Halo: Combat Evolved

Game: Halo: Combat Evolved
Developer: Bungie, Gearbox, Westlake Interactive
Platform: PC (originally available on Xbox)
Release Year: 2001
Stephen's Rating: 6/10

Halo is one of the most infamous and recognized series in video game history.

Basic Plot

The story is set in a science fiction future universe where human kind has inhabited other planets. The SPARTAN and SPARTAN-II military projects have been developed on the planet Reach to develop biologically engineered super-soldiers.

An alien race called the Covenant starts attacking human settlements stating that humanity is an affront to their gods. The humans take severe losses. One ship, the Pillar of Autumn survives an assault on the planet Reach and initiates a random jump into slipspace to lead the Covenant away from humanity. In doing so they find Halo, a huge space-station shaped like a ring which is covered in plant life like a planet.

The story revolves around the protagonist, Master Chief, who is a product of the SPARTAN-II project. The game explores the Halo and the ongoing conflict with the Covenant.

Gameplay

Halo is a first person shooter. The campaign involves travelling through Halo and engaging in Covenant forces.

You gather both human and alien weaponry throughout the game to engage enemies. Every weapon has a unique purpose and retains its usefulness later into the game. Alien weapons often contain energy packs which cannot be reloaded, once they run out the gun needs to be discarded. They also overheat if used too rapidly over a long period of time. The player can carry two weapons at any one time which introduces a layer of strategy in picking the right weapon for the current situation. You can also perform a melee attack and throw grenades.

There are also vehicles which can be used in the game such as jeeps, tanks, alien hovercraft which switch the game over to a third person view.

The enemies in the game consist mostly of the Covenant but also include a third faction, the Flood, who are a parasitic life form. The Flood aren't much by themselves but they can infect both human and Covenant soldiers and take them over (deforming them in the process).

The game supports local network multiplayer for both deathmatch and co-operative play.

The Flood

Positives

Immersive and complex game world. The enemies, the setting, the scenery and music are all cohesive into a world that makes sense. The weapons were also well designed.

Negatives

Combat itself sometimes felt a bit clunky in comparison to other first person shooters such as Counter-Strike. I found the accuracy of the game mechanics meant there was always an element of luck involved in each battle rather than actually being able to dominate with pure skill.

Memorable Moments

I played a PC version of this on a fairly old computer, and the game engine didn't handle it well.