Halo noob...should I play 1, then skip 2 and jump to 3?

[shanewalker]

O.K., so I've taken the big dive into 'all things Halo' recently. I know, I know--"What rock have you been hiding under?!" Well, FPS in general and the multiplayer I'd played (and got stomped in) never really thrilled me--but I've become a bit more versed since Gears of War and the whole phenomenon of Halo intrigues me.

So, I bought 'Halo: Combat Evolved' off of eBay...and I REALLY like it (I'm currently about 2/3-3/4 through, most of the way through the infamous Library level--which I don't like as well as, say, the more open Silent Cartographer levels). I also grabbed the Halo novels for cheap on Amazon and read the prequel...pretty good, a decent mash-up of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" opus and, say Tom Clancy. I like the story--though its heavily indebted to other 'influence' sources. The Bungie folk are talented and have good taste in that regards (I played a little Marathon way back in the day). So, in short, I'm digging the narrative--just not the horror-style claustrophobic Flood/dungeon gameplay so much.

So, my question is--from all the criticism about Halo 2's campaign, and the fact that it is more a 'dungeon crawl' aka the Library level of Halo 1...is it worth it to play or should I just read through the websites out there to get the story and move on to Halo 3 (which, from what I've read, gets back to what worked in 1)?

I bought Halo 2 (again off eBay)...but I don't want to waste my time in a mediocre game (or a more repetitive/derivative one) when I could just move on. Or is it really worth it "for the full experience"?

 

[hoky]

I played and finished all three. Now I don't know if you should skip part 2 cause then things won't make much sense in part three as to "why is this guy doing this" and "what is this guy doing here" type thing.

For me Halo 2 really sucked the big one. Playing Halo: Combat Evolved made you feel as if you were Master Chief just out to blow away some covenant and destroy a Halo Ring but in part two they get all into the covenant story line and have you play as an Elite. That killed it for me. Made me feel it was a waste of time and not to mention I finished the game in 3 hours after getting it.

So in my humble opinion I would say skip Halo 2 and go on to 3 but then again if you really in it for the story and you just like me Halo 3 will disappoint just as much as Halo 2.

 

[shanewalker]

I don't have a problem w/ the whole Arbiter storyline thing in Halo 2 as much as the level designs. The main criticism of concern is that which that suggests Halo 2 doesn't have the range in its level designs and gameplay that Halo 1 had (i.e. open battle areas and varied terrain). That seems less fun to me.

I've played as alt characters in a game franchise before (Metal Gear) and it was O.K., as long as it ties in satisfactorily w/ the main character and story arc...which it seems they tried to do in Halo 3.

I guess the big question is...if Halo 2 is a lesser game and doesn't succeed in its storytelling like the other two, is it better to just seek out a good summary and forge on; or is it a wholly more fulfilling experience to be a true completist?

 

[VinceT3]

I've never played 1 or 2.. I just started playing 3.. seems pretty simple to get the hang of..

 

[IcEWoLF]

I played and finished all three. Now I don't know if you should skip part 2 cause then things won't make much sense in part three as to "why is this guy doing this" and "what is this guy doing here" type thing.

For me Halo 2 really sucked the big one. Playing Halo: Combat Evolved made you feel as if you were Master Chief just out to blow away some covenant and destroy a Halo Ring but in part two they get all into the covenant story line and have you play as an Elite. That killed it for me. Made me feel it was a waste of time and not to mention I finished the game in 3 hours after getting it.

So in my humble opinion I would say skip Halo 2 and go on to 3 but then again if you really in it for the story and you just like me Halo 3 will disappoint just as much as Halo 2.

I was like WTF on the Elite storyline when I had to play as Arbiter, but I totally agree with you on what you said above.

 

[smokey982]

Well I have never played 1 or 2, but have been thinking about buying 3. But with all of this talk I'm wondering if I will be completely lost. What do you think??

 

[BlackHitachi]

I've never played 1 or 2.. I just started playing 3.. seems pretty simple to get the hang of..

Me TOO.

 

[shanewalker]

As to the questions above:

I'm a little over 3/4 through Halo 1 and have watched some folks playing an early level of Halo 3. I think they've made Halo 3 so that it definitely is going to offer more to the player who knows the prior storylines--but at the same time, they've taken steps to make it fun and involving to new players as well. You could easily watch all the cinematics from the first two games on the net on a couple of sites and jump right in.

I'm just geeking out and since I was enjoying Halo 1 w/ a $10 investment, I was wondering if it was worth the additional time/money before jumping into 3...I don't expect the vast majority of Halo virgins to go back and play through the first two and I bet Microsoft doesn't either.

Right now I'm planning on going through the whole game/story arc...but if 2 begins trying my patience I might just jump ahead.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

I've never played 1 or 2.. I just started playing 3.. seems pretty simple to get the hang of..

agreed

 

[BobMurdoch]

I don't have a problem w/ the whole Arbiter storyline thing in Halo 2 as much as the level designs. The main criticism of concern is that which that suggests Halo 2 doesn't have the range in its level designs and gameplay that Halo 1 had (i.e. open battle areas and varied terrain). That seems less fun to me.

I've played as alt characters in a game franchise before (Metal Gear) and it was O.K., as long as it ties in satisfactorily w/ the main character and story arc...which it seems they tried to do in Halo 3.

I guess the big question is...if Halo 2 is a lesser game and doesn't succeed in its storytelling like the other two, is it better to just seek out a good summary and forge on; or is it a wholly more fulfilling experience to be a true completist?

I haven't checked out all the extras on my legendary version of Halo 3, but I believe they have Hi-rez versions of all the cutscenes in the first two, which should help you pick up all the plot points if you skip the second.

I still enjoyed playing Halo occasionally, although Halo 2 didn't get played as often. Halo 3 seems to have the best of both worlds.... I still prefer teh final mission from Halo above all else, but the final run in Halo 3 comes close to replicating the experience...

 

[Kevinw]

Play 3 go back for the rest if you feel like it. The game is more about playing live than the story line for the newcomers to the series. H3 is designed for co-op playing. Which makes it a better experience than all the previous chapters.

 

[Legato10]

Really, playing through the halo games in a sequence seems to be more of a fanboy's desperation for a better telling of the story. THe first one gave off the feeling that you are very much alone as you are .. really.. the only one that could fight off the threat. Althought that black guy seems to be very lucky ironic eh? But it really didn't tell much of the story as to why the covinent are our enemies, let alone the history of the halos.
The second game was a little better on the histroy lesson but did it in a way that seemed to alienate a lot of fans, thought I am not one of them -the convinent guy wasn't that bad he had a cool sword. But even it told the sotry in a cliff hanger way... which seemed wierd with that little shop of horror thing. what the hell was that supposed to be? Seriously... that seemed a bit tarded...
Halo 3 completed it ina good way and pretty much sumed up the "story"... the main complaint was that the brutes are not much of a challenege... they have no shields.

 

[lovswr]

Well I got H3 last week but I did not take it out of the plastic until this past Tue. It is counterstrike with Tribes-like vehicles, which is just what I thought it was. Having said that, it is pretty damn fun.


I played the first level on the easiest difficulty for about 7 minutes & then I could not figure out how to get on the other side of that little beach/bay/whatever so I got bored right away.

Then I jumped online (note the online line system has got to be one of the most non-intuitive man-machine interfaces I have ever seen) & somehow got into deathmatch, which I hate. That whole spawn & get killed right away gets old fast. I think one of the guys on the map took a little pity on me, becuae he actually let me live for about 30 seconds before he fragged me. Well I finally figured out how to get on a non-ranked multiplayer map (that sand one) & I must say, that was a extremely entertaining experience. Even thought I got 0 kills* & out of the 16 peeps playing the map I was dead last, it was very fun interacting with the other players.


Now the reason I posted in this thread, is because I read all the time how this type of game has such an immersive story & whatnot & I just don't see it. I mean, just becauase I know some made up motivation about this, that, or the other character, is not going to help or hurt me, as a human, when I am actually playing the game. I really don't understand this. but I have read many comments about how this makes it so much better to many people. To each his own, I guess.

To the OP, just play the damn game any way that makes you happy

















* My number one complaint against consoles & the 360 in particular is the ridiculous learning curve of trying to use the same controller for both body movement & weapon movement. The reason I got 0 kills is because I just could not aim & run at the same time. I can see it will take me many hours to learn how to do this. I am in awe of so many who make it look so easy. I guess my 40 year old hands are not the target audience. C'est La Vie!

 

[yourbeliefs]

You should play all Halo games. You don't really need them for story continuity, but all three are great games. It does help you understand Halo 3 better to play 1 and 2. And believe me: The campaign in Halo 2 is a LOT of fun. It is different than it was in 1 and 3, but it still is alot of fun, and the arbiter/chief swap off of the story line is quite well done.