90°

Is Halo Still Popular?

Leviathyn.com | It’s been 11 years since the first Halo came out, and the video game world has changed. There’s new games, and there are new gamers. And at some point within the last decade Halo started to take a back seat in the video game world. It wasn’t the game that everyone was playing anymore, it was the game that everyone remembered fondly. Halo 3 was supposed to be the last of the series. It was the end to an era of the truly epic Halo campaign .. But by next week the world will experience Halo 4.

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leviathyn.com
LX-General-Kaos4190d ago (Edited 4190d ago )

Halo as of right now is the most popular first person exclusive shooter in the industry today.

At this point in time, no other home console exclusive first person shooter can match Halos loyal fan base. In just a weeks time, Halo 4 will likely surpass the install base of most non Halo shooter titles before and after its release. The question of "is Halo still popular" is almost of comedic value as Halo 4 has gone far beyond a million pre orders.

If history is any indication. Halo 4 will also see some of the heaviest traffic filled online servers on xbox live. And likely more played online sessions than most games existing on console.

The release of a numbered Halo offering is to millions known as a national holiday for gaming. Many will likely call out sick from work, unfortunately skip school, and neglect many aspects of life to be part of the day one experience. I know that I will. The waiting line at midnight for Halo 4 will be devastatingly long for many.

Rated E For Everyone

yesmynameissumo4190d ago (Edited 4190d ago )

No. For better or worse, Call of Duty is.

Ahh, you added *exclusive*.

mandf4190d ago (Edited 4190d ago )

Technically you are right. Call of Duty has outsold Halo on the 360 but the word exclusive makes people feel better.

The first Halo is still my favorite FPS.

marcmjm4190d ago

You both are full of shit. I hope you know that.

bubblebeam4190d ago

1 million pre-orders is popular in my book.
Games like Dishonored, Xcom, Darksiders 2, Sleeping dogs will probably never sell as much as Halo 4 in its first week. And they are actually great games.

It isn't the biggest game, but certainly is the 2nd biggest this year (behind CoD).

MasterD9194190d ago

Halo 3 came out in 2007...Halo 4 2012. Fans have been waiting for Halo 4 for just about 5 years now.

It's going to be huge. XBL will see probably one of their biggest jumps in online players any game has seen so far yet when this game comes out. It has a hell of a build-up and already is getting rave reviews. So is it popular? Yeah, you could say that.

BiggCMan4190d ago

Besides the fact that 4 is the next numbered game, Halo Reach is still a real part of the story, it's canon. So in a sense, it's the 4th Halo game in terms of the story itself. And Halo 4 could be considered the 5th. Either way, Reach was the next BIG Halo release, not Halo 4. Now that follows reach, and that was two years ago.

bubblebeam4190d ago

@BiggCMan

I have no idea what you were talking about. ODST and Wars are canon also.

Reach was a prequel to Halo: CE, and didn't feature the Master Chief (well, only for an easter egg). Halo and Master Chief go hand in hand.

Reach has done a bit over 9 million sales, although it had higher pre-orders than Halo 4. Halo 4 will probably surpass it, but that depends on if Black Ops 2 is good or not, as CoD fans might not want to jump ship.

Belking4190d ago

Halo is the most popular shooter ever. If you don't believe that wait until Nov 6 and you'll see.

stage884190d ago

*Call of Duty

But yes, Halo will do very well.

digger184190d ago (Edited 4190d ago )

We will see. As I said in an earlier post, when I pre ordered mine at Gamestation, I was just one of three pre orders. I asked about midnight launch and they said no because not enough interest in Halo any more. Its all about Call of Duty all the bloody time.

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50°

Master Chief Became More Than A Machine In 343's Halo

In Halo 4, 5, and Infinite, Master Chief became a more nuanced, human character.

In spite of the Halo series’ struggles, 343 deserves praise for adding nuance and characterisation to the ever-beating heart of Halo - The Master Chief. Playing through Infinite, it's abundantly clear that the events of the current and previous trilogies have irrevocably changed the iconic hero. He’s no longer the ‘blank slate’ that was previously presented by Bungie. He’s a fatigued, damaged and fallible protagonist, and one who is meandering through currents of grief, while reveling in his newfound agency. Giving the Chief a compelling and meaningful voice was no small feat, and 343 should be proud of that victory.

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thegamer.com
kingnick406d ago

This article completely misses part of the appeal of the original iteration of character in the original game trilogy. It was the Chief and Cortana vs an entire alien collective. The blank slate Bungie displayed in their games was genius, he was an mysterious hero a wide audience could identify with because he wasn't as clearly defined as most characters.

The books added a lot of lore and backstory but most Halo players just want a fun game with exposition that doesn't get in the way of gameplay, it's why the Cortana level in Halo 3 was derided.

Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty.

BandarHub405d ago

A lot of people give the 343 version of Master Chief a lot of slack.
But Fundamentally he is still the same character, he just has a couple more dialogues. He has not changed in terms of attitude.
"Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty."
And that's what he has done at the end of the day, he did his duty. Watch his partner die, and was ready to destroy the weapon in Halo infinite....he is still the same soilder that everyone remembers

Halo Infintes one was a nice balance between both.

slate91405d ago

Chief and the halo franchise became a joke under 343

Sciurus_vulgaris405d ago

The 343i Master Chief has is based on the books. However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion.

Obscure_Observer405d ago

"However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion."

Which is awesome! I love how Master Chief become more John and less soldier.

Sciurus_vulgaris405d ago

I didn’t even notice my typos,lol

50°

Halo's Identity Problem Began With an Admirable Mess

It’s a law of nature that eventually, every long-running game franchise will have a particular entry that gets dinged for straying too far from what made it so fun in the first place. Your Super Mario Sunshine, your Dragon Age II, Assassin’s Creed III, and so on. Whether or not that opinion changes more favorably over time, the initial specter of negativity will forever hover it. Microsoft’s Halo is no exception, except that negative specter hasn’t hovered over one particular game, but one whole studio.

The3faces525d ago

True Halo 4 was a sign of 343i's incompetence and the decline of Halo.

180°

10 Years Later, Halo 4 Proves Itself a Disappointing Omen for Halo Infinite

Halo 4 released 10 years ago today, and its disappointing reception was just an omen of things to come with 343 Industries at the helm.

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gamerant.com
Sonyslave3534d ago (Edited 534d ago )

Halo 4 and infinite have a 87 on metacritic and five a 84🤣. 343i need contents and everything else will play it self out.

ChasterMies533d ago

Halo 4, 5, and Infinite reviews are good examples of the pressure on review sites to score everything between 8-10 out of 10.

ChubbyBlade533d ago

As if reviews scores are any indication of a franchises health.

Halo has been in shambles for YEARS

-Foxtrot534d ago

Halo 4-6 are like the Star Wars sequel trilogy

They all just seem like a brand new games with small connections to the last one but no solid arc connecting them, you’re just told stuff that happened off screen in between the games and nothing makes sense

It’s like they didn’t plan a new trilogy out

CoNn3rB533d ago

That's actually a pretty good way to sum it up

LucasRuinedChildhood533d ago (Edited 533d ago )

I would argue that the new Star Wars trilogy is still better. lol

Most Halo fans would kill for the equivalent of The Force Awakens at this stage (a competent rehash of what came before it). Halo Infinite tried to be that but was undercooked and failed. Halo 4 wasn't that either - they started messing with the formula straight away although the story was okay.

There was nothing particularly compelling about Halo 5's story besides the fake plot they advertised. The Last Jedi is a divisive movie but as RedLetterMedia would say, it was "sporadically interesting" because it tried some new things and set up things that could have been great (like Kylo teaming up with Rey after backstabbing Snoke). That conversation with Yoda is great and it felt like the real Yoda, not that CGI thing in the prequels.
- "Skywalker, still looking to the horizon. Never here, now, hmm? The need in front of your nose."
- "The greatest teacher, failure is ... Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters."
- "That library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess." (because she already took them, haha).

The Rise Of Skywalker is the only one where loads of stuff happens off screen ("Palpatine has returned") in between and nothing makes sense because ... they just needed a main villain and 100 star destroyers to blow up. They could have done something much better.

MrChow666533d ago

no, all disney star wars sucks also disney marvel and everything godamn disney touches

534d ago Replies(3)
Yui_Suzumiya533d ago

Um, didn't Halo 4 have the best campaign out of the new Trilogy? Lol

ChubbyBlade533d ago

Yep and even then it wasn’t very good.

Levii_92533d ago

I'm getting a good gaming laptop soon and i'm finally going to play through the Halo franchise again plus Infinite but i never played Halo 4 before .. can anyone tell me how's the campaign in comparison to the games before it and compared to Halo 5 ?

Stanjara533d ago

Halo 4 campaign great, multi bad.
Halo 5 campaign trash, multi good.

Best Cortana halo 4.

ChubbyBlade533d ago (Edited 533d ago )

Halo 4 was when they started turning it into a “modern” game. Aka taking tips from CoD.

The older titles were sandbox based with weapons that all filled a niche and vehicles that did the same. Open levels with multiple ways to approach in different spots with different weapons etc.

Halo 4/5 doesn’t have that. It’s a linear shooter and nothing else. The story is alright but that’s about it. If it wasn’t a halo game, it would be ok but because it is a halo game, it’s outshone by the previous games.

It’s a hell of a lot better than 5 though. I found infinite pretty meh

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