Halo: Combat Evolved
15 Nov 2001
All releases
30 Sep 2003 - PC (Microsoft Windows)
15 Nov 2001 - Xbox
10 Oct 2003 - PC (Microsoft Windows)
14 Mar 2002 - Xbox
25 Apr 2002 - Xbox
03 Dec 2003 - Mac
03 Dec 2003 - Mac
04 Dec 2007 - Xbox 360
11 Feb 2004 - Mac
Tags
Bent on Humankind's extermination, a powerful fellowship of alien races known as the Covenant is wiping out Earth's fledgling interstellar empire. Climb into the boots of Master Chief, a biologically altered super-soldier, as you and the other surviving defenders of a devastated colony-world make a desperate attempt to lure the alien fleet away from earth. Shot down and marooned on the ancient ring-world Halo, you begin a guerilla-war against the Covenant. Fight for humanity against an alien onslaught as you race to uncover the mysteries of Halo.
After the fall of Reach, The Pillar of Autumn, the only surviving human ship, makes a random slip-space jump away from the planet, so as not to lead the Covenant to Earth. When the Autumn drops out of slip-space, they find themselves next to a large, artificial, ring-world. A Covenant fleet hiding behind the adjacent planet engages the Autumn, the biologically augmented super-soldier John 117, or the Master Chief, is taken out of cryostasis. He proceeds to the bridge while fighting hordes of boarding Covenant forces. The Master Chief retrieves the ship-board AI (Artificial Intelligence) Cortana from the Captain of the vessel, Captain Keyes. The Chief and Cortana board an escape craft and begin to drop towards the surface of the ring-world. The Chief is the only one in his escape pod to survive the impact, and sneaks away from the crash site. After gathering all the survivors from the Autumn, the Chief makes an attack run on a Covenant ship in order to save Captain Keyes. Keyes tells the Chief and Cortana that the Covenant call this world Halo. Cortana realizes that it has
In terms of positives, the music is of course iconic with some cool percussion here and there to give a commando vibe as you play. Some mechanics I can imagine were quite fun for the time, like using turrets, warthogs, hosts and banshees. There is also a good variety of weapons and some alien weapons that are simplified and relevant to the enemies -- plasma pistol can knock down a shield, energy rifle can blast through elite shields.
In terms of negatives, the levels do get quite repetitive after a time -- very much visit new area, fight a new collection of the same sort of enemies. Playing in heroic mode did make it seem more like a puzzle, which was cool. Only time it did feel unique was towards the middle when the flood is introduced (*spoilers*: maybe I just like fighting zombies).
The story is alright, nothing super exceptional and a little generic but it did lend to some cool environments. Masterchief is just a champ that everyone relies on to get the mission done. You get introduced to the concept of what is Halo, who are the covenant and how is halo useful to them. There is a twist in there which I can kind of appreciate, and the ending had a sense of humour.
In the end I am glad I did play this game so that I can at least somewhat experience a game that revolutionised and had a huge influence on a lot of people. I'm caught up and definitely want to keep going.
Difficulty: Heroic
Skulls: None
While Goldeneye put console based first person shooters on the map, Halo was the game to solidify the console shooter formula and influence first person shooters for the next decades to come.
I will say now, Halo is probably one of the most satisfying shooters I've ever played from just a gameplay standpoint. All weapons feel right and pack the right punch, every kill is so satisfying from start to finish. And I'm keen to see how the combat evolves (no pun intended) throughout the franchise.
I love the world of Halo, the otherworldly biomes of the ring, the aliens and lore presented. I can see why this franchise had so much appeal.
Every level is sort of open ended in the sense where a large area is loaded and its up to you to figure out how you want to progress through. Do you wanna drive through with a warthog or ghost? Do you wanna stay on the ground and snipe out your oppenents? The levels are very replayable.
Having said that, the first half of the game is absolutely amazing, every single level is so good and fun to get through. However the quality takes a nosedive in the 2nd half once the flood enemies are introduced. Levels suddenly become copy-pasted hallways and every level in the 2nd half is basically a reused level from the first half but this time with infinitely spawning enemies that become really frustrating.
I still enjoyed my time with the first game and hope to become a fan of franchise once I'm done with it. For now, I can see why Halo Combat Evolved was so beloved when it first came out, especially for it's multiplayer. There's a bit of outdated game design here but the overall game is still a really good time.