Halo: Combat Revolved

Unless you don't watch TV, movies, drink soda, listen to the radio, or socialize with ANYBODY, you probably have heard that Halo 3 has been released. Halo 3's release was one of the most significant moments in gaming culture. Many of you probably have never heard of Halo 1 or 2, and are wondering what's so great about Halo 3. There are also a great many of you who know exactly what Halo 1 and 2 are, and firmly believe that they are terrible games and are wondering exactly why games this shitty are so successful. I consider myself a fan of Halo, and even I don't get what's so great about the series. However, I will attempt to explain what Halo is all about, and how it managed to become such a major success.

Bungie, the developers of Halo, have been in the business for quite some time. They were known for writing games for Mac computers, such as Marathon, which was basically Doom for Apple computers. The Marathon trilogy had arguably better graphics than Doom, and certainly had a better story. After Marathon, the next significant Bungie release was Myth, the first 3D real time strategy game. Not only was this the first 3D RTS game, but it was innovative in it's gameplay. Instead of forcing players to manage resources and building a huge army, the game gives the player several units, and forces them to use them tactically and efficiently to succeed in missions. This type of gameplay has been emulated in many games since.

Halo, believe it or not, started out as a real time strategy game set in a science fiction environment. The game was going to be similar to Myth, only with a sci-fi setting and different game mechanics, such as vehicles. During development, Bungie must have realized that playing the game from a command perspective would not be as much fun as playing in the middle of the action, so they changed the game into a 3rd person action shooter.

In 1999, Halo: Combat Evolved was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo by Steve Jobs. The game was originally developed for Mac and PCs, and showed amazing features never before seen in gaming. The environments were expansive and outdoors, with the capabilities to drive vehicles. Halo appeared the 2000 E3, which had critics floored by the graphics and gameplay. It was shaping up as an amazing PC shooter, and quite possibly the greatest Macintosh game ever made.

Steve Jobs must have been pissed when Bungie was bought by Microsoft in June, 2000. Computer gamers in general were even more pissed when Microsoft announced Halo would be an Xbox exclusive. After Microsoft bought Bungie, they were forced to rewrite their engine to fit the Xbox, changed the game into a first person shooter, and remove significant portions of the game, such as the online multiplayer. Bungie also had a harsh deadline to meet, as the Xbox launch was approaching in a year, and Halo going to be a launch title for the system, and the reason why people would buy an Xbox.

On November 15th, 2001, the Xbox launched with Halo. Halo recieved amazing reviews, and was hailed as reason enough to buy an Xbox. It was a fucking miracle for Microsoft. Halo had every reason to fail as a game, considering its gimped multiplayer and short deadline. Yet Bungie managed to deliver a successful game regardless. It's a known fact that if Halo failed, the Xbox would have failed.

Halo's success relied heavily on several gameplay elements never before seen in gaming, such as the expansive outdoor environments and vehicles. However, the true key to Halo's success was the combat system. Instead of giving the player just a set health bar, there was a rebounding shield which protected him. This means that if a player got hit enough times, they could simply hide, allow their shields to recharge, and continue fighting. This helped the pacing of the game, which did not require players to go hunting for health packs.

The combat system was very different than most games. Instead of allowing the player to carry every gun in the entire game, the player was limited to two. This meant they had to manage which guns to carry into specific situations. Also, grenades could be thrown on the fly with a push of a button, instead of switching weapons to grenades, then firing. A melee attack could be done by a push of a button as well. This created a very interesting and fast-paced style of gameplay, with players throwing grenades at groups of enemies, shooting at the individual ones, and melee attacking stragglers that got close.


While the combat system was novel and the outdoor environments and vehicles were fun, the game certainly had its drawbacks. For one, it was a short game, and was clearly stretched out near the end of development because the last few levels consist of the same 3 rooms and hallways linked together over and over. This kind of design seemed to indicate that Halo was rushed in order for it to launch with the Xbox. This is definately the biggest problem with Halo, as it caused the game to drag, forcing players to play the same encounter over and over again. There was an interview with a developer of Halo, and he said something along the lines of "I want to create 15 seconds of absolutely amazing gameplay, and repeat it over and over." (I can't find the actual quote. Send me a comment if you find it!) While he certainly delivered on that promise, it's clear why that isn't such a great idea after all. It is usually for this reason that gamers are divided by Halo, with one side absolutely loving the game, and the other side absolutely loathing it.

There are plenty of other complaints as well. The vehicle portions of the game are arguably the best part of Halo, but unfortunately there aren't enough of them, and they almost disappear in the last half of the game. The story is interesting, but not told very well, and the ending is pretty disappointing. Multiplayer, while fun, was limited because of the removal of online play.

Even though Halo was a flawed game, it was a smash hit of the Xbox, and saved Microsoft from failing in the gaming industry. It singlehandedly drove the Xbox launch, and remains one of its most popular titles.

Smitten with their success, Bungie began work on the sequel, Halo 2. Hype for this game was unbearable for the masses of Halo fans. During E3s and press releases, fans were teased with videos and hints of what the game will feature. Prerelease material showed players fighting in urban environments on Earth, new vehicles, better AI, and amazing graphics, with the addition of online multiplayer.

In November, 2004, Halo 2 was released. It's release was a huge spectacle, with stores opening at midnight to sell the game, and lines with hundreds of eager nerds ready to play. Halo 2 was a huge hit, and is still the best selling Xbox game of all time.

While a good game, there were still some major problems with the game. The graphics looked great on the Xbox, but there was a big problem with texture pop-up (this means a low-res shitty version is on screen while the high-res version loads). The AI performed well, but couldn't be trusted with driving. Worst of all, the "repeat same rooms and hallways" method of level design was alive and intact in this game, but at least at a reduced level than before. The story was stale, with not much happening at all, and what little was happening was not presented well.

On top of these problems, there were other huge issues with the game, which even fans of Halo will admit. First of all, only two levels take place on Earth. The entire game was marketed as being this huge fight to save Earth, and only two levels take place on it. Worse yet was that the main character from Halo, the Master Chief, was only playable half of the game. The other half of the game was played through the perspective of an alien called the Arbiter. Most gamers had no interest in playing as this new character, and it didn't help that all the worst levels in the game were played as this character.

Online multiplayer was done perfectly, and is still a model for how consoles should do multiplayer on an internet service. However, the biggest problem Halo 2 has with Xbox Live is something Bungie has no control over: it's retarded fanbase. Playing Halo 2 online would be fun up until you were forced to play with a pre-teenage mal-adjusted dipshit who would rather scream juvenile bullshit into his microphone than play the game. This happened almost every time I tried playing the game, and continues to be a problem for Xbox Live.

Finally, the number one problem with Halo 2 was, without a doubt, its ending. Or rather, it's lack of one. Not only is the game criminally short, but just as the story heats up, the game ends. It's like smashing into a brick wall at 80 mph. Halo 2's ending pissed off every gamer who played it, and forced them to wait 3 years before they could see what happened next in the Halo saga.

Over the years, Halo had become a franchise, and every gamer who loved Halo couldn't wait for the next installment. When Halo 3 was announced for the Xbox 360, members of the so-called Halo nation rose up in cheers of adulation. Seeing the excitement behind the Xbox's flagship franchise, Microsoft decided to begin the most ridiculous marketing campaign in the history of gaming.

During the marketing of Halo 3, there were standard commercials for the games, which showed gameplay and such. However, there were some crazy marketing moves made by Microsoft, and some of them are still going on to this day. Mountain Dew created a Halo 3 soda to tie in with the game's launch. A series of live-action commercials ran. Out of all the shit that came out of the Halo 3 marketing, the most ridiculous thing had to be the "believe" ad campaign, which showed a bunch of old people acting like veterans of the "Halo War" and softly crying about their scarred memories of the battles with Master Chief. All of this over a video game.

This September, Halo 3 was released to the public. To nobodies surprise, it sold amazingly well, the critics loved it, and it still had the same problems that have plagued the Halo series since the beginning.

First off, the graphics were fixed, so there was no annoying pop-up. Unfortunately, other than that, the graphics have not improved AT ALL. This is almost unacceptable, considering the game has moved up to a next generation system. The game has reduced its "repeat same rooms" design philosophy even further, but it's still occasionally evident. The entire game is played as Master Chief, which is better. However, the game was still way too short, the story was interesting, but not well told at all, and the ending was only satisfactory.

A lot of people have decried the Halo series, calling it mediocre and overrated. While this is partially true, you have to remember that the original Halo was an amazing and innovative game for its time. Unfortunately, the industry has moved far since then, and Halo has barely changed. While Halo is one of the best selling games of all time, it has a stigma against it. Most people regard it as overrated and call its fanbase a bunch of drunk fratboy neanderthals. While I consider myself a fan of Halo, I have to admit that these critics are somewhat right.

Some time ago, Bungie announced that it was splitting off from Microsoft. It will be interesting to see where the series goes from here, and what Bungie will make out of its newfound independence. In my personal opinion, I think the Halo series is stale, and has done about as much as it needs to. Unless somebody completely revitalizes its gameplay, the series should take a nice long break. Unfortunately, we all know Microsoft is just going to rape it for cash, and most of the "Halo Nation" will buy whatever has the Halo logo on it, myself included.

Like I said, I don't understand the Halo phenomenon. Maybe I just love shooting random shit too much. This much is certain, its nice to see Bungie become a free company again, and I am looking forward to the next new thing they have to make. I won't even mind if it's on a Mac.