Halo

[Terbinator]

So, its christmas day 2002 im greeted by the Xbox box after ripping through the paper in an excitement i dont think id had before when it came to a christmas present. The year before though i had got a Playstation 2, and in the year leading up to christmas '02 id played classics such as GTA 3, MGS2, and GT3:A-Spec - not a bad year for gaming then.

There was one major attraction for me when it came to the Xbox and this sole reason alone. Would the game in question better or be equal to the masterpieces i had played before hand ? The screenshots in the Argos suggested so.
A soldier in green armor which to me personally bared a striking similarity to the marines off the Starship Trooper animated series along with the aliens he was firing at/or who were firing at him which also seemed eerily similair to the 'skinnies' off the ST animated series - i thought Halo:Combat Evolved was a Starship Troopers game albeit under a different name.

You start the game up and are greeted by that epic guitar riff which is then neutralised by the choir and your eyes fixed on the ring next to a planet. The game starts up. "WTF insane graphics" i thought to myself you can even read the name of the ship
Then the action kicks in, your introduced to new terms, 'The Covenant' ? Oh well, it doesnt matter what that purple women said becuase im currently being took on a fly-through of said ship which is highly detailed and on the same scale of a blockbuster film. Pelicans flying around, Warthogs and then Johnson i think those of you who have played Halo:CE will agree with me that his speech has got to be one of the most memorable yet hilarious moments in gaming in addition to it validating the purchase and continued interest in the game.

You eventually meet your character the Master Chief. A 7ft super-soldier as i recall the Halo:CE manual saying. You get took through the calibration tests in which i was then converted to an invert gamer. The actual playing now begins you make your way to Captain Keyes and recieve your orders, battle your way through the ship to a life boat (?) Upon your on the ring world your greeted with a mass expansion of terrain to explore with the finest rendered grass i had seen at the time, even if it was flat You prowl on through and eventually finish the game in that fascianting ending (similair to the end of Halo 3 for those of you who havent cleared CE) You are left wanting more, though.
You think your going to see the Chiefs face and you don't. You want to pick up the Energy Sword and can't and for those who had LIVE, you wanted the online experience you knew what was possible but couldn't unless you went through other means.

Some these prayers were answered with Halo 2 while other stones were probably best left un-turned. There was an absolutely cracking LIVE experience present, sword wielding, dual-wielding, inmproved graphics and an even deeper story. The 8v8 CTF sessions on Coagulation/Blood Gulch were some of my fondest Xbox memories along with turning on the gimmick voice features and sounding like a retarded RoboCop, also you can't really beat Needlers when dual-wielded can you ? The story however wasn't best recieved by some mainly due to its cliffhanger (see:turd) ending which left players un-satisfied and its potentially messey story telling put some people off ever completing it or understanding it.
The Arbiter side story while great and is actually really useful i find, was a master stroke by Bungie IMO i think it too annoyed people (me included at the time) that it felt you didn't get enough time with the Chief, again similair to the Raiden/Snake situation in MGS2. The online component of the game arguably helped people over look the campaign as well as some people will of just bought it (H2) for online where as with Halo 3 they may of played through Halo 3's campagin for the gamerscore and moaned about the plot because they didnt understand it - just a suggrstion.

Personally after playing through all 3 games i think Halo 2's campaign is equally as enjoyable as the other 2 games but it does have a much thicker plot than the other 2 and the only comparsion i can make with it is MGS2 which also threw some people off due to its complexity - bear in mind though that if you didnt play Halo/MGS1 then i don't think you are really expected to know whats going on but i suppose you could say Bungie should of made it more accesible.

Im not going to write anything on Halo 3/Wars becuase more people will of played them on here i guess than 1/2. I just thought id stick this little piece up here as after playing through the campaing on Halo Wars and 3 over the weekend i realised how much i appreciate the series so far and Halo universe. Feel free to add your memories of Halo:CE/2/3 and please try not to add anything that will start a flame war.

Note: i know the post ran out of steam towards the end (did you read that far ) but i wasnt sure if there was a word limit.

[Akhtar2]

The Halo games are probably my favourite games ever. Halo CE was probably the best, it was almost revolutionary at the time as it seamlessly combined so many different styles of play.

Also, for me, Halo 2 and 3 probably offer the best Xbox live experience so far.

[Dareos]

I thought you were a first time poster and had accidentally mispelled Hallo....



I never played more than an hour of Halo, and was very much in the camp of *mouse and keyboard required for FPS*, I did finish halo 2, but was never convinced that it would take off in multiplayer and now have around 7000 games played in halo 3.

You might say i'm a convert. The campaign is phenomenal, but unfortunately the multiplayer is now ruined by restarted accounts, cheats and Team killing idiots. When you do get a good game, against similarly skilled players, its second to none, and I keep searching for those games.

[Varmint]

I like the multiplayer on Halo 3 (online) but other than that I have not touched a campaign or played more than 5 hours.

[Terbinator]

Ive been bashin a bit of social slayer recently, i mean why pay for the maps when there free with ODST - ive had quite a few good games on the playlist but i hate it when you end up gettin trolled off sum new fags in a warthog