What's the key to a good Halo game?

Big blue boobs help

What's the key to a good Halo game, and by implication, a good game of Halo: Reach?

Several elements are key. Here's a few of the ones I think would make a good game. See if you agree!

Noble soldiers

Keyes, Cole, Johnson and even the Arbiter are noble soldiers. They perform certain functions in the games to give them respect and nobility. If Johnson was an immoral wag, Halo fans would be turned off. Instead his noble death at the end of Halo 3 symbolised the strength of one man and thus humanity. Game players love that stuff.

A noble soldier who is also 7 foot tall

Take the above, wrap it with an augmented human who was stolen from his parents and forced to sought out ‘problems between humans without prejudice’. Then throw him on a strange Halo installation with Elites and Floods giving him all they’ve got. Let him fight the good fight in a most heroic fashion and save the day. In a sense. You’ve got a crowd pleaser and an instant Haloween costume favourite.

A great story with Plot Twists

Oohh, we need a key! Get the Key! Ohhh there’s the flood! Look out! Oooh there’s a mystery to solve! Oohh Why are we back on Earth? Oooh it’s a Cliff hanger ending?! Play as the bad guy and arbitrate? Don’t get out of the Warthog? There’s a traitor? It's a trap! Always something going on in the Halo story to keep everything going along, keeping the player’s (and buyer’s) interest. A huge back story, slowly drip feed into the canon ala the Terminals also a key to keeping people interested.

Classic one liner Quotes

I would have been your daddy, but that dog beat me over the fence / Wort Wort Wort!  /  I'm glad that food nipple is waiting for me on the starship cause man, have I worked up a big, grunty, thirst!  / I know what the ladies like / Relax. I'd rather not piss this thing off / Don't they teach you kids to SWEAR in basic anymore? / Please... don't shake the light bulb! / Were it... so easy / You know they let me pick? Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted / I heard their main weakness is bananas! / Do we have any bananas? 

Beautiful scenery:

Unforgettable music.

Dadda da da Dadda daaa etc. You know what I'm talking about, Marty.

Legendary Mode

Lets face it, before Halo: CE there was the setting 'difficult', 'hard' or 'Hammer, please don't hurt 'em'. Legendary mode changed all that. It's now a badge of honour* (and some achievement points) to complete a Halo game on legendary. Points off if you do it with a friend. Unless she's hot.

Guns, Lots of Guns

You know in The Matrix when Neo gets taken to the place with all the guns? And how cool was that? Halo's guns are better.

Mulitplayer

 Lets face it, if Halo CE did not have multiplayer net work, Halo would merely have been a ‘great’ Xbox game, not the game that spawned this generation’s Star Wars. Come for the campaign, stay for the multiplayer. Halo 2 nailed the format and was the reason Xbox Live became a flag ship for Microsoft.

There's way more to the Halo series, these are just the elements I think were key to making the games so good. What worked for you?

*Real world spelling, not Americana. K?

Is this the sexiest Cortana cosplay ever?

This might just be the sexiest cos play effort to emulate the beauty of Halo's Cortana ever....

The Blood Gulch Brawl - who would win?

Yep, I think I would by a ticket to see the Master Chief go up against an angry T-Rex. Would you? If there were no rail guns allowed, who would win this brawl?

Inkwash of Spartan 117

RedGrimRune has done a rather fantatic ink wash of everyone's favourite spartan, Mr John 117. I wonder what the Chief is thinking? Is he more human than you, man?

Research suggests: play with friends, win more Halo: Reach

You might remember Aaron and Winter's study of Halo: Reach players - they asked us and some other cool sites out there to help lure in some Halo players to assist with his research. Well they've done the work and have some findings to share and I think they are pretty cool!

The paper focuses on the "questions of whether playing with friends has an impact on your or your team's performance. It turns out that it does, even after we control for the overall skill level of the team, which is cool."

Here's a bit from the conclusion which proves beyond all doubt I am an awesome Halo player because I'm 34:

"Although the typical age of our respondents was close to 20 years old, the distribution shows a long tail, with a large number of players over 30. Age correlated with several aspects of game play: older players (24 or older; 29.7%) tend to exhibit somewhat less within group conflict, exhibit greater pro-social tendencies (e.g., fewer betrayals), and are slightly more skilled (more kills per game). This latter point is counterintuitive given that younger players often have greater free time in which to invest in the game."

This touches a cord with me - I hate the douches, dickheads, and teenagers that ruin the gaming experience - and that's probably a sign of maturity. Haha!

I think the key take away from the research is the suggestion that teams can win matches if team mates actually know each other at some friendship based level - it seems obvious but now it's been concluded as being so:

"Both team and individual performance in Halo: Reach are improved by friendship variables and teams composed of friends, on average, win more games than teams composed of strangers. However, if overall skill correlates across friendship ties, then highly skilled groups of friends could tend to win often than groups of strangers because the skilled friends are more skilled than an average stranger"

It's probably because they don't run round betraying each other with blue stickies to the face....

This research could do with what I'm calling some 'stress testing' so Aaron is looking for more volunteers so if you're still playing Halo: Reach, check out this link and see if you can help  (I gotta admit I've dropped off multiplayer myself due to lots of campaign runs for CE, Gears and now ME3).

Here's the full findings of Friends FTW: Friendship and competition in Halo: Reach. Also check out Aaron's blog, Structure and Strangeness.

This is what the Master Chief looks like in Halo 4!

Someone must have needed the Master Chief because he's awake! Here's an in game campaign shot of The Big Green Guy in Halo 4. That's right Halo 4! How do we know it's legit? This guy said it is and we think he's a chap you can trust.

Want another picture of the Chief? Seeing as I'm a generous guy, here's another screenshot of the Chief! Enjoy with my sincere compliments!

Steve Jobs and Halo

The announcement of Steve Jops resigning as iCEO of Apple has had every man and his dog offering their two cents worth - and Hard News writer Russell Brown republished his commentary on the 1999 Mac Expo which was where Halo was famously announced during Steve Job's address.

Here's the slice:

"Jason Jones of Bungie Software, demonstrates his company's new multiplayer game, Halo, which ships first on the Mac next year. It looks incredible.

Ahhhhh, says the crowd …"

I sure it's not lost on Russell how big that Jason Jones introduction of Halo actually was.....

Don't make us kick your ass Bungie

A sweet Montage of sweet Halo cut scene moments. Take a trip down memory lane, but take a hanky!

Gravity Hammer Halo Tattoo

I wonder what percentage of the Halo fan base has a Halo tattoo? We seen some great Halo tattoos before and some fans like to run riot and here's a new one to add to the pile, The Gravity Hammer!

Found on XBL

Isaac Hannaford's Master Chief and Cortanna Concept Art

You may have read that the concept artist for Bungie, Issac Hannaford has been given the chance to show Halo fans everywhere his etchings. Here's the pictures that he released of the Master Chief and Cortana - the above one was a suggested game covert art concept.

I didn't realise Cortana had such sexy long legs...

I am your shield thingy

Why so serious?

Halo Concept Artwork from Issac Hannaford

Halo Level?

It takes a lot to make a Halo game. You need brilliant guys like Chris Butcher from New Zealand and basically some really awesome artwork design. That's were Bungie's Isaac Hannaford comes in. As a long term artist for Halo games, he's been given permission from Bill Gates personally to release some of his original concept art to the masses.

Check out the follow pictures that I've borrowed from his blog. They range from Halo 3: ODST to Halo 2. See if you can work out which art work goes with what Halo game...

Concept Cover Art of the Chief and Cortana

Halo 2? or probably 3. 

High Charity

Chief takes them all on in a mongoose Warthog

Classic War quotes rewritten from the Halo perspective

Normandy Invasion

Wars are horrible beasts. They bring out the worst in mankind, yet also the best. At times, the Leaders of Men and Women make great, inspirational speeches.

I was playing the Reach Beta's Invasion game type and when we won, some voice over guy told us we Spartans did a great job... I thought I'd heard better rallying speeches. So looked some up. I stumbled across a speech by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and on a whim, gave it a Halo spin:

"You will bring about the destruction of the Covenant war machine, the elimination of the Prophet's tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Earth and beyond, and security for ourselves in a free galaxy. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely....The free men of the galaxy are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

Originally spoken by General Dwight D. Eisenhower giving the D-Day order on June 6, 1944.

What about some more Halo war quotes?

"Spartans, Lead The Way!"

Originally said by Colonel Francis W. Dawson on the occasion of the Normandy Invasion, 1944

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in The Library,
we shall fight on the Delta Halo,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Silent Cartographer, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing zones,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets of Mombassa,
we shall fight in the Bloody Gulches;
we shall never surrender!"

That was a cut from Winston Churchill's most famous rallying cry known as the 'We shall fight them on the beaches' speech.

Winston C.

Roosevelt's Day of Infamy Speech

"Yesterday, April 20th, 2525. -- a date which will live in infamy -- the Planet of Harvest was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Alien forces we know to be called the Covenant.

This speech was given by the American President, the day after Japan attacked American soil it what many people simply refer to as the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

USS Arizona in Pearl Harbour

"Joint Resolution Declaring that a state of war exists between the Covenant and the Unified Earth Government and the people known as Humanity making provision to prosecute the same.

Whereas the Covenant has committed repeated acts of war against the UNSC and the people of the Contact and Reach; Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Unified Earth Government, that the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which has thus been thrust upon mankind is hereby formally declared; and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire military forces of the United Nations Space Command and the resources of the Earth and its Colonies to carry on war against the Covenant; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all of the resources of our planets are hereby pledged by the Unified Earth Government."

This declaration of war came after the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson outlined the case for declaring war upon Germany in a speech to the joint houses of Congress on 2 April 1917. 

"The death of one Spartan is a tragedy. The death of hundreds is a statistic."

Originally spoken by Josef Stalin.

These quotes were born of human history's desperate and dark times. You might question their application to a bloody xbox game, and suggest that's a disrespectful use. It's not. It's a reflection on the thing that inspired me me today. This is my way of sharing what I found.

Halo 3: OSDT plot summary

I know this is a blog about Halo: Reach but lets face it, I love all Halo. So there's no reason why I can't focus on other things within the Halo universe eh? Anyway, I noticed people have been looking for 'ODST plot' on my other blog and seeing as I write about Halo here, I bring you, dear googler, a Halo 3: OSDT plot summary.

Halo 3: ODST begins with ODST soldiers Dutch, Romeo, Mickey and the Rookie discussing plans for assaulting the Covenant Prophet of Regret's ship above New Mombasa. Buck arrives and introduces Dare in what appears to be a strained pairing. It is clear from tone of the introduction she is now in charge. These characters form the heart of the storyline.

The team enter their HEVs and drop (hence the ‘prepare to drop’ slogan for ODST soldiers) through the atmosphere toward the ship; at the last minute, Dare changes their trajectory to deliberately miss the carrier. The Covenant ship enters slipspace, sending a shockwave toward the ODSTs; the Rookie's HEV pod collides with another and crashes to the ground, knocking him unconscious. He eventually awakens some 6 hours later and through exploring the streets of New Mombassa he proceeds to find clues as to what happened to his squadmates.

Buck awakens after the drop and fights through Covenant troops to find Dare. After an encounter with an Engineer, he finds Romeo instead, and the two resolve to get out of the city.

Dutch drops near a nature preserve and helps Marines while he goes to the city. Mickey commandeers a tank and fights his way along a Mombasa boulevard.

 Meeting up with Dutch, the Buck and Romeo defend an ONI base from the Covenant, blowing up a bridge in an attempt to slow the advancing enemy. However, they are quickly overrun and forced to destroy the facility to keep it from being captured. After a tense encounter they are evacuated by a Pelican from the top of the ONI building and they make contact with Buck, arranging a rendezvous at the police headquarters. However, when Buck and Romeo arrive, they see the Pelican get shot down and crash. They rescue Dutch and Mickey, but Romeo is seriously wounded in the fight as the result of a very angry Brute attacking.

The squad then hijacks a Phantom transport ship, but instead of leaving the city, Buck, literally in a change of heart, decides to turn back and find Dare.

Back in the city, the Rookie is assisted by the Superintendent (the city’s AI, a type of Cortana aid), which leads him to Dare's position. She and the Rookie team up to reach the Superintendent's data core, which possesses information on something underneath the city the Covenant is looking for.

Inside the core they find a Covenant Engineer. Dare explains that the Engineers are an alien race that have been enslaved by the Covenant, and this one decided to defect to the humans. The alien downloads the Superintendent's data into itself and Dare's mission changes from destroying the AI to escorting the alien to safety.

The Rookie, Dare, and the Engineer reunite with Buck and fight their way out of the city. As they fly away in the transport they captured earlier, the ODST squad watches as the Covenant glassess the city of New Mombasa.

In the game's epilogue, about one month has passed, and the ODST squad is still keeping guard over the Engineer. One of Halo’s greatest servants, Sergeant Johnson abrubtly arrives, informing the Engineer that he intends to ask it everything it knows about the Covenant and whatever it is they're looking for. To show it understands, the Engineer replies by lighting Johnson’s cigar.

If the player completes at the game on Legendary difficulty setting a scene after shows the Prophet of Truth overseeing some Engineers uncovering a Forerunner artifact buried beneath the Superintendent's data core. This is presumbably some kind of passage way to the Ark that was central to the plot in the events of Halo 3 (remember ODST is set at the same time as the events of Halo 2, and obviously before the events of Halo 3).

Extra for Halo Experts:

• Buck will probably appear in some form in Halo: Reach 
• Check out the ODST Firefight Guide. Cos you just know Firefight will be in Reach.....

A brief history of Halo: The Story Explained

A brief history of Halo

The story of Halo is no fairy tale set in a Castle that needs protection from a marauding dragon. It is, however, a monster of a tale spanning the length of the universe from Earth to places with strange names like Onyx. Many fans might know Halo only through the Xbox games, others may have expanded their knowledge from reading the books, graphic novels and the Halo Encyclopedia. Halo Waypoint has handily put together a brief history of Halo for anyone who might just be a little curious about what’s actually going on as sometimes even in the games it’s not clear!

The Halo Story Explained

Long before humanity shed its own earthly shackles, an ancient race known as the Forerunners had already mastered control of the heavens. Using their technology they took it upon themselves to protect all life in the galaxy. But when a dark threat emerged from the blackness beyond the galaxy’s stars, the Forerunners surprisingly were caught off guard.

The Flood, a parasitic alien species that propagates itself by infecting sentient beings, had already infested a variety of worlds within the Milky Way galaxy. By the time the Forerunners took action against the Flood, it was too late; the Flood had already surpassed any efforts at containment offered.

Fearing all in the galaxy would be lost forever to the Flood, a group of Forerunners developed a plan to stop the parasite once and for all. They called this plan Halo. Using a massive installation known as the Ark, they built seven ring worlds, which they spread throughout the galaxy as a defensive mechanism. This Halo Array, as they called it, when fired, would destroy all sentient beings within range, effectively starving the Flood to death as there would be nothing left for it to use to spread.

Then, after staying the hand of judgment as long as they could, the Forerunners finally fired the rings and seemingly vanished from existence to never be heard of again. The knowledge surrounding the Halo Array and its use and as well as the Ark was lost for a time. All that remained was the hope that someone, somewhere in the distant future, would discover the truth.

One hundred thousand years later, humankind finally turned its eyes to the stars. But even after developing the technology of Slipspace travel, which allowed them to colonize distant worlds, they failed to learn from their own primitive nature, they went too far, too quick.

Not long after humans built other worlds to inhabit, they began to war with each other. A powerful governing body known as the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) attempted to quell any insurrectionist factions, but there seemed to be nothing that could halt the mounting tide of violence between mankind.

It was then that an agency known as the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) commissioned the SPARTAN-II project. This extreme measure sanctioned the abduction of young children who would be genetically engineered into the most advanced supersoldiers humanity had ever seen. And for a time, this solution worked flawlessly, the Spartans meted out swift, almost merciless, judgment against any who resisted the orders of  United Nations Space Command.

But in 2525 CE, all of that changed.

Without warning, the Outer Colony of Harvest was obliterated by an unknown force, a force that would later reveal itself as the Covenant. This alliance of alien species believed humanity was a stain that needed to be wiped from the galaxy, and they committed themselves to this belief without any mercy and proved ruthless in doing so.

Extinguishing every human population they could find, the Covenant were consumed with humankind's total and complete annihilation. However, despite being greatly outnumbered, the Spartans engaged the alien enemy in groundside conflicts, frustrating the Covenant’s advancement every step of the way. Ultimately, each terrestrial victory proved insignificant, since the Covenant dominated space battles without contest.

Still, it wasn't until they attacked the planet of Reach, Earth's veritable doorstep on the brink of humanity’s extinction, that these legendary Spartans fell.

Fleeing into Slipspace at a seemingly random vector, a UNSC warship brought with it what was believed to be the last remaining Spartan, the enigmatic Master Chief, John 117. As they arrived in a remote, uncharted region of the galaxy, they suddenly came face to face with something they had never before seen —Halo.

This discovery was marred when the Covenant, having realised the installation's supposed worth to them, they attempted to activate the ring to fulfill their specious prophecies, and mistakenly released a strain of the Flood that had been contained within the installation for a hundred thousand years.

In response, the Master Chief was motivated to uncover the secrets of the Forerunners' extinction and a deploy stratagem to prevent the parasite from escaping. With the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, he destroyed Halo with the help of his AI Cortana, ending the vast threat it possessed and destroying the Flood's infestation along with it.

Ignorant (seemingly by choice) to the truth of the Halo Array’s purpose, the Covenant continued their quest and soon located yet another ring. When they failed to fire it, a chain reaction of events occurred that opened a portal on the planet Earth. This portal would lead any who entered to the Forerunners' most precious installation, the Ark, the only place where the Halo rings could now be fired.

It was here that humanity formed an unlikely alliance with a faction of Covenant defectors known as Elites, and together they assaulted the Ark. With the last vestige of Covenant forces attempting to activate the Halo Array, the Master Chief raced to the surface of a remote ring world, igniting its fire and obliterating both his adversaries and the Ark in the process.

For the survivors on Earth, the Master Chief is believed to have been killed, sacrificed to prevent humanity’s extinction. Little do they know, the Spartan and Cortana miraculously survived the destruction of the Ark and is now stranded in an unknown region of space without any way home but seemingly headed towards an as yet unidentified planet....

That's the short version of the story any way. The Halo universe is full of many stories told from different point of views e.g. ODST. Some of the stories are impossible, others are incorporated into the xbox games. However you take your Halo, you can be sure it's almost as tasty in a different version! *

The inspiration for this Halo story time line was Halo Waypoint. The text is mostly from that site, with some edits from myself. The pictures are from the various Halo games, some promo shots, others in game scenes.

*Worse joke I ever heard: How do you take your tea? Orally.