Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Innovative"

Though 1997's Nintendo 64-exclusive GoldenEye 007 stoked the revolution of the first-person shooter, nobody can deny the success relatively unknown studio Bungie achieved in 2001. Halo: Combat Evolved is a great game that has defined shooters years after the first in what would turn out to be a hugely successful and critically acclaimed series of science-fiction first-person shooters which excel mainly in the multiplayer arena. Though hampered by it's tedious level design, cheap difficulty spikes and often bland objectives, Combat Evolved is such a great experience that has dated very well today.

Halo: Combat Evolved, set in the 26th century, tells the story of a supersoldier spartan named the Master Chief who, along with his AI partner Cortana, attempt to find the world of Halo, following an invasion from an alien race known as the Covenant on Earth and the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). It's a really good story and is interesting throughout, and is complimented by it's accessible interface and heads-up display. The game manages to be occasionally eerie, what with the introducton of the mysterious Flood, who occupy the second half of the game with the main Covenant forces. The writing is strong throughout, with great voice acting by Steve Downes and Jennifer Hale as the Chief and Cortana respectively. Cortana is always informing the Chief of information regarding the enemy, his objectives and history surrounding Halo and the Covenant, and is a very useful companion. The great-looking cinematics compliment this further. It's a relationship that has continued with success, ultimately becoming a staple combination for the installments that followed.

Visually, for a launch title, Halo: Combat Evolved looks great. Despite it's often drops in framerate due to large-scale fights, overall the art direction and texture detail is fantastic. Chief's armor looks cool and its that design that has made him an iconic Xbox character. The lighting, though, is the visual standout, and is superb throughout. Each level is visually appealing and is varied, and contains some nice environmental detail such as fire, water and smoke, all of which look great. Like I mentioned, the framerate drops can hamper the experience, but Combat Evolved's aforementioned positive aspects and it's great enemy design more than make up for it.

As for the audio design, Combat Evolved is phenomenal. The sound effects are fantastic and the soundtrack, by Marty O'Donell, is wonderful and has made him one of the most reliable and critically acclaimed game composers around. Like I previously said, the voice acting is great and makes Halo and overall fantastic audio experience.

Halo: Combat Evolved excels in it's story, visuals and audio design. However, what might prove divisive is it's gameplay; specifically particular portions of its gameplay. Overall, Halo's gunplay is solid and genuinely fun. Despite being introduced to the now-popular assault rifle and magnum firearm combination, of which this two-weapon set has aspired to many of the dozen shooters released today, Combat Evolved eventually opens to more weapons, especially the alien Covenant weaponry. Plasma rifles and plasma pistols make gunplay more interesting, and it's this role-reversal on the gunplay that is so refreshing. It's always satisfying to score magnum pistol headshots when zoomed in, which is a nice touch. Other subtle features include a torch option, jumping - of which is vastly increased in height due to the Master Chief's enhanced abilities - and melee, which is always a last resort if ammo is depleted, or for stealth killing Grunts.

Enemies in Halo get progressively tougher, going from the aforementioned Grunts - relatively the weakest enemy in the game - to Elites, a more tougher variant of Covenant, Jackals - who are equipped with deadly plasma rifles - and Hunters, who are hugely powerful brutes that fire large green beams of plasma shots that will instantly kill you if caught head-on. As for the AI, Halo is generally good. Enemies, particularly Elites, are always constantly moving (which can also prove to be a minor aggravation if wasting ammo) and have a shield layer that must be destroyed before they receive full damage. Jackals are equipped with plasma shields and their exposed right hand (that carries their weapon) must be shot before they are exposed to gunfire. Unfortunately, the ally AI is mediocre. Sometimes, they will take out enemies, but mostly they stand there are get killed and don't run from clearly thrown grenades. It's sometimes frustrating, but you'd probably be better off just going in yourself, as they aren't much use anyway.

There are vehicle sections in the game, and represent the varied aspect of Halo. The primary UNSC marine vehicle is the Warthog, a jeep-like vehicle with a mounted turret. Along with allies on both the turret and passenger seat, driving can be fun. The controls take time to get used to and can be initially finicky, but driving around while your ally rips apart Grunts and Elites from the turret, it's these moments that make Combat Evolved such a fun title. However, the ally AI are often easily killed, forcing the Chief to exit the vehicle and continue on foot. There are also Tanks, but these are few and far between but, when used, they are very powerful but slow. These can also carry up to four allies. However, you can also commandeer enemy transportation. There is the Ghost, a hovercraft that fires plasma rounds and is generally accessible. It's fast and agile, but can easily be destroyed. There is also the Banshee, an aerial ship that also fires plasma rounds, as well as fuel-rod rockets that are devastating on enemies. These are susceptible to rocket launchers, however, but are generally a lot of fun to utilise. The controls can sometimes hamper the traversal, as the Banshee can often scrape and crash into rocks or valleys, but overall it's solid. More powerful (and perhaps most frustrating) is the Wraith, a large ground hovercraft that fires explosive plasma blasts and moves mainly from side to side. Taking from two to four rockets to destroy, they are mostly tough and can give a lot of damage. Like I said, most annoying however is that they can easily kill you and are very accurate when utilised by the AI.

The level design is the most divisive aspect of Halo: Combat Evolved. The first few missions are generally well-designed, but the later levels open up to much frustration and an overall lack of progression. Firstly, the structures are near-identical to one another and this can get tiring. What once looked like an interesting ship interior now looks bland after seeing it for the tenth time. Also, because of the frequent enemy spawning and reinforcements via Phantom ship drop points (which can become annoying) this design becomes even more uninteresting. Next and perhaps even worse, is the repetition of the overall level design. The structures wear on you, there is a frustrating lack of guidance to your objective and enemies appear from every direction. You'll walk through the same door again and again wondering if you actually backtracked, but it won't be - it's the annoying dullness of the levels. That's the main problem, though. Halo is a fun game, but it's level design nearly lets it down completely. If this game was poorly told and didn't sound that well, it would be utterly forgettable. Yet, the shooting is responsive the production values are high so the game never disappoints, but the gameplay can be bland at times.

Another big aggravation is the second half of the game, when you are introduced to the Flood. These are strange, parasitic enemies that inhabit living tissue. They absorb allies and become them, but they also carry their damn weapons. Sometimes, they'll carry rocket launchers which instantly kill you. It's these spikes that frustrate me, as there is no indication of their location, and they'll often spawn behind you. Also, there are gasbag enemies that explode on contact and contain small insect-like creatures that absorb your armour. I wish Bungie saved these enemies for a different game, or didn't introduce them at all, but I suppose the game needed enemy variety. You'll hate these levels, though. Another irritation is that you replenish health using health kits. This is fine, but once your armour depletes, your prone to death again and again.

Another letdown for some is the replay value. As a launch title, maybe a feature-rich game would be unlikely anyway, but still, once you've completed the campaign there is no incentive to play again. Campaign co-op is decent, but it's a drag through the horrible level design again. LAN multiplayer has changed the online battlefield for many a shooter, but here it's not as much an incentive for me as other because of the design.

Overall, Halo: Combat Evolved is a great game, but not necessarily a great shooter. It tells a great story, looks fantastic and sounds brilliant, but it's level design is almost a pendulum swing on the entire gameplay experience. Despite the gripes with the cheap difficulty spikes, bad repetitive level design and some annoying AI moments, Halo succeeds. It may have defined a generation of shooters and "halo killer" labels, but it often feels like its legacy overshadows it as an actual game. Yet, the praise of it's story, sound and visual presentation are completely understandable. It's an adept shooter, just not an amazing one. Again, though, it has spawned a now established franchise and remains one of the most important games of all time.

SUMMARY

Presentation 8.5 - A great story and solid cinematics.

Graphics 9.0 - Despite technical limitations, Halo has great lighting, environments and effects.

Audio 9.0 - Great voice acting, solid sound effects and a fantastic soundtrack.

Gameplay 8.0 - The gunplay works and is often fun. However, everything else - the driving mechanics, level design, AI, spawning - is very poor.

Replayability 8.0 - A 7-8 hour story made more fun in co-op. Then again, that means playing through the campaign with the above annoyances.

Overall - 8.5/10