Halo: Combat Evolved
From Wikinfo
Halo: Combat Evolved is a video game in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. Created by Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios, it was released exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox game console on November 15, 2001.
Almost two years later, on September 30, 2003, a port of Halo for Windows was released. An Apple Macintosh version was released on December 11, 2003.
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Introduction
Halo is a bestselling game for the Xbox, considered by many to be that platform's "must-have" game. Many consider Halo to be one of the best first-person shooters of all time for a console. The usually harsh Edge magazine, for example, gave it a full score of ten out of ten. Nevertheless, Halo has its weaknesses; some criticise it as too repetitive.
Prior to Bungie's takeover by Microsoft, the initial release of Halo was planned for the Macintosh and Windows platforms - in fact, the game was first previewed at the Macworld Conference & Expo, New York, in 1999. It was also originally planned as a real-time strategy game. It has since been released for Windows, to largely favorable reviews.
In the PC version, however, some problems existed, largley stemming from its porting. While the plot and content remained of good quality, the engine was un-optimized for the higher screen resolutions most computers run at, and the multiplayer experience lacked basic features, such as being able to kick team killers. With non–high definition TV's running at less than 500 horizontal lines, and most games running above that (i.e. 1024&mul;768), the console port of Halo suffered low frame rates when scaled up for its average graphic quality. The size of the player's HUD as well some other issues common to console-PC ports also existed. Still, the game's overall quality shined through many of these problems, and a patch could fix problematic issues.
Gameplay
Halo has several features that improve upon the FPS genre. One of the most exalted features is the use of vehicles, which the player can enter and exit seamlessly during play. These are the Warthog assault buggy, the Ghost landspeeder, the Banshee aircraft, and the Scorpion tank.
Another feature is the relatively advanced psychology for the AI-controlled enemies — the more cowardly types of enemies will run away screaming in terror if the player detonates explosives near them, while even the more hardened enemy troops will take cover to allow their shields to regenerate. Also, underlings will scatter and panic if their commanders and more elite forces are killed. Other touches include enemies diving out of the way when the player tries to run them over in a vehicle, and the way some enemies continue firing at the player's last known position when they lose sight of him.
16 players can play together in one Halo game over a local area network, using four Xboxes that have been connected through an Ethernet hub. The game's seamless support for this type of play, as well as a few large maps that can comfortably hold up to 16 combatants, is a first for console games. The PC version of Halo adds online play, and also new vehicles and weapons for multiplayer.
Plot
Halo, like previous Bungie releases such as the Marathon series, has an intricate plot.
The "Halo" in the title refers to an enormous artificial space habitat similar to a Culture Orbital discovered by the warship Pillar of Autumn, which the central character, the Master Chief John-117, is aboard. With the help of his fellow marines and the ship's artificial intelligence, Cortana, the Master Chief discovers some of the secrets of Halo while fighting off members of the Covenant, archenemies of humanity who, presumably, wish to find Halo's secrets for themselves.
Along the way, the Covenant accidentally releases the "Flood", a race of parasitic alien zombies. The Flood then sweep across Halo and devastate human and Covenant forces positioned on the ringworld. The release of the Flood activates Halo's defense system, a pulse weapon that, when fired, would wipe out all life in the galaxy large enough to be hosts for the Flood. Technically, that installation only has a maximum effective radius of 25,000 light years, but the pulse would trigger other installations as well, effectively killing the galaxy. This system is designed to stop the Flood from spreading through the universe if they escape confinement from Halo by the only way possible: starving the Flood of any life source large enough to sustain them.
Naturally, this would wipe out Humanity as well, and so the final levels of the game revolve around the Master Chief's attempts to destroy Halo before it fires.
The game leaves the story open to further developments, with the revelation that there are most likely several Halo ringworlds in the galaxy, due to Halo being numbered "Installation 04" by a robot named 343 Guilty Spark.
Books
As of 2004, three books have been written based in the Halo universe.
- Halo: The Fall of Reach is a prequel to the game, written by Eric Nylund, focusing on the Spartan II program, which focused on the creation of super soldiers from conscripted children matching certain genetics, through the use of early military training, biological enhancements, and the use of the MJOLNIR combat armor. The story also focuses on the early life of the Master Chief, whose only other name is John-117, and his growth from a very competitive boy to the commanding officer of the Spartans. The story leads up to the initial attacks of the Covenant on outlying human colonies up to the assault and fall of Reach, the home world and training center of the Spartans, and the escape of the Pillar of Autumn towards a random location in space.. and Halo.
- Halo: The Flood is an adaptation of the game's story by William C. Dietz. Although the book largely follows the same events of the Xbox game, it also describes the events of the other human UNSC marines struggling to survive the Covenant's onslaught on Halo as well as the experiences of the Covenant armada that followed the Pillar of Autumn.
- Halo: First Strike is the story between the first game and its upcoming sequel by Eric Nylund. It starts where the game left off, with the Chief and Cortana finding a few survivors from the destruction of the ringworld. With valuable information, they must return to Earth and do so by infiltrating the Covenant flagship Ascendent Justice. Once they secure the ship, their first jump is back to Reach, where they pick up surviving UNSC forces, including a few Spartans, and Doctor Halsey. In addition to survivors, they also find that the Covenant have discovered the location of Earth and are about to deploy the entire Covenant fleet. Determined to buy time for Earth to prepare for the inevitable onslaught, the Chief and his Spartans decide to go to the fleet's rendezvous point and disrupt its initial operations in a decisive first strike.
Future developments
The next episode in the Halo story, Halo 2, is expected to be released on November 9, 2004. [1] Like the previous fan-beloved Marathon, Halo 2 promises a return of old characters and new technology in attempt to further a complicated plot line, the object of which is to be deciphered by the end user.
A free mod for the computer game series Battlefield: 1942/Vietnam called Homefront features Halo-esque and orginal content for online multiplayer games with up to 64 players. [2]
External links
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Halo:_Combat_Evolved" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
