130°

State of Halo: Is This ‘AAA’ Franchise Being Relegated to the Back of the FPS Pack?

MP1st - A quick perusal of ‘fan-sites‘ has plenty of reasons for the decline of this stalwart franchise ranging from 343 Industries not knowing how to make a proper Halo game to the inclusion of Armor Abilities still ruining the core gameplay of Halo yore. This begs the question: Are we witnessing the demise of the Halo franchise as we know it, or are the concerns overblown?

pacostacos3913d ago (Edited 3913d ago )

simple answer...No!
its still a top tier Fps, its still huge in terms of popularity, and it still gunna sell consoles, and its the best exclusive Fps of all the consoles (Sony, Nintendo). For 343i first attempt at Halo it was a pretty damn good one!

Hufandpuf3913d ago Show
3913d ago Replies(5)
StoutBEER3913d ago

Agreed. Not perfect at all but atleast 343 had the balls to try something, multiple things that were new. I'd rather them experiment and alter and listen to feedback rather than listen to the "mlg" players and stick with the same cause it's safe. I still play ALOT of Halo 4 and am very glad they are listening. The Pit is prob my fav Halo map next to Guardian, so yea I think they're are doing a great job with feedback.

StoutBEER3913d ago

Oh and my name on here is exactlt as is on XBL. So if you wanna play Halo sometime people feel free to send me a message.

Starbucks_Fan3913d ago

Halo 5 won't make me buy a Xbox One

T23912d ago

True but it still kicks most fps ass, always had coop , mp , great graphics, vehicles, weird cool weapons.
HArd to stay on top but always solid

walkincarpet3912d ago

It's true that Halo 4 makes Sony FPS exclusives look like B games but we can't compare Halo to other systems. The sad fact is Halo has lost its touch beginning with the Halo 3 on 360. And then MS oversaturated gamers with three more iterations that followed the same Halo 1~3 formula while BF and COD began their campaign to give Halo a major spanking and Gears of War took its place as the Xbox exclusive king.

Halo is already on the its last leg but MS has opportunity to bring it back from the grave with the next release. If its same formula with better graphics and a few kinect/smart glass features then consider it dead as starwars battle front, division, destiny, titanfall, epic's secret game, etc..ect will be joining BF and COD at a level that is simply higher than the Halo 1~4 forumula.

Halo needs to change or die.

DasTier3910d ago

"The sad fact is Halo has lost its touch beginning with the Halo 3 on 360."

I disagree completely, Halo 3 was the pinnacle of the franchise and one of the greatest games of this generation. You'd hard pressed to find a more complete game which offered more replay value and feature more things to do than Halo 3. The groundbreaking multiplayer, awesome sandbox campaign, innovative Forge, 4 player co-op and unlike most modern FPS games it wasn't designed to be replaced a year later.

3-4-53912d ago

The FPS market is becoming more crowded but this time with actual good games.

Killzone, Planetside 2, Titanfall,Destiny, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty:Ghosts

Halo doesn't have to compete against just COD any more.

BF is more anticipated than COD, Titanfall is much anticipated, Destiny will gain it's own huge following ( RPG crowd), and Killzone looks different/good.

Halo & COD both have much stronger competition and they won't be as dominate in sales or in players online.

why can't people see this ?

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3910d ago
pedrof933913d ago

Well the halo makers left the ship.

I'm sure Destiny will be great.

Though halo 4 was good. Just not has good.

3913d ago Replies(6)
walkincarpet3912d ago

Actually Halo 4 technically was very impressive and the reason why I have hope that MS can still put Halo up there with the other AAA FPS. So there isn't a question if 343 can maximize X1 technology, but it remains to be seen if they can recalibrate Halo to compete with the new standard of FPS gameplay and customization.

T23912d ago

True its starting to look like bungie was great , more so than halo just by name

DasTier3909d ago

Bungie had lost touch as well, Reach was one of the most disappointing games in the franchise, they took out all the fun from Halo 3 which led the way for the very streamlined Halo 4, which has killed custom games.

theWB273913d ago

Doubt it. Combination of things happened...one of them was generation fatigue. If it performs this low once Halo 5 drops next gen...then that'll be surprising.

pacostacos3913d ago

also Cod took alot of the Fps market seeing as it is the number one played amd selling games on both consoles. Though is see that decreasing next fen when Cod players finally what a hole cod has become

theWB273913d ago

Agree. Even though I wasn't one of those people. It's ridiculous how much that thing sold though.

SgtMofo3912d ago

I was alluding to this a bit in the article, but when the CoD:MW beta came out, it really gave people pause about which title to pick up.

Wni03913d ago

Thanks Halo for killing my favorite franchise TimeSplitters.

May you rot in hell.

Spurg3913d ago

Why do people bash Halo:ODST as if the game was a piece of shit. 4 player campaign co op,firefight with 4 player and halo 3 multiplayer with all the map packs. You can more here than you get for an average game.

Halo can't fail is one of the best FPSs out there. And the article seems to have been written by some pissed off retard who hate armor lock. He briefly mentions the story at the end as if Halos story is an afterthought when in the contrary it what drives Halo. And prove of that are the vast array of novels, comics and mini series(Emmy nominated series like 'Halo 4: 'Forward onto Dawn')and now with a newly announced TV series by Steven Spielberg the series seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

Truehellfire3912d ago

I don't think people hated ODST for the actual game. Most people bashed it because of the price it was released at. I personally liked the game quite a bit, but it definitely wasn't worth $60. Sure, it came with all the map packs for Halo 3, but majority of die hard Halo fans already had those.

SgtMofo3912d ago

The Halo canon is vast and the campaign story plays an integral role in players attachment to the franchise. However, it's hard to judge the ODST campaign without factoring in the price point and the city acting as a 'hub' to artificially extend the game. If all the missions just played out sequentially without trudging through New Mombasa between each one, the game could've been completed in 3 to 4 hours.

DasTier3909d ago

I liked it but the main problem I had is that the ODST's were far to strong. I wanted it to be an unforgiving tactical fps akin to Rainbow Six, but the ODST had more health on Legendary than Masterchief!

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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.

Read Full Story >>
thegamer.com
kingnick401d 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.

BandarHub400d 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.

slate91400d ago

Chief and the halo franchise became a joke under 343

Sciurus_vulgaris400d 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_Observer400d 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_vulgaris400d 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.

The3faces521d 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.

Read Full Story >>
gamerant.com
Sonyslave3529d ago (Edited 529d 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.

ChasterMies529d 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.

ChubbyBlade529d ago

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

Halo has been in shambles for YEARS

-Foxtrot529d 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

CoNn3rB529d ago

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

LucasRuinedChildhood529d ago (Edited 529d 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.

MrChow666529d ago

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

529d ago Replies(3)
Yui_Suzumiya529d ago

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

ChubbyBlade529d ago

Yep and even then it wasn’t very good.

Levii_92529d 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 ?

Stanjara529d ago

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

Best Cortana halo 4.

ChubbyBlade529d ago (Edited 529d 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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