Flooding the market
But what was it that made Halo: Combat Evolved so special in the first place? Soliciting such praise as “[Halo plays] like a 3D version of classic shooters like Contra and Ikari Warriors than just another first-person shooter”, from GameSpot UK, and simply “Halo is one of the best videogames” from IGN, Combat Evolved quickly got under gamers' skin.
Surely the game’s iconic hero, the Master Chief, was a big draw. Perhaps not in terms of his personality - which in truth has ever been largely one-dimensional - but more in the way he was realistically grounded in the Halo world.
Take, for example, the way his Terminator-like strength had him right overturned vehicles single-handedly, forearm smash enemies into oblivion and wield even the heaviest of rifles as if they were plastic toys. Then there was the brave decision to limit the number of guns he was able to carry to just two – and at a time when most contemporary shooters would regularly grant the player access to ten or more guns simultaneously. Tardis-like holsters, anyone?
The Chief’s dual health system was a pioneering step too. The decision to have shields and health separately governed might be a largely standard occurrence now, but it was anything but back when Halo: Combat Evolved was making its debut.
The hokum sci-fi setting, which borrowed heavily from Larry Niven’s Ringworld novels, not to mention from both Aliens - see those gung-ho marines which accompany Master Chief on his journey - and Predator in terms of the cloaked Covenant Elite, was a major selling point as well.
Meanwhile, engine derived cutscenes added gravitas to the “universe in peril” narrative, and that same engine introduced dramatic environments to transport the player from corridor shoot-outs to exterior sandbox confrontations, complete with vehicles and any number of tactics for causing mayhem, in the blink of an eye.
Then there was that control scheme, which has since become de rigueur for shooters as they’re controlled on console joy pads. By effortlessly translating the accuracy - well, most of it - of the keyboard and mouse to the few buttons and dual analogue sticks of the 360’s pad, Halo opened up the FPS genre to console owners, evolving the Goldeneye single analogue stick method.
Unusually for a series with a character as iconic as the Master Chief at its heart, it isn’t actually everyone’s favourite Robocop wannabe who is the be-all and end-all. Indeed the Chief, though about to make his imminent return in Halo 4, hasn’t been seen since 2007’s Halo 3, other heroes filling the void: Reach’s Noble 6, and ODST’s ‘Rookie’ most notably.
Next page: Ring of gold
COMMENTS
Absolute crock of....
Valve hasn't followed on its successes???????
No Valve moved on and did something different instead of vomiting the same junk on people. Portal & Portal 2, Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Team fortress etc etc.
Halo just continually pumped the same crud out in sequel after sequel adding little more than a few weapons or a new vehicle or a new location to what was the same engine. Plot moved on a bit but not much and if you play the ODST it isn't even much of a plot jump.
Even your own review just says Halo 4 is a clone of the first Halo with nicer whistle & bells.
What actually happened is a good formula from the likes of any PC game before it like Half life, was put onto a console where a captive audience of people who have no attention span and where logic and brains are not required can run round shooting everything in a linear fashion. Run jump shoot, hide, run jump shoot. (can you even crouch) Then on every incarnation since it has repeated that winning formula of no puzzles, plenty of shooting but nothing on a par with the likes of Crysis, Half life 2, Cod (choose any of them) or battlefield games.
Halo gives a you a few vehicles, so did BF2 (and planes, and boats, subs) but that was purely online game play, Halo included nothing new in Halo 2, BF2 had an entirely different skin, model list, weaponry. etc etc. Battlefield however had mods, had the vietnam with an entirely different mechanic for flying, all new profiles and skins, and a different physics engine. As did the 2142, once the bugs were sorted you could not only have different kits but the range of upgrades made those kits something completely new. Halo gave you another gun.
Every COD has a different arsenal of unlocks and upgrades, Halo 2 gave you a second hand. Halo 3 gave you an upgrade (shield, speed). ODST gave you less, Halo Reach gave you some more plot and a brief linear flight in a space fighter or VTOL. Even the plots are the same, run and jump and shoot and finally drive a car at great speeds either on a collapsing ship or on a collapsing planet.
Halo didn't define a generation of FPS, it just gave XBOX 360 owners something to play. But you can't compare Halo to anything in other formats. Battlefield 1942, Half life 2, Crysis (not the Crysis 2 port) and Cod:MW pushed and defined FPS for differing reasons.
I own all of the Halo series but each and everyone is the same. I have yet to start Halo 4, but I predict it will have exactly the same plot of run, jump and run and jump, shoot something a lot and then press a few buttons before you drive very quickly against the clock.
Genre defining, no. Peddling the same stuff and having idiots (me included) pay over the odds pricing for the next clone, yes. I also lay odds that graphics, speed, game play and longevity are nothing on a par with the new CS:GO valve have released (not that they follow on their successes) Could be the game, could be the XBOX 360 being just too old now.
Re: Halo, gaming devolved
By effortlessly translating the accuracy - well, most of it - of the keyboard and mouse to the few buttons and dual analogue sticks of the 360’s pad
All I thought when I read that was "Ahhhh haahaahaahaahaahaa" ; when my sides stopped hurting I felt like I should post.
When reading this I thought of numerous games that offered what Halo did. But then I have been a PC gamer most of my life and before that Acorns, BBCs, C64's, Speccy, Amiga's etc. I used to love my consoles for what they were good at but first person shooters was not it.
And for your info Bungie ripped this away from PC gamers who had been waiting for it for years.
Re: Halo, gaming devolved
Yeah, Halo was a massively over-rated game. Probably because of the lack of decent shooters on consoles, Pc users on the other hand had plenty of better ones to choose from. And we could use a decent control system too. plus only 16 player multi player in 2001? LOL...
Halo, gaming devolved
The only thing Halo taught me was that I love my keyboard and mouse. Sure the game was well executed but it wasn't ground breaking. The Xbox simply introduced what PC gamers were enjoying to the console masses. in 2001/2002 I was busy playing BF1942.
Re: Erm...
The Chief’s dual health system was a pioneering step too. The decision to have shields and health separately governed might be a largely standard occurrence now, but it was anything but back when Halo: Combat Evolved was making its debut.
Again, Future Shock did this in '95. Keep up, guys.
