Johnny Jiron4959d ago

Its about a guy who yearns for the old days of gaming. He also thinks big franchise games will cause repetition amongst the industry causing it to go stale or some such thing. I don't know exactly as I didn't give it my full attention.

This thread of replies is in response to Windex up there. A bit off the topic of the article, but tends to be how these things go.

+ Show (11) more repliesLast reply 4959d ago
outrageous4961d ago

How can a game that stirs interest and massive sales be bad for the industry, let alone M$??? Big games are the motivation for publishers to put up money and developers to key in on a demographic to sell there games to. FPS's have saved gaming this gen...believe it. The only other gaming niche making big money is the casual motion controller craze we are experiencing right now.

@winded...what are you talking about???...of course it reflects the quality and popularity of the game. People buy games they like and want to play. If a game sells poorly then it's because it wasn't what the majority of gamers wanted for whatever reason...plain and simple. Halo has ALWAYS sold well because it has a strong community and the titles are high quality. The give away was a store incentive to bring in customers for what everyone in the industry knew was gonna be a big first day buy...get a grip will ya.

-Alpha4960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

Completely agree.

MS touts Halo Reach as the best, well damn right they do. Do you really think they'd say "Reach is good, but 3 was better"?

And really, I do think Reach is a great game. As for if it's better, that is the opinion of the gamer, personally I find it a lot better than #3. I can follow the story (got lost in #3 as a lack of playing #2) and the multiplayer is as addictive as ever. Show me another FPS that throws in an as much as Bungie does.

I don't understand, it's a huge game and there will obviously be huge hype for it. And I find that the game delivers well. It's a solid title, the MP is still some of the best social fun you can have, and I am liking the SP a lot. Throw in the co-op and it's a great package.

It's typical these days to see major titles get major hype. Comparing it to the industry in the 90's is utterly pointless. The industry was much smaller then, and more importantly there was less ways of hyping things.

Bring in the age of the internet and we have a fanboy breeding ground, but we also have Youtube, gameplay montages,-- a wide assortment of ways to hype a game. The industry is bigger than ever now and with more ways than ever to hype a game it's very common to see this happen.

I honestly have not seen Reach hyped that much at all, if anything Kinect has gotten the real hype these days. I have no problem hyping a good game, but I do have a problem with hyping false promises.

WildArmed4960d ago

Exactly.
Halo Reach is arguably their BIGGEST game since HALO 3.
Ofc, MS is going to Rave about it.
If they don't, they aren't doing justice to Bungie's hard work.
This was Bungie's Big Bang, the world shall learn of it.

Most games now skim out the story co-op for an stand alone co-op.
But not Bungie!
Thank you Bungie for looking out for the co-op gamer.

I honestly would quit gaming if co-op was lost..
Bungie reminds me very well why I love co-op so much.
(did I mention Firefight 2.0 yet?.. if not)

FIREFIGHT 2.0 IS THE SHITZ >.<
ahem.
I should really go pick up reach now..

-Alpha4960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

@SKV

Pick it up so I have friends to play with :P

I don't have many XBL friends.

BTW, are u thinking u'll get into the LBP2 beta? Let's play together :D

On Topic:

Yeah, Bungie has done a great job with Reach and I do think MS has every right to praise it. Truth be told I haven't seen that much hype for Reach, I find MS has put all their eggs into Kinect and the motion war has kept their PR department pretty busy. Anyways, I'm loving Reach, pick it up and I would love to play with you.

SnakeforPresident4960d ago

And HE is whats wrong with gaming journalism. This is almost certainly coming from someone who is simply reminiscent of the days when gaming was for gamers only. I understand this thought. More than once i have wished some games (i.e. MW2) werent dumbed down and set up for the dirty mits of the dreaded casual gamer. But to say that the fact that gaming has gone main stream and developers are catering to people other than hardcore gamers in order to make a profit is ignorant and selfish. And PS MGS4 wants to have a talk to you about franchising.

Convas4960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

@Alpha-Male: GASP! What's this, no friends on XBL!?! We must remedy this situation IMMEDIATELY! Add me, my GT is Convas. See you on live!

antz11044960d ago

@Alpha

Feel free to friend me, I'm just getting into the multi and I love it. Be great to have more friends online w/ it.

antz11044960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

@ Alpha

Love to have more friends playing it online, friend me anytime!

EDIT: Love the double post, lol.

BabyTownFrolics4959d ago

add me if you like

XPC HARDonE - 360
Rowsdower1979 - PS3

-Alpha4959d ago

Thanks guys :D

I have some friends on XBL from N4G, but not that many. Almost everybody adds me on PSN, but my PSN friends list is maxed out

gamingdroid4959d ago

I think the fact that Halo: Reach will stand the test of time and be played for years speaks volume of it's quality.

Halo 3 might not have been the graphical beast, but it certainly was the game play beast because it is still massively played today over 3 years later. How many games can claim that?

WildArmed4959d ago

havn't been playing much of anything recently.
Barely have time to play JC2 (which I borrowed off a friend), would like to finish JC2 b4 diving into Reach and totally forgetting about it.
I'm mostly active on my PS3 over 360 since my lil' brother craves about 6 hours of CoD4 everyday w/ his pals on Live.

But when I do get Reach, I'll definitely hit you up and fire up some online!
Till then I'mma keep leeching some gametime off my friend who has Reach (though I dont know when that may be next time).

theEx1Le4959d ago

Alpha, add me if ya want :). GT is in my profile.

OT: This article seems more of a rant than anything else, I mean I can understand were the author is coming from. But tbh I'm kinda glad gaming isn't what it was 15 years ago or else I dont think there would be the same motivation for developers and publishers to truly raise the bar. I aint saying that Halo Reach does or doesn't do that, but it's a damn good game and better than alot on the market. To be fair though, you really could put the name of any massive title at the start of this article and it wouldn't change the fact that the gaming industry is moving forward in a casual and franchise style way. The jury is still out on whether or not thats a bad thing or not.

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IcarusOne4960d ago

By this author's reasoning, the title should really read:

"Halo, Killzone, Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, Uncharted, God of War, Resistance, Gears of War, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor - basically every successful franchise and developer - is what's wrong with gaming. (And I haven't changed my tampon in three years.)"

Oh, I added that last part for good measure.

Graey4959d ago

Honestly Halo 1 was the best in the series to me. Played Reach for a couple hours, and then had to stop. It makes me sick and light headed. The story was so so...though I'm not well into the game at the moment.

I'll finish it because I want to see how it all pans out. I do understand what he is referring to though. Halo aside and the reason why I picked your specific post was because you mentioned other games as well.

What we fail to see and the authors mistake or rather lack there of in listing other similar examples. Is that the franchise games have become the norm...hell even more so the FPS. Don't you guys see that the FPS is killing the industry. They know that the single player can be crap to an okay experience as long as the multiplayer is where its at. That is the golden ticket.

No one gives a F#$% about the single player experience(figure of speech) but they pore so much into the Multiplayer aspect. Simply because its an ego based thing. I spoke to a friend about this very thing.

Look- Halo,MOH, BBC, COD...all multiplayer and they prolong the life of it by giving medals to say hey you are better than the people around you. Its an ego thing. Hey you have better gear, weapons, emblems, names, whatever to say your better. Then the elitists of said game judge the new players and shun them for being new, inexperienced. What does that tell you...

Same with Trophies and Achievements. They are designed to great an ego based retalitory system. You get lvl 6, then your friends and others see your level. they try and get higher and vice versa. All for bragging rights. I'm not saying in its essence that its bad. However I am saying that the companies know this. Activision is a perfect example. Adding Multiplayer only to extend the game, release DLC what a week after the game was released.

I'm telling you, we as gamers better open our eyes before that sh!t is to late.

gamingdroid4959d ago

Might be, but the way I see it is just natural progression of what people want and are willing to pay for.

I'm looking back and compare these old games to todays and man are those games crappy by todays standard of course.

These newer sequels are humongous games that packs in so much quality entertainment that the industry itself is almost unable to support itself due to the cost of making them.

dtalon34959d ago

can we write an article about how Wannabe "Journalists" (if you can even call them that) put up their opinion on N4G and its fucking sad. Poor writing, Poor subject matter, Poor reasoning...

find new damn hobby and get off my news site, dumb ass opinion pieces are not what I come here to read...news please.

YoshiMeetsU4960d ago

So now we are complaining when a game is good and successful and the company brags about it?

So I expect the same complaints when the new Donkey Kong or GT5 hits.

This industry doesn't run on love and warm fuzzies. It is about money, and the industry needs hits and hype(which keeps its buzz in popular culture) to keep it running.

EvilBlackCat4960d ago (Edited 4960d ago )

Its business but please dont make a jackass of yourself you know Halo Reach Competitive Multiplayer Rocks.

timmyrulz4960d ago

Fanboys and haters are bad forthe industry, brilliant games that make money are good for the industry - simple maths really

n4gno4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

"Gosh the jealousy here of MS being in the position many of you want SOny to be in is just astounding"

lol ?! not a single real gamers wants sony to be in the position of ms, with billions dollars rrods and marketing (instead of game production and good hardware), no more than 2,3 (maximum) good exclusives/year (always the same), no bluray, no free online, no good motion controler, 3d, etc

and by the way, sony has, and sell more software than microsoft now, even if halo sell much than any other exclusives (1X10 millions, don't beat 6X4 millions)

jetlian4959d ago

what are these 6x4 million you speak of?

number474959d ago

Its the only large franchise out there that gets 40 million in advertising. Sure, Gears gets a few bucks, but Forza didn't. Mass Effect didn't. Banjo Kazooie didn't, and Alan Wake got 4 commercials that aired at 7am on a sunday.

I have no problem with Halo. Its a good franchise, but its forced down the throats of Xbox Culture. Microsoft never boasts of the rich gameplay of Halo in any interview. They just quote #'s, so please stop pretending that "NOT ONLY DOES IT SELL 8 Mill.."..

Mutiplayer options aren't a games features, its not cutting edge technology in the same way a new game engine is or something like that. You guys would have heart attacks to see FPS options on PCs.

Fortunately, Halo is the only series that this advertising will work with. Halo has been Maddenized, now all thats going to happen will be a worse and worse single player campaign, and more PC-Centric FPS multiplayer features and settings. Hating halo is pointless, because it just IS. But its nothing to brag about when you spend what it would cost to make a more diverse game lineup for your audience, on commercials just to show the other guy up. Microsoft does an amazing job selling hardware --IN THE UNITED STATES ALONE--, but lets not forget that gap is closing.

Microsoft has had 1 halo like franchise in 2 consoles lifetimes.

It really only does Halo, which is fine. But at times like this when you only have Kinect and Gears to look foward to, well, I'd imagine some people wished they spent the money wisely.

palaeomerus4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

I tend to like the big third party games better than the exclusives(including most of the PS3 exclusives) anyway so it's really not much of an issue at all.

Sorry that you are so upset about it.

jetlian4959d ago

how many sony franchises have halo like status....1 GT and it may not be as strong as before!!!! and thats 3 console life times

how many ps3 exclusives get good commercials hmmmm?

ZombieNinjaPanda4959d ago

I'd just like to point out to everyone here that sales do not make a great game (Call of Duty for example).

But Halo Reach is indeed a great game. I've been playing it a lot, and enjoy it, so I do not feel that there is anything wrong with it.

However I do see what the writer is trying to say. That publishers/developers are only in the games industry now to make a quick buck, and aren't doing anything new or unique or trying to further it.

Mista T4959d ago (Edited 4959d ago )

Halo Reach should be what the Games industry should be, if you compare Halo Reach and other shooters in the same genre, it'd be a crime because of the number of features :P

plus Halo Reach reminds me of Timesplitters because of split screen and custom maps

mastiffchild4959d ago

I can't see for a second why anyone is offended by this or feels it's an attack on Halo Reach at all. It's just an easy illustrating game for a point which could have easily used Fifa 11, COD:BO or any number of games from Madden to MoH to say that he's concerned that devs and publishers aren't as supportive of various game types as they once were-that they have become more and more worried about the bottom line and gamers get more of the same with tweaks rather than truly forward thinking and looking games these days.

As the industry has grown this IS a trend and devs make more and more sequels and rehashes as opposed to new IPs and especially IPs in niche/new genres. I like shooters as much as the next genre, I like my sports games too but publishers these days are more run by the money men than the creatives and that's why we get more Reach and fewer off-the-wall and amazingly new ideas. Sure, we NEED our blockbuster sure fire winners(esp when their success is warranted by quality)but do we do ourselves, the industry and gaming in general any good by having them so damn often? It runs the risk of overkill and us running out of a desire for the games and makes it hard to keep the developers coming up with new tweaks, stops them feeling fresh about the games they're making.

If we want a narrower range of games year over then we should say nothing-and even if I don't think he presented it that well(he lost his point by using Reach as people were always going to think it was an attack on the series and refuse to see the real point)I DO think a lot of us would agree that there doesn't NEED to be a full retail release every year of series like Madden, The Show,Fifa , COD and should Halo, Killzone and the like have releases so soon after the last? We could have an update for the sports games one year(new squads, kits, lists for entry to competitions)as a paid for slice of DLC allowing their team a fuller amount of dev time to sort out the next retail release. As for the shooters we ARE reaching saturation point and I will be amazed if we don't, in the newer franchises and IPs, see a few big failures soon as I always think you can have too much of a good thing.

Halo is pretty much unique in that it's the only game here synonymous with it's platform and as such is pretty bullet proof, imo, but even something as massive as COD could start to pall esp if Kotick keeps them cutting corners and making us pay extra for every little thing. Wouldn't it also be healthier for gaming, gamers and the industry to spread the risk a little rather than going boom and bust on genres like we seem to now? I'm as guilty as the next guy of lapping up games without thinking but I DO think this shooter and safety obsession with shooters and sports games may hurt us all longer term. Just think how many upcoming games are either TPS or FPS compared to other kinds of games and it seems highly unlikely the market can support them all while other genres seem almost deserted.

I just wish he'd got us talking about the issue rather than this being another Halo Reach thread when it was never the point and he never really attacked it as a game.

TROLL EATER4959d ago

has some truth in it. halo's evolution has been copied and pasted to many times with epic fail games.ps3 has like a dozen fps games

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bennygunner4961d ago

i is enjoy reach wit all my friend in a long time wen i is think of oda game we play.we's play dis game more den other game like cal of dut but we play world cup sometime.there nothing wrong wit reach it so fun and funniest wit friends and it offer so much hour to play like wit story or forge and even mapping play.

ndibu4961d ago

We ARE just spewing random nonsenser right?

ardivt4961d ago

still we have the mobile market and with it many indie developers making money again. just look at the huge success of "cheap" games like peggle or minecraft.

peowpeow4960d ago

Doodlejump for iphone/itouch, whooping sales!

4961d ago Replies(3)
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90°

6 Friendliest Characters in Games

GF365: "Oftentimes, video games have characters who are antagonistic and really not very pleasant. Here are some of the friendliest characters in games where you might not otherwise expect to find them."

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gamefreaks365.com
thorstein239d ago

Dogmeat: *bark!*

Translation: you are dead to me.

JSONEHUNDRED239d ago

You can probably add Karlach to this from BG3

150°

10 Best Lore-Rich Video Games

Talented writers can build worlds that are as wondrous as real-life. Here are the best lore-rich video games for you to get immersed in.

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gamefreaks365.com
shinoff2183475d ago

How'd fallout not make the list. Atleast over cyberpunk, tales , and halo. Fallout been around since what 96 98 and has 5 6 games into it. It's full of lore when you play it. I'd even add star ocean to a point.

robtion474d ago

Agree Fallout should be on there.

MadLad474d ago

And somehow Planescape Torment doesn't even make the list.

Crows90474d ago

Hollow knight surpasses these.

shinoff2183474d ago

In lore? I must be missing something

Crows90474d ago (Edited 474d ago )

Yes in lore. Easily missed... absolutely. Never played a game that had me loving the world and lore behind it as much as that one. Most of course wouldn't be able to experience it since it is a more difficult game.

DarXyde474d ago

I can't speak for all titles on this list, but by the time you get to Dark Souls III, the lore is a bloody tapestry of intricacy

Crows90473d ago

Played them all. Im not saying the games on the list dont have good lore...I just think hollow knight had more lore that is hidden but present and more easily explored and accessed. The souls games have tremendous lore but theyre mostly hidden and stay that way unless you look for it and research it. The lore is not very accessible.

DarXyde473d ago

Crows90,

I think that's a somewhat fair assessment. For me, the Souls games are less upfront about the lore, but it does invite your fascination through NPCs, items, locations, bosses, etc. There's this kind of natural progression where the picture becomes just clear enough by doing the essential tasks, but it really makes you want to explore every inch of the world.

TheColbertinator474d ago

Suikoden and Legend of Heroes also have massive lore setups.

agent13474d ago

narration is more important than lore i'd rather watch the story and characters in a more cinematic way instead of searching for notes and stuff that's why i love sony exclusive games like uncharted and gow and hate from software games

shinoff2183473d ago

The article was top ten lore in video games. I think they did a bad job picking games out. I know what you mean though. I just like a variety of games and genres.

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220°

Halo’s best Bungie campaign has its worst feature fixed after 12 years

Halo’s best ever campaign mode developed by Bungie has had its most annoying feature fixed after more than a decade, making the sci-fi FPS game better than ever

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pcgamesn.com
SullysCigar560d ago

Awesome news - so can we look forward to playing Halo: Infinite with no online issues circa 2033?

just_looken559d ago

"You can download the improved Reach AI mod at Mod DB" This was a mod 343 did nothing so the online will be fixed in our dreams.

SullysCigar559d ago

Par for the course with 343.

Profchaos558d ago

They did say they had a 10 year plan for infinite we just all assumed it would be DLC could of been a 10 year netcode rollout.

But seriously this is a mod the community won't be able to modify infinite in the same way

Cikatriz_ESP559d ago

Combat Evolved was the best campaign, and it's not even close.

just_looken559d ago

You should have tried this version of reach when it first came out remastered for a year there was no sound because 343 could not locate the sound files.

It was a special challenge.

badz149559d ago

more like the bunch at 343i are simply mentally challenged

ACEMANWISE559d ago

Well I guess 12 years is faster than most fixes. I guess this is a cheap way to "remaster" something nowadays.....by just fixing something that used to always be broken.

zidane1341559d ago

Did you even read the article? This is a mod to improve AI from back almost 2 gens ago. Nobody is claiming this is remastering anything. Yeesh.

Crows90558d ago

Halo is dead. Microsoft has other shooter franchises it cares more about now. 343 are no longer Xbox golden studio. They are likely to shift things around or even close it all together and give the IP to someone else.

343i decided to pummel the IP into the ground...and when they see it didn't quite look like Glenn's face they decided to just keep on pummeling. Not sure if Glenn is the IP or the fanbase in this case though.

Profchaos558d ago

343 were never the golden studio they were a hastily thrown together b team when bungie said we want to do something else cya

Crows90558d ago

Well ...I didn't want to say it but I agree. Makes you wonder why Microsoft gave them the IP and didn't keep Bungie or any of the talent they acquired from any studio.

CobraKai558d ago

“ Halo Infinite, Halo 3, or Halo: Combat Evolved. It’s hard to say which of the sci-fi FPS games offers the best experience all round.”
He lost me with Halo Infinite.

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