Epic Fail

Epic Fail: The Story of Bungie's Plagiarism
Posted by: Marcus


Before I dig into the meat of this entry, I do want to give the opening statement that this blog is simply my perspective of Bungie's popular Halo series, given through the eyes of a longtime gamer. This entry will also deal with my opinions of Bungie as an independent developer, and how they and Microsoft have priced their products in a hard economy.

The story for me begins when I was 18, and had my first real encounters with the Halo franchise. Beforehand, I had played the game for a little bit at a friend's house, but at the time hadn't beaten Metal Gear Solid 1-3 to the point where I had the story memorized, so I didn't think much of it.

So, right as I graduate from High School and start working for my uncle, my roommate has an Xbox and is a huge Halo fan, and immediately hooks me into the series. It was fun stuff. The multiplayer had fairly balanced weaponry, with each weapon having its place and function. Each map had a good feel to it with a decent amount of power-ups and ways to counter them, along with what may be the best Capture the Flag matches in any game to this date.

Another thing that struck me was that the single-player and co-op campaign was one of the better ones that I had played in a First-Person shooter. The storyline, though it wasn't incredibly deep, was good on its own, but had a very good way of delivering itself through Cortana's wit and interaction with the player. The only major issue was that the game felt a little short, and at the same time dragged on in certain levels that were basically prior levels played in reverse. It also had a good sense of atmosphere at certain levels, especially the level where The Flood was introduced.

However, as time went on for me, I distanced myself away from the game a bit, finding other little gems like Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic and id Software's Doom 3 to grab my attention. Around the time that Halo 2 came out though, I found myself playing it, and then quickly losing my interest in the title. The weapon balance from the previous game was outright gone, with each multiplayer match being a mad scramble for the Battle Rifle, which was overpowered and uninspired. There were improvements in the Covenant weaponry, but nobody noticed because hardly anyone remembered the one good thing that came out of the game: The Arbiter.

I still maintain to this day that the Arbiter is the best thing that came out of Halo 2. Unlike the Master Chief, Bungie took the time to flesh him out in-game and through him were able to shine some light on the Covenant, and give that side of the war a little more understanding for the people who enjoy having a solid storyline in gaming. However, like anything Halo campaign oriented, the storyline ended up being way too short, and had the worst ending that a video game has ever had. The game of Halo 2 was more of an expansion pack than an actual Halo game. It didn't feel like a full experience. It added a weapon set that was worse than the first game, online multiplayer that wasn't anything more than average, and a story that seemed like the developers just outright stopped writing it at one point, and then realized they needed an ending. Halo 2 was a terrible game, and if Resident Evil 4 hadn't come out when it did, I would have gone insane.

Going forward from there, around the time Gears of War came out I started taking notice of Epic's video games, picking up the original Unreal and Unreal Tournament. From then on in, I started to see some things that disgusted me. Halo, for better or worse, had a multiplayer system that was structured almost exactly like Unreal Tournament, but a little slower in the pacing! I couldn't believe it. How did they get away with such a blatant ripoff? I also started to draw major lines in the story similarities as well, to the point where I couldn't really see Halo as an original IP. All the Elites now seem like to me are the Skaarj bred with the Yajuta from the Predator movies.

Either way, the revelation disturbs me greatly even to this day. The nail in the coffin for me was when I saw that, out of nowhere, the Master Chief is now the head of a 4 man squad, and also now has armor with magnets on the back to store weaponry. I literally just shook my head, because the initial screenshot from that reveal looked like a throwaway promo image from Gears of War, but with Halo characters instead. It's stupid.

Truth be told, I really don't think Bungie really has had many original ideas. Their first series, Marathon, was a Doom clone. Their newest "game," Halo 3: ODST looks like Gears of Halo Duty 3 1/3. A blatant ripoff of Horde mode, and the trademark Nameless Marine from Call of Duty? Jesus Christ.

Also, I'm starting to think that the pricing for Halo products is outright robbery. 800 Microsoft Points for 3 maps?! $60 for a game that isn't much more than an expansion pack?! There couldn't be anything that angers me more than a game that rips off the consumer, especially with the current economical climate. It sickens me to no ends.

Now, I know what everyone will say who reads this. "Yeah, but Bungie's making money!" That's what makes me mad. If this game had sold absolutely nothing, then this blog entry would have no need to exist. However, I've decided to post it because I believe in my heart that gamers need to be informed with the truth. If you like Halo, that's fine. Just keep in mind that by supporting Bungie without questioning what they're doing, you do nothing for gaming or gamers.