|
|
Halo: Combat Evolved
With those unfamiliar with the Halo saga this game has quite a history behind it. Originally slated as a pc release to showcase some of the newer cutting edge graphics cards it became a Xbox exclusive after Bill Gates saw in it the killer app his console desperately needed. The Xbox masses went bananas over it and it’s still considered by most as one of the only reasons to own the Microsoft console. Now a few years later the prodigal son returns to computer courtesy of Gearbox but its reception is no longer all that warm. Story wise Halo impresses with a nice Sci-fi plot involving invading aliens, cyborgs and mysterious alien constructs. The bottom line is you are the last of the cyborgs created to battle the “Covenant” and through a miss jump end up on this weird artificial ring world called Halo. While battling the aliens you uncover the dark secret behind Halo and set out to save humanity. For a First Person Shooter there is quite a bit of story behind this one although it never gets in the way of the action and all the cut-scenes are very brief and to the point. According to the games manual there’s even a few books in the pipeline so clearly the plot wasn’t just added after the game was done like some shooters I could mention.
Starting with the graphics when Halo was first previewed to an unsuspecting public the graphics were breathtaking. Stages looked huge and there appeared to be vast outside areas where you could cruise around in vehicles as well as some claustrophobic corridor levels where you battled hordes of aliens from room to room. Unfortunately that was quite a while ago and while the graphics might have wowed the Xbox owners they no longer appear as fresh as they used to. Computer games haven’t been standing still in the meantime and while pretty Halo is definitely no longer cutting edge. There are still some scenes, especially the outdoor levels, which will impress you but overall there’s nothing to get overly excited about. The enemies left me a little disappointed as only a few of them stand out as truly memorable and the rest look like they were ripped out of other popular shooter games. The Half-Life and Unreal influences are plain too see and it looks like even System Shock 2 impressed the creators. Alien monsters, robots and mutated soldiers all wait in line to rip your guts out and I’ll be damned if those hordes of small, jumping alien spawns don’t remind me of the Headcrabs in Half-Life. The game is split up into a series of indoor and outdoor segments but I have to admit that the levels weren’t really as big or open ended as I expected them to be. Your path through each level is usually very linear and some parts of the game are stretched out needlessly long just to add more padding. The highlight is definitely the vehicles which range from a jeep to a tank and even jet fighter. Racing around in these like a maniac is a blast and watching some fellow soldiers pile in to come along for the ride just looks cool. While you handle the driving someone else might man the machine gun while the guy next to you whips out his sniper rifle. Just take care not to flip the car or get a plasma grenade stuck in the wheels… Besides vehicles you can also take over some stationary gun turrets to turn the tides in the midst of a heated battle. In the weaponry department I can’t say I was really impressed by any of the toys provided. Each of the guns just feels so weak and every one has some sort of drawback making them even more annoying to use. Worst of all you can only lug around two at a time forcing you to scavenge enemy’s weapons when you run out of bullets. This would have been ok if it wasn’t for some tedious segments where enemies just keep on respawning until you run out of bullets and they overrun you. You’ll also be delighted to hear that there is no quicksave or even save option as the game automatically saves when you reach certain checkpoints. You get used to it after a while and it does make the game more challenging but this is still something I’d expect on a console not computer. Your character doesn’t have much in the way of health but does have a shield which will recharge after a while once it gets depleted. While this makes the game somewhat easier it’s still not a title you’d want to play on the hardest skill settings. The audio sounds really epic and while mostly quiet when the music kicks in it sounds like some big budget movie playing. The speech isn’t bad either and the sound effects are solid enough. Some of the alien voices are supposed to be “comic” I guess as they’ll scream all kinds of crap like “Run away grenade” or “He’s everywhere” in these high pitched voices. You’ll have the voice of the ship A.I “Cortana” in your ear most of the time too instructing you what to do next. Controls are a breeze and you can pull off all kinds of nifty moves like pistol whipping your enemies and using a flashlight to illuminate those dark tunnels. I also have to mention that the programmers did a great job of making the load times barely perceptible and once you start playing you’ll hardly notice any loading at all. While I definitely had a blast playing Halo I also have to admit to being somewhat disappointed with this title after all that hype. The only new stuff added to this computer conversion is some new multi-player weapons and about six new multi-player maps. Since I couldn’t’ really check out the multi-player mode I can’t comment on them but the game does seem to have a lot of modes to keep you busy if you have the hardware to link up. So in conclusion while Halo might not be the next thing since sliced bread it’s still worth playing if you can put up with some annoying parts. Just don’t blindly believe the hype and expect the greatest game ever made. Guess we’ll have to wait another few years before Halo 2 makes it onto the pc. |
System Requirements
TAGS: Halo, Combat Evolved, Xbox Port, Console, First Person Shooter, Bungie, Gearbox, Master Chief, Covenant, Vehicles
|
|
Copyright © 2010 GAMERamble. All rights reserved