At a time when the majority of my friends had their Playstation 2's, I was getting acquainted with Microsoft's new Xbox console and it's launch title Halo: Combat Evolved. In a market that's now over-saturated with first person shooters it may be difficult for some to find something special about Halo, but at the time this was considered a masterpiece of gaming that made people believe Xbox was a true contender in the 'console wars'.
Halo begins with a massive starship, crewed by human space marines, coming across a mysterious ring world after being chased across the galaxy by the alien Covenant. When the Covenant send in their boarding party the humans decide to abandon ship and flee to Halo, but before they leave they revive the last of their race of super soldiers; Spartan 117, otherwise known as Master Chief.
Accompanied by his digital sidekick, Cortana, Master Chief had to fight his way through 10 brilliantly designed levels that saw you uncovering the secrets of this fascinating place. The levels would see you venture across snow covered mountains, tropical islands, dense swamps and alien cruisers, with the variety and attention to detail being phenomenal in every sense of the word.
Halo had a graphic quality that really demonstrated what the Xbox was capable of, sunlight would slip between the leaves of trees, while plasma shots would burn brightly across the battlefield; sometimes leaving you so stunned that you'd be shot to pieces before you realised what was happening. Audio was also impeccable as grenades would give a satisfying explosion; followed by the trickle of falling debris, the Covenant's plasma weapons had their own distinct sounds and not to mention one of the most wonderful gaming soundtracks of the era.
AI was also very well presented, not just from the enemy standpoint, but also your allies as they would provide suppressive fire and other tactical manoeuvers to help you secure victory. The Covenant however are also just as clever, especially in the Legendary difficulty mode where they seem almost unbeatable, flanking around you and using stealth to make you feel helpless. You can always get your own back though in the easier settings, with Grunts retreating when their Elite leaders are killed by a well placed plasma grenade.
Halo had some great multiplayer support as well, no Xbox Live, but there was support for up to 16 players via system link. You could customise maps how you wanted, deciding which weapons to include, alongside vehicles and power ups to add tons of variety. You could even tackle the story in co-op mode, which was great for when you needed a helping hand beating the game on Legendary, and you could even partake in Warthog jumping (something that you can't do now as the Warthog's are destructible).
Halo: Combat Evolved was everything a launch title should be. It demonstrated the power of the system, delivered excellent gameplay and set the standard for all those to come, while making owners of rival consoles green with envy.
Halo had a graphic quality that really demonstrated what the Xbox was capable of, sunlight would slip between the leaves of trees, while plasma shots would burn brightly across the battlefield; sometimes leaving you so stunned that you'd be shot to pieces before you realised what was happening. Audio was also impeccable as grenades would give a satisfying explosion; followed by the trickle of falling debris, the Covenant's plasma weapons had their own distinct sounds and not to mention one of the most wonderful gaming soundtracks of the era.
AI was also very well presented, not just from the enemy standpoint, but also your allies as they would provide suppressive fire and other tactical manoeuvers to help you secure victory. The Covenant however are also just as clever, especially in the Legendary difficulty mode where they seem almost unbeatable, flanking around you and using stealth to make you feel helpless. You can always get your own back though in the easier settings, with Grunts retreating when their Elite leaders are killed by a well placed plasma grenade.
Halo had some great multiplayer support as well, no Xbox Live, but there was support for up to 16 players via system link. You could customise maps how you wanted, deciding which weapons to include, alongside vehicles and power ups to add tons of variety. You could even tackle the story in co-op mode, which was great for when you needed a helping hand beating the game on Legendary, and you could even partake in Warthog jumping (something that you can't do now as the Warthog's are destructible).
Halo: Combat Evolved was everything a launch title should be. It demonstrated the power of the system, delivered excellent gameplay and set the standard for all those to come, while making owners of rival consoles green with envy.
No comments:
Post a Comment