Today’s game is Halo 2. I’m currently without Wi-Fi (I had to figure out how to upload the screenshots from my hotspot via a tether because wireless was dialup speeds), so I decided to give Halo 2 a try with the CRT filter. It turns out I had the resolution wrong, but I fixed it. After playing it for so long at HD resolutions with a modern OLED flatscreen, It’s really helped to change my perspective to see it from the original intended viewing (or atleast a emulation of a CRT).
I went through the “Players Choice” playlist since I’m not sure I’d have the time to do all the levels. So it took me through the 2 in Mombasa, 1 on delta halo, and the finale. Honestly not a bad selection of levels.
I also got this kill on the hunters that felt so god damn therapeutic after dealing with their BS in Legendary my first playthrough. Maybe I’m just hyping myself up but damn does this game do a good job of making you feel like a bad ass sometimes.
During outskirts I managed to keep the marines in my warthog alive until the end which was fun. I’d never been able to do that until now. They were always sniped by one lucky Beam Rifle shot or something. This time though when the marine said he didn’t think he was going to make it, I made damn sure he did.
I ended with the Great Journey as I had mentioned earlier. Honestly I think this was one of the most interesting to see with the CRT filter. It almost felt like seeing a VHS tape recording of the game with how the colors looked. And the way the landscape kind of blenders together really added to it too.
Someone suggested something that can overlay a CRT Shader without hooking into a DLL which I’m tempted to try. I’d be fun to continue my CE playthrough like this.
Ah, Halo… the main image that showed up in my feed looked almost like part of Mass Effect 1, but the vehicle wasn’t right.
Same generation, but Mass Effect has a remaster, Legendary Edition. It’s been on sale on Xbox for $6 USD a couple times (what I paid for it)… and that’s for all three.
While I suppose they are technically three games, the intended use of the product is for you to import your clear save from the previous one to start 2 and 3. Your decisions from previous ones carry forward, even minor choices in the first one playing out in the third one.
For straight shooting, Halo wins, particularly against Mass Effect 1 and 3, but I think Mass Effect 2’s shooting was competitive to shooters contemporary to it. Though, it and 3 are a bit more like Deus Ex or Star Wars where you have tech/magic stuff you can do in addition to the guns. I tend to stick to pistols and assault rifles, but I’m known to throw a bit of magic here and there, especially the ones that eat shields.
As far as Halo, I only completed the first one (and did it on PC with keyboard/mouse). Played the first couple maps of the third one on Xbox, never could get the hang of it though. Only single player, never multi.
Mass Effect has been on my list for a bit after a friend bought me the Legendary Edition, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it shows up soon.
I know a little bit about it, but have mostly not dug very deep into it due to wanting to jump in blind (at my friend’s request)
I think you might have misjudged when LCDs became common as by the end of 2004, when Halo 2 released, LCD TVs were already a reasonable fraction of new TV sales, and in parts of the world, it was only a few months later that LCD TVs became the majority. For PC monitors, the switch came earlier, so it was clear CRTs were on the way out while the game was being developed. If they hadn’t expected a significant number of players to use an LCD and tweaked the game as much as necessary to ensure that was fine, it would have been foolish
It’s entirely possible. I was just basing the guess it was designed with CRTs in mind because growing up, everyone my age still had a CRT until around 2008/2009, which we then replaced it with Plasma TVs. So it’s entirely possible my assumption is biased or skewed
Obviously, most people don’t replace their TV every year, so it was years after new sales were mostly LCDs that most people had LCDs, but companies making content like to be sure it looks good with the latest screens.
