Maybe I just don't get FPSs.
 

Someone recently loaned me copies of both Halo and Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, both for PC, and - most of you will probably think this is quite strange - I disliked both.
Now, these were far from my first FPS games. I loved Wolfenstein and Doom when I was younger, and I really enjoyed Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Half Life and HL: Opposing Force, as well as CS. But, for some reason, I just couldn't get much enjoyment out of Halo or JK2.

Here's my main complaints about each game - maybe I'm just playing them wrong.
Halo: When I heard all the hype and reviews about the game, I expected it to be a nonstop action fest that would kick my ass. What I got was, even on the hardest difficulty level, a nonstop comedy relief fest. I had more trouble trying to babysit my marine backup on the third level than I did fighting my enemies at any point in the game. Add to this the fact that your enemies are more likely to run screaming in the opposite direction than they are to fight you until about halfway through the game, and once you finally find a real enemy to fight, you have to go through the most boring level in the game.
Now, admittedly, after the library/index level was over, the game did get a lot more fun, but putting myself through the first half of the game to get to it hardly seemed worth it. At least the final sequence was fun.
In addition to the sometimes awful level design and the stupidly easy enemies (and the equally if not more stupid backup), you have some horribly inaccurate weapons. The assault rifle was worthless. The plasma pistol was only slightly less worthless. The human pistol and plasma rifle were okay, but until you got a shotgun, you might as well not even waste your time shooting. And yet, even with those pathetic weapons, the enemies were still easy. Is it so much to ask that they spend some time on AI?

JK2: Admittedly, I just started on this, and I'm still on the second level, but I'd have to say I'm disliking it even more than I disliked Halo at first. Please tell me it gets better halfway through.
Anyway, like with Halo, half the weapons in this game are worthless. Having seen the blasters in this game, I now understand why the storm troopers could never hit Luke or his buddies in the movies. It wasn't because of bad aim, it was because the weapons were faulty. Seriously, there have been times in this game where I'd come around a corner, or a storm trooper would, and we'd be right directly in front of each other, we'd open fire, and each unload 5-10 shots before either of us hit, even though my crosshair is directly on his chest and he'd better have good aim with the difficulty at max. Then you have your partner, who, during combat, is as likely to run directly into your line of fire as she is to do anything remotely intelligent, and the opponents, who, rather than firing at you from behind cover, try to run around you and circle you (where their weapons, being inaccurate, will shoot past you and hit the other storm troopers on the other side of you). This would make them incredibly easy to kill if it wasn't for the fact that your blaster fires in a completely random direction, never hitting directly where your crosshair is pointing. Maybe the other weapons in the game aren't quite so bad, as I've heard lightsaber battles are fun, but it seems like you have to trudge through some really awful parts of the game before you get anything worth shooting with.

Am I playing these games wrong? Are my standards too high, after having only played a few of the best FPSs out there? Or do they actually suck?

I can only comment on JK2...

The ST rifle is meant to be used assaulter style, charging them like a crazy mutha. The real problem with JK for me is that you don't get the saber until you're 20-30% into the game. Al the other weapons are crappified to make the saber look good, so I guess that's where your gripe comes from.

Try Deus Ex or Half-life - those two are excellent introductions to the shooter genre.

seriously anon... wait till you get the lightsaber.
The game gets SO much better. From then on you dont really use a single gun again except maybe the DEMP or the sniper rifle. look forward to it.

The reason HALO PC was so easy for people is that it was designed for the X-BOX. I know a lot of people who own both copies of the game and basically the enemies react at the same rate they do on the X-BOX as the PC.
So basically, on the X-BOX, you cannot do a full turn very quickly at all as you are using an analog stick, so the enemies were designed to take that into account. But on the PC, you have keyboard mouse action so you can be super speedy and move uber-quick. Which makes teh game much easier.

But dante is right... try out half-life... you will learn to love FPS's soon enough.

He's already said he's played, and enjoyed, Halflife. He said that in the third sentance of his post.

And hey, not every game is everyone's cup of tea.

Yay, somebody agrees with me about halo being a crummy FPS
 

I kinda have the same gripes about the HALO single player game. Way too repetitive in level design (why the hell do they have to torture players in the library for that long?). The weapons are really unbalanced (see multiplayer comments below) and the game seemed a bit too cheery for a life and death situation for the universe...to quote a baddie: "short ones first!" Anon...as for your marine problem, I dont babysit, I kill them and steal their ammo (excluding those that join me in vehicles)...they seem to be a bit more useful in that respect.

Multiplayer did even less for me...90% it comes down to this scenario
-whoever has a pair of the following weapons will pwn (rocket launcher, pistol, shotgun)
-whoever doesn't have any the weapons listed above, assuming your multiplayer enemy is COMPETENT and has at least one of the weapons listed above, you are as good as dead.

a few other multiplayer gripes:
-crummy spawn points...i can play 1v1 on a medium sized indoor map and i will be killed within 10 seconds of my spawn about 40% of the time. Am I just unlucky or does anybody else notice this?
-the sniper rifle is way too underpowered (where's an AWP when you need one? :D ) and I think it does less dmg than the pistol.
-the physical attack is way too overpowered (sure you can take a full clip of the hideously underpowered assault rifle to the chest, but about 2 pistol whips kills! wtf?!)

my only compliments to the game:
plasma grenades and the neeedler (though practically useless) are very cool if they work. These are the only things I wish to see from halo that may make it to another game.

Anon, I think you (and I) have been spoiled by some of the best FPSs out there (I too own and still play many of the games you mentioned). Nothing wrong with high standards. I think HL was the only fps that was actually worth all the hype (GOTY for a few years in a row and all) and hopefully HL2 will be just as good if not better.

Halo was ok to just run through in one sitting, but I agree is isn't the greatest. Multiplayer is pathetic.

JK2, is a great game. Better have come since, but it is still good. The first levels are a boring marsh of boringness, but the lightsaber and force powers make the rest of the game fun.(especially with saber realism hack, which makes you actually cut through the enemies when your lightsaber passes through them, instead of just dealing damage. There is nothing like seeing a stormtrooper's head go flying off then roll/bounce for a second when it lands. NOTHING) Multiplayer is ok, but everyone wants to play no force powers, and the point of the game is force powers.

Of course, Half-Life rules all FPS. All other FPS are belong to shit.(compared to HL) HL2 will rock your mother. I want it so bad. DAMN YOU FOR MAKING ME WAIT SO LONG VALVE! I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU DELAY IT AGAIN, ALL OF YOU!

This was mainly due to the fact that the release of the game was rushed so they had to repeat maps in order to get it out on schedule. I agree with this complaint though, this was one of the things that bothered me the most.

To each his own, really. I have several friends that don't like first person shooters at all. My roommate plays nothing but RPG's and fighting games; she tried half-life once...it wasn't pretty.

I've tried playing Halo on Legendary several times, and to me its a lot harder than Anon described, although I haven't played it on PC yet.

Finally some real reasons why halo is not a very good game. I thank you anon.

Uh, no. A head shot is an instant kill. Two body shots will take them out; unless they made it less powerful in the PC version, because I'm going off the Xbox version. I thought Halo was a great game. Very challenging. I've beaten several times, and keep going back. Legendary is a great challenge. How much changed from the Xbox to the PC that would give people a bad impression?

The one thing I learned: Don't worry about the marines. The only time you have to bother with them is on the Truth and Reconciliation where Keyes has to survive at the end, but that's only for a few minutes. Don't rely on AI backup. If they survive and take out a few extra enemies, that's fine, but don't use 'em as a crutch.

I've killed people with rocket launchers using the assualt rifle or alien assault rifle thing. Shotguns are easy to kill, just run back and don't let them get close. If they are already close to you, then yeah your screwed (That's how shotguns are supposed to work).

Every FPS game's melee attacks do more then bullets, be it a pistol whip or a knife. Usually the challenge is actually getting near the person before you're shot to death. (If you let people get near you, or you get near them, you/they are not very good at the game...)