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Halo ODST
Tags: Halo ODST
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9 comments:
Totally agree that the flak ODST is receiving now is really their own fault
This is a case of The Orange Box for PC all over again. When you're ambiguous about what your product is going to contain and how much its going to cost you're just encouraging your customers to invent their dream SKU in their head only to be disappointed by whatever you deliver.
Well said, is reminiscent of the Orange Box, and reminds me a lot of the "uproar" that some in the online community had when Blizzard split up Starcraft.
Makes the case very clear for all the other times where developers choose to reveal very little until the end of a project, where things are more certain.
I've always thought that Halo 3: whatever is a stupid name for a standalone title. Had this been called Halo Firefight or Halo Recon no one would bat an eye at the price and the hype for the game would likely be double of what it is right now.
"What makes Halo different from others?"
I think that's the problem. It isn't much differerent from the hundreds of other shooters in the genre.
ODST is worth $60, especially compared with the other mediocre shooters on the market. It's just not even close top to the top 10 games, or even the top 20 games, of 2009.
Most of the weapons, enemies, and art assets are reused from Halo 3. Most of the ODST package is plainly rebundled material... This is a great expansion. But to hold this up as a full sequel to one of the top video game brands of our time and as the single action adventure centerpiece of the Xbox 2009 lineup is a major disappointment. Simply put, there are just many other new 2009 games at the $60 price point that are better.
The problem for me is not the 5-10 hours of single player gameplay for full price, its the fact that all the other Halo games at full price have featured about 10 multiplayer maps. This gives you 3, and one of em is a remake. Maybe firefight will make up for it, but I don't know much about it, just that I read you can't use matchmaking with it, so again, should not be full price without full features.
Microsoft seems to be screwing the gamer over more and more all the time! Myself, I am a SP gamer ONLY, and if I were to pay 60 bucks for 4 hours of gaming, then I would have a HUGE problem. But....the gamers can be blamed as well. XBox 360 Gamers, for the most part, are about the most idiotic group of people around. They willingly buy something with a 50%+ failure rate. The are ecstatic with paying 10 bucks more for the same game that PC gamers get. They enjoy paying 5 bucks a month for ONLINE gaming. They have no problem paying for the SAME DLC that PC gamers get FOR FREE (for instance, Valve wanted to GIVE the L4D DLC that is coming out FOR FREE to PC & console gamers. Microsoft said "No f'in way!! We are going to CHARGE the 360 gamers 560 MS Points!" Yup, thanks a lot Microsoft for putting the screws to the gamers.
I have to agree with the reviewers on this one, it's very short (my completion time came in just over 4 hours), and there is no feeling of anything new there.
I'm happy with the multiplayer, but I would of liked this as a patch or a DLC to the main game.
Also, I dont quite understand how we can blame Microsoft? According to an interview with the developers, it was obviously a scope creep on their behalf that caused a chance in marketing.
Next time they wont be so lucky with my purchase, and i'll wait for the reviews rather than pre-order.
I think this hits the nail on the head - the campaign is in fact only 2 hours shorted than batman (which is a 92 on metacritic) and that's even before you factor in Firefight, which adds a ridiculous amount of replayability, let alone the multiplayer (thought perhaps this should jjust refer to the new maps)!
While price is obviously relevant the normal focus of reviews is on quality rather than quantity (as it should be, else the review becomes irrelevant as soon as the game is discounted) so it's a bit disappointing seeing price become such an issue for this.
You can bet the increased price of MW2 won't get a mention in 99% of reviews.
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