I think every gamer has that one game that made them change the way they looked at games. One day they are just things you do to pass the time because they look cool and can challenge you; then the next you find That One Game and you realise just how much potential the medium has to offer. This is not necessarily someone’s favourite game, but it’s a game that you’ll always look back on in admiration and with some serious rose-tinted glasses as your nostalgia for it will always get the better of you. For me that game is Halo: Combat Evolved.
I first played Halo around 2001/2002, my friend had got an Xbox for his birthday and he also got Halo. He was desperate to show me the game which he described as being about a badass green dude who shoots a bunch of weird looking aliens. We played through the first level and then it happened, The Moment when I knew this game was something special. I walked out of the crashed escape pod on the second mission, and I saw a wide-open space bigger than I had seen in any game before. It sounds stupid when I say it now as a grown man, but back in six-year-old me’s head seeing a wide-open area in a game was something I’d not really experienced to the same level that Halo was offering before.
It took a couple of years for me to get an Xbox but once I did, I made sure Halo was the first game I got for it and I played that thing nearly non-stop. I knew all the secrets the game had tucked away, had completed it on every difficulty, and I’d even got to the point where I was setting myself challenges like completing levels under particular conditions. So now, returning to Halo twenty years later, is the game still as fun as I remember it being? I think if my rose-tinted glasses statement is anything to go by then you already know the answer.
I first played Halo around 2001/2002, my friend had got an Xbox for his birthday and he also got Halo. He was desperate to show me the game which he described as being about a badass green dude who shoots a bunch of weird looking aliens. We played through the first level and then it happened, The Moment when I knew this game was something special. I walked out of the crashed escape pod on the second mission, and I saw a wide-open space bigger than I had seen in any game before. It sounds stupid when I say it now as a grown man, but back in six-year-old me’s head seeing a wide-open area in a game was something I’d not really experienced to the same level that Halo was offering before.
It took a couple of years for me to get an Xbox but once I did, I made sure Halo was the first game I got for it and I played that thing nearly non-stop. I knew all the secrets the game had tucked away, had completed it on every difficulty, and I’d even got to the point where I was setting myself challenges like completing levels under particular conditions. So now, returning to Halo twenty years later, is the game still as fun as I remember it being? I think if my rose-tinted glasses statement is anything to go by then you already know the answer.
The UNSC Pillar of Autumn has just exited a hyperspace jump from pursuing Covenant forces, fleeing from the planet Reach which the Covenant has just destroyed. Unsure where they are and the Covenant starting to board their vessel, the crew of the UNSC begin to abandon ship in escape pods bound for a nearby ring shaped planet. You are the Master Chief, a SPARTAN-II super soldier and the last of your kind. You take the ship’s A.I Cortana and depart for the ring yourself; as you explore you begin to realise that this ring world, Halo, was built by an ancient race of creatures called Forerunners as the last line of defence against a parasitic lifeform, The Flood, which the Covenant have awoken from hibernation deep within the ring. But Halo doesn’t kill The Flood, it kills its food, meaning that if Halo is activated every single intelligent life form in the galaxy will die. It’s up to you to ensure that doesn’t happen, that Halo is destroyed, and that The Flood is eliminated.
For its time and genre, Halo’s story exceeded all expectations. It provided fleshed out characters, a deep and rich lore to invest yourself in, and blockbuster levels of thrill even with its technical limitations. It was so ahead of its time in fact that it wasn’t until Halo 2 released in 2004 that the competition was even starting to catch up to what developer Bungie had achieved and that then set the bar even higher!
By today’s standards the story seems almost quaint, particularly when compared to its sequels, but in 2001 this was insane, and it does still hold up today.
Whilst the cutscenes and animations look a little janky, the voice acting is so believable and the script so well written that it doesn’t feel as old as it is, at least narratively anyway.
For its time and genre, Halo’s story exceeded all expectations. It provided fleshed out characters, a deep and rich lore to invest yourself in, and blockbuster levels of thrill even with its technical limitations. It was so ahead of its time in fact that it wasn’t until Halo 2 released in 2004 that the competition was even starting to catch up to what developer Bungie had achieved and that then set the bar even higher!
By today’s standards the story seems almost quaint, particularly when compared to its sequels, but in 2001 this was insane, and it does still hold up today.
Whilst the cutscenes and animations look a little janky, the voice acting is so believable and the script so well written that it doesn’t feel as old as it is, at least narratively anyway.
Halo started out life as a Real Time Strategy game for the Mac. It was going to be Apple’s first real big exclusive game and make Mac the place to play video games. But then Microsoft offered Bungie something better, to be the pioneers of First-Person Shooter games on their new games console, and they couldn’t refuse. So, Mac never became a gaming platform, and the Xbox brand owed its entire existence to Halo because all bets were hedged on its success. Whilst console FPS games had certainly been done before, none had been developed with the ability to use two thumb sticks (one for movement and one for camera control), and none provided gamers with an experience that finally was able to rival PC FPS games. Halo set the baseline standard for what came after, and it’s remained unchanged to this day.
You have access to a wide arsenal of weapons that includes both traditional human weapons similar to what we use in real life (Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Rocket Launchers, and Pistols…oh that Pistol) and you have access to alien weaponry used by the Covenant. These consist primarily of energy weapons that didn’t require ammo, but instead have a single use battery life. Though some weapons bear similarities to each other, such as an Assault Rifle and a Plasma Rifle, each weapon has strengths and weaknesses and much of combat boils down to a rock paper scissors formula where one weapon won’t necessarily win out against all your combatants in a single encounter, meaning you’ll need to frequently change weapons on the fly.
You also have the ability to commandeer various vehicles throughout your mission. Human vehicles consist of the Warthog, a jeep-like vehicle with a mounted rail gun; and the Scorpion tank. These vehicles are indestructible but passengers continue to take damage if the vehicles are shot at. Driveable Covenant vehicles consist of the Ghost, a single seat hovercraft with two forward facing plasma turrets; and the Banshee, an aircraft equipped with plasma turrets and a plasma cannon. These vehicles can be destroyed so you need to keep an eye on your health and your vehicles.
Levels in Halo tend to consist of quite wide-open spaces, despite it being a linear FPS. Some missions like the previously mentioned second mission, ‘Halo’, even allow you to tackle objectives in a non-linear fashion. But even the most linear of levels like the fifth mission ‘Assault on the Control Room’ can take upwards of thirty minutes to complete because the levels are so large. There are ten missions in total, and all of which put you in different situations where you must attack, defend against, or escape from enemy forces. The first six missions in the game are extremely strong, and so is the final mission, but the seventh, eighth, and ninth missions are more frustrating than fun, to the extent that the seventh mission ‘The Library’ is often dubbed as one of the worst levels in video game history...which is quite something as the fourth mission ‘The Silent Cartographer’ is often regarded as one of the best. So, you’re getting quite a mixed bag, and whilst those three missions are easily the worst aspect of the whole game, the opening six levels are so strong that they certainly make up for how frustrating those three can be.
You have access to a wide arsenal of weapons that includes both traditional human weapons similar to what we use in real life (Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Rocket Launchers, and Pistols…oh that Pistol) and you have access to alien weaponry used by the Covenant. These consist primarily of energy weapons that didn’t require ammo, but instead have a single use battery life. Though some weapons bear similarities to each other, such as an Assault Rifle and a Plasma Rifle, each weapon has strengths and weaknesses and much of combat boils down to a rock paper scissors formula where one weapon won’t necessarily win out against all your combatants in a single encounter, meaning you’ll need to frequently change weapons on the fly.
You also have the ability to commandeer various vehicles throughout your mission. Human vehicles consist of the Warthog, a jeep-like vehicle with a mounted rail gun; and the Scorpion tank. These vehicles are indestructible but passengers continue to take damage if the vehicles are shot at. Driveable Covenant vehicles consist of the Ghost, a single seat hovercraft with two forward facing plasma turrets; and the Banshee, an aircraft equipped with plasma turrets and a plasma cannon. These vehicles can be destroyed so you need to keep an eye on your health and your vehicles.
Levels in Halo tend to consist of quite wide-open spaces, despite it being a linear FPS. Some missions like the previously mentioned second mission, ‘Halo’, even allow you to tackle objectives in a non-linear fashion. But even the most linear of levels like the fifth mission ‘Assault on the Control Room’ can take upwards of thirty minutes to complete because the levels are so large. There are ten missions in total, and all of which put you in different situations where you must attack, defend against, or escape from enemy forces. The first six missions in the game are extremely strong, and so is the final mission, but the seventh, eighth, and ninth missions are more frustrating than fun, to the extent that the seventh mission ‘The Library’ is often dubbed as one of the worst levels in video game history...which is quite something as the fourth mission ‘The Silent Cartographer’ is often regarded as one of the best. So, you’re getting quite a mixed bag, and whilst those three missions are easily the worst aspect of the whole game, the opening six levels are so strong that they certainly make up for how frustrating those three can be.
I have to say, even for 2001 Halo was not much of a looker though. Whilst the art style certainly goes a long way, the game was severely hampered by technical limitations surrounding its graphics. Everything is very angular and blocky, most surfaces seem to be completely smooth and texture-less, and most buildings look exactly the same (grey texture-less walls and floors). Thankfully the game was given much needed visual overhaul for its tenth anniversary and whilst it still didn’t look as good as other games of the same era, it gave the game some much needed visual flair. The original game is playable on Xbox or PC, and the Anniversary version is available on Xbox 360 or included in the Master Chief Collection on Xbox One & PC. The Anniversary version also gives you the ability to swap between the old graphics and the new to show you just how much of an overhaul the game had and you’d be forgiven for thinking they're two completely different games.
But despite its graphical shortcomings, Halo had some incredible sound design. The weapons all feel punchy and give a tremendous roar whenever you fire them. Voice acting was very good for the time which really helped sell the story and make those blocky NPC’s far more believable. Plus, you have Marty O’Donnell’s iconic score which I would argue is among the greatest videogame soundtracks of all time. The Halo theme is both haunting and exhilarating. My personal favourite is ‘The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe’, but the whole soundtrack is all killer and no filler. There’s a good reason why most of the sequels have brought back a lot of the songs from Halo 1 and it’s because they’re simply incredible.
If you have access to an Xbox or PC you absolutely must play Halo: Combat Evolved. It is an essential piece of gaming history alongside the likes of Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, and Half-Life 2. Whilst it certainly doesn’t feel as smooth an experience as games of today, or even its own sequel from three years later, Halo laid the foundations for what all future FPS games would be built upon. If I could turn back time and replay any game for the first time again, it would likely be Halo: Combat Evolved.
But despite its graphical shortcomings, Halo had some incredible sound design. The weapons all feel punchy and give a tremendous roar whenever you fire them. Voice acting was very good for the time which really helped sell the story and make those blocky NPC’s far more believable. Plus, you have Marty O’Donnell’s iconic score which I would argue is among the greatest videogame soundtracks of all time. The Halo theme is both haunting and exhilarating. My personal favourite is ‘The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe’, but the whole soundtrack is all killer and no filler. There’s a good reason why most of the sequels have brought back a lot of the songs from Halo 1 and it’s because they’re simply incredible.
If you have access to an Xbox or PC you absolutely must play Halo: Combat Evolved. It is an essential piece of gaming history alongside the likes of Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, and Half-Life 2. Whilst it certainly doesn’t feel as smooth an experience as games of today, or even its own sequel from three years later, Halo laid the foundations for what all future FPS games would be built upon. If I could turn back time and replay any game for the first time again, it would likely be Halo: Combat Evolved.
STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
PRESENTATION: 8/10
LIFESPAN: 7/10
SCORE: 8/10
Halo: Combat Evolved is a timeless classic that not only put the Xbox on the map, but also gave first person shooters a home on consoles. It revolutionised the gaming industry and whilst it may at times feel slightly dated, in many ways it is as fresh as the day it launched.