I was playing a bit of goldeneye today to test n64 emulation on my recently-purchased xbox one s (spoiler: looks like I'm back to playing on pc), and it was good to get a reminder of why halo was revolutionary. the dual-analog control style that dominates every console shooter today had not yet caught on even though it makes so much sense in retrospect: move your feet with the left stick, move your head with the right stick. most fps titles outside of pc up to now were dominated by tank controls with strafing on the shoulders, and goldeneye follows the same pattern, with strafing on the left/right c buttons and vertical look on the up/down c buttons. workable? yes. comfortable? eh. I'm 23, not 43, so I wasn't exactly playing this shit in my dorm room.
halo in comparison is remarkably intuitive. while not the first to implement proper dual-analog control (alien: resurrection predates it, and one of the rare shooters has a double-controller mode to get dual sticks working), it feels smooth on the xbox gamepad. master chief strafes easily, locks on with subtle (for the time) auto-aim, and glides across terrain without issue. even the vehicle control, while plodding and challenging to master, still gets the job done not only on the ground but in flight as well. each gun is unique and simple to understand from the standard human weapons to the more experimental covenant ones, which keeps the two-weapon limit and the constant scavenging for fresh weapons from feeling like a downer whenever you aren't playing with the assault rifle.
what makes halo ce somewhat disappointing to return to is instead the level design. sure, both silent cartographer and the titular halo still hit hard. the rest of the game unfortunately delves into reams of copy-pasted rooms and confusing backtracking. none of this is surprising given the game's protracted and crunch-heavy development, but it still reflects poorly to those playing the campaign today expecting more variety.
the pillar of autumn: somewhat confusing with its labryinthian structure but for what is functionally a tutorial it does its job. sets up the covenant well and establishes the stakes for master chief.
halo: this is a showpiece level right here. that opening crash leading to you scaling the hill over a gorgeous waterfall while covenant dropships scour the landscape for stragglers. defending the outpost with your fellow marines. receiving your first warthog and storming the bridge within the underground base. and finally, that open area with three different groups of marines to recover... man this is still such a showstopper. exactly paced like an old-school fps should be.
the truth and reconciliation: this hit harder for me the first time I played it a couple years back, and on this replay the section where you're actually on the ship seems dominated by hallways to a deleterious extent. the opening cliffside sneak to the entrance point, still has some neat sniper moments, and the hangar where you first fight the hunters sticks out in my head.
the silent cartographer: another total classic, with the entire level taking place on a small island. there are two outposts you must hit, the first of which having been locked by a separate control center in the middle of the island. there's multiple ways to get around, and the level also features the first appearance of an elite with a terrifying energy sword. conceptually much richer than most of its contemporaries. the story justification and rich sense of connected locality do wonders here.
assault on the control room: first level that really begins to drag. the standard internal room is repeated ad nauseum to the point of feeling almost like you're incorrectly backtracking. occasional outdoor areas break things up nicely, but eventually the vehicles feel mandatory rather than useful tools.
343 guilty spark: what should be the tense reveal of the flood ends up being a confusing mess of near-identical two-story rooms and connective hallways that loops back in on itself. very disorienting.
the library: this level is infamous for being a slow burn, and I can't really disagree. more copy-paste hallways while following guilty spark around. this one also leans heavily on "hold your position" scenarios. probably too much reliance on waiting for guilty spark overall... halo benefits a lot from letting the player set their own pace, and this level fails on that count.
two betrayals: somehow this level is literally assault on the control room in reverse, like one for one identical. to spice it up you have a couple spots where you must fly a banshee up to a room to deactivate some device with your shield, but navigating upwards tends to be trivial so I can't say the level benefits much from it.
keyes: another reused level, but instead mainly from the truth and reconciliation once you're out of the swamp area. that first area is pretty fine, but the second half feels rather stale and relatively lifeless with its dull "get to keyes and then escape" objective.
the maw: much of this level is more hallway battles, but the stakes feel higher from a plot perspective, and the final two setpieces resonate. the engineering bay slowly being overtaken while you methodically destroy the open reactor vents with rockets is a lot of fun to navigate, and the resulting system countdown as you flee in a warthog legitimately stretched my nerves as the numbers ticked down, both from getting immersed in the moment and also the stubborn vehicle physics lol.
there's plenty of good throughout each chapter, but much of the second half melds into sort of a "kill the same enemies over and over again" goo fermented by the rote and perfunctory room-by-room design. without the phenomenal gamefeel this game possesses it would be a launch title curio, and instead it managed to hold up the entire xbox brand for over a decade. a feat no one can take away from bungie without a doubt.
my personal note: lost my save data on my actual anniversary disc, specifically my co-op save. xbox cloud sync sucks. ended up beating it on the master chief collection... wish I didn't have to shell out the money (I bought both from my local mom-and-pop shop at least) but it ran much better in MCC. co-op frankly made me motion sick in the actual 360 version of halo cea.
halo in comparison is remarkably intuitive. while not the first to implement proper dual-analog control (alien: resurrection predates it, and one of the rare shooters has a double-controller mode to get dual sticks working), it feels smooth on the xbox gamepad. master chief strafes easily, locks on with subtle (for the time) auto-aim, and glides across terrain without issue. even the vehicle control, while plodding and challenging to master, still gets the job done not only on the ground but in flight as well. each gun is unique and simple to understand from the standard human weapons to the more experimental covenant ones, which keeps the two-weapon limit and the constant scavenging for fresh weapons from feeling like a downer whenever you aren't playing with the assault rifle.
what makes halo ce somewhat disappointing to return to is instead the level design. sure, both silent cartographer and the titular halo still hit hard. the rest of the game unfortunately delves into reams of copy-pasted rooms and confusing backtracking. none of this is surprising given the game's protracted and crunch-heavy development, but it still reflects poorly to those playing the campaign today expecting more variety.
the pillar of autumn: somewhat confusing with its labryinthian structure but for what is functionally a tutorial it does its job. sets up the covenant well and establishes the stakes for master chief.
halo: this is a showpiece level right here. that opening crash leading to you scaling the hill over a gorgeous waterfall while covenant dropships scour the landscape for stragglers. defending the outpost with your fellow marines. receiving your first warthog and storming the bridge within the underground base. and finally, that open area with three different groups of marines to recover... man this is still such a showstopper. exactly paced like an old-school fps should be.
the truth and reconciliation: this hit harder for me the first time I played it a couple years back, and on this replay the section where you're actually on the ship seems dominated by hallways to a deleterious extent. the opening cliffside sneak to the entrance point, still has some neat sniper moments, and the hangar where you first fight the hunters sticks out in my head.
the silent cartographer: another total classic, with the entire level taking place on a small island. there are two outposts you must hit, the first of which having been locked by a separate control center in the middle of the island. there's multiple ways to get around, and the level also features the first appearance of an elite with a terrifying energy sword. conceptually much richer than most of its contemporaries. the story justification and rich sense of connected locality do wonders here.
assault on the control room: first level that really begins to drag. the standard internal room is repeated ad nauseum to the point of feeling almost like you're incorrectly backtracking. occasional outdoor areas break things up nicely, but eventually the vehicles feel mandatory rather than useful tools.
343 guilty spark: what should be the tense reveal of the flood ends up being a confusing mess of near-identical two-story rooms and connective hallways that loops back in on itself. very disorienting.
the library: this level is infamous for being a slow burn, and I can't really disagree. more copy-paste hallways while following guilty spark around. this one also leans heavily on "hold your position" scenarios. probably too much reliance on waiting for guilty spark overall... halo benefits a lot from letting the player set their own pace, and this level fails on that count.
two betrayals: somehow this level is literally assault on the control room in reverse, like one for one identical. to spice it up you have a couple spots where you must fly a banshee up to a room to deactivate some device with your shield, but navigating upwards tends to be trivial so I can't say the level benefits much from it.
keyes: another reused level, but instead mainly from the truth and reconciliation once you're out of the swamp area. that first area is pretty fine, but the second half feels rather stale and relatively lifeless with its dull "get to keyes and then escape" objective.
the maw: much of this level is more hallway battles, but the stakes feel higher from a plot perspective, and the final two setpieces resonate. the engineering bay slowly being overtaken while you methodically destroy the open reactor vents with rockets is a lot of fun to navigate, and the resulting system countdown as you flee in a warthog legitimately stretched my nerves as the numbers ticked down, both from getting immersed in the moment and also the stubborn vehicle physics lol.
there's plenty of good throughout each chapter, but much of the second half melds into sort of a "kill the same enemies over and over again" goo fermented by the rote and perfunctory room-by-room design. without the phenomenal gamefeel this game possesses it would be a launch title curio, and instead it managed to hold up the entire xbox brand for over a decade. a feat no one can take away from bungie without a doubt.
my personal note: lost my save data on my actual anniversary disc, specifically my co-op save. xbox cloud sync sucks. ended up beating it on the master chief collection... wish I didn't have to shell out the money (I bought both from my local mom-and-pop shop at least) but it ran much better in MCC. co-op frankly made me motion sick in the actual 360 version of halo cea.
Reviewed on Jul 29, 2022
3 Comments
@gruel you should be able to do BC on a stock xbox one, right? the xbox one s is just a clock speed hike, nothing more. og xbox support has been great from what I've played. this game was a little iffy, but that might have been how it originally played in co-op. gears was much better, though i might have played that on my roommate's one x, which allows for framerate boosts. ninja gaiden black was excellent, and I've heard ng2 runs very well in BC as well. I've also been enjoying duckstation on here
gruel
1 year ago