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 Halo
Bungie
Microsoft
Action
XBox / PC
It was a dark day when Bungie was bought out by Microsoft. Not
only were titles like Oni and Myth III rushed out the door and not
truly completed, but Microsoft announced that Halo would be going
straight to the XBox. I was saddened and wondered if Halo would
ever see its real home on the PC. But upon playing it on my XBox,
I realize the potential the console has.
As first person shooters go, Halo is fairly straight forward. You
are a super soldier who was brought out of a cryogenic freeze to
assist a small band of humans against incredible odds. On a
mysterious ring floating in space called Halo, there is a vast
world inside it with amazing structures and technology. But where
are its inhabitants? Between battling the Covenant and exploring
Halo, there isn't much leisure time for the Master Chief.
 The
single player campaign is quite incredible. As you explore the
ring, you'll notice the AI of both, your marines and the
Covenant's soldiers are incredibly intelligent and smart. Not only
using various tactics on you such as hit & run, but also using
their position and the environment for cover.
For the most part, the levels are incredibly vast and detailed.
From exploring your starship to landing on the mysterious ring of
Halo to the deep underground city of Halo, the designs are
original and gorgeous. However, about half of the game is spent in
places where the interior design repeats time after time. This is
the same flaw that Oni had, repetetive level design, while it's
pretty the first few times you see it, about the 9th or 10th time,
it gets a little old.
 The
control is outstanding in Halo. I had my druthers about it at
first, I have a hard time playing games without my WASD keyboard
and mouse. Yes I know that GoldenEye and Perfect Dark were good
first person shooters, but no they weren't at the same time. They
suffered from control problems. While you're still using a
controller to play Halo and a keyboard & mouse would be
preferred, Halo makes incredble use of the XBox controller
utilizing every single button to the triggers to the black/white
buttons to the analog buttons. Not to mention the analog sticks
are just sensitive enough to get a good feel for the game.
Multiplayer in Halo is great, so long as you have as many players
as possible. I've never played networked Halo, but I've heard incredible
things about it. There are so many different versions of
competition from typical death-match to capture the flag to
death-match variations to racing and even a fragging version of
tag.
 However,
driving could be something that this game suffers slightly from.
While one gets used to the awkward controls, it is still pretty
bad. Rather than the car moves when you turn it, like on a typical
driving game, the vehicle will try to go wherever you are looking.
This is both good and bad, it makes sense for the Banshee fighter
(a jet) and the Ghost hover-bike (which moves like a person more
or less.) but the Warthog All Terrain Vehicle just fishtails far
too much.
Halo is an incredibly fun game with a surprisingly good plot that
emerges from a simple beginning. It maintains a very creative
combat system in addition to the many extras that are in the game.
And while it suffers from poor level design at times and driving
is quite annoying, there is a diamond beneath a thin layer of
dust.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Halo
Bungie
Planet
XBox |
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