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> Halo: Combat Evolved: Written by:
Michael Anthony
 Publisher: Microsoft Price: 29.99 Genre: First-person shooter M for Mature Microsoft was the talk of the town when they revealed their new Xbox system (that would later hit
stores November 2001). When the system finally launched, you would hear nothing but compliments... about Halo that is. Magazine
Editors and gamers everywhere were praising this game with honorable “Game of the Year” and “Best Game Ever”
stereotypes, which would soon make Xbox the most hyped system on the market (between sister systems, PS2 & GameCube).
Still til’ today, you continue to hear praises of Bungie for making such a revolutionary game, but does Halo live up
to all the hype?
Halo is Bungie’s revolutionary First-person shooter that
places you and the last surviving troops (which were shot-down and marooned) on an Ancient ring-shaped planet known as Halo.
As you try to conquer the alien race known as “The Covenant,” you’ll embark on numerous missions, battle
against fierce enemies... and have a ton of fun while doing so.
Halo is unique; and sets itself apart from other games of this generation. While your moving from level-to-level (in a
linear style of gameplay), Halo has huge detailed worlds, with a solid array of weapons and vehicles, all which are accessible
anytime throughout the game. Although gameplay is well polished, there’s nothing better then an excellent storyline,
and Halo has it. Flawlessly, Bungie has perfected every aspect of Halo, from graphics to gameplay; Halo is as close to perfect
as possible.
It’s hard to think of Halo as just a game, with movie-like cut-scenes, along with brilliant level
design, you’ll soon think that Halo is more of an experience--then game. The action alone is enough to give you a panic
attack. With gameplay this intense, you may walk away from your Xbox with shaky knees... and that’s far from an exaggeration.
I found myself gasping after playing Halo, yet, I still wanted to go back and play more. Halo is a head-rush like never before,
and it’ll give you an extremely good feeling when you play it.
It’s hard to imagine what an alien spaceship looked like from the inside, until you’ve played
Halo. I found myself sometimes stopping during gameplay just to take a look at the beautiful scenery. Graphics couldn’t
be anymore detailed then this. It’s something that you would have to see to believe.
Although Halo may feel slightly linear (in a good way), you are still in for a very open-ended experience. Being able to
control a huge tank-like vehicle (i.e. Scorpion), while commanding a whole squad of troops is amazingly creative, and brilliant.
Halo gives players a chance to feel free. If you want to abandon the mission and go jump off cliffs with a Ghost car, then
you are free to do so. It’s very easy to get distracted in this game. In some missions, you’ll be forced to fly
a spaceship-like Banshee; however, it’s so fun... you don’t want to stop. I’m not trying to imply that missions
aren’t fun, because they are a blast, but trying to overpass the fact that Halo is such a huge open-ended game is impossible.
Trying to explain how wonderful Halo is will not work until you’ve played it for yourself. I too had my guard up
against angry Xbox Fanboys, but once I played Halo, I immediately realized what a wonderful game this is. Giving Halo a relative
score of 10, and recommending this game to everyone I know won’t do this game justice. Halo is far past a game, to say
the least--it’s an unforgettable experience.
Ever since the latest generation in console launches, we’ve had the chance to experience technical game design at
it’s best. However, there’s more to just adding cel-shaded graphics along with cutesy characters like most games
do. Halo, conquers the term “game graphics”. It’s hard to play this game when the gorgeous graphics and
environments distract you so easily. Although I’ve had my share of jaw-dropping graphics with games in the past, I’ve
never experienced anything so well detailed. Being able to gaze upon the day sky and realize that you’re on a giant
ring-shaped planet is an amazing experience. Although games do rarely sport this type of nature in graphic design, there’s
always an annoying clichë that will often distract you from the true beauty of the game’s environments. Mercifully,
that’s not the case with Halo. Simply put (in a metaphorical manner), Halo’s graphics are so good that they may
sometimes cure stigmatisms.
Although there’s no actual lyrics to the music in Halo, the music is simply artistic more than anything. Don’t
misjudge the music though, because when the action begins, the music is enough to give you a panic attack. While walking through
long alleyways, or corridors etc. the music will softly start to play, just quiet enough to be unnoticeable, yet warn-able
that trouble is near, and when you are ambushed, the music completely adds to the intensity of the gameplay. The music gives
you a feeling that you’re actually there, battling a huge alien race by yourself. It’s a feeling that’s
simply indescribable.
Control doesn't play to big of a role in Halo unless you’re operating a vehicle. Although many may complain about
Halo’s control while operating vehicles (i.e. Warthog), it’s easy to overlook the fact that Halo is a very realistic
type of game. It’s natural that your vehicle may slide or tend to flip over while riding through rough terrain, but
it’s a blast doing so. At times control may be frustrating when your trying to multi-task, but it’s an action-seeker’s
dream-come-true. Personally, I found the control in Halo to be remarkably good. I really like the simple “point the
view to where you want to go” controls. There’s not an unresponsive control throughout the whole game, rather
you’re operating on land, or driving a vehicle. It really depends on how well you can personally handle the controls.
However, I say: “the more realistic, the better”.
Action/Adventure games don’t tend to sport much Replay value. Although Halo is a “First-person shooter,”
there’s really no reason to play through it again. Although it’s fun, and once isn’t enough, there’s
no story twists or plot ending changes. If you’ve got four other friends then you can play the always intense multi-player
action mode which is a blast. However, playing the 16-player LAN mode is something that every Halo fan must experience.
Halo was rated “M” for Mature due to blood and gore violence. Parents should decide on allowing to let their
children play only if the child is mature enough to handle the extreme action in Halo. Although bloody, most of the blood
in the game is green, blue or purple to mimic alien life forms. Although you will sometimes notice bloody corpses throughout
levels, Halo really isn’t that harsh of an “M” rated game. Language is kept T rated, which makes it more
playable for younger audiences. Overall, Halo is nothing compared to most other “M” rated
games. It’s best to play before you brush it off as being an average kill-with-no-reason “M” rated game.
Halo sports a wide variety of open-ended levels that allows you to interact with almost everything on screen. Gameplay
is great, along with an awesome multiplayer mode; Halo couldn’t get anymore fun. From character designs, to gorgeous
levels, you’ll soon find that Halo is one of the most graphically enhanced games ever. It’s hard to find a game
with so much potential, and Halo has everything that a game has to offer. If you own a Xbox then there’s one game that
you need to have... and that would be Halo.
Graphics: 9.8 | Sound: 9.2 | Control: 8.5
| Replay: 8.7 | Overall Game Score: 10/10
               
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