Poll
Half-Life, Halo, or Call of Duty - which FPS franchise has had a bigger impact on gaming? (58 votes)
Half-Life 38%
Halo 28%
Call of Duty 34%
Hello friends (standard SW greeting when creating a thread about FPS),
Today we talk about Half-Life, Halo, and Call of Duty. Which franchise has had a bigger impact on gaming? I'm no FPS expert, I'm pleab who enjoys Rainbow Six Siege. But I recognize that these are big franchises that have had a impact on gaming. I didn't play Half-Life until much later, and was never a big Halo guy (though I'm playing Halo MCC now). To me, Call of Duty made a big impact on gaming. It introduced RPG elements to FPS, added killstreaks to multiplayer, and started the "run and gun" style of play. To me that's badass, so I choose them.
How about you, SW? Half-Life, Halo, or Call of Duty - which FPS franchise has had a bigger impact on gaming?
Halo. It set the basic template for console FPS. It popularized the dual-stick control scheme for console FPS, and it popularized health regeneration in FPS.
I want to say Halo because it’s my favourite plus it basically put Microsoft on the map in the console market but I think Call of Duty might have had the biggest impact on gaming overall.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
Hard to argue that Call of Duty has had staying power and has easily shaped the gaming industry for years. Halo has spawned many clones itself. Half Life while influential as an OG just hasn't had the same impact in my opinion... iconic yes, and it has helped shape the industry but it has been largely left behind for years.
The question isn't what your favorite franchise is, it's which had the largest impact.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
I disagree, just because it came before CoD means nothing. There were side scrolling shooters, arena shooters, and other FPS games for years as well, did they inspire Half Life? A game like Call of Duty would have came along either way . Call of Duty (other than perhaps Mario which is still debatable) has easily spawned more clones and games trying to get a piece of that action and still has as much staying power at this point that ever. It's easy to call something an inspiration towards another when they have some stark similarities. However, CoD was more of an over the top cinematic answer to Half Life's more toned back action. Like I said though, it's easy to say whichever came first was the most influential since it came first.. I'm looking at the bigger picture though, and as far as which franchise has had a larger impact... well, it's pretty cut and dry.
COD has been on top of the gaming world since 2007. Anyone answering anything else isn’t living in the real world.
Half Life and Halo were great, genre defining titles. But COD brought the shooter genre into the mainstream and attracted gamers that would otherwise not play video games. Sales wise, COD has been on a run we’ve never seen before. What does Halo look like today?
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
I disagree, just because it came before CoD means nothing. There were side scrolling shooters, arena shooters, and other FPS games for years as well, did they inspire Half Life? A game like Call of Duty would have came along either way . Call of Duty (other than perhaps Mario which is still debatable) has easily spawned more clones and games trying to get a piece of that action and still has as much staying power at this point that ever. It's easy to call something an inspiration towards another when they have some stark similarities. However, CoD was more of an over the top cinematic answer to Half Life's more toned back action. Like I said though, it's easy to say whichever came first was the most influential since it came first.. I'm looking at the bigger picture though, and as far as which franchise has had a larger impact... well, it's pretty cut and dry.
I mean, doesn't matter if you disagree, it's a straight up fact.
Before Halflife FPS basically were Doom clones with no story-telling. It's sophisticated use of scripted sequences, level design and story-telling methods are still in most games today.
The most obvious being the tram ride.
Loading Video...
Games that shortly followed that, MOH, COD etc.. are all influenced in one way or another by Halflife.
For better or worse it killed the Doom era of FPS.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
I disagree, just because it came before CoD means nothing. There were side scrolling shooters, arena shooters, and other FPS games for years as well, did they inspire Half Life? A game like Call of Duty would have came along either way . Call of Duty (other than perhaps Mario which is still debatable) has easily spawned more clones and games trying to get a piece of that action and still has as much staying power at this point that ever. It's easy to call something an inspiration towards another when they have some stark similarities. However, CoD was more of an over the top cinematic answer to Half Life's more toned back action. Like I said though, it's easy to say whichever came first was the most influential since it came first.. I'm looking at the bigger picture though, and as far as which franchise has had a larger impact... well, it's pretty cut and dry.
I mean, doesn't matter if you disagree, it's a straight up fact.
Before Halflife FPS basically were Doom clones with no story-telling. It's sophisticated use of scripted sequences, level design and story-telling methods are still in most games today.
The most obvious being the tram ride.
Loading Video...
Games that shortly followed that, MOH, COD etc.. are all influenced in one way or another by Halflife.
For better or worse it killed the Doom era of FPS.
Just natural progression of games and story telling. The same can be said about any number of things throughout the history of time. I'm not saying that Half Life played no role at all.. I'm not saying that whatsoever. However, that isn't what this thread was about to begin with, it asked which franchise has had a larger impact on gaming and for that I say Half Life is at the bottom of the three. CoD and Halo would have existed with or without Half Life, or do you seriously think that without Half Life we would have never had shooters that incorporate story telling?
Technology played a major role in the timing of the games released and the rise of what was possible on consoles with online gameplay can't be discounted just because it was previously only possible on PC. There were several games before Half Life and many after that were just as good if not better. Easily one of my most overrated franchises (if you even want to call it that) of all time. A scenario of right place at the right time in my honest opinion.
Like I said before though.. you can believe and think whatever you want. Gotta let the all PC all the time crowd have something though.. lol.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
I disagree, just because it came before CoD means nothing. There were side scrolling shooters, arena shooters, and other FPS games for years as well, did they inspire Half Life? A game like Call of Duty would have came along either way . Call of Duty (other than perhaps Mario which is still debatable) has easily spawned more clones and games trying to get a piece of that action and still has as much staying power at this point that ever. It's easy to call something an inspiration towards another when they have some stark similarities. However, CoD was more of an over the top cinematic answer to Half Life's more toned back action. Like I said though, it's easy to say whichever came first was the most influential since it came first.. I'm looking at the bigger picture though, and as far as which franchise has had a larger impact... well, it's pretty cut and dry.
I mean, doesn't matter if you disagree, it's a straight up fact.
Before Halflife FPS basically were Doom clones with no story-telling. It's sophisticated use of scripted sequences, level design and story-telling methods are still in most games today.
The most obvious being the tram ride.
Loading Video...
Games that shortly followed that, MOH, COD etc.. are all influenced in one way or another by Halflife.
For better or worse it killed the Doom era of FPS.
Doom and Eternal do have Half life elements as they are not 100% Doom1 carbon copy.
they also tell story that has revolutionize by Half life.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
Some (including me) would argue that Doom is the game responsible for that. Half Life was heavily influenced by Doom and most FPS over the years have had more in common with Doom than HL, specially in multiplayer.
I'd have Doom on this list instead of HL and the correct answer to the OP's question would be Doom. IMO of course.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
Some (including me) would argue that Doom is the game responsible for that. Half Life was heavily influenced by Doom and most FPS over the years have had more in common with Doom than HL, specially in multiplayer.
I'd have Doom on this list instead of HL and the correct answer to the OP's question would be Doom. IMO of course.
Now this I can stand behind. There are several other games I could throw in the mix as well, but Doom is one of the main games that got the wheels turning for sure. Half Life is nowhere near as significant as a franchise as Doom. Now that doesn't mean that both don't have there own significance, but we are talking franchises here and not individual games.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
Some (including me) would argue that Doom is the game responsible for that. Half Life was heavily influenced by Doom and most FPS over the years have had more in common with Doom than HL, specially in multiplayer.
I'd have Doom on this list instead of HL and the correct answer to the OP's question would be Doom. IMO of course.
Doom basically popularized the genre, full stop. It straight up is the most influential FPS made in no uncertain terms.
However, Halflife plays nothing like it, and ended it reign. The only similarity is in basic story, which Doom didn't give a shit about, it was window dressing. Everything else is different from a design perspective, it irrevocably changed FPS forever in one swoop.
In the end, it was Doom 3 retroactively influenced by Halflife rather than trying to be Doom.
@WitIsWisdom said:
Just natural progression of games and story telling. The same can be said about any number of things throughout the history of time. I'm not saying that Half Life played no role at all.. I'm not saying that whatsoever. However, that isn't what this thread was about to begin with, it asked which franchise has had a larger impact on gaming and for that I say Half Life is at the bottom of the three. CoD and Halo would have existed with or without Half Life, or do you seriously think that without Half Life we would have never had shooters that incorporate story telling?
Technology played a major role in the timing of the games released and the rise of what was possible on consoles with online gameplay can't be discounted just because it was previously only possible on PC. There were several games before Half Life and many after that were just as good if not better. Easily one of my most overrated franchises (if you even want to call it that) of all time. A scenario of right place at the right time in my honest opinion.
Like I said before though.. you can believe and think whatever you want. Gotta let the all PC all the time crowd have something though.. lol.
There was no natural progression here. It was this single product, in one hammer blow that changed FPS like a light switch.
Very little of which Valve actually invented, we can see story-telling, interactivity and such in stuff like System Shock and Duke3D long but Halflife unified and polished it in a way as to make it the standard going forward.
Debating if Call Of Duty would or wouldn't exist is theoretical, what is fact, is that, and it's previous iterations like MOH were 100% influenced by Halflife and Halflife's design in FPS and outside the genre is readily seen today.
Another thing which wasn't brought up was it's influence with modding, more so than any FPS prior, which gave us the likes of Counterstrike, which itself, I would wager also influenced Call Of Duty's design, along with shit today like Rainbow 6: Siege.
Halo is a legitimate argument, as Halflife ended the era of Doom, Halo ended PC's reign as the primary FPS platform, much to a many pc gamers despair.
Which is a natural progression, and therefor doesn't count, or at least gets heavily diminished in credibility.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
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Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
Some (including me) would argue that Doom is the game responsible for that. Half Life was heavily influenced by Doom and most FPS over the years have had more in common with Doom than HL, specially in multiplayer.
I'd have Doom on this list instead of HL and the correct answer to the OP's question would be Doom. IMO of course.
Doom basically popularized the genre, full stop. It straight up is the most influential FPS made in no uncertain terms.
However, Halflife plays nothing like it, and ended it reign. The only similarity is in basic story, which Doom didn't give a shit about, it was window dressing. Everything else is different from a design perspective, it irrevocably changed FPS forever in one swoop.
In the end, it was Doom 3 retroactively influenced by Halflife rather than trying to be Doom.
We're talking about which franchise had the biggest impact on FPS and the sentence I bolded agrees with everything I said. HL added new elements but Doom pretty much created the entire genre. In my book that's one hell of an impact.
You can also add Wolfenstein 3D, also by iD, which I think was technically the first FPS. Regardless, HL, Halo and COD all exist because of Doom. What HL or any other game achieved later can hardly be considered as monumentally important or impactful as creating a genre that would live on for many years.
Unfortunately Call of Duty. I'd put Halo 2nd and Half Life doesn't belong on the list.
.
Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
Some (including me) would argue that Doom is the game responsible for that. Half Life was heavily influenced by Doom and most FPS over the years have had more in common with Doom than HL, specially in multiplayer.
I'd have Doom on this list instead of HL and the correct answer to the OP's question would be Doom. IMO of course.
Doom basically popularized the genre, full stop. It straight up is the most influential FPS made in no uncertain terms.
However, Halflife plays nothing like it, and ended it reign. The only similarity is in basic story, which Doom didn't give a shit about, it was window dressing. Everything else is different from a design perspective, it irrevocably changed FPS forever in one swoop.
In the end, it was Doom 3 retroactively influenced by Halflife rather than trying to be Doom.
We're talking about which franchise had the biggest impact on FPS and the sentence I bolded agrees with everything I said. HL added new elements but Doom pretty much created the entire genre. In my book that's one hell of an impact.
You can also add Wolfenstein 3D, also by iD, which I think was technically the first FPS. Regardless, HL, Halo and COD all exist because of Doom. What HL or any other game achieved later can hardly be considered as monumentally important or impactful as creating a genre that would live on for many years.
Well I mean, that wasn't the question of the thread. So it's not really an argument to begin with. You said thing, I agreed, to an extent.
Halflife is definitely monumental. No FPS is as influential as Doom, absolutely no debate there, but Halflife was most definitely significantly influential both as a game it's philosophy of embracing modding around it. And ended Doom's style of design.
Halflife influenced Call Of Duty and pretty much every modern FPS.
Some (including me) would argue that Doom is the game responsible for that. Half Life was heavily influenced by Doom and most FPS over the years have had more in common with Doom than HL, specially in multiplayer.
I'd have Doom on this list instead of HL and the correct answer to the OP's question would be Doom. IMO of course.
Doom basically popularized the genre, full stop. It straight up is the most influential FPS made in no uncertain terms.
However, Halflife plays nothing like it, and ended it reign. The only similarity is in basic story, which Doom didn't give a shit about, it was window dressing. Everything else is different from a design perspective, it irrevocably changed FPS forever in one swoop.
In the end, it was Doom 3 retroactively influenced by Halflife rather than trying to be Doom.
We're talking about which franchise had the biggest impact on FPS and the sentence I bolded agrees with everything I said. HL added new elements but Doom pretty much created the entire genre. In my book that's one hell of an impact.
You can also add Wolfenstein 3D, also by iD, which I think was technically the first FPS. Regardless, HL, Halo and COD all exist because of Doom. What HL or any other game achieved later can hardly be considered as monumentally important or impactful as creating a genre that would live on for many years.
Well I mean, that wasn't the question of the thread. So it's not really an argument to begin with. You said thing, I agreed, to an extent.
Halflife is definitely monumental. No FPS is as influential as Doom, absolutely no debate there, but Halflife was most definitely significantly influential both as a game it's philosophy of embracing modding around it. And ended Doom's style of design.
I remember when HL was released it had a huge impact it was seen a the next step for FPS. I'm not arguing the impact of HL on FPS as a genre it was massive, I'm just saying Doom created the entire genre that even in 2020 people still can't get enough of and the thread asks which FPS franchise had the biggest impact on 'gaming' and to me the answer to that is still Doom even though the OP apparently never heard of it and didn't even put it on the list lol.
@SolidGame_basic: Call of Duty made a big impact on gaming. It introduced RPG elements to FPS, added killstreaks to multiplayer, and started the "run and gun" style of play. To me that's badass, so I choose them.
All the above came well before COD. Action Quake, Runes Quake, Arcane Quake...
...Quake invented everything except velcro and sandpaper.
Once again, to each their own. Half Life shouldn't be on this list.. that's my take and I'm sticking to it. On another note.. modding on online multiplayer games.. lol
Pretty funny saying military shooters and sims wouldn't exist today if not for Half Life.. give me a break.
Both CoD and Halo are both more influential on the industry as a whole even if Half Life did it first.
In my opinion the list of games should be Doom, Quake, Halo, CoD, SOCOM. Quake and Doom are OG, Halo and SOCOM revolutionized online gaming on consoles. CoD has more ripoffs and clones than probably any other game in the history of the gaming industry (besides pong).
It's easy to get blindsided by the popularity of CoD and sure it's had a ton of influence.
Gonna go with Half Life though. Nothing against the game itself, but unfortunately it laid down the design paradigms for the modern shooter - that includes your CoDs and Halos. Would it have happened eventually anyways? Yeah, probably. But Half Life was that direct immediate turning point. And that's not even counting the mega popular games spawned directly from Half Life that went on to have their own influence.
Looking over the genres history, Doom would be the main originator while Half Life would be the biggest innovator. Halo and CoD have had a huge impact, but it was standing on the shoulders of those games.
@SolidGame_basic: Call of Duty made a big impact on gaming. It introduced RPG elements to FPS, added killstreaks to multiplayer, and started the "run and gun" style of play. To me that's badass, so I choose them.
All the above came well before COD. Action Quake, Runes Quake, Arcane Quake...
...Quake invented everything except velcro and sandpaper.
People are forgetting about Golden Eye. imo it set the console FPS trend and not Halo. Remember it was also a 4 player multi player versus game. Not sure if these other games being mentioned had a multiplayer versus mode before Golden eye was released.
Also which game was released first, Half Life or Goldeneye? My guess is Golden eye? But I could be wrong.
After a quick Google search, I was right, Goldeneye released before Half Life, so imo we can't say Half Life influenced all the FPS games that came after it. IMO Golden eye did. Goldeneye probably had some influence over Half Life as well.
Also which game was released first, Half Life or Goldeneye? My guess is Golden eye? But I could be wrong.
After a quick Google search, I was right, Goldeneye released before Half Life, so imo we can't say Half Life influenced all the FPS games that came after it. IMO Golden eye did. Goldeneye probably had some influence over Half Life as well.
Halflife was shown at the same time as Goldeneye, they have no correlation and completely different influences outside of the obvious very loose skeleton Doom/Quake pillars. The game itself was suppose to be released in 1997.
Valve was influenced by a N64 game though, probably not the one you expect.
Super Mario 64 even had an indirect influence on the development of Half-Life; Gabe Newell became convinced that video games were art after playing the game, spurring him to co-found Valve and develop gaming's most influential shooter: Half-Life
While Goldeneye was no doubt one of the most successful N64 games, and does have it's influence, this title didn't see a sudden shift away from PC, if anything PC was absolutely booming with Halflife, specifically down to it's modding ability which continued to sell, and indeed, continues to sell even today.
Just checking, Counterstrike (not Global Offensive or Condition Zero) has 16 thousand players cocurrently. That's a 25+ year old game, older than some people on this board and most gaming journalists with their Thomas The Tank lunch box.
It was Halo that dealt something of a death blow to PC, mostly likely coupled with crippling piracy in the face of high console sales. It hobbled on well into 2000+2004 but by the time of Crysis (2007) it was very much a death cry.
That's not to say PC FPS exist and still thrive in their own format, but the big phat AAA exclusive days are, generally speaking, long gone.
Design wise afterwords games were becoming heavily scripted and more linear, this is (unfortunately as pointed out) Halflifes fault and also continues today, even outside the genre of FPS.
But it's not really Valve to blame if other developers aren't on a par, it's on them for being shit imitators. Games like Unreal, Quake and Doom abandoning their previous design to become those pale imitators with subsequent sequels and that was later solidified with Halflife 2, which though far more subtle in influence, definitely did hammer that nail down.
Excluding shitty stealth levels (which for the sake of this post we'll completely give credit to Goldeneye for) Return To Castle Wolfenstein is such a great game because it is largely successful in merging Id's old design philosophy with the sensibilities Halflife introduced, very much what Doom 3, Unreal 2 ect... should have been.
Doom Eternal does this in it's own way. Contrary to what IGN or whatever say, it plays fuckall like a classic Doom game. It takes loose elements from it and combines it with completely different shit, which, depending on your viewpoint is either the greatest shit in the world or a repetitive bastardization with glowing plush dolls.
Halo 2 and Halo 3 gave competitive players something to play seriously online with home consoles. Those 2 games did online better than most PC games at the time. It was truly impressive for myself being into PC gaming and then getting into halo on Console, playing splitscreen online with friends was the best shit.
@uninspiredcup: nice post & very informative. At the time I was totally oblivious to PC gaming so Goldeneye was all I knew in terms of FPS (I think I had heard about Doom but I'm not sure if that was before or after Goldeneye). Anyway good read.
Come on, is this a serious question? Half-Life and Half-Life 2 defined the modern FPS. It continues to surprise me that today's FPS games are still using many of the ideas first introduced by Valve over 20-years ago.
Have to go with Half-Life and not just because of the base games, but the modding scene in particular.
A test bed for bold and interesting community ideas (The Specialists, Science And Industry, Zombie Panic, Garry's Mod), some of which became standalone games: Counter-Strike, Stanley Parable, Dear Esther, Black Mesa, Cry Of Fear, No More Room in Hell.
Half-life didn't just popularize a genre or a gaming platform.
It popularized game development.
@dzimm said:
Come on, is this a serious question? Half-Life and Half-Life 2 defined the modern FPS. It continues to surprise me that today's FPS games are still using many of the ideas first introduced by Valve over 20-years ago.
And often failing to live up to the standards set by Valve in those games.
Half life. It was the first "modern" shooter. Before, FPSs were simple kill everything in the hallway aimlessly. Half Life created a seemless world, a engaging narrative, iconic characters, and scripted events for better or worse. After it's release, FPS's were never the same. It established the source engine, the most famous engine besides unreal. It's modding scene created team fortress and counter strike, two of the most influential shooters as well. Half Life also established Gordon Freeman, the face of PC gaming, and Valve which led to steam, the front page of PC gaming. Halo and Call of Duty were inspired by Half Life to a certain extent, I guarantee it
For console gaming, it has to be Halo. It's the template. Call of Duty has managed to take all of the things that made FPS multi-player PC games and get it onto consoles, and managed to get gamers to buy in, annually, to it's games.
After Halo 3, for some reason I can't figure out, Halo lost control of the FPS multi-player hold it had on consoles. So in terms of staying power, Call of Duty has managed to stay. Keep in mind that since then there's been PUBG, Fortnite, and other models that Call of Duty has "evolved" with. I've never played these battle royales, and really don't care to, personally.
The argument against Halo is that it isn't the industry leader anymore for FPS. And hasn't been for a long time. Whereas comparable legacy franchises like Zelda, is still the best in its category.
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