karajorma wrote:Both fit your opinion of the levels.

You didn't like Halo. Fine. Do we have to hear that you didn't like it every time someone mentions the game? Cause that's pretty monotonous too.

You should read a) the definition and b) some of Bungies pre Halo 2 / Halo 1 post mortem interviews. b), in particular, states that they had to repeat level designs to pad the game length out. Note how the term 'repeat' relates to the definition of monotony (ala singular tone).

Except that the levels in the game aren't of a singular tone. Most of them swap between indoor and outdoor for a start.

For you to get away with the claim that you were using that meaning of the word you'd have to point to several levels which didn't change in design at all.

karajorma wrote:Except that the levels in the game aren't of a singular tone. Most of them swap between indoor and outdoor for a start.

For you to get away with the claim that you were using that meaning of the word you'd have to point to several levels which didn't change in design at all.

If I could actually distinguish them enough to remember individual names, I definitely would. But I can't remember a single level name other than the library, and only that one because it was a singular example of, well, monotony.

but are you saying that a game which has the same two levels effectively repeated (perhaps with, to be fair, a pallette swap) is not monotonous? And are you implying that the 'tone' can only refer to visual design? (as in "oh, this corridor is square and this one is hexagonal, they're clearly different")

I just went a different way or tried something different with each section - which I think was what they may have intended in the design, because I did have a lot of fun throughout Halo. Those repetative sections were familier to you in that you knew the approximate layout of what was ahead and so could try things you couldn't (without having died at least once) in the Half Life series style fancy tunnel.

I feel the repetition allowed you to plan ahead rather than just react quickly, which was cool. It mixed things up just enough with different enemies, placements and obstacles.
(Well, the round room things more than the library - the library did get quite repetative, mainly because there's not a many different tactics you can use against the Flood the way you can the Covenant)

My main gripe about the Halo series (apart from me not liking consoles) was how they handled the Flood sound effects. They got the look right - there's something quite unnerving about the way the elite-forms heads just flop around and stuff, but they totally kill off the potential scare factor by making the things gurgle and burp all the time. :\

With some propper undead screams, roars or at least strangled moans those things could have been pants-crappingly scary in a few places.

aldo wrote:If I could actually distinguish them enough to remember individual names, I definitely would. But I can't remember a single level name other than the library, and only that one because it was a singular example of, well, monotony.

but are you saying that a game which has the same two levels effectively repeated (perhaps with, to be fair, a pallette swap) is not monotonous? And are you implying that the 'tone' can only refer to visual design? (as in "oh, this corridor is square and this one is hexagonal, they're clearly different")

Except that the levels have changed quite significantly between the first and second time around. And the level of difference between them is once again a subjective one.

You may have felt that it wasn't enough of a difference but I did. So who is right? The answer is that we both are. It's an opinion not a fact.