Halo Review

I first took an interest in Halo over 2 years ago when it was originally slated to be a PC release. Since that time, Halo has shifted from a multiplayer-intensive PC game to a story-driven single player game and much-hyped “killer app” exclusively for Microsoft’s newest venture, the XBox. <br /> <br /> When mega-corporation Microsoft decided to enter the console gaming fray, many people were skeptical. Sure, the XBox looks forcible on paper -- a 733 MHz Intel processor, a custom GeForce 3-derived graphics chip from nVIDIA, 64 MB of 200 MHz Double-Data-Rate RAM, an 8 GB hard disk, and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound support for games -- but what good is powerful hardware if there are no good games to take advantage of it? <br /> Believe me when I say that Halo takes advantage of every transistor and circuit the mighty XBox has to offer. You’ve never seen graphics like this, boys and girls. Just walk up to one of the trees and look and the ultra-realistic, bump-mapped, per-pixel shaded bark to see what I’m talking about. Throw a grenade on the beach and watch the sand particles <br /> blow up into the air and then settle back down. Turn on your flashlight and witness the shadows get cast dynamically across different objects, characters, and landscapes. Watch the light from the sun bend around and through the leaves of the trees. Just look down and take a look and the sand, metal, and grass textures. At least as far as its graphics, Halo is a <br /> next-generation game in every sense of the word. <br /> <br /> But to merely talk about Halo’s graphics would be selling the game short. Every facet of the game is an example of remarkable execution and polish. The main menu is even cool with a swooping and rotating model of Halo in its background. It’s easy to set up new characters complete with their own custom controller configurations, as well as a name and color for multiplayer. The single player game unlocks the different missions for <br /> play at any time. This is a nice feature in and of itself, but I would have liked to have seen the ability to play some of the individual sections within the missions, a feature also voided by the autosave feature. The autosave ensures that even if you die, you won’t start that far back from where you were before, but the inability to not save at your will is a very console-like decision for the developers. There’s 8 GB of disk there for the using! <br /> Well, four if you count the half partitioned for game use, but still, I would have liked to have seen an optional save feature, not just the ‘Save & Quit’ selection. <br /> <br /> Another nice feature is a direct result of the XBox’s hard disk: if something gets killed, or shot, or blown up, or strewn with blood, or whatever, it stays on the level until you exit. Personally, I always hated to see guys melt away into the floor, so this is a welcome change, as it really gives scope towards the carnage that went on in any given area. <br /> <br /> Having said that, much is also to be made of the game’s excellent sound, which makes full use of the Dolby 5.1 capabilities of the XBox. You can hear enemies, weapon fire, vehicles, and explosions from all directions and locate them just by their individual, distinct sounds. Watching a plasma-sword wielding Covenant Elite sneak up on a Marine, run him through, and laugh over the corpse is truly a spectacle to been seen as well as <br /> heard. The sounds of the Covenant forces are very well done as they seem to emanate naturally from the characters and environments. Hearing the dog-like Grunts run away in fear, feet clomping like hooves, yelling out such things as "He’s unstoppable!," or "He’ll kill us all!," is an experience to be had. <br /> <br /> There’s also inherent environmental sounds, like wind, crickets, waves, and everything else you’d expect from the different environments you venture to in the game. You can even hear your feet shuffling as you stop and turn, or the ice creaking beneath your feet. The games music is also well-orchestrated and accurately conveys the moods of the different situations you find yourself in. Do yourself a favor and play this game with a nice 5 speaker and sub stereo system. You owe it to the remarkable job done by the sound team over at Bungie. <br /> <br /> Halo’s story is a gripping tale of Human struggle against a group of aliens united in a fanatical religion whose beliefs have them in a Holy War with humanity, which, in this day and age, begs comparison with Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. So you, Master Chief, a bionically engineered super-soldier, have to do your duty as an American and wipe these terr-, I mean, aliens out and save humanity. <br /> <br /> The games story keeps you involved in the game at all times, but also gives way to another minor gripe: the level design. Some of the levels are amazing. You get to storm Covenant forces from dropships with a group of well-trained marines, drive a Warthog jeep while a marine rides shotgun and another mans the three-barreled 12.7mm machine gun, and even tread around in a Scorpion tank, not to mention the other great moments and <br /> vehicles in the game. ***SPOILER ALERT*** But then there’s also the dreaded Serious-Sam-esque ‘Flood’ levels, which leaves you running, strafing, and shooting a foe that just homes in on your position. These levels are to Halo as the Xen levels are to Half-Life. The levels still serve to further the games excellent story, so it’s more than tolerable, but the Flood lacks the personality and intelligence that characterizes the Convenant. ***SPOILER END*** <br /> <br /> Also, some of the levels have you going into an area, be it a Covenant ship or structure on Halo, to rescue someone or perform some task. But once you go all the way into the depths of whatever level you’re on, you have to fight your way back out, as well. I wouldn’t say it gets tedious, but it would’ve been nice to see some new areas instead of the same ones over again. And over again. I also wish there would have been more levels with a large group of marines backing you up. It’s too cool to see them running around fighting with you. But overall it’s just a minor detraction from the <br /> game. I found myself playing through Halo completely in a devoted effort over a few days, and I still play a mission or two every day on a higher difficulty level. <br /> <br /> The game’s lastability is also enhanced by the robust multiplayer modes, which range from straight deathmatch to rally-racing with the Warthogs and everything in between. You can edit the settings of each mode all the way down to what kind of weapons and powerups are around, a nice PC-like decision for the developer. There’s also a fair amount of outdoor and indoor maps to keep things varied. However, one thing that I think the game is definitely missing for multiplayer is the inclusion of Covenant forces. <br /> How cool would it have been to be an invisible Elite complete with energy-sword? Or fly the Covenant Banshee against the Marine Warthog? I’m asking, no, begging Bungie to make use of the XBox’s built-in broadband adapter for an update with a Covenant side for multiplayer. Please? Pretty Please?? <br /> <br /> Much is also to be said of the remarkable AI, both for the Marines and the <br /> Covenant. They react differently based on numerous variables, making intelligent decisions, and the Covenant Elite even wield authority, giving orders to the grunts to attack or dive from a grenade. Kill the Elite, and the Grunts usually get scared and run away to try and find more friends to come back with. The Marines seem to be even more intelligent than the Covenant, but they’re only human, so they get taken down fairly <br /> frequently. Halo’s AI is a remarkable feat in programming, plain and simple. Never have I seen so much personality in the characters of a game during actual gameplay, not just in the cut-scenes. <br /> <br /> Halo only allows you to take two weapons at a time, but also two different types of grenades. This decision towards realism from Bungie is a welcome change for this gamer because it’s implemented so well. Virtually every enemy drops some sort of weapon that can be harvested, so you’re never really at a loss for ammo or weapon type, with the exception of the rarer sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and shotgun. <br /> <br /> Halo’s intuitive control system, which was pioneered by the PS2s Red Faction, makes the game feel, well, right. For those of you familiar with PC first-person shooters, the left analog stick is the equivalent of WASD, and the right is the mouse. You fire with the right trigger, and there’s no more of the time-consuming tedium of switching to grenades, you just use the left trigger. I can’t say enough about Halo’s grenades, both <br /> fragmentation and plasma. They’re both fun in separate ways and really enhance the gameplay because of how frequently you end up using them, often with comedic results due to the games excellent physics engine. The buttons on the face of the controller serve the functions of jumping, switching weapons and grenade types, reloading, turning on your flashlight, and the powerful melee attack. The melee attack results in hitting the enemy with either the weapon or your fist, which doesn’t sound like much until you remember that this is a bionically-engineered super-soldier that we’re talking about. He could probably punch through a brick wall. So needless to say, the melee attack, particularly from behind while unexpected, is a potent weapon. Halo’s controls, although they do take a bit of getting used to, serve the game very well and don’t necessarily leave <br /> you longing for the keyboard and mouse option that the game lacks. <br /> <br /> I almost forgot to mention one of the best things about Halo: the cooperative mode. You can play through the entire single player game with a friend, which is great fun. Unfortunately, the cooperative mode doesn’t support the XBox System Link, so you’re stuck playing split-screen. However, the game’s detail doesn’t seem to drop at all, so it’s not that bad.