Halo: Combat Evolved – Console FPS Gaming Climbs Out of the Primordial Ooze…

Only those who have ever played a first-person shooter on a console prior to the creation of Bungie’s Halo: Combat Evolved for the XBox truly understand what a triumph this game is. Even today I still occasionally have Sega Genesis Zero Tolerance nightmares of right-angle turns, pushing buttons umpteen millions times to cycle to the weapon you want, and molasses-slow strafing. How far we have traveled in such a short time…

One of the launch games for Microsoft’s attempt to conquest the video game console industry called the XBox, Halo proved to the gaming world that console gamers could frag too, and without getting frustrated with inadequate controllers or purchasing extra mouse and keyboard peripherals. In addition to the revolutionary control, Halo demonstrated just how powerful this new system was and how talented the Bungie development squad is, blending gorgeous landscapes, models, and weapons effects with tight music and sound effects, wrapped up in strong gameplay and an absorbing storyline.

Plot
The year is 2552, and Earth and its colony planets are at war with a mysterious alien race called the Covenant who consider the very existence of humans an affront to their gods. You troop through Halo: Combat Evolved as Master Chief, one of the last super bad-a** United Nations Space Command cybernetic Marines that the Core designed to kick behind and chew bubble gum when the ‘stuff’ really hits the fan.

And unfortunately it just did – plus you’re all out of bubblegum. Forced to make a blind hyperspace jump to lure a Covenant armada away from Earth, your ship, The Pillar of Autumn, finds herself at the doorstep of a strange new alien galaxy. Apparently, some of Larry Niven’s books may have somehow drifted out this way, as an even more mysterious race of aliens have evidently decided to construct his imagined Ringworld, called ‘Halo,’ in orbit around a distant planet. However, don’t expect to bump into any aggressive Kzinti or divisive Pierson’s Puppeteers here; all that awaits you on the surface of Halo are waves upon waves of Covenant foot soldiers waiting to bring a swift end to one of Earth’s last few remaining lines of defense. And as if you didn’t have enough to worry about, an even more sinister enemy lurks in the shadows of Halo…

Graphics
While those gamers with high-end PC systems and cutting-edge graphics cards won’t be feeling their jaws hit the floor when playing Halo, almost everyone else will. The environments are truly amazingly detailed; upon planetfall you’ll see an amazingly lush landscape with a beautiful waterfall, its river leading far into the distance to the striking vertical stripe of the ringworld ascending from the horizon. The weapons effects are no slouch either; while typically the human projectile weapons are the typical squib/burnt wall affair, Bungie jazzes theirs up by tweaking the details, such as adding a cool pocket of disturbed air around the muzzle of the high-powered sniper rifle when its fired. The alien weapons are convincing as well, their colored plasma discharges both beautiful and deadly.

Moreover, the character models in Halo are easily some of the cleanest seen in a console FPS. The movement of the Marines looks very realistic. Each soldier moves in the accurate manner we’ve seen in movies like Tears of the Sun, crouching while advancing with the weapon up and ready. Bungie was just as meticulous with the aliens’ models and movement as well, marvelously varying height, color, and appearance as they leap, shuffle, lurch, and outright haul-a** toward you.

Sound
Don’t expect to see Halo – The Original Soundtrackin stores anytime soon (my apologies if they do actually have this). While the background music is well composed and excellent for setting and changing the mood, it’s the effects that rightfully take center stage in the sound department. It’s difficult to fathom how much effort went into the sound effects; everything sounds realistic from the hard rattling as your MA5B turns an Elite to mush, to the roar of the Warthog ATV barreling down the Autumn’s exploding corridors. Even the banter sounds great; Marines talk trash while taking down an enemy position, and the Covenant’s unintelligible guttural noises still manage to convey their desire to plant a hoof firmly up your backside.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Halo: Combat Evolved is nothing less than flawless. Romping through the variety of beautiful alien landscapes and complex installations, both alone and with your squad, killing everything moving is addictive to say the least. It’s almost like online cooperative play on other games, except your squad members here aren’t quite as smart as the average player is (or not quite as stupid in some cases – I won’t name names). Plus, the covenant aren’t dim-witted either: instead of attacking in direct waves or jumping out of the woodwork like many other first-person shooters, they other employ somewhat more advanced tactics such as flanking.

Factor in the wide variety of human and alien weapons and vehicles at your disposal, and it becomes clear that Halo is truly one wild ride. Props to Bungie for redefining console FPS genre with this game.

Control
As engrossing as the story is, as visually and aurally superb as the graphics are, and as tight as the gameplay is, the biggest triumph for Halo’s designers is the near-flawless control -- without question. Throughout the history of PC-to-console ports, the inability to translate numerous keyboard commands and complex keyboard and mouse movement into a handful of button presses and limited directional pad movement has murdered many an otherwise worthwhile console conversion of a first person shooter. With this game, Bungie makes excellent use of its oft-maligned XBox controller, mapping a primary and secondary function to darn near every stick and button.

While the controls do take quite some practice to master, one you get a hang of them there’ll be no stopping you. The left analog stick controls movement and the right controls your view (i.e. mouse look). Depressing the left stick will cause Master Chief to crouch; depressing the right stick has no function until you’re active weapon is the handgun or the sniper rifle, in which case it activates the zoom. The right trigger fires the active weapon, and the left lobs grenades. Pressing the blue button switches between weapons, and holding down the blue button will toss away your active weapon and pick up whatever weapon the Chief is standing over. For those occasions where you need to kill your prey silently, the ‘B’ button activates the melee attack, a.k.a. the ‘b*tch slap of death.’

In fact, the only control conversion that gave the staff any trouble is weapon selection. In PC FPS games, players usually have the ability to tote around 9-10 weapons which typically are mapped to the number keys on the keyboard. With Halo: Combat Evolved, the designers get around the issue of the XBox controller not having enough buttons for individual weapon mapping by restricting Master Chief to carrying only two weapons at a time. And if truth be told, this makes sense when you really think about it; you can’t expect a soldier to run and jump at a full clip around expansive levels with a small armory strapped to his back. Whereas initially this ‘restriction’ seems like it would detract from the gameplay, it quickly becomes clear that the opposite is true. This feature adds a bit of strategy by forcing the player to factor in weapon appropriateness (don’t get stuck in that crowded room with only a handgun and a rocket launcher) and the potential availability of ammo when selecting armaments.

Multiplayer
Still, no matter how good a first person shooter is, it still sucks if it doesn’t offer the capability to reach out and frag a real person. Though not compatible with the much-ballyhooed XBox Live system, Halo does allow for multiplayer play through split-screening and XBox system linking. Once the multiplayer option is chosen, players can choose between several different game types including Oddball (hold the ball as long as you can) and King of the Hill (capture and hold key locations as long as you can), as well as the old Deathmatch and Capture the Flag standbys. Also, players have the option of entering Cooperative mode and teaming up in Story Mode to defeat the Covenant threat.

Replayability
To put it simply, Halo will have you hooked from the moment you boot up the disc. Stellar graphics, tight gameplay, and an immersive story – this game’s got it all. If Halo doesn’t grab you in some way, feel free to question your sanity.

So for those who have yet to experience the sheer joy of smacking a sleeping grunt in the face with the butt of your MA5B, now is the time to reconcile this glaring oversight. Non-XBox owners can take advantage of the recent price drop and partake of the game using the new green consoles, and XBox owners... you have no excuse. Pick up a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved and let Master Chief show ‘em how console gamers roll.