Halo Lost It's Magic And It Isn't Coming Back

Halo used to be a juggernaut in the gaming industry. Its success is the reason the Xbox even exists today, with Halo serving as the system-selling launch title for the original Xbox. When the 360 came around, Halo 3 continued to sell Microsoft consoles and became the highest grossing game in the series.

[EatCrow]

Nah. It gained magic for me with Halo 4. Finally a deeper interaction between cortana and cheif.

Halo 6 does need to impress with splitscreen return and same amount of co op and lan multiplayer experiences.
In fact they should add even more. Challenges and time trails etc

Halo 6 needs to be big if it doesnt then this gen could be the weakest gen for MS in terms of heavy hitters.

Granted I enjoyed Gears4 quite a bit. The mechs at the end though...why werent they there more!

[ARESWARLORD]

Halo still fantastic this is just click bait

[4Sh0w]

Yeah, whatever opinions are great, he seems like he has an axe to grind with Halo, his criticism doesnt make alot of sense. Halo5 is great, I liked the story, it was a fresh take with the squad based gameplay and it was really well done to me and of course the multiplayer is still rocking hard as part of my gaming rotation. 343 is building on their success each time so Halo6 will no doubt kick azz= 'meh so yeah that's his opinion but millions disagree.

[bennissimo]

JackStraw, 100%. Don't publish online if you can't write.

[ULTp0ltergeist]

Exactly, the game is competitive and fun. At least I know why I died and improve on my game.

[Skull521]

My only problem with 5 is the Spartan Locke crap, which unfortunately is most of the campaign. People want Master Chief. They made the same mistake in Halo 2 with the Arbiter, and apparently forgot about it and repeated it. Halo's main story is Master Chief's story. Do all the offshoots you want.

I'll have the same criticism if Rey isn't a Skywalker lol...

[Sono421]

All milked franchises lose their magic.. because they're being milked.. I think another reason Halo is losing it because it's no longer Bungie. But same goes for Assassins Creed and Call of Duty. Nothing is better than a completely new experience, so the more they try to resell you on the same experience the less and less you're going to feel the initial magic. This isn't hating it's just how it is. Now Nintendo does milking right, every new Mario/Zelda are like an entirely different experience yet similar to the last. They change them up more than enough so that they still feel fresh every time and you really have to applaud Nintendo for doing so. Same actually goes for sonic (For better or worse) most of his games seem distinctively different from each other. Fanboys can get upset by this all the want but it's true and i'm not favoring Sony but they don't exactly have franchises that got milked to death, most haven't even gotten up to 2 sequels and the ones that have either stopped there or maybe went one more. The only one I can think of that really stands out is LBP and that was already entirely burnt out with LBP3, it lost all of it's inital magic to me anyway.

[Skull521]

Or you know you can go the Sony route. Quick Time Fest: Uncharted, God of War, Killzone, Infamous, blah blah blah, every trash game, Spider Man, Until Dawn. Do you want to play games, or do you want to quickly press a button every couple of minutes? I mean Jesus, Sony is more out of touch then democrats these days and that is saying a lot.

[ForeverTheGoat]

I agree. Halo 5 probably had the best multiplayer out the series.

[Concertoine]

Multiplayer is half the picture when it comes to Halo though. For me, 343 have yet to make a single player that i find worthwhile. Halo 4 was a nice first step and Halo 5 fell flat on its place in the campaign.

[GottaBjimmyb]

Multiplayer was fine, but I gotta say, I have moved on from halo since 3, the maps have become just terrible IMO. The big thrill of halo was always the amazing maps and balanced weapons. It is basically the same as most other shooters at this point for me.

On paper halo 5 multiplayer IS way better, but in practice, just wasn't for me.

[Irishguy95]

The new games have meh level design and plot

[EatCrow]

The previous games had even less plot and more repeated corridor level design...not sure what games you played.

[Concertoine]

@EatCrow

You're right, but less plot is not worse. The simplicity was so much better.

Also, maybe Halo 1 and Reach had a lot of corridors but 2 and 3 definitely didnt. Tons of massive open levels.

[Princess_Pilfer]

Yeah, no.

Story wise, Reach is the best it got. The story (not to be confused with the lore) of the series was never brilliant, but at least Reach made a solid effort to address the problems caused by creating a narrative centered around Super Soldier Gary Stew. It's success was hit and miss, but at least it actually tried to tell a story more interesting than "unstoppable spartan genocides way to victory over increasingly powerful and numerous enemies." Halo 4 went right back to the old formulae and it's just as tired and dull as it was 9 years ago.

Also, Bungie are just better at shooters. Say what you want about balance or map design or whatever, I don't care, the guns in Halo 1 through Reach feel better to shoot. As far as I'm concerned, that's the single most important aspect of any shooter and Bungie is (or at least was, haven't played Destiny or DOOM) the best in the industry at that aspect of shooters. (Note: I'm not saying 343 are bad at gunplay, I'm saying they aren't Bungie. )

Given that the story is still mediocre and the quality of the actual gunplay went down, why would I not play something like Borderlands 2 with equally good gunplay but *much* more variety?

[EatCrow]

Given that the story is still mediocre and the quality of the actual gunplay went down, why would I not play something like Borderlands 2 with equally good gunplay but *much* more variety?

This is where I disagree with your opinion. IF you actually feel the borderlands 2 is equal in gunplay then halo I get a better understanding of where youre coming from. Also something tells me you havent played the older ones in a while or havent played halo 5. Gunplay is incredible and feels more heavy like a dude in a mechy suit would.
The added, but limited, maneuverability adds quite a bit to the gunplay as well.

[Shadowlee]

Story wise, everyone has opinions but your gun argument!!! WTF ARE YOU SMOKING! Halo 5 hands does has the best balance to date. More weapons, each being unique and useful.No matter the gun youre stuck With good accuracy you have killing spree potential. Halo 2-reach can not say that. Good autos and 5-6sk pistol in a field of 4sk-6sk weapons vs 10sk pistol in a 4sk br fest with weak useless autos. you tellin me the 10sk pistol game did it better? Gtfoh

[Princess_Pilfer]

Equal to halo 1 through reach? No. Equal to Halo 4 and 5? Yeah. (Though its It's obviously a completely different type of shooter.)

In fact I have. I last played Halo Reach and Halo 1 ~ 2 years ago.

Also, no? Dude in mechanical super armor that greatly increases their strength woudln't make weapons feel heavy, it would make weapons feel light. Spartans can flip over tanks, any gun a normal human could use effectively would feel like a squirt gun to a spartan. Besides, I never said anything about them feeling realistic, I said they felt good.

@Shadowlee
Way to not actually absorb anything I said. I specifically disregard balance because balance is the *least* important part of a fun shooter. If the game is balanced but the guns feel bad it's a bad experience. If the guns feel good but the game isn't balanced then playing the game is still fun because the actual gameplay still feels good.

And yeah, the Halo storeis are all mediocre. If you think otherwise, I pity you. Go read The Stand or play Fallout 2, then come back. They're perfectly servicable for an action game (ie they let you solve all your problems by shooting things and give you a reason to feel justified in doing so) but that's about it.

[Geoff900]

I think MS need to focus on longer Single Player Games, Gear 4 was good but it was too short!! Same with Halo 5, it seems they want to always focus on Multiplayer not saying I don't enjoy MP, but they do need to do single player.

I really think this is where Sony/Nintendo differ to MS, MS seem to neglect single player, heck they don't do many Solo SP games as they used to, which is a shame.

[samden]

Halo 4, you mean the game where you run for 30 minutes, shoot 5 aliens, then press a button to open a door, walk 5 minutes, press another button to open a door, turn the corner, press another button to open a door. Repeat. That Halo 4?

[EatCrow]

What Halo 4 where you playing???

[-Foxtrot]

" Finally a deeper interaction between cortana and cheif "

Only to throw that away in Halo 5

They decided to turn it into a generic squad based co-op game which ironically dosen't support split screen and got rid of that Cortana/Chief dynamic. Adding in co-op and making it a story feature aswell as a gameplay one is asking for trouble, people were fine with drop in/drop out co-op where you play as a random Spartan because they didn't have to waste their time thinking about the other players when telling the story. All of a sudden with Halo 5 you have this new guy, Locke nobody gives a shit about, his team mates who again we don't care about then for Chief you bring in his old Squad Blue Team despite the fact the games have never went into his relationship with them...yes the novels have but not the games, suddenly after all the shit he's been through by himself it's like "Oh sorry we're late Chief, buddy old pal, we're here now to help you". Sorry but you don't do that 5 games in.

Halo 6, and I don't care how, need to put Cortana and Chief back together but being against each other it might be tricky. He needs to become a lone wolf again.

[PhoenixUp]

"Their first big project in the series was a remaster of Combat Evolved and, despite positive reviews, it wasn’t anything new."

Well no shit it wasn't new, it's a remaster 😑

[EatCrow]

Actually it felt pretty new to me.
The massive graphics and cinematic updates definitely turned it into a new experience.
Me and my bro played it co op heroic through the whole thing. It was great.

[Shadowlee]

I played h2a with the updates graphics but halocea i stay with the original. It had the Best elite models imo plus memory lane. I also prefer the classic captain keys

[BumpFrankie]

It also was one, if not the first, to run the remaster simultaneously with the original that you can switch to instantaneously on the fly with a push of the button. It's not groundbreaking but still pretty cool

[Geoff900]

Seems that Sony can get away with doing remaster after remaster but MS not so much... lol

[Sam Fisher]

@geoff900

Almost everyone here is just talking about ms or halo, why must you bring in a comment like that knowing you going to create another console war? Mind you i am a sony fan and i think your comment is plainly distasteful. Ive played from halo 1 to 4, best ones were 3 and reach. I stopped at 4 bc thats when i felt that halo was going the cod direction, which is one series i hated

[remixx116]

@geoff

Why even say this? Who said MS can't do remasters.....literally no one said this.

[Geoff900]

@Sam Fisher @Remixx116 I was referring to @PhoenixUp comment which was "Their first big project in the series was a remaster of Combat Evolved and, despite positive reviews, it wasn’t anything new."....

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Why be a fanboy dude nobody and I mean nobody brought up Sony or any of their games yet you felt the need to bring up Sony.

[Bnet343]

That Halo 1 campaign never gets old and that remaster was solid how you can change graphics on the fly. As for this article, IT WISHES HALO was dead. It might of lost a step but still puts up numbers. FACTS.

[MattDavisIP]

Was cool a long time ago..

[EddieNX]

Halo 5 multiplayer is 10/10. the campaign, not so much... Halo 5 is by far the best if u play for multiplayer. Warzone. nuff said

[Allsystemgamer]

I strongly disagree. So does a large portion of the community. A lot of original halo fans have stopped playing.

It's the movement system. Grenades? Useless. Shields popped? Just dodge and dip. Enemy? Spartan charge.

The new movement changed the game in such a way that it's far less skill based than it ever was. If you're losing a gun fight you can just zip away. In the old games if you were losing a gun fight you'd have to pull some magic out of your ass and somehow manage to outplay the other guy.

[FernDiggidy]

Facts my friend. Facts

[ULTp0ltergeist]

"original halo fans" lol! Campaign sucks! I still haven't beat it. Mutliplayer? Still playing it. So much content and fun modes.

[Bigpappy]

Halo far from dead. I just needs a great single player mode. A good open campaign with new imaginative alien life forms and discoveries of wonder.

[BWTrail]

I know it's nostalgia, but the first was the best.

[Shadowlee]

Campaign wise it was. Thats not just nostalgia talking.

[ARESWARLORD]

I don't know what idiots keep on trying to stir crap up on this site Halo lost it's magic that's like saying God of War lost its magic give me a break. To the author you need to get a life.

[andrewsquall]

What an amazing argument. I guess Halo really still is the juggernaut it was 7 years ago when Bungie still made them. Your points were so stellar and concise lol.

[ForeverTheGoat]

It is actually

[x_xavier_x]

@ andrewsquall

"Your points were so stellar and concise lol."

As are yours.

[SkippyPaccino]

God of war had lost its magic... A little time off and a new spin brought the magic back.

343 could do the same thing, if they let it simmer for a few more years and comeback fresh

[KickSpinFilter]

In all fairness were not sure yet about God of War not losing it's magic, but it is one of the games I'm really looking forward to. Long breaks are all ways good for an IP, to often and people start to get fatigued.

[Princess_Pilfer]

God of War never had magic. It was always DMC or Onimusha but for dudebros, edgelords, and people who can't handle a game being even mildly difficult. (or people really into greek mythology, and if that's the case then fair enough I guess.)

When I can beat the whole game oh higher difficulties with 1 combo on repeat (iirc it was square, triangle, triangle) while keeping everything stunned forever, the game has no magic.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

You're a troll who is full of shit.

[Princess_Pilfer]

I troll by being silly. This is not me trolling.

God of War is not and was never special except in the setting and over the top brutality.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

Halo lost Bungie, and thats why Destiny has the magic. Its the developers that make the games not the other way around.

[ForeverTheGoat]

Destiny was trash though

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

To you maybe, but to millions of others like me it was the step up from halo. And Destiny 2 is going to CRUSH.

[ForeverTheGoat]

Lol idk about a step up.

[DafunkyRebel]

You shut your mouth

[ShottyatLaw]

Halo might have been better with Bungie, but Bungie was better when it was making Halo.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

I disagree, Halo met with fatigue. Destiny was the right direction for Bungie. Now Destiny is a bigger franchise than Halo is. And thats FACT.

[Shadowlee]

Nah, and nah halo >destiny only a fool that doesnt like competitive balanced shooters would disagree. Also destiny is multiplat yet halo is an exclusive putting up multiplat numbers. Lets say bungie was xbox exclusive and stopped halo for a cycle and made destiny. It wouldnt put up halo numbers or scores.

Your comment is a joke. One is a grind fest thats lacking content and has dlc up the ()() to get a complete satisfying package. The other is the most well balanced shooter of all time, without no end to potiental due to forge and customs and many consider one of the best series stories of all time. Cant say that about destiny mam

[Ricegum]

Hang on. Why am I a fool for preferring Destiny over Halo? They're both competitive, you clearly haven't played Destiny for more than 10 minutes. I had some great fun on the game, granted I picked it up with the DLC. Halo is very limited to what Destiny has to offer.

Also, I like the way you conveniently left out the matchmaking issues experienced on the latter Halo games, and the poor story of number 5. How about you respect that not everyone is going to agree with you before you call them all fools.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

Clearly you haven't experienced raids in Destiny. Crucible alone with subclasses and supers crush halo multiplayer.

Thats why even CoD had to copy the destiny supers in Black Ops 3.

Destiny is a much more expansive game over Halo. After playing destiny halo 5 felt like a one trick pony of a game. War zone was good but got old fasttttt. Crucible in destiny never gets old nor do the strikes or raids.

[Allsystemgamer]

Your opinion =\= fact. You should learn what a fact is.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Dude what are you smoking halo 5 was the worst selling of the series besides I think the halo odst spin off and destiny sold tons more. Listen I'm a huge halo fanboy it's the only reason I own ms consoles but halo really hasn't been the same since bungie left. 4 all around was bad and 5 would have been even worse if the amazing war zones in mp didn't save it. You can be a fan of something and criticize it but it's when you blindly praise something with faults that you become a fanboy and trust me you don't won't to be a fanboy

[iistuii]

To be fair Destiny feels just like a Halo game to play, from the shooting, the movement & jumping all was the same, no bad thing though if you liked Halo style of play, you'll like Destiny, both still have the magic IMO.. I will be looking forward to an unlocked max settings Destiny 2 on PC & would love Halo 5 to come across too.

[Thunder_G0d_Bane]

I can't wait for destiny 2 on pc it's my most anticipated game this year.

Next to that there's Shadow of War and Mario Odyssey :)

All in the same month boyyyy I'm going to be broke..... Can ya spare some change?....changgge?

[Bennibop]

It hasn't been the same since Bungie parted company with Microsoft unfortunately. I would rather have a new IP than another Halo, needs a few years away imo.

[Relientk77]

343 Industries need to make a new IP

[EatCrow]

They should try their hand at a different kind of shooter or something entirely new.

Keep hoping we will see another perfect dark or golden eye or no one lives forever kind of game.

[Shadowlee]

Nah if they gonna do a fps make it a new ip or non fps related. Halo trashes every other fps ever. (No? Show me another with a game/map creator, reversal kill times, great weapon balance, an interesting story, variety of maps and gametype small to huge and vehicle combat, in air and ground......dont worry ill wait....)

[Ricegum]

Shadowlee

Someone is a Halo fanboy lol.

[EatCrow]

@Shadowlee

Timesplitters....almost.

[link2Dpast]

It's all based of preference but the interesting thing is there is a high majority of people who do feel this way now. Back then Halo was just one of those franchises cemented in society, now games like call of duty, battlefield scratch the multiplayer urge. Yes I know there nothing alike but if Halo goes then I definitely can't see how Xbox survives, I'm actually pretty surprised there still here at that. Is it advertisement?? Just what is it that keeps the engine going with Xbox, every Xbox I've had I've eventually sold it and stick with the Nintendo Sony duo. Now with the new X1X I see a bad road ahead as 4k is just to uncommon, there's gamers who still use plasma and are pretty happy with it, or the more obvious casual market who still live and breathe the DVD format. I just can't grasp my head around it, Xbox is here but not Sega, always blows my mind because Sega had so much more going for it