Fanboy Rehab 101: How I learned to love Halo

Halo:  You love it, or you hate it.  I used to hate it.  I hated it with an unfounded passion.  To me Halo was a figurehead of everything bad in the computer/gaming industry.  Halo was the game that fat-cat Microsoft stole from underdog Apple back in the days when no-one knew what an iPod was, when Steve Jobs was known more for being kicked out from Apple, and iMacs looked like fruit.  Yes, I was a "Mac guy."  Microsoft was the big evil Monopoly back then.  They screwed Netscape.  They ripped people off with new versions of Office and Windows that were no better, but required you to buy yet another computer.  Bill Gates was the richest man in the world, and I was not.  Microsoft was even going to try to monopolize the gaming console industry with the Xbox.  The Xbox was evil, and Halo was it's heavy hitter.  Supporting Halo was supporting Microsoft, which was just making the rich richer, and pushing the "little guys" out.  In hindsight, I did not really hate Halo, I hated Microsoft.

Fast Forward about 10 or so years.

As a long time a PC/PlayStation gamer, I finally got a 360 for Forza 3 (I had played GT3/4/Prologue to death, and the inclusion of Porsche in Forza 3 made it an easy sell).  One day last Fall, I was in my local games store, browsing for deals.  Halo 3: Limited edition for 19.99$ used.  SOLD!  "Lets see what all the hype is about" I thought.  I figured Halo was a game for pre-teens.  Childs play.  So I started the first level on Heroic (as intended...) and clearly remembered getting my asshole handed to me.  Somehow I found myself stuck behind a tree with a plasma pistol (where did I get that???) and I was trying to hold off snipers with it.  I was owned; or you could say pwned if that term was still hip.  After figuring out the controls, and learning how to manage my shields, I began to have fun, a lot of fun.  I went online and watched some videos to get caught up in the back-story, and before you know it, I was buying ODST.  To me ODST is the black sheep of the franchise, but dripped atmosphere, and was a double-playthrough for me (a rarity for me in any game).  Reach was phenomenal, and multiplayer still has me hooked.  I have even started playing through Combat Evolved and have my eye out for a copy of Halo 2.

Long story short, I ended up loving Halo.  It was no perfect game, but it was fun.  It was accessible, while still providing depth.  There are games with better graphics, and there are shooters that have surpassed Halo in popularity, but no matter how I looked at it, Halo was a great franchise, and I had a good time.

So what is my point here?  Well, to be honest it is not to throw praise on Halo.  You don't, and should not need my opinion to make your own decision on that one.  Love it or hate it, I don't really care either.  My point is that I missed out on what ended up being a great game because of my own Fanboyism over the years.  I never gave Halo a chance, and until I did, it was my loss.  Fanboyism did nothing for me.  My message is for the subset of gamers that find they take sides and shun all that is not their console of choice.  Be open, try new things.  Forget review scores.  Forget Lens of Truth. Forget PS3 vs 360.  In this world there are good games, and there are bad games.  Only you can decide which are which.  Don't let console wars keep you from great games like Forza, GT, Halo, Killzone, Uncharted, etc.  Remember, when you are being a Fanboy, you are only hurting your own gaming experience and enjoyment.