Playing the original Halo. Well, the anniversary edition with the updated graphics. Boy, I forgot how terrible the level design is. Really atrocious stuff. Library might just be the worst level I've ever played. Great AI though, fighting the covenant is still a lot of fun and holds up very well. Flood are just a chore every single time I have to fight them, don't miss them at all from the newer games.
Citidel party was fun. Kind of regret choosing Liara over Jack, the cyber bits disturbed me but Liara isn't exactly a pretty Kirk green skinned woman, built more like a lizard or Klingon...
Now onto the Illusive Man. With the fancy new armor I won in the holo arena, along with the retro Lancer that never runs out of bullets (And doesn't have that long wind up time the Prothean laser has)
Originally posted by BackFire
Playing the original Halo. Well, the anniversary edition with the updated graphics. Boy, I forgot how terrible the level design is. Really atrocious stuff. Library might just be the worst level I've ever played. Great AI though, fighting the covenant is still a lot of fun and holds up very well. Flood are just a chore every single time I have to fight them, don't miss them at all from the newer games.
Oh I know..... I never played Halo on Xbox when it was first released. I usually just played PC shooters (like TFC, Half Life and etc)
I bought myself a gaming computer around summer 2004 and bought Doom 3 and Halo CE for it.....
Went through Doom 3 pretty quickly and ****ing loved it.....started up Halo CE, thinking its going to be brilliant considering all the high praise...and I hated it.
Yes, AI is good....but the level design if ****ing brutal.....especially bad for me considering I was a huge Half Life fan..which has some of the best level design ever (around that time).....
I have played a few more times since...and I can appreciate what it does...but I usually fall asleep after 30mins or so...its just boring
Originally posted by Smasandian
Oh I know..... I never played Halo on Xbox when it was first released. I usually just played PC shooters (like TFC, Half Life and etc)I bought myself a gaming computer around summer 2004 and bought Doom 3 and Halo CE for it.....
Went through Doom 3 pretty quickly and ****ing loved it.....started up Halo CE, thinking its going to be brilliant considering all the high praise...and I hated it.
Yes, AI is good....but the level design if ****ing brutal.....especially bad for me considering I was a huge Half Life fan..which has some of the best level design ever (around that time).....
I have played a few more times since...and I can appreciate what it does...but I usually fall asleep after 30mins or so...its just boring
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Played the original Half Life and Doom 3 before it, so when I played Halo on the PC sometime later I was extremely underwhelmed. Didn't even finish it.
I guess not only have you had to have played it back when it was first released, but you had to have only ever played console shooter games prior, in which case I can understand why they'd love it so much, seeing as the only other game to really compare it to was Goldeneye, and for console shooters it did a lot of good things. First game to use dual control sticks well and all that. But in a lot of ways it feels like amateur hour when compared to other PC shooters at that time.
It did a lot of unique things, regenerating health, limiting the number of weapons you can use, making grenades easy to use and actually worth using. Good vehicle controls. Lot of innovative stuff, but all those things are kind of peripheral. The core things like weapon balance and level design and pacing and difficulty is just comically bad.
Like the level design is almost aggressively shitty. I know the game had a rough development cycle but man, it's just not very fun to play after the first few levels. I finished it last night and now I'm playing Halo 2, which is better overall I remember. But it still has similar issues. They traded in copy paste levels to just standing in a room fighting off waves of enemies over and over. Story in Halo 2 is pretty interesting though.
It wasn't until Halo 3 where they really learned how to make decent levels.
For me, it wasn't until Halo Reach where I never noticed any bad level design.
Halo 3 is much better but it still has those god awful Flood levels...I remember one being in some brown looking corridors, where it was super annoying to navigate and I always got lost.
Though I agree with you regarding AI, regen health, grenades and the two weapon system.....basically, shooter mechanics we see today.
But level design, oh god.
Mario Party Super Stars. Played it over Thanksgiving.
Still one of the best, if not the best, franchises for casual gaming with friends and family, especially if they are non-gamers. Great for holidays, although you may need to turn off the skill based mini-games depending on who's playing.
Getting a full group of 4 is ideal.
I disagree. I think Mario Party games are some of the worst out there.
I bought the first Switch Mario Party for my kids and each game usually ends in tears.
And....for full price, completely lacking in content. 4-5 boards and nothing much else is quite skimpy considering its generally the same game over and over.
Originally posted by Smasandian
I disagree. I think Mario Party games are some of the worst out there.
I bought the first Switch Mario Party for my kids and each game usually ends in tears.And....for full price, completely lacking in content. 4-5 boards and nothing much else is quite skimpy considering its generally the same game over and over.
I just genuinely don't see many games that fill the niche quite as well. It's a low barrier to entry game intended for casual groups, where players might have little to no gaming experience.
I've always kept a Mario Party entry in the back pocket for group gatherings - family/holiday events, friend gatherings/house parties, sometimes even activities with strangers. Most haven't care much about the maps beyond aesthetics, and it's always been a fun social experience whenever I whipped it out. The content comes from them mini games, rather than the maps themselves.
I'm not trying to gatekeep party games, but I do feel like they are best enjoyed within their intended purpose: parties. They are the video game equivalent of board/card games that you keep in a closet until company comes over. Or something like Heads Up. It's not meant to be a regular part of a gaming diet.
What games would rank above it? Fall Guys? Wii Sports? 1-2-Switch? Just Dance?
Which board games offer the experience Mario Party does though? Plus, video games have the natural advantage of managing all the moving parts for you. Throw in the multiple boards, mini games, and board events, and Mario Party dunks on most board games tbh.
Mario Kart is great too, but is slightly more crowd dependant, and I usually only use that if the group has experience. For non-gamers, even Mario Kart 8 can be a bit demanding. Sitting around in 12th place for the entire race isn't particularly fun, and I don't want to kill the experience for someone.
I think what helps Mario Party, or any of the other party games, is that anyone could jump in with no prior experience and be competitive. You can even apply handicaps in-game. Over the years, I've played these with kids, adults, and seniors, and they all had a blast with Mario Party. Mario Kart got a mixed reception, with inexperienced players often disengaging pretty quick.
Although, yeah. I wouldn't recommend the series for just normal play. Especially, for non-casual gamers.
I don't think we need it in the literal sense. We don't need indoor plumbing, central heating and air conditioning, internet, electricity, or video games, but having them is much better than not, no?
Even classic board games have digital versions now, as it's just more convenient. Not to mention online play.
I'm not saying anyone is required to like Mario Party btw. I just think Mario Party fills its niche better than most other options. If it doesn't appeal to you, that's cool though.
Persona V Strikers. Having a great time with it. It's essentially an Action-RPG version of Persona V, including a direct continuation of the story. Really good job incorporating the Persona mechanics into this formula.
Also picked Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity back up and unlocked Zelda's Luminescent form, and it's a blast.
Kudos to Omega Force. I'm happy they've managed to evolve a bit with these other games. The Dynasty Warriors thing lost it's appeal for most folks a while ago. I suppose the only way out of the hole was to drop much of their schtick, and incorporate gameplay from other series like with Strikers and AoC.
Sonic Generations.
Beat the Time Eater on hard and was planning on achievement hunting, but I see a few of them are linked to online. And I'm playing on an offline 360.
Now I'm not so sure it's even worth trying to S rank everything. Wish they wouldn't link achievements to internet stuff, for us solo gamers..
Originally posted by cdtm
Sonic Generations.Beat the Time Eater on hard and was planning on achievement hunting, but I see a few of them are linked to online. And I'm playing on an offline 360.
Now I'm not so sure it's even worth trying to S rank everything. Wish they wouldn't link achievements to internet stuff, for us solo gamers..
Yeah, I ****en hate online only achievements. They're the worst sort of achievements.