Yes I am listening to David Bowie's Space Oddity while writing this review. Can it and let's get this on the road.
Ever since I went multiplatform(my poor wallet), the first thing out peoples mouths is "Have you played Halo yet? It's sooooooo gewd wort wort wort!" This got a mild response out of me and curious as to how these people aren't on meds. Sufficed to say I sent out on a quest to obtain the so called Xbox holy grail, or bible, or mascot. Now going onto this I didn't have high expectations, I mean if you knew this was the game that gave birth to 12 year old 4chan addicts, would you? What I got was a vague, simple yet fun filled game that somewhat stood up to all the hype. Even if that hype is only cause it has multiplayer. . . . oooooooooooooooo.
Starting off with the first one, Halo: Combat Evolved; I could very clearly see why people ran over their grandma for this. Creating a controller layout that was, for most people, unheard of for console shooters, seeing as how all shooters were ports from their PC counterparts before this game. From using the two thumb sticks to move, to using the trigger buttons to shoot and throw some nades. This game was the game that changed the way FPS's were done on consoles. There are some of us however, that weren't exactly phased by this, I being one of them. Considering if you remember Goldeneye. . . yeah end of argument. That had an amazing button layout for an FPS, but at least I can appreciate what Halo set out to do.
The story of Halo is something to be desired, the first game doesn't really fill in the blanks; which from a marketing stand point is brilliant. I mean, look at stories and movies that start in the middle and then flashback, everyone loves the product because they want to know how everyone got there. Now before people start sending me links, trust me I already checked it out. Halo has a very good expanded story, even if the games don't touch on this in huge detail. Yes, I play games to play a story, because games are an other media of entertainment, I want game play and a story to convince me to keep playing, to see what happens to the characters we encounter, it's a sort of immersion that is given to us. To try and shape they story by becoming a part of it, to try out best to make it through another level with the squad intact. Which brings me to my next point: characters.
Let's begin with Master Chief, the semi silent protagonist of the Halo Trilogy. The character is expanded upon in the books, but what the players are introduced to is the man who's already been to hell and back. Now Bungie did defend this by saying that they wanted to focus on what was happening outside the armor as apposed to what was happening within, and they showed it, from the A.I. Cortana and her slow decent into rampancy, Sgt. Johnson(It's nice to see you again Sgt. Apone, I knew the xenomorphs couldn't keep ya down) keeping his marines in check, and realizing just how serious the situation keeps progressing, Miranda Keyes trying to live up to the legacy left behind by her father, the Arbiter trying to free his people and Guilty Spark being a total douche. It's all here and you witness it through the Chief's eyes. Now to say he's a cardboard cutout is a misconception, if you really look you can see just how human the Chief really is: everytime someone dies(In a cutscene) and I mean everytime, ol' John 117 does subtle movements, little gestures to show his hurt and his pain. To me subtle always says a lot more than Bale choking on his own vocal cords to say "Rachael" .
Moving right a long, the next question I asked myself was: Is the game play deep? Not at all, it played like every other shoot at the time, despite it's button layout. There was no accurate zoom in, no way to duck behind cover, not a very good crouch system, and the 'stealth' sections were about as stealthy as a fat man diving into a wooden shed; but those were the mechanics for shooters at the time. I let that slide, but by the time Halo 2 came out; Call of Duty had shown it's face and added some much more to the FPS genre while Halo was still just adding bits here and there to game play, by following the ancient rule of it ain't broke, don't fix it. Which is good and bad, good because Halo is already a fun shooter to begin with, bad because as other game companies were building cars, Halo was still polishing it's frame work, which in itself is another good and bad thing. Either way, Halo didn't evolve that much over it's run, even as the third one came out it was virtually unchanged from the previous installment. It's still fun, even if it doesn't require that much skill to strafe and fire.
The music and voice acting is superb, it's good to see Kieth David getting more and more work after Spawn and Gargoyles hit the shitter. Jen Taylor is excellent as Cortana, I mean come on aside from voicing Zoey from L4D as well she also voices Princess Peach, just proves she's got talent. Steve Downes is perfect as John 117, show casing that the man has seen a lot and that he's not afraid to show it. Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori have made an awesome score, the music is amazing and fits well with the pacing. From the chants to the chimes, it plays out perfectly and is one of the best video game soundtracks I've ever heard.
No I didn't play multiplayer, I've never seen multiplayer as anything but an optional add on. I'm not put off by multiplayer but when a game advertises itself as having a story, then I only care about that experience. For more information just look up Yahtzee's article on multiplayer(The Escapist.com).
All in all Halo is still a solid series, packing enough punch to keep you playing it, even if you take breaks here and there. The story is well thought even if you have to look elsewhere other than the video games, the characters are what hold the games together (best example would be ODST) as they develop throughout the series.
Does it live up to it's hype? Somewhat, even if that hype is only for the multiplayer. Did you need to be there in the beginning to completely enjoy the series? No, that ludicrous. Considering the game is simple enough to pick up and enjoy even if you weren't present at launch day. Is the series revolutionary? The button layout is for some, but that's where it ends, and if you're like me and have been playing games since you popped out of the womb and remember goldeneye, or perfect dark then it's nothing new.
The Halo Trilogy gets 3.5 stickies out of 5.
Gone are the days of me dreading an AI program like the HAL-9000. Ahhh Cortana. . . .you've proven just how much of a lonely nerd I am.
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