Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Revolutionary"

Halo, a group of games originally planned as a PC & Mac exclusive series but later shifted to the Xbox console (when Microsoft acquired Bungie, the developer) has always been very popular and familiar to most gamers since the release of the very first Halo game in 2001. That game - entitled Halo: Combat Evolved - went on to spawn numerous sequels, novels, comic books & fan merchandise. It's not surprising why it became so popular and was dubbed as the original Xbox console's "killer app". Halo introduced some revolutionary features that were later borrowed by many other shooters for many years after its original release. It may not be as influential in the genre and the whole gaming industry in general as, say: Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake or Wolfenstein 3D… but it certainly comes close to such levels of innovation. This is the review of Halo: Combat Evolved's 2003 port over to the PC and by reading on, you will find out what made it so fantastic back then and still makes it worthy of your time & money today.

Let's begin with the story. The game is set in the twenty-sixth century and shows the war between the human military forces and space army of an alien race (dubbed the Covenant). The player takes on the role of Master Chief, sort of a synthetically enhanced commando/super-soldier accompanied by an advanced, artificial intelligence called Cortana. Without spoiling anything or going too far into the plot, this is how the game starts off: everything goes to hell between the two species and Master Chief is tasked with cleaning up the mess. The story is engaging and features numerous likeable characters. However, none of these personalities are very developed and the game loses a lot of potential because the developer hadn't decided to build upon character development. The plot in itself isn't anything special either, to be honest. Most of it is just your ordinary (and fairly cliché) space opera. But you know what, that's alright. This is a shooter that carries some heavy gameplay elements and a fantastic story isn't needed. It's good and hooks you in, and you care about what happens to most characters so that's what matters the most.

The graphics weren't that advanced even back then. With better looking games on PC and PS2 out in 2001, it's easy to forget that Halo was a fairly open shooter with many enemies appearing on the screen at the same time; whilst maintaining a decent frame rate. Back then; this was a very high achievement for an older console such as the original Xbox. Just two years later, when this PC port was released, its graphics were surpassed by most games and considered to be dated. However, let's not forget that even if the graphics weren't the best - they were certainly very good and by far not the worst. Besides, although on the technical side the game was alright, it was even better in terms of how much attention was put into detail. Examples of such include: interesting enemy designs, Master Chief's badass armour suit, good-looking environments etc.

Halo: Combat Evolved has some stunning musical pieces in its soundtrack and these can make almost every battle feel like something epic. All of them fit the futuristic setting of the game, with techno-like tunes, epic space opera battle themes and some nice guitar solos. On the other hand, music is used very sparsely in this game. According to Wikipedia, The composer (Bungie Studios' audio director: Martin O'Donnell) believed that "[music] is best used in a game to quicken the emotional state of the player and it works best when used least", and that "[if] music is constantly playing it tends to become sonic wallpaper and loses its impact when it is needed to truly enhance some dramatic component of game play." Overall, I agree with his statement. The limited usage of Halo's spectacular soundtrack does make each theme even more powerful. On the other hand, this leaves most of the experience without any background music feeling a little empty at times. The rest of the audio (such as gunshots, plasma blasts, voice acting and so on) is great too and there's nothing to complain about.

So, the story is engaging and has likeable characters, yet sometimes it's easy to predict and could use more time on building upon the already good personalities. While the graphics are very good, they weren't the best even at the time. Also, the fantastic soundtrack is used in an unusual way that's both good & bad. Then… what gives Halo that boost it needed to launch from an 8/10, through the 8.5/10 and finally to the very high rating of 9/10 that it so rightfully deserves? The gameplay, of course, and damn there's a lot to talk about here. This is an FPS; so obviously, the backbone of the game is made up of shooting up hordes of aliens. Each weapon you get feels fairly balanced compared the others (with the exception of the pistol & shotgun… they are just overkill). The shooting is solid and even the enemy A.I. is good! There are even plenty types of hostility to slay. The only thing I have to complain about here is that the guns feel a little too lightweight; the recoil is very low. Although Halo is a futuristic shooter, some more "power" feeling to each weapon would've been very nice anyway.

Then apart from the on-foot combat, there are also vehicles. These vary from man-made military jeeps & tanks, to alien hover-tech like "ghosts" & "banshees". Pretty much all of the vehicles are a little too 'floaty' to control at first, but it's something you get used to pretty fast and eventually, no matter how long it may take, you'll always have a blast driving the highlight of all in-game vehicles; the Warthog. This armoured jeep, designed for use by the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) Marines, can carry up to three soldiers. There's obviously the driver, then one person can shoot from the passenger seat and another can operate the mounted machinegun at the back of the vehicle. Although you can't shoot when you're driving, allied forces such as foot soldiers or heavy marines can take the other places and dispose of your enemies for you in the driving sections of the singleplayer campaign. However, the Warthog has been designed mostly for use in multiplayer.

Oh yes, the multiplayer; another feature of the game that shined through most other releases at the time. Halo: Combat Evolved for PC features an online, competitive multiplayer mode. The modes are pretty much standard for today and weren't that original even back in 2001. However, what makes them special is the extent to which they can be customized by players. The PC edition features additional maps and a map editor tool, which is a nice touch if someone wants to share their creations online. What's best about all this is just how well the gameplay mechanics used in singleplayer, along with the vehicles, work when playing with up to 15 other players. Overall, multiplayer in Halo is addictive & keeps you entertained throughout - it's a blast.

In order to sum up what's best & worst about Halo, let's list the features:

The Good:
+ Story (although quite cliché) is epic, engaging and hooks you right in
+ Characters are likeable; you begin to care about what happens to them
+ With nice visuals & a lot of stuff happening on the screen; good frame rate
+ Stunning, space opera like, musical pieces that fit the setting of the game
+ The weapons are mostly balanced, with cool designs, such as the Needler
+ Shooting is solid and feels satisfying; it is also quite easy to learn
+ Multiplayer is highly addictive and customizable - popular even today
+ Back in the day, Halo's regenerating shields were a bold step forward
+ Although 'floaty' at first, Warthogs are a joy to ride once you familiarise yourself with the controls & feeling

The Bad:
- The plot could use some more writing and less predictable outcomes
- Characters are cool, but could've been superior with further development
- Not enough graphical enhancements were included in this PC port
- Use of the ear-pleasing soundtrack is very limited throughout levels
- Some weapons just don't feel powerful enough, even when they are
- It takes a while to get used to the sensitiveness of vehicle controls
- Instead of autosaves and manual saving, there are only checkpoints
- Some of the default keyboard & mouse controls are unusual, but thankfully they can be easily remapped in the control options menu

In the end, I can only think of one better game than Halo: Combat Evolved that was originally released in 2001… this means it's a pretty damn, great game. Every time I find an older game and complete it, usually some old classic (such as Combat Evolved) that I've missed back when it was first released or haven't had a chance to pick up before; I find it hard to review. With a gaming revolution like Halo, everything is simple. Play it…

Now!