PAX Prime 2011 - Halo Fest

I was unsure about even going to Halo Fest while I was at PAX, as my enjoyment of the Halo series has dwindled over the years.

Most of this has been due to the fact that I haven't really enjoyed the single player campaigns they've put out for some time. A lot of the reason for that probably is due to the fact that the story for each game can be more or less reduced to a one liner.

Halo 1 - There's a big ring that's going to blow everything up, we need to stop it!
Halo 2 - There's a second big ring that's going to blow everything up, we need to stop it!
Halo 3 - There are evil aliens, there's the flood, but there's no ring! Oh wait, there is a ring! And we need to stop it from blowing everything up!
Halo: ODST - We're not spartans, and we're in an outer space detective novel!
Halo: Reach - Everyone dies!

The only saving grace recently has been the multiplayer, which continues to be top shelf, mostly because of its support for larger numbers of players than any other console title, as well as the editing abilities and copious game modes. You'd think other games would be able to steal this crown, but it hasn't happened yet.

Even so, it hasn't really been innovative. You still have the some old vehicles, the same old space ships, the same old weapons. Tacking on a few weapons hasn't really been enough to make the game play feel fresh the last few years.

At any rate, all of this conspired to drain any possible need for me to attend anything at Halo Fest, but I'm still glad I at least decided to wander around and see what was there.

The men from Rooster Teeth.

They were holding a panel there when I arrived. It was the men from Rooster Teeth, talking about their undying series Red vs. Blue. I unfortunately was too late to see any of the table read proper, but I was able to listen to a little bit of the Q&A section. It wasn't that interesting, so I moved on.

Boom!

There were a bunch of statues and model scattered around the floor, showing off all the crazy artifacts that have been created over the years due to Halo mania. I was able to get some pretty cool shots of them.

Another angle. The tank looks like it's stuck - it might not be able to move without running over some Spartans.

Close infantry support, indeed.

The cotton fell out of the gun barrel, rolled down the hill, then exploded. :)

A different model, more of an urban battle scene. Given the way they seem to be locked in eternal battle, it's surprising there are any structures left.

Scattered around the area were several booths setup for various Halo game modes. You could get in line to sit down to play some LAN multiplayer action.

Fire fight is limited to four players, so this booth setup makes sense. I'm not sure I'd want to be standing on my feet while playing, though, given you stand on your feet all day at PAX as it is.

Do not enter the big team battle!

There were also a lot of statues of various Spartan types scattered all over the place.

Hooray for sniper rifles! Too bad they only have four round clips...

The last thing you see before you die! Well, if you're looking at him through a sniper scope.

A different armor type. They all look the same to me after awhile.

Looking towards heaven. Or, at least at the drop ship that's coming in.

Nothing says mean mother hubbard more than a skull mask on your helmet. The aliens don't seem especially intimidated though, so I wonder why he bothers.

Given the other statues sitting around the place, you could be excused for not knowing this particular spartan is actually a man in costume. The life size Warthog is a pretty darn cool addition to the scene.

All in all, it was fun to look through everything they had there, and if you are a rabid Halo fan this probably was an event not to miss. Sadly, I just don't have the same level of appreciation others might have felt for this exhibit.