Halo: Combat Evolved

The Good
The fact is, when I wrote my last review for Halo: Combat Evolved I flat out lied. UnicornLynx had recently written his own take on the game, out rightly condemning it as gimmicky, convoluted and full of terribly in cohesive elements. Eager to impress him I wrote my own take on the game, despite the fact that I have loved the Halo series for years. Recently, I've felt the emphasis on multiplayer has come at the expense of the campaign but the early years are something to be appreciated.

So, I wrote the review, condemning one of my favourite games. Lying in bed this morning I remembered something I usually tell people about games; "Don't take reviews as gospel, and don't base your opinion on other peoples. There may be enough elements in a game that appeal to you more than someone else. This means while others might think it's terrible, there is something about it that endears that game to you." There, I had totally back flipped on the philosophy I came up with in order to appease someone that has distinctly different tastes from me. However by that same measure just because Halo isn't some obscure adventure game from a Russian studio no one has ever heard of before doesn't mean it is terrible.

So, I apologise for intentionally deceiving people. Here is my real opinion on Halo: Combat Evolved.

I first played Halo in 2002. I was 13 and at the time I was still enjoying the back catalogue of bargain Nintendo 64 games that the market was awash with following the release of the GameCube. I was invited to a friends house (how the hell do I remember all of this?) and the first thing he did was fire up his new Xbox so we could play Halo. My jaw dropped. This was the most beautiful game I had ever seen in action. It was the first game I had ever gotten a real "next generation" feel from. I felt like this was meaningful progression.

So, Halo takes place immediately after the Pillar of Autumn comes out of hyperspace following the destruction of Planet Reach. The ship is assaulted by the mysterious Covenant of alien races that has some sort of issue with humanity being in their neck of the woods and you, as the cybernetically enhanced "Master Chief" manage to escape with the ship's AI loaded into your helmet.
You crash land on the mysterious Halo ring world that is simply floating mysteriously in space and embark on a mission of resistance and then escape when the tables turn later in the game.

Halo is a game that, instead of feeling like multiple parts thrown together in an in cohesive mass of good ideas, feels like an actual refined package. The HUD elements, movement and combat have all be refined beyond reproach. The recharging shield concept was pretty revelatory (pretty much every FPS uses a variation on it now) and the combination of pulse pounding combat and the ability to melee attack made for some awesome battles. Then there is the seamless integration of vehicular combat with the on foot shenanigans and expansive battle fields which render with very minimal impact on the frame rate of the game.

The story was complicated (for the time) and featured a cinematic quality soundtrack with very competent actors providing a voice for each character in the game. The way the exposition unfolds also has this grandiose, cinematic feel to it. I don't mean it's complicated like "Half Life" (vague and confusing) I mean the developers put a lot of effort into making Halo seem like a movie.

There are subtle elements like playing the game that are easy to miss. To begin with, when you look out into the distance on the Halo ring you can actually see it arcing up into the atmosphere. Below you is a vast sea that seams to stretch forever. The forerunner structures are huge and complicated and while this becomes a detriment later in the game the architecture is both beautiful and monolithic. Such care went into the conception of Halo, that is why it deserves such praise.

The Bad
To begin with, there are moments that just seem to go on forever. Covenant drop ships just seem to keep coming and you begin to silently ask the game to let you continue playing. This is irritating.

The huge waves of enemies are great, however occasionally you will get cheap shotted by some Grunt standing behind the Elite's with a plasma grenade or a bunch of needler shots. You will then consequently go flying into the air and back to the last checkpoint.

There are locations that tend to get repeated in the game and unfortunately these particular locations are some of the most boring locations imaginable. Long purple corridors that open into longer purple corridors with a bunch of locked doors or expansive Forerunner corridors that lead to additional Forerunner corridors. There are only two points in the game where this happens, but they are very tedious and depending on how many times you die can take up to half an hour to complete. Backtracking is a bit of a problem in Halo, just be warned.

The Bottom Line
So, I love Halo. I love it because of nostalgia and I love it because I appreciate the effort Bungie put into trying to make a really different style of FPS. The elements like seamless integration of on foot and vehicular combat, the recharging shield, expansive environments, aggressive AI of multiple enemy types, vastly different weapons and beautiful soundtrack all give Halo credibility as a true classic.

There are problems like any game; the frame rate dips now and then, the enemy AI will occasionally cheap shot you, environments drag sometimes and the flood are irritating (while still being necessary for the plot) however these problems are fairly minor compared to how enjoyable the rest of the game is.

This is a must have for Xbox owners.

The Good
"Combat Evolved" describes things very well. The combat in HALO is indeed a step up from most FPS' and is challenging and fun (until The Flood shows up, see below).Enemies will duck and dive for cover, engage you in a variety of ways and generally put up a good fight. What may even be more amazing is that your own team is not entirely useless. It may be one of the actually ground-breaking features of Halo that your own team actually put up a good fight and help you out by making themselves useful. No standing around looking curiously at the primed grenade at their feet or running into your line of fire (well at least not too much). They actually engage and kill the enemy effectively! On the other hand, maybe this say more about the incredibly sad state of Ai in gaming than it say about the AI in Halo.

The vehicles are also very well done. It's immensely fun driving around in the Warthog with a gunner while fighting aliens or laying down the pain from a Banshee fighter. The Warthog, fun as it is, has somewhat odd driving characteristics though; it skids like Bambi on ice even when you drive on dry concrete.

Halo also has my favourite type of cut-scene: the in-game engine cut-scene. Not only that, they're also reasonably well directed with a certain flair that gives them a movie-like quality. No talking heads here.

One positive thing that actually surprised me was Master Chief himself. I had expected a DOOM-style mute hero but it turns out master Chief talks and actually has a personality. Granted, he doesn't have the "charm" and "charisma" of Duke Nukem but he's no Gordon Freeman-style mute either. I really don't care much for the personality-free protagonist style of Half-life and DOOM. It works in DOOM because there's really no-one around for your character to talk to but when there are people talking and addressing you and your character just says nothing it just gets a bit weird.

The Covenant is an interesting collection of alien races with unique traits. I almost feel bad every time I shoot a grunt. With their runt, short appearance, high pitched voices and the clumsy way they carry their weapons, especially when panicking, they have a very child-like appearance to them. In some ways the grunts are more disturbing than The Flood. Unfortunately we get to know almost nothing about the Covenant and its alien races other than "they want to kill all humans".

It's also a plus that there are no boss-fights, just increasingly difficult battles.

The Bad
The combat that was so fun against the Covenant goes right out the Window the moment The Flood rears its ugly head. What we have here is classic DOOM style enemies that has absolutely no combat awareness and who thinks that the old cavalry charge is the pinnacle of attack tactics. The only way by which the flood challenges the player is by sheer numbers. While we're on the topic of The Flood , that old standard-issue parasitic alien life-form that has been the staple of Sci-Fi since the 50's, they're just not very menacing or scary. I have a hard time picturing it as such a monumental threat to sentient life that such extreme measures that we are presented with are necessary. I mean, the basic form, which looks like a mildly mutated jellyfish, can probably be killed with a peashooter. System Shock 2 did this much better and The Flood pales in comparison to The Many.

The Flood also brings to light some lazy writing and plot holes (spoiler warning). How come The Flood is isolated on Halo? How did it survive for 100000(!) years without food? If the Forerunners managed to contain it why not just wipe out the last remaining colony instead of this monitor AI and containment protocol nonsense? Or did they keep them in some kind of storage for future use? Master Chief solves this problem elegantly by just destroying Halo but as we'll see in the sequels there are other colonies (collections?) of The Flood on other Halo-type installations. Really? Seriously, what the hell where they thinking? "Lets contain this extremely dangerous life-form in select installations across the galaxy and if the shit hits the fan lets just wipe out all OTHER life". Great plan guys, you really thought that one through.

When we are on the subject of the Forerunners we should not forget the impressive yet incredibly dull level architecture. Sure, the alien architecture is grand and immensely large (why so large? Where they 20 feet tall?) but it is also incredibly dull and boring. You'll be fighting through an endless line of dull, gray dimly lit rooms (that comes in very limited variety) all connected with the same type of zigzag corridor. While the symmetric design might make sense and be "realistic" it's also very, very boring. Quite a few times I just had to stop playing and go do something else for a while because I couldn't stand seeing yet another clone of room-design X. The interior room design also makes it very hard to keep track of where you are and where you are going. This is especially true in the part where you have to follow Guilty Spark. Most of the time I had no idea where that crazy AI was and I just followed the path where the monsters where since game-logic dictates that that is probably where I should be going. The Covenant levels are a bit better (they have colors!) but they suffer from even more and longer identical corridors that you have to fight your way through. Also, why does all aliens in all games design their ships and installations so that it is so very complicated to move from point A to point B, even when A and B are physically close? Halo suffers from this although at least it's nowhere near as bad as the stupidity that is Xen in Half-Life. They do make solid stuff though, the aliens. These installations has stood without maintenance for 100000 years and most of it works without a hitch. Amazing.

The Covenant is also a bit anonymous. Who are they? How did their religious worship of the Forerunners start? What are the specific of the different races? All we get is a few sentences in the manual and that's it and the only way you'll ever interact with them is in combat. The Kilrathi they aren't.

One final thing. Why can't Master Chief run?

The Bottom Line
If you take it for what it is, a very well-made FPS with a decent but also engaging story, you won't be disappointed. While not as revolutionary and ground-breaking as some might want you to think it's still a good game and if you can muster up the courage to stand the dull and repeated architecture you'll probably enjoy it.

The Good
The graphics are simply stunning, yes i KNOW its just a GeForce powered pc but who cares it works for me.The gameplay is simple and follows a very well defined and accepted method (Move, shoot, survive). Multiplayer rocks.

The Bad
The level design falls over in places, with it being SO repetitive that you could be going backwards for all you know (library level anyone?!?!) The graphics do stumble and slow down on occasion, but as i said this is first gen launch material here!! Just look at how different Ridge Racer and Gran Turismo are (on both PS1 and PS2)

The Bottom Line
I was very dubious about this title, when i first heard it was being put exclusive on the Xbox. However my fears were unfounded when i first played the game. It was fun, instant action and graphically stunning. The multiplayer section is just awesome, and perfect for those nights in with ya mates and a few cans of lager (although i would recommend a giant Widescreen Sony WEGA TV to play it on). I know the Xbox has a lot of haters but give it chance, the price drop will make it too tempting an offer to people, and with games like Halo out already on it, who can blame Microsoft for trying!