The What If Topics... Halo never existed

[Mise]

Barozi said:

The Ghost of RubangB said:

The only difference I can think of between the current reality and this hypothetical alternate universe without Halo is that the other universe would still have cool FPS games that make you work to find health instead of just standing around like a jerk while it recharges.  I think that's the worst thing to happen to the genre honestly.  Now gamers get rewarded for standing still in video games.  I don't play games to stand still (except for certain parts of Wii Fit).  What a joke.

yeah because backtracking through a level with low health on the lookout for a healthpack is so much more fun...

Glad those times changed.

To some people it is (more fun), and for a very simple reason - you don't have effectively unlimited HP reserves, so you have to be on your toes constantly and not just in case of the occasional instakill attack. In Halo you can tank just about anything outside plasma grenades/swords and regain your energy by jerking off behind the nearest corner.

And yes, I've beaten Halo.

EDIT: OT:

For me, the effect would've been negligible. As for the shooter genre as a whole - hell if I know. Microsoft would've probably dropped out of the console race after the first round, and shooters would've been fewer, further between and not outright clones of each other.