So I follow numerous competitive games, mostly the SSB, and I see how Melee lasted so long competitively.
Unfortunately, if I play FPS games for too long, I get motion sick, so I'm not exactly a huge fan of Halo. I've played it a bit casually with my friends, and understand where the appeal comes from.
However, I'm wondering now, how does it have such a big competitive scene? Why is it such a huge game, instead of something such as Starcraft or Melee? What in Halo defines a great player? As far as I can see, it's just really good mindgames and teamwork.
OK, first off, every competitive game requires the players to have good mindgames. Beyond that, let's see what games have:
Starcraft has all of the pros playing at insane APM. I think the highest I've ever seen is someone play at 800 APM for a short period of time. They also need to have exceptional micro and macro. A good build order, plus scouting to know what approach to take are also necessary. There's much more, of course, because SC is such a deep game, but I'll just leave it at that.
2D Fighters, such as Street Fighter, have long combos. I'm not a huge SF buff, but apparently there's a concept of buffering moves with semi-circles, quarter-circles and what not. Spacing, I assume, is important, as is a good combination of defense and offense.
SSBM is the competitive scene with which I'm most familiar. As far as I know, it has the most advanced techniques of any competitive game. Therefore, tech-wise, it is incredibly deep. I've also heard from people who play other games competitively that Melee is played at a ridiculous speed. Combos are almost never a set combination of buttons, so properly linking hits takes skill.
When I look at Halo, I don't see anything exceptional. I know there was a BXR thing in Halo 2, which was a double-hit. Compared to Melee tech skill, the BXR is nothing. Absolutely nothing. The aiming and moving doesn't seem especially hard, and I feel that any decent person can get that down with some pracice. I'm not aware of any other ATs in Halo, and the speed at which the players press buttons is unremarkable.
Much of this is probably due to my ignorance of the FPS genre, but can someone explain to me why Halo is so popular? This is, of course, competitively. I know Halo 3 is new and it's part of the Halo series, so there's no question why it sells so well among casual gamers. I'm wondering how competitive gamers find so much depth in it.
TL;DR version: Why is Halo such a popular competitive game?
Unfortunately, if I play FPS games for too long, I get motion sick, so I'm not exactly a huge fan of Halo. I've played it a bit casually with my friends, and understand where the appeal comes from.
However, I'm wondering now, how does it have such a big competitive scene? Why is it such a huge game, instead of something such as Starcraft or Melee? What in Halo defines a great player? As far as I can see, it's just really good mindgames and teamwork.
OK, first off, every competitive game requires the players to have good mindgames. Beyond that, let's see what games have:
Starcraft has all of the pros playing at insane APM. I think the highest I've ever seen is someone play at 800 APM for a short period of time. They also need to have exceptional micro and macro. A good build order, plus scouting to know what approach to take are also necessary. There's much more, of course, because SC is such a deep game, but I'll just leave it at that.
2D Fighters, such as Street Fighter, have long combos. I'm not a huge SF buff, but apparently there's a concept of buffering moves with semi-circles, quarter-circles and what not. Spacing, I assume, is important, as is a good combination of defense and offense.
SSBM is the competitive scene with which I'm most familiar. As far as I know, it has the most advanced techniques of any competitive game. Therefore, tech-wise, it is incredibly deep. I've also heard from people who play other games competitively that Melee is played at a ridiculous speed. Combos are almost never a set combination of buttons, so properly linking hits takes skill.
When I look at Halo, I don't see anything exceptional. I know there was a BXR thing in Halo 2, which was a double-hit. Compared to Melee tech skill, the BXR is nothing. Absolutely nothing. The aiming and moving doesn't seem especially hard, and I feel that any decent person can get that down with some pracice. I'm not aware of any other ATs in Halo, and the speed at which the players press buttons is unremarkable.
Much of this is probably due to my ignorance of the FPS genre, but can someone explain to me why Halo is so popular? This is, of course, competitively. I know Halo 3 is new and it's part of the Halo series, so there's no question why it sells so well among casual gamers. I'm wondering how competitive gamers find so much depth in it.
TL;DR version: Why is Halo such a popular competitive game?
