Halo: Combat Evolved

"Now the true meaning of a shooting adventure has been defined."

First person shooters have always had relatively simple tasks. Most games involved players engaging with numerous enemies in outnumbering situations. Very few titles could match the quality of a true adventure, or classic in this case. Thankfully, over the past few years, developers have finally managed to merge elements of adventure, action, plotting, and first-person shooting all into one. Halo is the best representation of a shooting masterpiece. In case you haven't known, the X-BOX's launch title, and huge seller has been Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo is a FPS game where you take control of Master Chief (an armor-enhanced marine), and follow an intriguing plot while trying to save what's left of the human culture. Combining beautiful essences of visual effects, effective soundtracks, and a truly amazing gameplay system, players are thrown into a highly entertaining environment. The storyline takes place several hundred years in the future. To keep it brief (there's a vast novel series available), humans are on the brink of destruction thanks to an evil alien race (Covenant). Suddenly, your home ship is under attack by the Covenant, and the circumstances force you to land on a mysterious floating object called Halo. Prepare to play one of the best shooters to have been released in the past few years.

Graphics [10/10]
When a launch title is designed for one of the most powerful consoles in the world, usually ''good'' events occur. Halo utilized the X-BOX to nearly full potential by displaying clarified graphics, excellent framerates, and a surreal presentation. First off, Halo is a FPS, meaning that the entire game is played from a first-person perspective. Unlike platforming games, you aren't some wandering 3D nomad, or 2D-based sprite. Every view takes place inside the head of Master Chief, almost as if you were viewing straight through a glass visor. Weapons show precise detailing, ranging from technological screens, to simple mechanics. Your bullet-based weapons have realistic animations, such as a sniper rifle firing, and leaving a gas trail in the bullet path. Guns flash with explosiveness, providing amazing lighting effects. Plasma weapons show off almost illusive glows, like a child's eyes glowing in the distance. Melee animations are superb, as nearly every dimension of the attack is shown in clear detail. Besides that, the immense detailing of Halo's environment is enough to make you croak over in bed.

The second you see the first glimpse of Halo's levels, you'll be overwhelmed. Maps range from simply scenic outdoor settings, to harsh interior structures. Archeological designs are superb, showing off unique pillar supports, column inlets, and even futuristic languages. Control panels provide strange glimpses of colors and purposeful buttons. The terrain is full of changing slopes, meshed textures, and overall smoothness. Heck, I even feel like I could skip a stone off the watery coast at certain times. Halo is the true example of where every visual aspect is taken into account. Bullet markings, explosions from projectiles, even vehicles exhibit scratch marks, imperfections, and minute details. The classic persona of Halo is set around presenting the user in a sense of euphoria. Moving onward, framerates are absolutely flawless. Unlike other games which suffer from sluggish gameplay because of numerous enemies, most of this is eliminated thanks to the hardware power of the X-BOX. Halo also uses combined technology of polygons and smooth frame-wire texturing. This means that terrain appears smooth (as in real life), while your enemies protrude more varying shapes. Halo is the perfection of graphical design.

Sound/Music [9/10]
Typical FPS's rarely even include soundtracks in their presentation. Most players use the natural background sounds to determine where enemies are, and music only becomes a distraction. Thankfully, the developers at Bungie decided to make Halo both a graphical, and audio experience. Halo includes a well-compiled soundtrack full of orchestrated beats, tunes, and chorus voices. Once you initiate the game on your X-BOX, music will blare in the background much like on a crusading adventure. Tracks combine feelings of heroism (strong uprising beats), emotional change (dropping to lower beats), and climatic rises (bringing the mood back to the player). As you sit there navigating the surface of this desolate object, the music triggers in your ears as a sole epic. You feel almost as if you're dragged into a never-ending saga, which totally increases the enjoyment of the game. If that isn't enough, Halo also features literally hundreds of different sound effects. Cut scenes are fully composed of voice clips, including several different voices. The entire game is presented almost like a movie, except the player has complete control. Weapons make different discharges, aliens scream in chaotic tones, and even your fellow marines taunt in recognition. If anything, Halo is one of the better presented titles on the X-BOX.

Gameplay [10/10]
One of the more noticeable complaints with many shooting games is similar themes. Often, the gamer feels cheated out, almost as if games have the same basis storyline. Most contain a good guy versus a bad guy, or marines versus an evil alien force. Fortunately, Halo is more than a simple first person shooter. It practically renovated the way FPS's acted. Rather than being linear-minded, Halo allows you to do multiple tasks in a shooting environment. Gamers can now drive vehicles, interact by helping fellow marines, explore the environment, and follow objectives in the meantime. Since Halo is a first-person shooter, nearly all of the gameplay takes place from inside Master Chief. MC is practically an armor-enhanced marine, slightly stronger than your typical human. In order to protect him from hazardous conditions, Master Chief is equipped with a titanium-resistant suit, plasma force field (will recharge itself if worn out), and an arsenal of weapons. Gameplay in Halo is basically much like any shooting game. You can move MC around using the joysticks, and search the surrounding environment by rotating his head. The trigger buttons allow you to shoot weapons, and also toss grenades, which makes attacking an easy task.

Unlike other games which have random enemies spawning out of nowhere, every type of opponent comes from a certain place. The Covenant consist of varying types, ranging from your typical midget grunts, to armored Jackals. Enemies in the game display unique qualities, such as certain ones being faster/slower, but having an extra amount of health. For the most part though, Halo is an enriching experience. As you venture through, you'll constantly be shooting down enemies, gathering supplies, and following tasks. The game manages to combine realistic features that would occur in the real world. For example, Master Chief can only handle two weapons at any time, meaning you have to be partially conservative and aware of the situation. Toting a pistol is not going to help if you're facing hundreds of little spiders. Secondly, Halo is composed of more than just simple pea shooting. As you progress through the game, you interact with fellow marines on enemy assaults, and rescue missions. Your comrades in arms will fight the aliens (although not quite as efficiently). You're given the chance to drive a vehicle called the Warthog (armored jeep with a mounted machine gun). The player can drive in chaotic paths, while your ally nails down would-be snipers.

Every single sequence in Halo matches perfectly to the player's disposal. In-game physics are amazing. Driving off of a cliff will cause your vehicle to flip, and kill the passengers inside. Grenade tosses have projectories because gravity pulls the object downward. An assortment of weapons allows the player to constantly drop one, for another that provides a better fit for the scenario. In the entire essence, Halo is the ultimate shooter. Levels range from open-ended environments, with alien drop ships laying down reinforcements, to structural areas where melee fighting is quite common. Stealth can be used to sneak up on enemies, and kill them from behind. Not only that, but Halo isn't a single-minded shooter. Many levels immediately toss you into out-supplied locations where you'll be ambushed, and have to fight against the odds. The storyline progresses as well, giving the gamer more motive to move on, and hopefully save the human race in the process. Halo is the reason why games have succeeded in being entertaining. When you combine multiple elements into one game, the player truly feels like they earned the value out of their game.

Fun [10/10]
It has seemed like games have twirled downward when it comes to freedom for the player. Titles are now becoming more focused on objectives, meaning that players are rarely given the chance to explore vast environments. Halo combines both the ability to expand, while accomplishing tasks. Most levels are large enough to permit the player to explore, find secrets, and save the day. At the same time, layouts are organized well enough so that you can complete the given task. Besides that, the hybrid combination of details in Halo is what makes it truly spectacular. When was the last time you could drive vehicles, assist in marine assaults, and manage to be a hero at the same time? Halo manages to combine several different genres into one, which makes it the perfect ''starter'' title to any system. It has even managed to convert several non FPS fans into complete maniacs. Combine all of these factors with the ability to play multiplayer, and you have one crazy game. Halo has support of up to 16 players (via several X-BOX units and link cables) in which players can engage in several types of battles. Rally races, sniper contests, teamwork, and even simple combat all form around this game. Complete randomness can occur during a battle. Maybe you'll get nailed by incoming plasma artillery, or simply stabbed by a Hunting Assassin, all of these elements provide an entertaining experience.

Replayability [9/10]
Even your typical shooting game can get fairly boring after awhile. Once you master the single player campaign, multiplayer is the only true survivor amongst gameplay modes. Halo actually competes well in continually bringing the gamer back for more action. First off, Halo includes around 12+ missions which encompass long, detailed journeys. Maps usually consist of rescuing a certain person, enabling a certain switch, but also manage to feature many side tasks that all link to the storyline. For example, this one mission commands you to find out what happened to the previous marine attack force. You end up uncovering a secret foreign party, and it turns out to be a frantic race for your life. Gameplay modes consist of a single player campaign, but also an additional (and extremely addictive) multiplayer mode. With the ability for up to 16 players, Halo can turn into a massive gaming party. Despite the lack of any X-BOX live support, Halo features numerous game types, such as racing, combat, and team battles. Players also have the options of being able to customize settings, such as controller setups or even HUD displays. Merge all of these features, and you get over 10 different weapons, multiple ways of engaging enemies, changing environments, and a truly inspirational game.

Difficulty [7/10]
Numerous shooting games have improved on difficulty. Instead of presenting the image of a simple potato gun shooter, many developers have tried to elaborate on enemy AI, and more realistic grouping patterns. Halo has completely mastered this element. Computer AI is very smart in Halo, especially on higher difficulties. Each type of enemies have aggressive, and conservative behaviors. Charging a simple grunt will cause him to flee in fear. Meanwhile, trying to charge a Hunter will only cause you to flee in sight. Enemies actually will group together once they know of your position. Smarter opponents will strafe shoot you, and quickly step back to safety. Halo presents itself as a true representation of the battle field. You'll constantly be under fire, especially by grenades, homing ammunition, and stealthy opponents. Fellow marines will engage targets, and also can hit you in friendly fire incidents. Halo becomes so advanced that turning on your marines will also cause them to attack you in betrayal. Nearly every accurate fact of a war zone is represented realistically in Halo. Besides that, there are four ranging difficulties (Easy, Normal, Heroic, Legendary). Each setting gradually increases damage, less life, and smarter AI. Even time constraints are placed on the player in certain situations. If anything, Halo is both a challenging, and rewarding video game.

Final Factor [10/10]
Picking up Halo was probably one of the least regrettable purchases ever in my lifetime. Originally, I thought it was just going to be another generic shooter with few graphical enhancements. However, on further analysis, I began to realize why Halo: Combat Evolved was such a brilliant game. The game hardly had any downfalls, proving the motto ''Quality over quantity.'' Gamers weren't left in a shadow of darkness as the story and cut scenes aware them of the situation. Graphical masterpieces, orchestrated soundtracks, and the simple transition of adventure FPS's is why Halo is a true seller. If you've been looking for that one game to sparkle on the top of your Christmas tree, then Halo is it. Best of all, it never becomes a simple shooting game. This piece of work will continue to shine in your X-BOX collection because of how varied it is. With an addictive multiplayer mode, completely random single player experience, and the title of Halo, you won't be let down. Purchase the game, and the smell of the plastic wrap will make you grin.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/03