Fanboy Rehab 101: How I learned to love Halo

Halo:  You love it, or you hate it.  I used to hate it.  I hated it with an unfounded passion.  To me Halo was a figurehead of everything bad in the computer/gaming industry.  Halo was the game that fat-cat Microsoft stole from underdog Apple back in the days when no-one knew what an iPod was, when Steve Jobs was known more for being kicked out from Apple, and iMacs looked like fruit.  Yes, I was a "Mac guy."  Microsoft was the big evil Monopoly back then.  They screwed Netscape.  They ripped people off with new versions of Office and Windows that were no better, but required you to buy yet another computer.  Bill Gates was the richest man in the world, and I was not.  Microsoft was even going to try to monopolize the gaming console industry with the Xbox.  The Xbox was evil, and Halo was it's heavy hitter.  Supporting Halo was supporting Microsoft, which was just making the rich richer, and pushing the "little guys" out.  In hindsight, I did not really hate Halo, I hated Microsoft.

Fast Forward about 10 or so years.

As a long time a PC/PlayStation gamer, I finally got a 360 for Forza 3 (I had played GT3/4/Prologue to death, and the inclusion of Porsche in Forza 3 made it an easy sell).  One day last Fall, I was in my local games store, browsing for deals.  Halo 3: Limited edition for 19.99$ used.  SOLD!  "Lets see what all the hype is about" I thought.  I figured Halo was a game for pre-teens.  Childs play.  So I started the first level on Heroic (as intended...) and clearly remembered getting my asshole handed to me.  Somehow I found myself stuck behind a tree with a plasma pistol (where did I get that???) and I was trying to hold off snipers with it.  I was owned; or you could say pwned if that term was still hip.  After figuring out the controls, and learning how to manage my shields, I began to have fun, a lot of fun.  I went online and watched some videos to get caught up in the back-story, and before you know it, I was buying ODST.  To me ODST is the black sheep of the franchise, but dripped atmosphere, and was a double-playthrough for me (a rarity for me in any game).  Reach was phenomenal, and multiplayer still has me hooked.  I have even started playing through Combat Evolved and have my eye out for a copy of Halo 2.

Long story short, I ended up loving Halo.  It was no perfect game, but it was fun.  It was accessible, while still providing depth.  There are games with better graphics, and there are shooters that have surpassed Halo in popularity, but no matter how I looked at it, Halo was a great franchise, and I had a good time.

So what is my point here?  Well, to be honest it is not to throw praise on Halo.  You don't, and should not need my opinion to make your own decision on that one.  Love it or hate it, I don't really care either.  My point is that I missed out on what ended up being a great game because of my own Fanboyism over the years.  I never gave Halo a chance, and until I did, it was my loss.  Fanboyism did nothing for me.  My message is for the subset of gamers that find they take sides and shun all that is not their console of choice.  Be open, try new things.  Forget review scores.  Forget Lens of Truth. Forget PS3 vs 360.  In this world there are good games, and there are bad games.  Only you can decide which are which.  Don't let console wars keep you from great games like Forza, GT, Halo, Killzone, Uncharted, etc.  Remember, when you are being a Fanboy, you are only hurting your own gaming experience and enjoyment.

[Godmars290]

Meh, I'm considered a fanboy and I like the concept behind the Halo Universe. Watch RvB as well as read the first book and bought the anime compilation. Played Halo 1 when I had an Xbox1.

That said, not that much into FPS and think its, much like the FF series which I've played since FFI, an overhyped franchise.

[Ryudo]

Godmars290

Am not flaming you because your welcome to your own opinion, but out of interest can you give me a big name franchise which you personally believe ain't over-hyped.

[Godmars290]

Which one hasn't? Be it fan expectation or ad campaigns that almost cost as much to make a game.

The only one that hasn't, that I've played, is Demons Soul's. People talk about how its good but difficult.

[sdtarm]

First halo was addicting, Halo 2 was the perfection of the formula and added important things gameplay-wise

when Halo 3 came out I hold and didnt buy the 360, waited and played it in my friends houses for quite some time, I saw it was a meh game... ODST then came out and was an insult to the fans so I didnt buy a 360,

now I bought a PS3 and I feel happy, not only its got a huge variety of games and SONY doesnt lose its focus that is the Gaming community, I havent tried Reach but I dont need to, I enjoyed and still enjoy sometimes the greatness of the first two games on my PC and I have a lot more to play so no I dont regret it

Im trying to tell you that its not like youre missing much from the M$ this gen in case you didnt buy a 360, of course if money comes or if im lucky I would get a 360 but i have a huge backlog to play and I have only played 2 games in my PS3 cuz I cant buy more

so dont rush, its not like you should spend everything you have in gaming, if you make the right choice you might satisfied with it and do other things that I believe are more important than gaming, after all its just pixels and pixels

[Legion]

@sdtarm

"I have only played 2 games in my PS3 cuz I cant buy more"

This statement alone makes the rest of your reply pointless.

[vishant101]

nice post and y so much hate for microsoft they r just out there to make money and still today i think if sony and apple could swap spots with microsoft they would

[Godmars290]

Pretty certain that neither Sony nor Apple would present a product that gives "money for nothing" and make people pay for basic services. iTunes isn't subscription based just to get into it, get early access to some content, and Sony doesn't offer TVs or DVRs that only gets some channels if you don't pay more. iTunes has free content and Sony devices try to complement other devices you might own.

You buy MS product, more often than not it works best, or at all, with with other MS product. Someone who buys a 360 doesn't get their full money's worth until they get XBL.

Please understand, I'm not calling them evil, just limited. for whatever reason MS's business mentality is one that serves their interests over their customers.

[teething]

Every company is out for your money. Some market being "for the people" but in the end of the day it is just marketing. Now they have your loyalty, and money.

The ps3 was the best buy this gen by far. Free psn is great. Sony initially adsorbed losses on each console sold, and we as consumers reaped the benefits.

So is sony some miracle company? Is microsoft satan? Neither. Sony just had to play catch-up. Had they charged 200-300$ more for the ps3 at release, or even 50$ per year for online, the ps3 would have been dead in the water. To catch up they gave gamers more value, at a hit to their profits. Loyalty means a lot. Loyalty mrans money. And just like MS, they are in this for the money...

[GSpartan777]

Good read. Loved the last part. Halo really is a great series and personally it's one of the best FPS & game franchises you will find on a console. The hate Halo gets is very surprising and I have never quite understood it. But nonetheless, the Halo series is definitely one gamers who have never played it, should try.

[smashman98]

LOL it shows thhat if u give something a chance u just might like it

ive known this since green eggs and ham in kindergarten

[Legion]

@smashman98

So true... I had initially written off so many games from just playing a few levels of it. I have learned that you can't judge a title by it's training levels. Many games start off slow and I am glad that I learned to give games a chance.

I hated Mass Effect when I first played. I didn't like the controls compared to KOTOR and thought it was ruined because of it. I sat back and gave it another chance and learned that the game was different and I just needed to appreciate it for what it was versus what I thought it should be.

Halo is the game that brought me into FPS on consoles. Prior to that FPS games were hit or miss. Only true contenders were Quake on Dreamcast and Unreal. But their gameplay was not as good as Halo turned out to be. The controls for Halo made every other company stand up and take notice.

Thank you Bungie!!!

[teething]

Same happened to me with the original Mass Effect. It got shelved for a few months for Fallout 3. When I went back to Mass Effect I loved it. It was my number one game till ME2 came out.