The game made 125 million its first day--not 70 as people thought. When the day came, people thought it was going to be around 100, maybe nearing 150. 125 exceeds expectations.
Yes, I bought it. I beat the Easy level in three days. Half-way through normal. Haven't tried multi-player co-op. Still looking for differences in the various degrees of difficulty.
That was one of the things I liked about games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Time Splitters only SLIGHTY touched on the theme--here it goes--
The difference between difficulties was not just enemy AI, or number of shots needed to kill, or your own player's vulnerability (he became weaker). There was also more REQUIREMENTS/OBJECTIVES. You needed to scout around, and kill someone, acquire something, unlock something or destroy something. It was cool. But going beyond that, Perfect Dark created a REASON to play the game more (and on harder levels of difficulty). Only certain routes, doorways, and areas of the map were accessible on different levels. To gain access to the full map, or all routes, you needed to play the game on the hardest level, and I can't remember if that was available from the beginning, or if you had to beat the game at least once or twice.
Moving that idea to Halo, they don't incorporate it. No added objectives, no other passages or alternate routes. If you never played Perfect Dark or GoldenEye, think of the SSX games, remember how you could break through a secret passage to go down the hill/mountain/path? Wasn't it cool?
Halo is a great game. The use of vehicles (jeeps, tanks, turrets, flying vehicles) to go along with a 1st-person shooter, co-op abilities, and freedom to compete against your friends on your television or online make it a great game, BUT, I do wish it had those little additions.
I make that gripe because I compare the great qualities of 1st person shooters, seeing what makes a game great. Things like a gun that has two capabilities (first featured in Dark Forces, and later utilized in Perfect Dark). That would have been nice. Automatic, semi-automatic. The game offers some of those features, but not all weapons have them.
And as it was mentioned, there is the sudden ending. That bothered me, and is a reason I am still playing. The first game offered slight variations of the ending, and I am hoping that Bungie might be doing what other companies (like Rare) do, offer the real ending on the hardest setting. Otherwise, this game is kind of just a big setup for Halo 3, and Xbox 2.
