Culture

Platforms: XBox, XBox 360
2/5


Halo, the first game available exclusively for the XBox, was seen as revolutionary. Game reviewers said it implemented features that had never been seen in first person shooters (FPS) before. These reviewers must have had their heads up their arses for years. Halo’s shooting mechanic had been implemented years before in Doom and other games, and its driving mechanic was great to demonstrate what I imagine it would be like to drive while very drunk. So the first Halo, though loved by many gamers, is possibly the most over-rated game of all time.
Nevertheless, due to the franchise’s popularity, Microsoft keeps milking the Halo cow, making more and more unoriginal games to revolutionise FPS by implementing mechanics that have been implemented years before, just with the addition of the most annoying gun ever invented in a video game: the Needler. Microsoft isn't the only company to milk a cash cow until it dies: Lucas Arts is determined to milk Star Wars, and Nintendo is determined to remake every one of their classic games. The difference is that after Episode One, everyone knew Lucas Arts had shoved its head in a toilet and refused to come out, and everyone knows and likes that Nintendo makes the same games over and over. Microsoft is set on making bad games and claiming they are the best thing to ever be made.
Now, I'm not against FPSs. In fact, many are great. Kill Zone 2, Resistance: Fall of Man and the Gears of War games are must-plays. They are not necessarily revolutionary, but no one claims they are. Why do gamers and reviewers hold Halo as a sacred cow? It and its predecessors are at best average FPSs with a huge marketing budget.