Halo: Combat Evloved
[Xbox]

Today is a monumental day for me. I don't think any of you realize what a void this filled for me. I have finally beaten "the masterpiece" that is Halo. It sure as hell talks the talk. Does it walk the walk - - - - -?

Halo is more often dismantled now-a-days than it is held up as a high point of video games. So many people that don't give it a fair chance jump the gun and say "it's over-rated" and "it's a major let down" and on and on. Only those who sit through the whole game will remember it as the moody and drama filled experience it is.

First off, this is one of the best examples of Artificial Intelligence on the market. I played through on the normal (default) difficulty, and the enemies gave me one hell of a hard time. They were s-m-a-r-t. It's true that there are only a few different types of baddies, but they all have a completely individual way of taking action. The not so heavily armed will run and find a big brother with an assault rifle. They get behind their protective shields, or duck behind boxes to reload. It's really an amazing thing to see in progress. The marines that help Master Chief out through the adventure are a little more intellectually challenged. They aren't so good at making decisions; running in front of moving vehicles, trying to take on an army of 10 with a group of 2...that kind of nonsense. It's entertaining to watch however. Later in the game you'll encounter two different groups of bad guys that don't get along the best, and if you're smart like me you will find a solution to conserving ammunitions there ?.

The graphics were good. I loved playing with my flashlight, just seeing how it looked on different surfaces. It looked really good of course. The water was kind of it's own monster though. When you walk or drive in it, it just kind of sits there like a nazi. There's no splashing, only small ripples. Kind of strange actually. Explosions are kick ass looking and when it comes down to it, I don't think that anyone will be disappointed with this area of Halo. There were some nit-picky things that I found that got on my nerves. The human faces looked pretty crappy, but I think they just about always do. It's solid as a rock. Occasionally, a guy would be "one with the wall." If you don't follow me, the guys get stuck in walls some times and you can't shoot them, but they can hit you. How unfair. Sound is kind of bland so I'll stick it in here with the appearance. There is music, and it sometimes delivers and sets a good mood, but most of the time it gets ignored because it's just the same thing over and over...

When it comes to controls, just wow. I absolutely loved the controls. The avid X-Boxer with his controller S is going to like it. If they don't, more than likely they own a PS2. The button scheme is perfection, always feels smooth, and never once gave me problems. Just to clear things up, the aforementioned is for the majority of the game. The majority of the game is on foot. The minority consists of vehicular exploration and combat, and is god awful. There was not one moment that I enjoyed being in a vehicle. When there were 20 guys on the ground shooting and I was in the air with my bomber plane, I actually felt at a disadvantage! How pathetic is that? About as unblissful as it gets.

The storyline is really unique involving 2 groups of E.T.'s, a smart ass-futuristic-flying-cyborg-librarian, a group of marines led by a strange captain, a confusing computer program woman, and Halo itself. Oh yeah, and there's this bad ass cyborg guy named Master Chief. Duh. There's no way in hell you could comprehend what's going on with out playing it. The story is highly entertaining. It's catchy and innovative, and actually kept me coming back despite the things I didn't enjoy which I'm to the point of talking about...

Level design. The first 4 levels are awesome. I loved them. The last level is great. I loved it. In between is a bunch of B.S. I don't think people that haven't played understand what I'm talking about by saying this, so I'll try to clear it up. Stages 5 - 9 are the same stages. You spend hours finding your way through tedious masses of aliens that reek havoc on you, half the time not knowing if you've taken a wrong turn because there is no guidance, and around every corner it looks as if you have turned yourself around backwards. Great monotony, and if that's where they were going for...they delivered. The crappiest thing about this is that when you get to your destination, the next to levels are back tracking to get out of areas you just went in. Fun indeed...*sarcasm*

So, I'm sure by now your curious as to how I feel about Halo as a whole. I enjoyed the experience, I really did. I have to wonder if my final impression is going to be worse because the game was built up to be such a true piece of work. The negatives aren't enough to drag it to the ground, but they do hurt it a good bit. Monotony never helps a video game. I had a lot of good moments with my time here, but I don't plan on buying it for myself, or playing through it again. The multi-player is okay, but there are much better multi-player shooters out there. I played this game for it's one player story, and that's what I got.

Best game ever? No where near it.
Best game on X-Box? Nope.
Best Story Driven FPS? I will give it that. Yes.

8.5/10

---Frayed