Halo 3 | KnockBack, Episode 269

[@GenePark]

colin’s point about sony being a creative company is what i’ve been saying for a long time too. and if you read my starfield interview, phil spencer acknowledges the same thing too

[@BlinklessTV]

I think colins really gonna love reachs story

[@crfstaley]

I think ODST and Reach will definitely be his favorites campaign wise

[@mikeclark4480]

Reach is Peak Halo

[@lobot6894]

​@@crfstaleyI think 2 will still probably be his favorite story wise, but reach and ODST will be the runners up. Halo 2 just had the most compelling cutscenes and dialogue. The story was top notch.

[@kyleboren6898]

I thought this too. The two remaining games have the most story since 2.

[@Not_Liquid]

Colin is gonna love Reach and ODST. I can’t wait for them to cover it.

[@sampedersen8786]

Reach is the one that most "lives up to the potential of Halo" to me. The others are special for sure but Reach is perfectly executed and just way more artful than it has to be.

[@sionhughes9044]

One thing you completely failed to mention is the unbelievable music. Jason Jones once said that Marty O’Donnell is the single biggest contributor to Halo’s success, he had a hand in many design aspects, not just the music. Halo 3 from 2007-2010 was a special place in time. Probably the best online experience I have ever played. Shame on Microsoft and 343 for ruining this once powerhouse game.

[@Faztkiller88]

There's an art to Halo grenades better than cooking.

[@Faztkiller88]

@last_stand_media.. The fact that they didn't explode until after contact with a surface bouncing them around corners to take a player shield down to one shot them with a battle rifle. Also loved that they could be shot out of the air

[@13ankshot]

Yes bouncing the grenades is better than cooking. Aim them at the ground and bounce them toward the enemy at an angle. I think them not playing multiplayer hinders their understanding of this.

[@kingster14444]

​@@Faztkiller88 Yes, I don't use grenades here like how I use them in other games, and that's unique, and honestly something I prefer

[@kingster14444]

1:13:12 Oh you would absolutely love the promotional videos for Halo 3. They're explicitly doing what you're thinking about here.

[@sethrosson9719]

I find it kinda funny that they both talked about how the last two games were too easy and then still play on normal. The game even tells you that heroic is the way the game is meant to be played. Weird to not at least try to up the difficulty.

[@Mac_N_Cheezy]

I'd love an episode where Chris sits down with Colin and Dagan amd just explains the Halo lore/story to them. The games do a terrible job of explaining the story and Colins understanding of it is poor because of it. I do think Colin will enjoy Reach though.

[@alexlyster3459]

I wouldn't say the games do a terrible job. But they were the initial "drip feed" of Lore, not really getting to deep until 3. And even then only in the terminals. I suppose books like the Fall of Reach were there from the start. But much of the lore came after the first 3 games.

[@crfstaley]

It is interesting how in 2007 Xbox completely captivated the gaming world and was pretty much the high water mark in the industry at that point with Halo 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, etc. They have never truly gotten back to that point with exclusives and, more importantly, as a brand.

[@TheObaidghubash]

Sadly true

[@ToxMod]

The blind person that won at EVO discussion was crazy.

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

"sony you went wrong with your ps3, i'll just keep playing my 360, i hope this song has helped, you understand, how you killed your brand" - a 2007 classic

[@eSuaz]

I agree with Colin’s question as to why 343 Industries would name themselves after Guilty Spark, who’s purpose was to sabotage the heroes.

[@andrewfeistner3384]

Because it’s what they did to the franchise right in front of us

[@AstroParrotKing]

I don’t think master chief takes off his helmet in the games.

[@Pooterre]

Cutscene at the end of halo 4, if you beat it on legendary. But it still doesnt show much

[@williambonny-h8m]

Cool to hear you guys talk about Halo 3. The older guys essay was epic. Recommend staying on topic better tho. Numerous tangents that lasted so long, I forgot what podcast I was listening too and who I was. Probably my Alzheimer's doesn't help. Good shit bros

[@hansolo6831]

Bro, you really got alzheimers?

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

The way colin talks about megaman is the way you have to play dark souls. Its so funny. It is just the same everytime you just have to progressively memorise it to progress, and eventually you get into a rhythm of it

[@DarkSlayer224]

Cortana's voice acting was horrible? Huh? That heresy aside, appreciate the discussion

[@Mr8T1]

Do you guys know of that tornado meme that occasionally makes the rounds on the internet? In 2007, the dude in the meme represented all PS fans and the tornado was Halo 3. And then on top of that, XBOX had Mass Effect, Bioshock, The Orange Box, Crackdown etc. Truly an ass-whooping for the ages. Crazy to see how far XBOX has fallen off from that peak.

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

Dead rising and left 4 dead too, and gears of war

[@dannyshabow5388]

Did homie say who cares about master chief? That shit hurt like my dad leaving me as a child.

[@dillonb7765]

The story and setting are so awesome in halo and that's why fans have wanted a tv show for many years to get some of universe fleshed out, but of course we're cursed with master cheeks.

[@alexlyster3459]

To be honest, given the limitations of Live Action production, I doubt a genuinely good adaptation of Halo was ever going to happen. Sci Fi at that scale is just prohibitive. Could certainly have been better than what we got however.... The only way I think was to do a show in universe, but not about the Chief. Keep it small and focused, maybe about a Squad of ODSTs on a Flood infested ship. Something to keep it grounded. The Chief needs to be in too many larger than life battles, and would only be feasible in movie format if we wanted him done right.

[@NYYanks2003040506]

Still my favorite FPS of all-time. Had very high expectations and they were met. Great episode, miss this time in gaming, 2007 really was a crazy good year for the gaming industry and I remember the build up to and launch of Halo 3 like it was yesterday. First game I ever attended a midnight release for, it was a blast.

[@iSaiyanPrince]

my company First Sergeant (USMC) was in the Halo 3 diorama commercial. They used his likeness for one of the Marines

[@WilliamDuh]

Halo 3 is exceptional. It’s strange to call it underrated but that’s exactly what it is even with all the praise

[@nicc8268]

I still remember going to meijer and waiting in line on release night. This game was peak Halo imo. Although, Reach is still my favorite.

[@RobFM50]

Colin talking about how marines could tell stories of them fighting along side chief, without knowing that this was one of the marketing beats for Halo 3, and in my opinion it's one of the best marketing campaigns to date

[@ekimoleksander6068]

I'm really suprised you guys haven't played this series in coop

[@Tygorgon12]

Looking forward to ODST! The soundtrack alone deserves its own episode honestly. Its so different yet still so Halo.

[@bdre5555]

We're all used to hearing the thoughtful, well composed introductions by Colin. But it was really cool to hear one by Dagan as well. You guys should do these intros more often.

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

Man halo 2 and the reputation it formed with Xbox live, feels like the absolute reason the 360 got off like a rocket. That game is the single most important Xbox game of all time. Sucks that they messed it up so bad.

[@N7Null]

2:44 Nothing better than starting the show with Colin doing his best Rosie the Riveter impression. Can't wait to see how Lockmort uses that.

[@TheHoboAuthor]

Frozen Sleep by the singer Malukah about the ending to this game and i highly recommend listening to it

[@calebbrown3665]

Halo 3 was the game that introduced me to games that weren’t sports games. This game will always hold a special place in my heart.

[@JSilv3r]

Saying that there are 10 games to catch you up with xbox is just wrong. Understandably, because it's so out of your wheelhouse, but you just ignore fable, ori, lost odyssey, blue dragon, quantum break, PGR, crimson skies, sunset overdrive, sea of thieves etc. There's a bunch. Admittedly, not as much as playstation and obviously not nintendo, but it's worth noting.

[@bivisbuns]

Just have to say, the ending was *not* setting up Halo 4. The understanding most of us had at the time was that the ending was meant to imply that end of Halo 3 leads (eventually) into the Marathon trilogy. Obviously, the 343 Halo games have retconned this and now Bungie is choosing to disgrace Marathon's legacy with a multiplayer reboot, but yeah... Also, enemy design a weak spot is an insane take but it's all subjective - each enemy type has a unique appearance, lore, gameplay purpose... in a genre where so many games have you slaughtering endless waves of generic humanoids with guns I feel like its a weird criticism

[@visual_sanctum]

After hearing their conversation about Chief and Cortana, I can't wait until these guys get to Halo 4! The narrative of 4 is way more character-focused, which I love. I am curious to see what Colin thinks of it.

[@franjaff6919]

It's interesting that Colin mentioned Ryan McCaffrey as one of the people who claims the series goes downhill after 3, because he gave 4 the highest of praise in his review

[@MrHotSalsa]

Man, it's hilarious that you mention the possible romance between Chief and Cortana because of the implications.

[@bdre5555]

Colin and I are definitely on the same page with Souls games. I have tried out quite a few of them extensively. They feel hideous and ancient to play. You basically feel like you're playing at janky PS3 game. Especially compared to the smooth slick experiences of games like the new God of Wars, returnal etc

[@bixhutch6274]

I've beaten every Halo in the series and honestly Halo Infinite is my second favorite game in the series after 2. Infinite realesed with an 88 metacritic. It was months later that the multiplayer hit a massive stump in content for a long time which has since been fixed. I actually think the campaign in Halo Infinite will be right up Colins ally.

[@kingjaques8073]

I would also suggest playing halo wars. One of the two great console rts games of that generation and like all halo games it's breezy and easy. It also has a great story only behind halo 2 and reach if one is only taking halo narratives into consideration.

[@chasecarter3302]

I hate working out too, playing sports is a good way to trick myself into enjoying a workout. Colin should join a over 30 men's hockey league.

[@grashoprsmith]

"Dorf"❤

[@TheElitistSavage]

Damn PONY Colin talking about Xbox for once never thought I sse the day

[@ghostphoenix179]

As a Destiny player the lore is super expansive. And there are some key popular and recognizable characters. There are entire KZbin channels dedicated to just Destiny Lore, such as My Name Is Byf, and Myelin Games. The story telling of Destiny in game as a whole has been pretty good. But there have been some definitive dips in quality, like the last LightFall expansion.

[@HEARD201]

ODST is one of the best feeling halo shooters IMO

[@NonfictionGamer]

Colin calling out the “vaginal doors” while wearing a vaginal shirt 😂. I can never go back to not seeing the doors in Halo 3 as Colin described though…

[@remylebaou1]

The best Halo games were the ones without chief. Until Halo 2 was remade😂. But damn Reach and ODST are so good.

[@biqafroman]

Come on guys, his name is obviously John Halo😏

[@fudachuk3257]

Be cool if they had a chance to do a co-op playthrough at some point together. Gears of war would be a perfect series for that.

[@michaelkelley7144]

ODST and Reach are master class. Also to say Destiny doesn't have any characters is not accurate. If anything it has a larger cast of interesting characters compared to any other shooter out there. There is a reason we are coming up on 10 years.

[@Italianhorn]

I love master cheif hes the shit 🐐

[@Italianhorn]

@last_stand_media.. hes just always been a cool figure the ascetic and all plus being a kid and all those amazing halo 3 advertisements just love that master cheif

[@bloodborne_pc_2025]

It’s not your fault at all for getting lost in the “vagina caves”, I beat the game like 7 times and still get lost on that level! It’s one of the most hated levels by fans of halo. you guys mention that you don’t really think about the grenades and just chuck them. That’s one aspect you’re missing out on from the multiplayer, sticking someone was always a thrill, especially if you threw the nade across the map. Also, throwing a frag so that it bounces off a few walls to kill someone is a lot of fun and makes you feel bad ass. You guys should also try coop if you can, messing around with a friend in these campaigns is sooo fun

[@TheeCambion]

I agree halo 3 needed more dialogue and cutscenes that's such a common complaint. 😒

[@fluffymonkeyyy6617]

Colin should watch Halo Origins 1 & 2

[@tonylavagnaart3865]

I love hearing Colins opinion of the Halo franchise after all these years because I actually thought Halo 2 was the worst of the franchise and 3 was the best along with combat evolved.

[@tonylavagnaart3865]

@last_stand_media.. Sure thing. So the first major stand out to me was that the enemy A.I in Halo 2 felt dumbed down in comparison to combat evolved. I never found myself in skirmishes where I felt like I was being flanked or enemies intelligently breached my area of safety. In C.E, I recall Elites taking cover when their shield was down and sending in grunts as cover whilst they wait for their shield to restore...I don't recall this happening during my Halo 2 playthrough. I also found the levels in Halo 2 quite confined, in comparison to Combat Evolves wide open outdoor levels, which is where I find Halo is at its best. I also found the weapon placement and choice depending on combat scenario to be better designed in C.E. A good example would be your arsenal being reduced to a simple shotgun and assault rifle in the Library. Some might view this lack of weapon choice as boring, but for me, it's intelligently telling the player how to fight against the flood, i.e., using your shotgun to make the large enemy types explode and the rifle to clean up its babies. My biggest let down however was at the end when the game made you play as Arbiter. It just didn't click with me and really took me out of the experience. Halo 3 however felt more like a return to form for me. I'll just end by saying, I didn't think Halo 2 was a bad game, I still enjoyed my time with it, I just think it didn't quite live up to the impact of the first game. I think it's also important to note that I never played Halo 2's multiplayer (which I heard was amazing) and it's all I did on Halo 3.

[@VariantAEC]

Halo's AI was never good. I remember playing Halo 3 and beating it in 9 hours on the hard difficulty then playing it again in Legendary difficulty and it took 6 hours... I finally played Halo 1 on Xbox 360 via the Anniversary Edition and was also not impressed by the AI, but The Librarian mission is indeed extremely difficult. I didn't finish that mission in legendary difficulty because it's just too difficult to not get hit with an invisible enemy's energy Sword... in fairness I didn't play it for hours or anything before basically saying *"F●●● THIS B●●●●●●● MISSON!"* and switching difficulty. If I could make it past that mission I feel like the rest of the game would be a cakewalk, but that mission just felt too unbelievably BS. I think maybe that's why Halo has a reputation of being difficult, even though that's the only difficult part of the entire game. And even that winds up only being true about that first part of that mission. As far as I have seen no other mission allows the energy sword to be cloaked by enemies wielding it. I don't remember CoD:WAW being very difficult. I remember Killzone 2 being very difficult and Killzone 3 and Shadow Fall. Of all the Killzone games the only one I have beaten any missions on the hardest difficulty is Killzone: Mercenary. I still haven't beaten every mission in K:M on the hardest difficulty (getting all objectives) it is definitely the only one I've beaten on anything above Recruit difficulty which is the easiest in KZ. I swear I've beaten KZ2 on Trooper, but if memory serves last I checked my PS3 save it said I only beat the campaign on Recruit and the same is true of KZ3 if memory serves. I've beaten most games on their hardest difficulty settings including Deus Ex, Resistance, and every CoD game I have played, but KZ wipes the floor with me. I really don't believe people who say "KZ was easy" every touched the series. Also Killzone's AI are smarter. In Halo lots of enemies run into the open for no reason. Killzone's AI find cover they surround you, they will blind fire from behind cover lob grenades and they seem to sometimes provide covering fire for their more powerful buddies with bigger weapons or weapons that cause a lot of damage only closer to you and other allies like Helghast armed with rocket launchers and flamethrowers. You don't see legitimately smart AI decisions like that in CoD, Halo or even Resistance. KZ's AI are hugely underrated, and of all the FPS titles I've played I really think KZ's are the best. I've played CoD since 4MW through to Infinite Warfare, I have played all the Crysis games (yes, even the original on PC, then on PS3), played Halo 1, 3 and 4 though only my progress in 1 and 4 are part of my Xbox account history since I played 3 on someone else's Xbox 360 back in college. Of the FPS game franchises of the past 20 years, I haven't played Medal of Honor and FarCry. Basically every other FPS I've played well save for some of the ones that have released in the past 5 years. Weird aside... pretty sure Mass Effect is TPS, I haven't played that franchise on anything (I know it was a PS3/X360 era franchise)... I've even played Bioshock - just Infinite also on PS3. Most FPS AI is really... well, let me just say that they are not well versed in combat tactics. Killzone's AI really shines and even on PS Vita they're a challenge.

[@tonylavagnaart3865]

@@VariantAEC As far ass first person shooters go. Halo has amazing enemy A.I. Lets look at the competition. Enemies in Call of Duty are just meat sacks that run at you, same with Battlefield. Half Life human enemies just stand their shooting at you, dont even bother to take cover. I'm not saying Halo has immaculate enemy A.I or anything, I'm just saying as far as FPS games go, the fact enemies even know when their shield is drained and wait for it to refill before returning to the fight is more than I can say for most FPS games. I also think every Halo game should only be played on Legendary. Each combat scenario needs to feel like a mini game within itself.

[@VariantAEC]

@@tonylavagnaart3865 Yeah... and I agree with all that you said, but I was talking about Killzone's AI, and how they are significantly better than Halo 3's and really all Halo games to date even up to Halo: Infinite as it currently stands on PC and Xbox Series S and Series X in 2023.

[@tonylavagnaart3865]

@@VariantAEC you might be right. Truth be told I haven't invested much time into the Killzone series.

[@wiggyp1v255]

Chris definitely isn't near pro level 😂

[@lobot6894]

25:37 pfffft thats some straight up blasphemy right there. Killzone is fine, but it is in no way better than Halo in any aspects. The story, art direction, acting, gameplay, visuals and multiplayer are all better with the Halo games. Its not even close. Thats why Killzone wasn't a console seller like Halo was.

[@VariantAEC]

You are on some really powerful drugs if you think Halo looked better than Killzone on a technical level. You can appreciate Halo's cleaner esthetics, but in no way was Halo actually the more impressive technical showpiece. Technically, Killzone 2 was much more impressive. Smoke effects that are affected by wind and explosions and character movements, ambient destruction, enemy hit reactions, deferred rendering allowed for seemingly hundreds of light sources with accurate lighting casting dynamic shadows. On a purely technical level, Halo 3 was outclassed in all areas because it featured none of that. The story of Killzone is different and you can argue less epic in some ways or more epic, and this depends entirely on your personal views. Killzone's story hinges on interplanetary warfare between humans in which the antagonistic group the Helghast sees itself as superior to the protagonist group the Vetkans. It's pretty straightforward no frills war story... it takes itself very seriously though maybe too seriously for many people considering the sci-fi setting of the game. Halo 3's story was described above pretty well in the podcast Which appeals to you more is a matter of preference, but is one actually better than the other? I don't think so. Art direction can be intertwined with, but I already covered the background stuff most people who look at art don't consider. You can prefer Halo's settings color choices and backdrops more than Killzones, which art direction you prefer is personal preference. I enjoy both, but since the tech behind Halo 3 did Halo 3's art no favors, I'm inclined to give Killzone a win here. There are so many things Bungie could've done to improve how the game looked while keeping the same artistic language. Seems like a missed opportunity, but maybe MS' tight schedule kept it from being all it could be in that regard? Killzone 2's acting was all over the place but you didn't mention a specific Killzone game. Even so, I will stick to Killzone 2 because Killzone 3's acting was much better than 2's and Killzone 2 is probably what you meant. Even so, Killzone 2's VO actors and the dialog these actors were made to read was fine. I don't think anything outside of Templar's VO bits were particularly bad and it was Templar's VA who felt comical more than any of the lines he was reading. I don't know if Halo had any comical VO actors. So, maybe this is a win for Halo 3? I'll give Halo 3 this point. Gameplay? Killzone and Halo from a mechanical perspective are pretty similar. Both are FPSes with core movement features being close; you can walk, strafe, jump, crouch, sprint, ADS, melee and swim (I might be thinking about KZ3 with respect to that last one). Both games force players to deal with only a small selection of weapons which they can pick up from downed ally and enemy characters or from weapon repositories throughout their game's respective stages. Players can also arm themselves with various grenade types and equipment that can be placed as traps or deployed on the fly, though the latter is less common in KZ2. You have vehicles in Halo 3, but not KZ2 to my recollection. KZ2 also had really slow input response which many people complained about. I guess I could give Halo 3 a win here because there is a wider variety of things players can do in the game's main campaign with the tools the developers gave to them in the larger sandbox. That said Killzone 2's AI was top-notch capable of completing numerous actions like finding cover, blind firing, throwing cooked grenades, using secondary weapon features, and laying down cover fire for buddies with more capable weapons than their own. These things also apply to Killzone's Bot-Zone mode on all platforms that have the feature (including PS Vita). Yeah, Killzone's AI... they were actually smart. So, maybe gameplay is more of a tie here as far as the main campaign is concerned. I certainly have much more vivid memories of KZ2's sequences than Halo 3's. The only thing I remember about Halo 3 was wacking a Warthog enough times to drive it in an underground corridor. The Xbox 360 players were impressed with my patience in forcing that vehicle into the basement. Then there is MP... Halo 3 had more modes more ways to connect consoles to play how players wanted and a level creation tool. Killzone was harder had more basic MP modes and better visuals... Halo 3 gets this point for generally being able create more memorable moments than Killzone 2's MP and once again giving players more options out of the gate even without considering Forge Mode. I gave Halo 3 the point despite enjoying KZ2's objective based gameplay modes more and spending way more time in KZ2 MP. That isn't saying much though. I tried Halo 3 MP back in college too and it was fun. Halo 3 gets the nod here. In the end we have Killzone 2 and Halo 3 being pretty much in a dead heat. Technology: KZ2 - unequivocal leader in tech Story: draw - it's personal preference Art direction: KZ2 - the tech pushes the backdrops into a new territory, they are much more memorable than all the Forerunner monoliths and ships and landscapes and the fact that most of the assets featured parallax and were fully modeled really helps sell them. Acting: Halo 3 - Templar's VA was just so out-of-place that Halo 3 gets this by default. Gameplay: draw - Both games offer a lot of unique aspects. Halo 3 has a nice open sandbox that offers players a lot of options, but it can feel dead at times. Killzone's gameplay is more memorable, but slow controller response and strange limitations along with AI that feel like they've actually experienced combat can make the game more frustrating and for some players more memorable and exciting. Multiplayer - Halo 3 - there is so much more to do in Halo 3's MP than Killzone's. While I stacked up more memories in KZ2's MP personally, I cannot deny that more people will and probably did have more fun in Halo 3's lobbies, LAN, splitscreen, competitive multiplayer and cooperative campaign modes. Killzone 2: 4 points awarded. Halo 3: 4 points awarded. Draw - each game offers something some FPS fans might like more or less and with MP dead on both (H:MCC doesn't count, even though Halo 3 MP modes are included they're all mixed together now) original systems where each respective game released the story modes are what are left in tact. Killzone 2 at the time was technically a far superior looking game but aspects of it's gameplay fit more of a core gamer audience with a far steeper difficulty curve while Halo 3 offered challenging gameplay for veteran gamers as well as ease of use for new players. The stories of each game were unique and vastly different enough from eachother, neither game is treading on the other in this respect at all. Both of these games were the peak of their genre and different enough that they should both be played and respected. In my personal opinion: KZ2 was tightly crafted to be extremely difficult and beating the game feels rewarding. I didn't feel that way after completing Halo 3. There is this weird rush I get from completing Nintendo and PS games that was totally absent when I beat an Xbox game Halo 3 was no different. Don't know what it is and even the worst PS games I've beaten (Haven: Call of The King jumps to mind, with its incredibly baffling and depressing an ending that game dished out), I felt like I somehow accomplished something bigger than simply making it to the end of a pointless videogame.

[@JZ3987]

Say less man. Colin is a Sony shill so he’ll take any chance to hate on msft products

[@lobot6894]

@@VariantAEC yeah, I'm not reading all that. Lmfao

[@VariantAEC]

@@lobot6894 tl;dr Killzone 2 is actually the better game for hardcore players even though it has less MP content, it looks far better than anything Bungie and 343i put out on Xbox 360 (and Xbox One). Even so, these two games (KZ2 and Halo 3) are sufficiently different enough that both can still be played and ultimately neither of these games copied from each other.

[@lobot6894]

@@VariantAEC agree to disagree. I like Killzone, but the brown color grading, too much lens flare and blur gets hard to look at after awhile, also the input lag is awful.

[@jb1u23]

Halo 3 is one of those games where not one level defined the game but at the end once youve experienced the whole of the game it leaves you in awe

[@jcvdchuck7915]

You guys are donuts, no offence.

[@bdre5555]

Did Dagan say Bungina? 😂

[@kyleboren6898]

ODST and Reach are for sure still high points. Anything not Bungie is sadly a massive drop off tho.

[@kyleboren6898]

@last_stand_media.. oh wow! Cool to get a reply from the man/company himself. ODST and Reach are polar opposites in style mostly but they each shine in their own way. Reach shines in its characters and ODST shines in its setting. The stylized score of ODST deserves its own special shout-out. Both games share a really cool use of cinematography through cameras as well. Ironically enough, 343 studios became the villain it found its namesake in. The perfect analogy is just like the 343 boss in halo 3. Something that could have, and should have, been so much more. And ultimately each game they made, is always missing something, and it feels like it.

[@kyleboren6898]

If you want a TLDR version of 343. Imagine you have a dish that your mom makes that you love. So you get the recipe and use all the same ingredients but it doesn’t taste the same. Because what made it special will always be missing.

[@JZ3987]

A lot of unneeded shade. I’m convinced Colin did this series to continue stealthily hate on Xbox. Playing on normal is crazy, and saying the story is weak is nuts. Voice acting was great as well are you kidding me? That scene when chief demands to go after Cortana cmon now

[@MrMet2087]

I have the platinum in World at War :) very proud of that one. It is insanely hard though.

[@mitchg5809]

I dunno I liked halo way more than killzone

[@C0RRUPTCUP5]

Hi guys

[@daganmoriarty1973]

Yo! : )

[@mattj2692]

downhill from here? Reach is my personal fav! Chief aka John, has some pretty good deep lore to him but the games really don't go into it until halo 5, otherwise it's all ancillary material.

[@Nintendo_Icons]

He really said Jen Taylor’s voice acting was bad … what a clown 🤡

[@DjangoFatt]

Maybe this is just me but I'm kind of tired of hearing people advocate for a trend of more compact experiences for AAA games. A linear game you can complete in 8-10 hours or the weekend experience type games have a place in the industry and always have, and I agree with Colin that padding a game out to reach 50-100 hours isn't fun but there is a place for massive open world games that are big time investments, the problem is the ones that do it right strike the balance of quality AND quantity (it's not this either/or some folk make it sound like) that do well in the zeitgeist and then inspire the industry to spawn in games that can't strike said balance resulting in the market being flooded with titles that wear people out, especially the content creators. The only reason I ever push back on this talking point despite recognizing the concrete reasoning behind it, is because I'm not the kind of person who is ok with spending $70 on a game that I can complete in 8 hours and will likely not replay because there aren't any real differences narratively speaking on subsequent playthroughs hence "one and done" that's basically spending $70 to watch a movie with some interactive elements. Even if those 8-10 hours a filled with some of the greatest writing I've ever experienced if it's a one and done I can never support that financially. I'd rather watch a non commentary walk-through on KZbin, spend my money on something that I will easily sink a minimum of 50-70 hours in and will have a higher replay rate overtime because of choice & consequence, branching paths, role-play potential, gameplay loop etc. That's why when I hear people praise games like Spider-Man, TLOU2, the newer GoWs, I don't pay them much mind because having owned all those games, I can honestly say I haven't felt the urge to go back, hook up my PS4 reinstall said games or go out of my way to pick-up a PS5 for the sequels to said games. For those who enjoy those highly cinematic type games more power to you and I'm glad you guys get a lot of what you want, I personally want to continue getting massive sandboxes with fun gameplay, grand narratives, that have sprawling factions, interesting companions, and great exploration.

[@Nintendo_Icons]

Honestly listening to you guys fumble your way through this conversation is painful.

[@YouTubeChannel-iq5to]

Two old dudes talking and wearing clothes as if they were still young 😂 CRINGE!

[@TheeCambion]

Yeah how "young and hip" wearing t shirts and a hat. That's real wild.