What's with the Earth Invasion theme?

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Kasey Chang
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What's with the Earth Invasion theme?

Post by Kasey Chang »

Two of the biggest blockbuster games shows the aliens have reached Earth, and they're out to get us.

Namly, Halo 2, and Half-Life 2.

Some planning, guys. I mean, what's with the fascination on invasion of Earth?

Doesn't that mean all the sacrifice done in Halo 1 was for nought?

And the same for Half-Life 1?

Heck, from Space Invaders on down it's always "aliens are out to get us".

I think the only game to turn the table was Incoming Forces (where you play the alien resistance trying to defeat an Earth invasion).
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Orpheo
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Post by Orpheo »

Because it's cool to defend the Earth against aliens and, despite these two games, it's not a theme that comes up very often.

Also, I don't remember doing anything in Halo 1 that would prevent the Covenant from attacking Earth.
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Post by SuperHiro »

I think it's a great way to have a "war between two nations" enviroment without pissing another country off.

Also, Alien are nearly always considered to be more techonologically advanced than us, with makes us the underdog.
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Post by Smoove_B »

Because lawyers haven't been able to get in touch with space aliens trying to sue for defamation of character.

Seriously. There are no alien advocates. Every time someone makes a computer game featuring some Real World (tm) enemy, someone's panties get all bunched.
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Post by Biyobi »

Don't forget about the hi-tech weaponry that the aliens bring with them (pretty special effects!)
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Kasey Chang
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Post by Kasey Chang »

Orpheo wrote:Also, I don't remember doing anything in Halo 1 that would prevent the Covenant from attacking Earth.
Okay, not having played Halo all the way through (played it in BB for a couple minutes) I don't remember all the plot, but wasn't the whole point of the ship landing on HALO so the Earth forces can make a "last stand" there rather than fight on Earth? Or did I remember the backstory wrong?
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Orpheo
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Post by Orpheo »

The single (huge) ship you were on landed on Halo so it could make a last stand there, but that ship wasn't coming from Earth. The Covenant attacked the planet it was stationed at, which was where they were building the cyborgs like Master Chief, so they grabbed Chief and ran. The Covenant you fight isn't the main force, just the section of it sent to attack the cyborg factory.
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Post by bluefugue »

It's all H.G. Wells's fault; he started it.
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Post by Kasey Chang »

Orpheo wrote:The single (huge) ship you were on landed on Halo so it could make a last stand there, but that ship wasn't coming from Earth. The Covenant attacked the planet it was stationed at, which was where they were building the cyborgs like Master Chief, so they grabbed Chief and ran. The Covenant you fight isn't the main force, just the section of it sent to attack the cyborg factory.
The planet was Reach

And Master Chief is NOT a cyborg. He's enhanced, but not a cyborg. Supposedly he has endoskeleton The HALO novel describes it quite well.
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Post by Zarathud »

Blame Alien v. Predator. They started it, and screwed it up first.

I still remember the Alien 3 trailer in theatres after Alien 2. Something like "On Earth, everyone can hear you scream."
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Post by hitbyambulance »

Blame China :wink:
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Post by tgb »

Blame Canada.

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Post by Beer Goggles »

Because they could not give Nazis and Neo-Nazis laser guns.
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Post by Kraken »

X-Com envy.
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Post by bluefugue »

Zarathud wrote:Blame Alien v. Predator. They started it, and screwed it up first.

I still remember the Alien 3 trailer in theatres after Alien 2. Something like "On Earth, everyone can hear you scream."
"Alien 2"??? :shock:

I'm revoking your geek card! :twisted:
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Post by Eel Snave »

Yeah, Nazis aren't even any fun to kill anymore. Killing aliens never means having to say you're sorry.
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Post by Bakhtosh »

I still say the ultimate game for me would be: we know an invasion is coming. We know they're coming in from this vector, and we've known about it for a few years, so we have put our oldest craft out there, and as we've produced new war craft, we've rallied them out as far as we could. We need you to slow them down, learn something about their strengths and weaknesses, learn their numbers and their tactics, and try to save as many ships as you can for the final battle....you'll probably need them.

So, you'll lose every fight until you're ready to make a stand.

The insystem defense forces have access to gates that can transport them to the next defense point. The aliens won't be able to use them, so they'll continue to approach Earth ballistically.

You can choose to retreat everyone to Earth and save all of your ships, but the aliens will come in at full speed, wasting our outer defenses and razing our colonies along the way, so you'll have less time to research and build new weapons. Maybe, if you chose to defend Mars, you have a certain amount of time to hold out while they transmit data on a new technology to Earth. It means a lot of lost ships, but better weapons when the aliens arrive.

You can choose to fight to the death at every defense point, slowing the enemy down and distracting them from their purpose, but you may not have enough ships to defeat them when they get to Earth.

Ideally, you want to inflict some damage to the fleet, while saving as many ships (even the earliest fighters will help in the final battle).

Of course, the sequel has Earth taking the fight to them in space, and some of their outer colonies. The 3rd installment is our fleet invading their home system, so you have to keep up your speed by taking as little damage as possible while destroying ships so you won't have to face them around their homeworld.
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