Halo: Combat Evolved

The Good
The graphics are phenomenal, at or above the level of any other game on the market at the time I'm writing this. But it's the details that really make this my number one vote. Every leaf on every tree is individually rendered. Individual blades of grass actually tuft up from the ground - kneel in this grass and you'll get the sound of your knee depressing foliage, as opposed to the sound of your knee impacting any of the other surfaces in the game. The rushing water in streams is glorious to look at and listen to, the mist thrown from waterfalls, the dirt spray of a bullet hitting ground, or that cast up by a grenade detonation. (I served for four years in the infantry, and the grenade detonations in particular rang true to me). There is a level which occurs in a swamp, and the gently rippling water there looks incredible - not to mention the rain, and the bobbing lily pads. Trees actually sway in the breeze. When weapons strike rocks or trees, corresponding showers of stone or bark ensue. There were individual, 3d mushrooms growing at the edge of that swamp - adds nothing to game play, and some players might never notice it. But it builds realism, and that is something this game has in greater abundance than any other I've encountered.

The gameplay itself is wonderful. I know it's been done before (first in Goldeneye, I think, but possibly before that) but the zoom scopes on the weapons are a great deal of fun to use.

The plot is very original and engaging. It may seem a stereotypical mankind vs. alien fight at first, but as the tale progresses you learn that something a lot more sinister is going on behind the scenes.

The vocal acting is of great quality. Can't say that about a lot of games.

Wing Commander was the first game I remember to supply you with A.I. allies. This game gives you tons. Running onto the field of battle with 12 other marines, each with their own individual faces, voices, expressions and attitudes is intense. The detail here is incredible. There are different accents ringing out all over the battlefield.

The different vehicles are a lot of fun to drive. Spinning out in the warthog is a blast. Nice too, that your fellow soldiers will hop on back of the warthog to fire its machine gun, or take the passenger seat to snipe at enemies.

A co-operative mode is something many FPS games overlook. It's my favourite way to play, though, and this one has it.

You can carry only a maximum of 2 weapons and limited ammo. Nice change from the strange characters of other games who are presumably toting their arsenals around in invisible bags of holding.

The Bad
Most of this is trivial, but if Xbox designers ever read this, here's how to make the game EVEN BETTER.

Firstly, there's only 10 missions. Now, I'm getting a lot of gameplay out of these missions, since if I die, I start over. But I'm on the 7th now and not looking forward to ending. The first release of DOOM had 24 missions. Heed.

In such a wonderful, dramatic, serious game, I thought the attempts at comic relief were unnecessary. Hollywood does this all the time (witness those two miniature punks in Willow, for instance). What I'm referring to here is the high-pitched voices of the grunts, and more to the point, the things they say. It does spoil the intensity of the action somewhat for me to see this tiny being running away screaming "Little people first!" Half of me takes pity and the other half wants to gun him down for saying something so stupid. If it's a serious game, keep it serious. Comedy should never be forced.

Minor thing, but the assault rifle is my favourite weapon to fire (with the force feedback in the controller it both feels and sounds quite authentic), but the rulebook tells you that the Covenant forces are more susceptible to plasma weapons. And since as soon as you kill a single Covenant member you have access to plasma weapons, I don't get to fire the ultra-cool assault rifle very often. (I could, but then I would be deliberately hindering my own progress).

The game is done from a 1st person perspective, but when you mount a vehicle, suddenly you're in third person perspective. Forcing a change in perspective like that really attacks the reality base the game has laboured so hard and successfully to build. If I AM the main character I see out of the main character's eyes - to suddenly be looking at the back of my own head is confusing and only reminds me I'm playing a game. VERY BAD.

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that while you can play with up to 4 players (16 with multiple consoles) in a deathmatch, you can only play with 2 in co-op mode. Why the differentiation? Maybe it has to do with processor speed and reading that many input sources while simultaneously controlling so many A.I.s, but if not, what were the makers thinking? I would love to have a go at the enemy with 3 of my closest friends along for the ride.

When I look at a reflective surface (water, some of the more highly polished surfaces indoors), I don't see my own reflection. What am I, a frickin' vampire? With so much attention to detail, how was this overlooked? Likewise that beautiful water in the swamp I so praised earlier, does not accurately reflect the surrounding trees. It still looks great, but if you pause to compare the water's reflection with the overhangs, it doesn't match up.

While it is great that, in multi-player, when you look at another player you can see what weapon he has in his hand, you can't see what other weapon he's carrying. If he has a plasma rifle in-hand, but also has access to a rocket launcher, shouldn't that rocket launcher be slung over his shoulder? Minor details, but worthy details.

In the cutscenes the Master Chief is always displayed carrying an assault rifle, whether or not you still even possess an assault rifle.

I would have loved to have seen even more attention paid to the crazy sort of bullshit that occurs in battle. It would be nice if your fellow soldiers would just panic occasionally and fall down weeping. Or if an ammo clip you just inserted was occasionally inserted incorrectly and fell out of the weapon after firing a single round. Sadly, that sort of thing happens a lot more often than you would believe. (The ammo box on my old C9 used to fall off every 100 metres. Not fun). Or if grenades were occasionally duds. Combat is fraught with pathetic bullshit accidents. I would love to see some of them here.

While bark does fly from a tree when hit by a weapon, if you later examine that tree you will find it undamaged. Not even chipped. Again, defeats realism. Put enough damage onto that tree and I would love to see it collapse.

While I like that your fellow soldiers will fire the warthog's guns, why won't they drive it? These are trained marines.

The Bottom Line
As of the start of 2002, the most impressive first person shooter, if not the most impressive computer game, I have ever seen.

The Good
Halo is for FPS fans, first and foremost. If gunning down aliens brings you no joy in life, please, begone. This is not the review for you. I know -- repetitive game design. I know, it wasn't that fun. Well, it's still a marvellous game insomuch as it creates and sustains atmosphere and tension. I seriously wanted to know how the story unfolded, something I can say about very few games. Diablo II is perhaps the only other game that springs to mind.

I could go on about the innovative weapon system -- two at a time -- but you know about that. Then there's the regenerative shielding! So much better than the standard DOOM scheme. But we all know all about these things.

One feature that often goes without notice but which is central to the effectiveness of Halo, is sophisticated enemy AI. In short, enemies have emotions. If they see you cut a swath through their comrades they will turn and flee, screaming their heads off in the process. Should we really take this for granted? Well, to disrespect Halo is certainly to do so. But I think it's one of the greatest things ever put into video games: enemies that know when they are being crushed and who respond accordingly.

Another beautiful thing about Halo is the mythic grandeur of the Forerunner installation. Exploring vast reaches of this ringworld, both inside and outdoors, imbues the game with a largeness of scale and level of intrigue unheard of in comparable games. If you buy into the mythos surrounding Halo, you really feel like you're on a grand structure orbiting light years from Earth, and that you ought to redouble your efforts to smack down the Covenant and Flood malefactors in your way.

The Bad
Halo is perfect as far as I'm concerned. If I had played it on the Xbox rather than the PC I'm sure I would have thought it a little more middling. But with your finely-tuned mouse you can pop off a few heads and feel great doing it.

If there's one thing I would have been really happy with, it would have been a cooler population of people playing online, after I'd gotten tired of the single player campaign. Unfortunately, back in 2003 (and perhaps still today), 95% of players are just idiots intent on killing killing killing, never getting into a fun game. Oh well, what can ya do.

The Bottom Line
Majestic, atmospheric, and grand. Halo kicks the hell out of most other FPSes, and certainly its peers from the 2002-2005 period.

The Good
This game is good. There is no denying it, but i found that while single player is certanly fun, playing on system link against your friends is much more fun. There are a ton of alien weapons, and some interesting and powerful vehicles. It definetely succeeds as a first-person shooter.


The Bad
There isn't much bad about this game other than the music, which got on my nerves, but that isn't much to worry about.

The Bottom Line
This is a good game to buy.