Halo: Combat Evolved

A bit late to the Halo Party, but what can I say, I never grew up with the xbox and only played MP on PC during it's hayday.

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 There's a bit of outdated game design here but the overall game is still a really good time.

I am very much aware that I am playing a game that revolutionised multiplayer game play and FPS, wayyy out of its era in 2022 bur better late than never.

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

It's not hard to see why Halo: Combat Evolved changed the gaming landscape. To preface, this game was gifted to me by a good friend who wanted to see if his nostalgia for this series would match the critique of someone who had never played any of the Halo games, Me. We played in the order that they were released, in co-op, on Heroic difficulty (because I know single-player/co-op and difficulty matter to some people who think "You're not playing Halo if you aren't playing the Library on Legendary alone") and I haven't touched the multiplayer yet, so this will just be a story/gameplay review. So, you see my positive recommend, let's get into it.

Halo Combat Evolved is one hell of a powerhouse. Like I said, it's really not hard to see why this game changed the gaming landscape and started a massive franchise. Everything about this game is in a tight, neat package, not a perfect package albeit, but I can't fault it for not being perfect.

I think the first aspect of the game that shows its strength is the gameplay, or should I say gunplay. Each gun in this game feels fine tuned, I had as much fun with the pistol as I did the assault rifle, plasma pistol, sniper rifle, etc. Gameplay is when you give me a gun and I start shooting enemies, *good* gameplay is when I pick up a plasma pistol from a dead grunt, hit an elite with a charged shot to take down his shields, and then switch to an assault rifle to put him down. Good gameplay is when I shoot the limbs off of a flood and it starts trying to bite me. Good gameplay is when an enemy follows me when I duck behind cover, or they run for cover when I put the pressure on them.

There are games coming out *today* that don't have these levels of depth or dynamics, or just plain old fun. I think another layer that helps make this game memorable is the voice acting. From Cortana, to Keyes, to Sergeant Dude, to fucking Master Chief, the voice work is exceptional.

The "tight, neat package" I was talking about earlier starts to come a little undone when talking about the story and soundtrack. The story is good/alright because it doesn't give me anything outright, which I think both helps and hurts it. You've just escaped a covenant fleet, they're on your trail, you find yourself at a Ringworld where you start to slowly unravel the many mysteries around it.

That provides a lot of great ambiance and gives me a reason to fight for those mysteries, doubly so when I find out that if the Covenant uncover those secrets before Humanity does, it might spell everyone's untimely demise. The ambiance is especially strong in Flood levels, which I didn't know about until the little tentacle guys were trying to crawl up my ass. Somehow I didn't get that spoiled to me in these past 20 + years. The story is mostly formulaic, but I felt that the inclusion of the Flood help bolster it a lot and flipped the script on me. I'm really a sucker for a story dipping it's toes into horror or just straight up becoming a horror story from a reasonable jumping off point.

The issue, and I hesitate to even call it an issue, I have with the soundtrack is that some of the tracks, The Halo theme, Walk in the Woods, On a Pale Horse, etc. are so fucking well done, so insanely well done, that they set an impossible precedent for the other tracks. The peaks of the soundtrack are so high, which make the valleys look lower than they actually are if you catch my drift.

The level design was great, though it did irk me that the game did reuse levels and made me play through a lot of them, retracing my steps. Though I mostly played on the updated graphics, I would very often switch over to the old graphics (props for making it seamless) just to really appreciate the look of the game.

Halo: Combat Evolved managed to surpass my expectations 20+ years after its release. Even while I write this review, after playing through the whole collection, Halo: Combat Evolved manages to stand out alongside the franchise it created, and at large, games as a whole. I can see why people hit this one with the "There's just something about it, you know?", there's a lot about it. It has a lot of heart, and though some of its sequels take its foundation and move it further up the ladder, a few fail to meet its heights. It's no surprise this went on to legend.

8/10. I desperately want to hum the Halo theme in public and see some neurons activate in the other monkeys around me.

A must play for any fan of the FPS genre. All these years later and this game is still an absolute blast to play.

With a friend this is the most fun I've had in a while .

Played via Remastered collection, but whatever, this game is great.

Aside from one or two levels, the whole thing is really damn fun, and feels great to control. I think they almost completely perfected this style of game on their first try, although my overall favorite is still either Halo 3 or Halo Reach.