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Well what can I say about Halo. Its one of the best first-person shooters I've played in a longtime (except maybe Perfect Dark for the N64). Well anyways the game is great. The storyline for the game is damn near perfect. To sum it up: It is the year 2552 and the Planet Earth still exists but due to over population many were forced to colonize other worlds. This doesn't work out like earth had hoped for thirty-two years ago the first encounter with aliens was made. These aliens began to be known as the Covenant, a collective of alien races united in their fanatical religious devotion. They're religious elders declared a holy war on humanity declaring them an affront to the gods. On Reach the SPARTAN-II project is underway. It is a project consisting of creating cyborg super-soldiers to infiltrate a Covenant ship and find their home world but two days before the mission begins the Covenant attacks and destroys the Reach colony and are now on Earth's doorstep. One ship, the Pillar of Autumn, escapes with the last of the SPARTAN-IIs and makes a blind jump into deep space, hopeing to lead the Covenant away.
Thus begins Halo. You are put in control of Master Chief, the last SPARTAN-II soldier and thrust into combat on the ring-world known as Halo. Your mission is to keep the Covenant at bay and from finding earth but to also find out the secrets of Halo and stop the Covenant from finding out the secrets.
Quite the story and game if you ask me. Anyways the game has four difficulty levels to play on those being Easy, Medium, Hard, and Legendary, which is the hardest. Now onto the Individual scores:
Music: 9.0
The music to Halo is what would be expected of a first-person shooter. The opening music is quite good with a melodramatic sound to it. The music varies depending on what is happening throughout the game. Once battle hits the music picks up to a tense sort, kind of like other first-person shooters when you enter combat, making it very fun to unload clip after clip into your enemy. Upon hitting major storyline areas the music gets that melodramatic feel to it again like the opening music.
Sound: 9.5
The sounds in Halo make you feel like you're truly there. From hearing the waterfalls to hearing the sound of your Warthog's engine as you head off into combat really give the game that realistic feel. The weapons sound realistic also from the fire of your assault rifle to the firing of the Scorpion's Main Attack weapon makes you feel like your actually firing the weapons. The voices in the game seem to fit each character. Master Chief's voice alone is very well done and adds to his whole Cyborg feel. Also the little taunts and commands from the Marines and the Covenant Soldiers add to the all around feel.
Graphics: 9.5
The graphics in this game are something to behold. The landscaping is done very nicely and so is the interior of the buildings. Everything almost looks realistic but of course its not. The graphics do suffer from choppiness at some points in the game due to the 30 fps. Don't be discouraged though because this only happens when there are either tons of vehicles in one area or when the fighting becomes extreme. The graphics add to the game also in the fact that everything looks as it should. Texturing is done very well for when you approach rocks and such they look as they should. I mean the bark on the tree looks woody and in how many games do you get that in.
Control: 9.0
The controls in Halo are somewhat confusing and frustrating to learn at first but once you learn them you have no troubles controlling Master Chief. Now when it comes to vehicle control the controls get really frustrating for its hard to get the hand of driving them vehicles since well you need to use both control sticks to actually make the vehicles go. When it comes to the Warthog though things get really frustrating since the thing sucks at turning and tends to flip on the slightest little jerk of the control stick when your doing some insane combat driving.
Gameplay: 10.0
Ah yes gameplay. What can I say about this other then the fact that it's great. The game is definitely a first-person shooter in name and gameplay. The emphasis here is well shoot because by god you're going to be unloading plenty of clips by the time you finish this game. As you play through the game the Enemy AI seems to learn from your actions because as you go through the enemies seem to know just how you fight. Believe me when it comes to fighting Hunters they learn fast because with that shield of theirs they know exactly what to do if your like me and run in firing like a mad man. Speaking of the enemies they are intriguing in their own right. You have the Grunts, your basic well fodder to fire at in the game. These do not get much harder throughout the game for they are in their own right idiots at fighting and are extremely afraid to fight alone. They tend to stick around either more powerful allies or in groups of like 5-8. Then theirs the Elites, the very smart and very deadly main soldiers. They come in many variations and carry many weapons. They themselves are equipped with a full body energy suit that gets annoying because it takes a whole clip from the assault rifle to kill them. Then comes the Jackal, basically the assassins of the Covenant. They hide behind energy shields that repel all attacks and are very smart in combat. One jackal alone can knock out a whole contingent of marines that are backing you up. Now comes the Hunter, a brutish beast that carries a huge metal shield and has a gun built into them. These brutish beasts may seem stupid at first glance but believe me they are smart for they are the deadliest of the Covenant soldiers. The vehicles as I mentioned in the Control area are frustrating but add to the gameplay. Nothing beats getting into a Scorpion Main Battle Tank and dispensing some heavy justice onto the enemy. There are four vehicles in all that you can control and they range from the Human's Warthog and Scorpion to the Covenant's Ghost and Banshee. These vehicles add a sort of fun flavor to the game for they allow you to get off your feet and experience something more then just running around and shooting. Most of the combat revolves around your Mark V Combat Suit that makes up Master Chief's protection. This suit has very limited cargo space allowing for you to carry only two guns and up to 4 grenades of each type. This adds to the gameplay and makes you watch your ammo count very closely. You can switch out weapons as you wish while running around Halo by just standing over an enemies dead body and picking up their weapons. Human weapons consist of the M6D Pistol, M9 HE-DP Grenade, MA5B Assault Rifle, M90 Shotgun, S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and the M 19 SSM Rocket Launcher. The Covenant's weapons are well Plasma weapons consisting of the Plasma Rifle, Plasma Pistol, Needler (very odd but fun weapon), and the Plasma Grenade. All these weapons are useful in their own right and help bring a nice element into the gameplay. Then there is the co-op function of the game that allows you to play through the storyline with a friend backing you up. Adds for more enjoyment in the game along with the rest of the Multiplayer games. Overall the gameplay is great and makes the game extremely fun to play.
Overall: 9.8
Overall the game is great. Nothing else can describe it for it is one of the best first-person shooters out there on any console. The games story is great and helps accent everything in the game. This game would make a great gift to those friends of yours who are FPS crazy and I recommend it to all of you to at least try once.
© 2003 Microsoft
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| Graphics: | 9.5 |
| Sound: | 9.5 |
| Control: | 9 |
| Camera: | 10 |
| Plot: | - |
| Gameplay: | - |
| Overall: | 9.8 |
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