i can finally put a log for this igdb entry because i finished playing all the actual games
this is half gonna be my thoughts on this specific collection and half my thoughts on halo as a whole
i dont think this is a bad collection at all but man do i wish it had some extra stuff
like credits? where are the credits? why would they not have the credits for each game at the end of each campaign? just really rubbed me the wrong way man
or bonus material like development stuff or even just an art/music gallery, like cmon man you dont get an opportunity to include that stuff that often so why not do it here
i do like that they have all the extra in-game stuff easily accessible in an extras menu, though i do kind of wonder why they bothered putting that stuff in the campaigns in the first place if it wasn't going to be exclusive to the campaigns themselves (i know the halo 3 stuff was already in there but the halo 2 stuff is brand new)
something that ISNT accessible to the extras menu for some reason is the weird side story in odst
but its also kind of really weird? im not really sure what the whole goal of it is, i guess its supposed to give you an idea of what it's like to be a citizen when the covenant attacks except for the fact that the main character is clearly special
idk man i find it weird when i look up the character and find out they have no mention throughout the rest of the series (novels not counting)
feels like someone just got their fanfiction added to the main game tbh
i didn't like how the loading screens between missions/levels were exactly the same between the different campaigns, i would've much preferred just keeping the original transitions (actually looking it up now it looks like there were actually no loading screens at all in the original games? talk about a downgrade!)
i DID like having the toggle for original graphics/remaster graphics, that's just always a fun feature for rereleases like this to have and more games need to do it
you know what REALLY pissed me off once i realized it
the fact that not having easy anti-cheat enabled completely DISABLES achievements for the collection
like what the fuck man i get maybe disabling achievements for multiplayer related things but i didnt even TOUCH multiplayer so why am i being punished
i have to imagine either
1. microsoft was just a bunch of dumbasses and were treating it like their own achievements and decided that to preserve the integrity and sanctity of "gamerscores", they needed to make ABSOLUTELY SURE that achievements were earned legit (despite the game being on a completely different service (steam) and said service not really caring at all how people get achievements) OR
2. whatever method they used to turn off achievements for multiplayer without easy anti-cheat has no way to differentiate between that and singleplayer games and they just didn't care enough to figure it out
either way its dumb and i dont like it! not one bit! but also it didn't detract from the actual games at all so whatever i'll get over it
halo as a series is pretty boring! but not in a bad way
it feels like each game doesn't do a whole lot to expand upon the previous games, like even with added abilities and new mechanics, ultimately the games all sort of follow the same cycle of
1. walk through an area
2. shoot some enemies
3. walk some more
4. shoot more enemies
5. repeat a few more times until
6. shoot enemies in multiple waves until level is complete
and then interspersed is a few cutscenes and occasional switch ups like "shoot enemies IN A CAR that's maybe FLYING" or "walk through an area AND hear exposition"
i think the game that gets closest to really switching things up is odst though that falls short too
odst makes you explore an open city to go find pieces of evidence to further the story which is different because you sort of pick and choose which levels you want to play next
however what kind of sucks is that the non-flashback city exploration sections just boil down to the same "walk through an area, shoot some enemies" cycle
feels like they missed an opportunity to change things up and like
idk put the evidence somewhere hard to reach so the player would have to actually figure out a way to reach it, or maybe have the player do something unique to the environment like having to ride through a subway tunnel or clear a traffic jam to proceed to a new area
halo 2 switched things up a bit by having you play as the arbiter, which i actually found pretty cool, though again they didn't go all the way because other than the camo replacing your flashlight, he plays basically the same as master chief
the halo series is like an action movie series that gets kind of repetitive but never actually bad
like the action starts out good but low budget, then with success it gets more grandiose and is still good but starts to look same-y, meanwhile the story serves the action well but often fails under scrutiny, but never gets so bad that it actively detracts from the whole experience
get some popcorn or a dessert, sit down, and watch the fireworks
and then when it's over, move on with your day
ultimately my advice is this: if you have an interest in playing halo, do it! this is a good way to do it and there's nothing really bad about it
BUT dont go into it expecting to experience some sort of videogame masterpiece like the half life series (just my opinion) or the last of us (not my opinion just what a lot of people say)
it's not a masterpiece,
but it is pretty alright
this is half gonna be my thoughts on this specific collection and half my thoughts on halo as a whole
i dont think this is a bad collection at all but man do i wish it had some extra stuff
like credits? where are the credits? why would they not have the credits for each game at the end of each campaign? just really rubbed me the wrong way man
or bonus material like development stuff or even just an art/music gallery, like cmon man you dont get an opportunity to include that stuff that often so why not do it here
i do like that they have all the extra in-game stuff easily accessible in an extras menu, though i do kind of wonder why they bothered putting that stuff in the campaigns in the first place if it wasn't going to be exclusive to the campaigns themselves (i know the halo 3 stuff was already in there but the halo 2 stuff is brand new)
something that ISNT accessible to the extras menu for some reason is the weird side story in odst
but its also kind of really weird? im not really sure what the whole goal of it is, i guess its supposed to give you an idea of what it's like to be a citizen when the covenant attacks except for the fact that the main character is clearly special
idk man i find it weird when i look up the character and find out they have no mention throughout the rest of the series (novels not counting)
feels like someone just got their fanfiction added to the main game tbh
i didn't like how the loading screens between missions/levels were exactly the same between the different campaigns, i would've much preferred just keeping the original transitions (actually looking it up now it looks like there were actually no loading screens at all in the original games? talk about a downgrade!)
i DID like having the toggle for original graphics/remaster graphics, that's just always a fun feature for rereleases like this to have and more games need to do it
you know what REALLY pissed me off once i realized it
the fact that not having easy anti-cheat enabled completely DISABLES achievements for the collection
like what the fuck man i get maybe disabling achievements for multiplayer related things but i didnt even TOUCH multiplayer so why am i being punished
i have to imagine either
1. microsoft was just a bunch of dumbasses and were treating it like their own achievements and decided that to preserve the integrity and sanctity of "gamerscores", they needed to make ABSOLUTELY SURE that achievements were earned legit (despite the game being on a completely different service (steam) and said service not really caring at all how people get achievements) OR
2. whatever method they used to turn off achievements for multiplayer without easy anti-cheat has no way to differentiate between that and singleplayer games and they just didn't care enough to figure it out
either way its dumb and i dont like it! not one bit! but also it didn't detract from the actual games at all so whatever i'll get over it
halo as a series is pretty boring! but not in a bad way
it feels like each game doesn't do a whole lot to expand upon the previous games, like even with added abilities and new mechanics, ultimately the games all sort of follow the same cycle of
1. walk through an area
2. shoot some enemies
3. walk some more
4. shoot more enemies
5. repeat a few more times until
6. shoot enemies in multiple waves until level is complete
and then interspersed is a few cutscenes and occasional switch ups like "shoot enemies IN A CAR that's maybe FLYING" or "walk through an area AND hear exposition"
i think the game that gets closest to really switching things up is odst though that falls short too
odst makes you explore an open city to go find pieces of evidence to further the story which is different because you sort of pick and choose which levels you want to play next
however what kind of sucks is that the non-flashback city exploration sections just boil down to the same "walk through an area, shoot some enemies" cycle
feels like they missed an opportunity to change things up and like
idk put the evidence somewhere hard to reach so the player would have to actually figure out a way to reach it, or maybe have the player do something unique to the environment like having to ride through a subway tunnel or clear a traffic jam to proceed to a new area
halo 2 switched things up a bit by having you play as the arbiter, which i actually found pretty cool, though again they didn't go all the way because other than the camo replacing your flashlight, he plays basically the same as master chief
the halo series is like an action movie series that gets kind of repetitive but never actually bad
like the action starts out good but low budget, then with success it gets more grandiose and is still good but starts to look same-y, meanwhile the story serves the action well but often fails under scrutiny, but never gets so bad that it actively detracts from the whole experience
get some popcorn or a dessert, sit down, and watch the fireworks
and then when it's over, move on with your day
ultimately my advice is this: if you have an interest in playing halo, do it! this is a good way to do it and there's nothing really bad about it
BUT dont go into it expecting to experience some sort of videogame masterpiece like the half life series (just my opinion) or the last of us (not my opinion just what a lot of people say)
it's not a masterpiece,
but it is pretty alright