In yet another example of Halo becoming so cool that the only way to make yourself look cooler in comparison is to dump on it, Steve Tilly at the Edmonton Sun drops this pearl of wisdom: Halo 2 is the #4 most overhyped game ever, just ahead of Daikatana:
One of my biggest regrets as a so-called professional game reviewer is giving Halo 2 a five-star review in 2004. But journalists are human too, and like so many others I got caught up in the tornado of hype surrounding Master Chief's triumphant return to the Xbox.
First-- you gotta be kidding me. More overhyped than Daikatana? Halo 2 was more overhyped than a game Romero advertised by promising to make fans "his bitch" and in the end delivered only schizophrenic level design, robotic frogs, and a helpless, stereotypical sidekick? More over-hyped than that?
Secondly, you should stand by what you write. If you'd predicted Halo 2 would be the best game ever before you played it and then got a chance to admit you were wrong later, that's one thing. Admitting that you got "caught up" in the hype and gave a game a rank it didn't deserve is something else entirely. It's just as likely that right now you're caught up in a backlash against Halo. How can anyone tell?
Call them like you see them-- and stick by what you've said. All else is pretense.
Thanks to chewpathingy for the heads-up in the HBO forum.
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Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
Well, hold Bungie to the same standard. Because, they vilified anyone who had complaints about Halo 2. But, now, not even they can stop bashing it.
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
In reply to: Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo PraiseDid they really? I don't ever recall Bungie vilifying anyone that didn't like Halo 2. Can you provide some proof?
I don't think anyone can really successfully argue that Halo 2 was a colossal disappointment. Daikatana? Totally. Why? Because it promised a lot of things and didn't deliver. I think Halo 2 carried a lot of fan-based hype, and seemed to promise a number of things, but on the things it seemed to promise, I believe it delivered overall. The ending is the one case where Halo 2 didn't deliver, and that point has been belabored ad nauseum.
Besides, regardless of who is or isn't bashing it now, it's still one of the most-played games on XBL, and a legitimate blockbuster title. Sure, it didn't end up being everything that people expected, but it still was extremely successful. I don't really think Narc's position can be argued with very easily here. Anyone changing their mind now and trying to take back a great review they gave in the past is just jumping on the Halo 2 -bashing bandwagon.
Personally, I'd really like to know what the point of bashing Halo 2 now would be anyway. Lots of people were disappointed with the cliffhanger ending, with the implementation of the brutes, and with some of the weapon-balancing issues. It's certainly one thing to say that the game could be improved upon in several respects, it's wholly another to claim that the game received undue attention.
I don't think for a minute that Halo 2 was overhyped. Yes, as I've just mentioned, there were unsatisfactory elements of the game, but in light of how successful it was, and the numbers of people that still play it, I don't see how claiming overhype is valid. Hell, look at the impression the party system alone left on gaming in general.
~Ma1
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
I think it's fair for a reviewer to point out that he himself got "caught up in the hype." It is not a bad thing for people to change their minds over time, and to be honest about how their opinions have changed. Is it possible that he is caught up in the backlash now, as you imply? Sure. Could it just as easily be that time away from the Microsoft Marketing Machine has allowed him to look at Halo 2 more objectively, and that this time the game was found to be less-than-flawless? Absolutely. When you dismiss the latter possibility out of hand, you're demonstrating your own bias.
Incidentally, to answer your question ("How can anyone tell?")... you tell by reading what he writes, and he doesn't at any point "dump on" Halo 2. He expresses regret for having praised it to the heavens when it wasn't actually the Greatest Game Event EVER, but is careful to note that it is still a pretty damn great game. That this regret made his Top 5 list speaks more towards his remorse at letting his own excitement overwhelm his sense of objectivity, in a situation where huge amounts of money might actually have been made or lost due to said loss of objectivity. It's not that Halo 2 was so incredibly bad. It's that Halo 2 was the biggest game of its year, and like the rest of the gaming press, Tilly failed to act journalistically in favor of acting like a fanboy. Or worse, a lapdog.
narcogen
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
In reply to: Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise[quote=Anonymous]I think it's fair for a reviewer to point out that he himself got "caught up in the hype." It is not a bad thing for people to change their minds over time, and to be honest about how their opinions have changed. Is it possible that he is caught up in the backlash now, as you imply? Sure. Could it just as easily be that time away from the Microsoft Marketing Machine has allowed him to look at Halo 2 more objectively, and that this time the game was found to be less-than-flawless? Absolutely. When you dismiss the latter possibility out of hand, you're demonstrating your own bias.[/quote]
He can reserve his right to change his mind, but I can also reserve my right-- as I've done here-- to use his self-contradiction as justification for ignoring further statements.
I have to admit, from my own side, I'm a little surprised how hype changes people's opinions of a game anyway. Why didn't everyone love Daikatana if hype matters that much?
Also, if his problem was the game was "less than flawless" then he shouldn't give out "perfect" ratings. Ever. Because nothing is perfect. Ever.
[quote=Anonymous]Incidentally, to answer your question ("How can anyone tell?")... you tell by reading what he writes, and he doesn't at any point "dump on" Halo 2. He expresses regret for having praised it to the heavens when it wasn't actually the Greatest Game Event EVER, but is careful to note that it is still a pretty damn great game. That this regret made his Top 5 list speaks more towards his remorse at letting his own excitement overwhelm his sense of objectivity, in a situation where huge amounts of money might actually have been made or lost due to said loss of objectivity. It's not that Halo 2 was so incredibly bad. It's that Halo 2 was the biggest game of its year, and like the rest of the gaming press, Tilly failed to act journalistically in favor of acting like a fanboy. Or worse, a lapdog.[/quote]
He doesn't dump on Halo 2? He says it is a pretty damn great game?
You, my friend, are reading a different article. He nowhere praises the game; nowhere says it is good, calls it "underwhelming" and the ending a "robbery" and it is on his list right next to Daikatana, a game about which the best you can say is that it was seriously flawed and, in his words, "overwhelmingly mediocre".
This is supposed to be a list of most "over-hyped" games. Games where the game did not live up to the hype. So Daikatana and Halo 2 both got a lot of hype, and both failed to live up to that hype to such a similar degree that they're both on the list?
Sorry. This is Halo-bashing for the sake of traffic and cool points. If you want to read serious criticism of Halo 2, check here:
http://rampancy.net/halo2impressions
I wrote a piece on every level pointing out what I thought were the major flaws. And I never thought the game was perfect. But someone who can give the game a perfect 5/5 and then conveniently change his mind at exactly the right time, and backed up by nothing...
Rampant for over se7en years.
rapture
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
I agree with Narc.
Something can only be over-hyped if it doesn't deliver. HALO 2 delivered. Sure, we all can list some major flaws with HALO 2. However, it was 2004 and HALO 2 changed XBOX and XBOX Live. It deserves that 5/5 for reasons that aren't even related to gameplay.
HALO 3 has a ton of hype behind it. It has for almost a year. But, there's going to be things in HALO 3 that are going to drive me crazy. However, looking at the game as a whole, I'm sure it will live up to the hype. From the beta...to the info that the press is reporting...it seems well on it's way to being a Game of the Year contender.
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
In reply to: Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo PraiseI have to agree with this completely. A journalist should stick by what he says and then not try to make excused if he decides to change his mind. Admit you made a mistake if you honestly believe that now.
I think your last statement is really profound. If your not being true to yourself and what you write or believe, then it is just pretense. I'd think I'll use that quote if'in you don't mind.
Anonymous (not verified)
Re: So-Called Professional Game Reviewer Retracts Halo Praise
God I loved the original Halo sooooooooo much. Hours and hours and hours spent with 4 tvs and consoles connected together for bloodgulch adventures. I wanted my own suit of mjolnir after playing that game. Remember Nightmare Armor? The first Warthog Jump video? God Bless Randall Glass. God Bless H.B.O. God bless bungie.
That being said. Halo 2 was the most over-hyped peice of crap I've ever played. I literally wanted to cry when i played through the campaign mode the first time, the horrible texture popping, the god aweful story, the damn Arbiter. Enduring ritalin-addicted-emo-yo-mamma insults on live was not too much fine either.
I have high hopes that Halo 3 will bring back the wonderful memories i have of this franchise and the love I have for the characters. The Fall of Reach is one of my favorite books! I own the action figures, the Masterchief sits on my dashboard in my Green Ford Explorer with Worthog on the liscense plate! GOD I WANT THIS GAME TO BE GOOD. However I am very afraid, that this guy has a valid point about halo 2.
Anton P Nym
I have qualms about Tilly's reviews in general
And not just because of this recent flip-flop; in his grand Halo 2 review last year (that he now regrets as being excessively positive, or so he says) included an indirect-but-not-obscure spoiler about playing the Arbiter. (Tha dolt.) I certainly won't be reading his Halo 3 review until after I've finished the game, and I take all his other reviews with a large grain of salt.
Halo 2 was certainly hyped; but any overhype was largely self-inflicted by folks who took what was shown and extrapolated a grandiose (but unsupported by evidence) imagining of what it would be. Halo 2 certainly wasn't perfect, but it wasn't the disaster the Whining Brigade makes it out to be.
-- Steve's wishing that other Steve would sack up and either stand by his reviews or learn how to review better.