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Never Realized How Short the Halo Games Were

Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,853
I've been going through the Master Chief Collection on PC, and I never realized just how short some of these games are. They're all around sub-10 hours, even less if you know what you're doing. I know FPS games aren't exactly known for their long campaign modes but back in the day these felt much longer. Maybe it's because I'm coming off of stuff like Bioshock and Doom Eternal, which are longer in terms of campaign, and third person games like TLOU2 and Death Stranding, which lean more towards 40
 
Risev

Risev

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,415
Sub 10 hours is great.

I think some of the games, especially Halo 4, is like 5-6 hours on normal.
 
Noppie

Noppie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,772
Always had the perfect length IMO. Highly replayable too, which for me is the perfect mix.
 
Anatole

Anatole

Member
Mar 25, 2020
1,431
I can't speak for Doom, but even Bioshock is just a 12-13 hour game. It's the nature of the FPS beast, I think.
 
Mentalist

Mentalist

Member
Mar 14, 2019
18,034
I'm playing through them for the first time as they are released on Steam.

Playing solo on Heroic, I've clocked 52 hours so far in Reach, CE and 12/15 missions of Halo 2.

They're decent-sized for new players. Some encounters can take a while to figure out on higher difficulty.
 
Sinkfloridasink

Sinkfloridasink

Member
Dec 5, 2017
602
Ive been on a short game roll lately, and honestly, I love it. There are games that I wish went longer, but my predominant opinion while gaming is, wow I wish this was shorter.

Additionally, instead of tacking on a ton of mediocre content, I very much prefer when content is hidden, or exploration based to encourage replayability instead of throwing 8 hours of regurgitated content into the middle of a Romp.
 
Fancy Clown

Fancy Clown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,407
Singleplayer games are just trending longer now due to value concerns (and tech allowing for larger levels, etc). At the time they probably weren't considered super short compared to their contemporaries.
 
denx

denx

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,322
I'm all for shorter games nowadays, so this is cool with me.
 
Stopdoor

Stopdoor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,779
Toronto
Yeah, honestly, it makes them much more replayable. It's acceptable because with Halo the multiplayer really is a crucial component if you want to get your full enjoyment out of it, but playing on harder difficulties is pretty rewarding in Halo.
 
AndrewDean84

AndrewDean84

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,595
Fontana, California
Playing the on Legendary, they're just the right length.

I recently played them on easy (for the lore) and the game feels much shorter.
 
upinsmoke

upinsmoke

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,566
I've always liked the length of the games or at least it's never something which had occurred to me as a negative. I think playing Halo (iirc it's 10 chapters?) every chapter kind of felt like you got something done, like you was progressing towards something meaningful and each chapter had like a crescendo if that makes sense
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,393
It's interesting that despite being around the same length as older Halo titles, 4 and 5 were criticized for being too short.

Halo Infinite will probably be the longest halo game in response to the markets interest in longer experiences.
 
CrichtonKicks

CrichtonKicks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,215
Fancy Clown said:
Singleplayer games are just trending longer now due to value concerns (and tech allowing for larger levels, etc). At the time they probably weren't considered super short compared to their contemporaries.
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This. They were just "normal" length games.

Halo 2 is really the only that was criticized and I think it was probably more to do with the way the story wrapped up than actual length.
 
Megabreath

Megabreath

Member
Oct 25, 2018
2,663
To be fair, they do have good replay value.

My biggest problem is each game has 1 or 2 levels that are terrible. The 2nd to last level on 3 was bad in 2007, but 13 years later omg.
 
Tortillo VI

Tortillo VI

Member
May 27, 2018
1,954
Indeed, but they are immensely replayable. I love that approach. 2 and 3 are super fun to go through multiple times and the campaign scoring, coop and AI make for a super engaging challenge.
 
sibarraz

sibarraz

Prophet of Regret - One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
18,115
I wish than more games were like that, not everything needs to be an epic 70 hour game to be good.

I'm playing Halo CE for the first time on the MCC and I'm enjoying how good the game is while being short, I could ask my friends to finish it with me on coop without asking too much of their time
 

Deleted member 32973

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 14, 2017
180
for me it's 15 hour minimum or I won't purchase 60$ for my game

at the price of master collection now it's a steal though
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Megabreath said:
To be fair, they do have good replay value.

My biggest problem is each game has 1 or 2 levels that are terrible. The 2nd to last level on 3 was bad in 2007, but 13 years later omg.
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Seems less bad to me now than it did back then. Especially once you figure out you can just run through most of the level, even on Legendary.
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
11,865
They also had an extensive multiplayer mode rather than a half-assed multiplayer mode.

Co-op legendary is the best way to play them.

Legendary solo will get you the most time for ya buck but holy f*ck some bits will drive you up the wall.
 
Ctrl Alt Del

Ctrl Alt Del

Banned
Jun 10, 2018
4,312
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I actually feel they're bigger than modern FPS campaigns, provided they're not set on open world but rather structured around constrained levels. Also the multitude of ways you could play through them, single in coop with friends, do exponentially increase their length through a valuable replay factor.
 
Y2Kev

Y2Kev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,865
I think they were the perfect length. They were so replayable, paced well, and satisfying. Well, the good ones. :D
 
Bulby

Bulby

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,039
Berlin
DidactBRHU3 said:
Halo 5 was hugely criticized back when it released for being 5 hours long too, which was like all the Halo games lol
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"Halo 5: Guardians is the biggest and our most ambitious Halo title to date,"

Still no idea what they were talking about with this.​

But 8-10 hours is great. Ive been playing the campaigns for all the Bungie Halos on and off since they came out. Ive had 100s of hours out entertainment out of the single player alone.
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Hyun Sai said:
I beat Halo Reach on Legendary, this mode is definitely not for everyone, some encounters are rage inducing and require you to play a strict meta game.

I always heard Heroic was the right spot for these games.
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I'd say Halo Reach is the best Legendary has ever played throughout the whole series. The only dip in quality is during the space mission because your ship is just wet tissue paper there and you have no cover besides awkwardly hiding behind the space station. Besides that though, Legendary feels like the way to play Reach. But yes, Heroic is described as the way Halo is meant to be played, even by Bungo themselves back in the day.
 
OtterX

OtterX

Member
Mar 12, 2020
1,795
Hyun Sai said:
I beat Halo Reach on Legendary, this mode is definitely not for everyone, some encounters are rage inducing and require you to play a strict meta game.

I always heard Heroic was the right spot for these games.
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Yup. Pretty much plasma pistol + battle rifle/pistol is the only effective combo for Reach on legendary. It's the least balance halo imo.
 
Prime2

Prime2

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,338
They were short because it was just part of the game, you got a full MP in that release also and then 3 had theatre forge etc also. It puts a lot of todays releases to shame how much content was in those older games.
 
Ninja Kn1ght

Ninja Kn1ght

Member
Oct 25, 2017
686
I remember Halo 2 being incredibly short, like I couldn't believe it was over when I finished it the first time.
 
DarkSora

DarkSora

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,186
How long is the original Halo on normal?

Downloaded it on gamepass and played the intro level but it got repetitive and I just stopped playing.
 
AndrewDean84

AndrewDean84

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,595
Fontana, California
Hyun Sai said:
I beat Halo Reach on Legendary, this mode is definitely not for everyone, some encounters are rage inducing and require you to play a strict meta game.

I always heard Heroic was the right spot for these games.
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Heroic is indeed more fun than legendary. Like you said, legendary can lead to a lot of kill rooms being redone over and over again.

I will say Halo 4 on Legendary was the easiest. I think Reach might have been the hardest.
 
Mauricio_Magus

Mauricio_Magus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,033
This actually makes me interested in the games.

I recently played Titanfall 2 and that SP campaign took me like... 5 hours to beat? perfect length.
 
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