Patient Gamers

Still don't care about the Forerunner storyline. I enjoyed bits and pieces (talking about the plan with Dr. Tillson during Composer was really well done) but as a whole the campaign wasn't that interesting for me. I did like Cortana's arc - it was pretty emotional and just well done in general. A tasteful ending to her adventures with Chief (yes, I'm aware of Halo 5, no I don't count it since I won't be playing it).

Dunno if anyone remembers but when writing about Halo 2 I mentioned how I really like its art style. While some of the classic stuff still looks good (except for the new Pelicans) I don't vibe with Forerunner designs at all in this game. I mean... architecture is fiiine and the natural segments were cools but enemies? I didn't particularly care for them.

My reaction to Forerunner weapons is even harsher than towards Covenant ones - I just don't like them. Human tech was always my favourite part of these games and Halo 4 did not change that. I especially love the DMR, it sounds and feels fantastic. It ended up being my favourite weapon in the game and I'd be more than happy to play the whole thing using just that.

All in all, I was a bit worried about this game but it turned out better than expected. Definitely not my favourite but solid enough to not regret playing it.

Oh, audio quality of secret videos is not great. Does anyone know if it was like this in the original release or did something go wrong when porting to MCC?

I mentioned this before but this playthrough made me realise that my favourite way of experiencing Halo's universe is through the books rather than the games (except for Reach and, to lesser extent, ODST). They tend to focus on different vibes and tone which work very well with my tastes.

I'm glad I got to play this, if only to have an informed opinion on a series which helped to shape the medium into what it is today.

First things I noticed were the tone of the game and characterisation of our protagonists. Heck, writing in general turned out way different than expected - not in a bad way mind you, I simply didn't expect the main duo to be such a menace or to hear multiple F-bombs in the middle of a conversation (even censored ones).

Puzzles aren't too bad however there were a few times where I needed to use the hint book as a crutch. It'll take a couple more games before I adjust my brain to playing completely raw but even doing it like this is enjoyable and that's what matters. I also don't see the point in feeling bad about doing so in general - while S&M isn't the worst in this respect, I'm fully aware of the moon logic used in some of these games and I'd rather have fun than tear my hair out trying to figure out some of the more ridiculous solutions.

Game works pretty great using ScummVM. I did have to tinker with it a bit to make saves work correctly (game crashed when I tried to load them) but other than that I had zero issues. Lets hope it stays that way.

Got some additional thoughts after finishing the game. First things first, I forgot to mention how good the game looks, I really love the pixel art work on display here. Same with music to be honest.
Voice acting was great, even if I didn't always care for the direction they went with. It did what it wanted to really well.

As for the rest of the game, some of the later segments were pretty rough - both in terms of what needed to be done but also things like finding the map transitions hitboxes.
Story was alright, enjoyable enough to play but never managed to fully grab my attention. Humour was also a bit of a mixed bad - some of it was great, some felt a bit outdated and some just wasn't my cup of tea. Nothing I'd outright hate at least.

All in all, a fun distraction after my non stop shooting spree. Probably won't be coming back to it but it did its job. It also did kinda fit the bill with my pew pew marathon thanks to the shooting gallery during credits. Looks like I need to choose something less modern for my next playthrough.