Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Revolutionary"

When the game let you get passed the calibration of the movement and aiming, it took off, making you sit on the edge of your seat. Halo was just the game to launch a new system. Boy did it ever, Halo is said to have made the Xbox a contender for the top spot on the sales chart.

The graphics were great for the time. The first time you see Master Chef, you feel like nothing could take you down. Then when you first set foot on Halo, the awe moment is right there waiting to show you what the world looks like. One of the best things about the environment was the ever changing weather. You may start on a beach, then you move up in elevation and BAM! there is snow or a small rainforest. You didn't have the repeating looks, till you ventured indoors. The game balanced the locations so that you didn't get tired of being in dark, confined corridors.

The music was one of the biggest pairs that made the game amazing. Tense music, made you check every corner, where as heroic music made you run guns blazing into the enemy. Each piece is different, and all are beautiful to listen to. With the music is the sound of the environments, weapons, and voice acting. The environments outside sound real enough, the weapons sound great, powerful, and unique. The voice acting is not oscar winning, but it is still great. You connect with the other characters on an emotional level.

The story was the biggest pair to me. It felt like I was experiencing a film. There was the one cut scene that was from a helmet cam that got me thinking of Aliens or Predator. The flow of the story was not rushed, each big moment was incredible to witness. The story was so addicting to me that I couldn't but the game down and completed it in less then 20 hours, I believe it was about 16 hrs when it was all said and done, but I wasn't really keeping track of the time.

This game was not without some low points. The Library level is still frustrating, after you die more times then you really should be. Guilty Spark is not really helpful in that level either. The allie AI helps sometimes, but can get in the way or be frustrating in spots. The limit of weapons is at first a pain, but once you get the hang of weapons that you feel the most comfortable with, then the idea of only having two is not a problem.

Overall this game helped push FPS into a great direction. With a story that was well written, music that was captivating, and graphics that were great(for the time). Halo: Combat Evolved was the game to have. Nothing compared to it at the time that was released around it. It gave all that it could and came up being one of the biggest games at launch in history.