User:TigerBlazer/sandbox/Halo: CE

Halo: Combat Evolved (Also known simply as Halo or Halo: CE for short) is a science-fiction first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Originally unknown if it was going to be turned into a series, it is the first entry in the Halo series, and its success led to more games being developed. Developed as a launch title for the original Xbox, the game was also ported to PC and Mac OS X, and was also released for the Xbox 360. It released to universal acclaim from critics, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The game is incredibly aesthetically and historically significant to the video game industry as a whole for multiple reasons.
 * 2) * The most important reason why Halo is significant to the video game industry is that its success is the reason why Microsoft was even able to get a foot-hold in the video game console market. Without this game being a launch title for Microsoft's new (at the time of release anyway), the Xbox wouldn't have been given the killer-app that made the system worth purchasing in the first place, and would have most likely led to the console becoming a failure and could have lead to Microsoft leaving the gaming industry as a whole. Halo's existence on the console essentially gave players a reason to purchase the Xbox in the first place, leading to the console becoming more popular and eventually leading to it becoming a massive success.
 * 3) * Equally as important to the video game industry, Halo: Combat Evolved was the first game in the 6th console generation, as well as one of the first games in general, that used a second analog stick on the controller for precise aiming as well as for easier camera movement, and led to the FPS genre transitioning into the modern era. This was a pretty big deal at the time, as years back, first-person shooters on consoles either didn't have any aiming mechanics (Such as the PlayStation 1 Doom or Doom 64, which had the players just rotate the player and fire to attack enemies) or instead used the buttons (Such as Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, which used the C-buttons for aiming). The introduction of using the second analog stick makes playing on consoles a lot easier, as it more closely matches the muse controls on PC, essentially making playing FPSs on consoles a lot more easier, and leading many other developers to do the same thing.
 * 4) ** This mechanic also led to more FPS games becoming more common on consoles. The mechanic of using the second analog stick to aim made it easier to develop FPS games on consoles, which led to more of them being released on them as a result and increasing the genre's popularity as a whole.
 * 5) * For better or for worse, it introduced many trends (See the main pointers below) that would popularize the FPS genre, including but not limited to:
 * 6) ** Restricting the player to only two weapons at a time, and having a grenade as a secondary.
 * 7) ** A regenerating health system.
 * 8) ** Co-op gameplay for the campaign.
 * 9) ** Playable vehicles to use around the map to traverse faster or to assist in combat.
 * 10) The health system is actually pretty unique for the time, and actually is still pretty unique compared to some of the other first-person shooters of today. What it does differently is that it combines a traditional health system with a regenerating one. The player's health is separated into two sections, a shield that can regenerate over time if the player isn't hit for a while, and a standard health bar that will deplete once the shield is broken, and can only be restored by health power-ups. The shield system allows the player to have sort of a second chance if they are damaged to much, as they could lose all of their shield and some health, but could leave the battlefield for a brief amount of time to regenerate and re-think their strategy. The standard health system also can help decide what the player wants to do for an encounter. If they have a full health meter, than it's okay to take same risks in combat and if they are skilled enough can take a few hits without being in any serious trouble. However, if they have lower health, they can chose instead to take a more calculated approach, like a sniping route. This adds an extra layer of strategy to Halo's combat, and creates a system that works for both players who like the regenerating health system and players who dislike the mechanic.
 * 11) For the time, the graphics look incredibly great in both the Xbox and PC versions (Even if the PC version has some downgrades) and still hold up well enough today for modern gamers to appreciate the effort designers put into the visuals at the time. The details on all of the textures on the models, environments, and characters look pretty good, such as the very large amount of repeated grass textures on the natural surface of Halo and the decent texture differences on the light bridges. There are also some pretty nice reflection effects on the armor and on locations of the map, such as the effects being very prominent on Master Chief's armor. Finally, outside of the detail on the man graphics, the backdrops on the outside maps look very cool, especially the view of the Halo ring wrapping around the sky and ending up on the map the player is on. Overall, the graphics still look pretty cool today, and looked impressive back then.
 * 12) * On a similar note, the art design of the game is truly spectacular and iconic. Many of the designs themselves look and feel different fro other sci-fi media to help them stand out and don't look generic at all. Examples of these unique aspects include the design of the Halo ring itself (With the concept of a ring-shaped artificial world itself already grabbing your attention), the Needler guns used by the Covenant (Which have cool crystal protrusions from them to make them easily identifiable), the Warthog vehicles used by the player (Which combines elements of off-road vehicles with that of tanks), and the design of Master Chief himself.
 * 13) The campaign has one of, if not, the most well-designed difficulty balance in any video game ever created for multiple reasons.
 * 14) * The main reason why the difficulty is incredibly well-balanced is that the entirety of the game's difficulty comes from well-made level design on the developer's part. There are absolutely no instances of artificial difficulty at all in the entire campaign. When the player dies in a level, it is entirely their fault for not being skilled or prepared enough to overcome the challenges, and not the game's fault for having any for of bad level design such as invisible walls or over-powered enemies (Entirely non-existent on Combat Evolved).
 * 15) * In some cases, the game's issues with repetitive level design can work in the difficulties favor, as since the player may have faced a tough combat area before, after surviving they will have gained some combat knowledge and be able to use that to complete similar areas in the level much easier and quicker than before, while also adding some new challenges such as added enemies or different enemy types, to keep the fights from getting stale.
 * 16) * Every enemy the player faces in the game will give off a sort of cue or warning for what they are about to do next, and as the player faces more of these enemies, they will learn to face their tactics and adjust to react to such a point where they do not need to recognize the cue to eliminate enemies effectively. For example, the Covenant enemies will give off a little yell and prepare to throw something when they are about to throw a grenade. Another example is when enemies will jump out of your way when you try to run them over in a Warthog vehicle.
 * 17) There are a lot of different enemy types for the player to face throughout the entire campaign, and each of them have their own tactics and abilities that require different and constant strategy changes mid-combat.
 * 18) * Grunts: These are the weakest of the enemies in the game, and can often be taken out with a single shot of the standard pistol and multiple can be killed quickly with practically any weapon. They are also are very cowardly and run away when their leader is killed. They can also be easily eliminated with stealth tactics, as they can be found sleeping and using melee attacks can eliminate whole groups without waking the rest up. However, the main threat of Grunts is that they are usually encountered in groups and can quickly overwhelm the player, especially on Legendary difficulty, if they are not careful. They are also smaller than other enemies on the game, which makes them harder to hit on occasion. On rare occasions they also may throw grenades when the leader is killed and run at the player in full force.
 * 19) * Elites: One of the stronger enemies, the Elites are highly skilled and will either use ranged or melee attacks, with their melee attacks being incredibly deadly due to the Elite's speed and the fact that melee weapons instantly kill you. Elites are also armed with energy shields similar to that of the player's, and will recharge overtime if they are not hit for a long enough time period. When they have a melee weapon equipped, that will charge at the player, so it's best to eliminate them from a distance in those cases. On the flip side, they are also deadly accurate at long range, and rapid-firing weapons work well to take them out. Based on the color of the Elite, they will have a certain weapon or ability, requiring different tactics based on the encounter and easier to find the most deadly of the group.
 * 20) * TBA
 * 21) The weaponry found in Halo: Combat Evolved are also incredibly balanced from one another, and are actually a lot more varied and have many useful strategies and design aspects than one might think at first.
 * 22) * The biggest reason why the weaponry works well with the gameplay itself is the duality between the human and Covenant weapons, and the Covenant enemies themselves. By playing through the game, the player learns through constant combat that each weapon in the game works completely different based on what enemies you are facing. The Covenant weapons may be very effective when taking down enemies shields, but the human weapons are equally as important due to their power on standard health.
 * 23) ** Pistol: While the M6D Pistol may seem like one of the more inferior weapons at first, it's usefulness becomes a lot more cranked up when fighting Hunters, the game's most powerful foe, as a single shot with this pistol to a small weal spot on its back while eliminate these juggernauts instantly. Even outside of the Hunters, the gun has very fast fire times when tapping the fire button rapidly and has a faster reload than most other weapons.
 * 24) ** Assault Rifle: The MA5B assault rifle is a weapon that players will either love or hate. The weapon has great armor penetrating abilities, and can take out enemies really quickly if used with good accuracy. It also has a higher damage rate and is more accurate fired in bursts, has a high fire rate, and a high max ammo capacity. However, when used constantly, it spreads out all over the places and makes it hard to hit targets, especially from a distance. It also is very weak against shielded enemies and burns through a clip rather quickly.
 * 25) ** Sniper Rifle: Used for precision aiming over long distances, the sniper is probably the most useful weapon for taking out larger enemies safely as well. It has extreme power in a single shot and can be used effectively over great distances, usually taking out enemies in one to three hits. Along with that, it is useful for taking out enemies by stealth. It has its power balanced out by having a low magazine of only four rounds and a slow fire rate. It is also useless against the Flood, taking over three full magazine unloads to kill one enemy.
 * 26) ** Rocket Launcher: The most powerful weapon in the game, the rocket launcher fire a powerful projectile that can deal tons of damage in a wide area and can take out infantry no problem. It also great at destroying vehicles and can make the fight a lot more in your favor because of that. However, it's massive damage potential is caped off by it's two ammunition magazine count, slow reloads, and is incredibly had to find ammo for, let alone the weapon itself. It can also cause damage to allies and yourself if in close range or aimed incorrectly.
 * 27) ** Shotgun: Probably the most powerful weapon against the Flood, the M90 shotgun has superior power over most other weapons at close range, and is even more powerful on the Flood, and can take out any Flood enemy with a single hit if you have good enough accuracy. It's burst makes it able to eliminate groups at close range as well. On the other hand, it is really useless at longer ranges compared to other weapons, and should remain a short range weapon only.
 * 28) ** Plasma Pistol: This gun is fired similar to the pistol, in short bursts by rapidly tapping the fire button. However, it can also be charged up and released to unleash a powerful blast of energy that can decimate enemy shields and also has a slight tracking ability. Along with that it uses up a lot less ammo when shot normally and makes it a safer alternative to the more powerful UNSC pistol. However, it's charged shot takes up a lot of power, making it more situational, and it is also weaker than the typical pistol and can easily overheat when fired continuously.
 * 29) ** Plasma Rifle: This gun is the most effective on the game's enemies in the first half, as it takes out Covenant energy shields the fastest out of all of the weapons, and also makes fighting Jackals much easier since quick precision aiming would no longer be an issue now that shields ca be taken out quicker. It also does decently well against non-shielded Covenant. However, just like the AR it can spread a lot over a distance and can overheat if it is used to often.
 * 30) ** Needler: When fired and targeting an enemy, the shots from the Needler will home in on the target and will continue to hoe in until they hit. It will first penetrate the enemy when hit and after a few seconds the shard of ammunition will explode and deal extra damage on an enemy and can also cause splash damage if they explode near other enemies. This makes it an effective fire and forget weapon and makes it easy to move on to other targets once a bunch of shards are fired. It also doesn't lock on to friendly targets. However, the Needler's fire is slow and loses speed quickly. You also have to target an enemy first before firing and maintain a lock for extra fire. It can also lose a lock easily
 * 31) *Outside of being used to exploit weaknesses, all of the weapons work differently when fighting normally as well.
 * 32) ** TBA
 * 33) The level design, while it does have its problems, is very open and allows the player to pretty much go anywhere around the map and see what it has to offer, even if the only reward is the player's satisfaction of finding how many crazy tricks they can do to explore every surface of the world. For starters, there are pretty much no invisible walls at all in the entire game, save for if you get incredibly far out into the ocean on maps that have that. While there is a set path for how the player should go to each objective and complete the mission campaign, they can do it at their own leisure and there are multiple ways to finish a level successfully. A good example of this are to alternate paths to escape the Pillar of Autumn and even a fully scripted moment for when you kill personnel on the bridge in the first level. In terms of the combat areas, those are also incredibly open and allow for multiple different strategies to try out, such as using a combination of sniping and stealth or hijacking a vehicle and attempting to run enemies over. There are also a couple of Easter eggs around the map that can add more insight into the world, such as finding Keyes' pipe on the ground in another level.
 * 34) * There are also two entirely non-linear levels in the game, that are also the only ones like that in the series, "Halo" and "The Silent Cartographer". In both levels, the player can explore the map in pretty much any way they want, with "The Silent Cartographer" having multiple opportunities for the player to goof off and explore parts of the map they may have been thought to be untouchable and "Halo" allowing the player to rescue the marines in any order they want.
 * 35) The soundtrack is absolutely timeless and is incredibly entertaining to listen to. During the cutscenes and gameplay sections, the music never feels out of place for what is going on in-game, as the soundtrack knows to use softer and more ambient tones for tense moments such as the build--up to the Flood, and also switches to more fast-paced and heavy beats when the player is in a particularly challenging fight. Along with a good sense of tone balance, the soundtrack uses a wide variety of instruments to create a soundtrack that has a militaristic feel to match the story and setting of the Halo universe, and is also well designed enough in a way that it can be enjoyed by people who might not be as big of fans of that kind of sound, with "Rock Anthem For Saving The World" being a good example of this idea.
 * 36) Despite being a science-fiction first-person shooter game, the world and characters in Halo feel incredibly believable and have a lot of personality to them. The behavior exhibited by the NPC characters in all ten of the levels is a good example of this. The human characters will do many reactions based in what is going on, such as celebrating when a battle is over, many of the different soldiers alongside you having different lines of dialogue and voices, and will show fear when there are to many enemies on the battlefield. The Covenant are also a great example of the game's unique personality, as they run away in fear their leader goes down, and will even fight their own ranks sometimes and ignoring the player, which is great at showing some background on the mysterious race themselves.
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Bad Qualities

 * 1) One of the main issues with the original Halo is its repetitive level design. Many sections of the game, more so in that of the campaign's second-half, are filling with rooms that are very similar to one another in look and design with barely anything to distinguish them from each other, to the point where it can be very easy for the player to get lost when progressing through the level without looking at the arrows the lead to the next area. This will also lead to the player getting bored or tired of going through the same areas multiple times. This is especially true in the game's second-half, as a lot of it feels more like padding than actually being a challenge for the player. However, this repetitive design could be excused for the tight deadline that Bungie had to release Halo as an Xbox launch title.
 * 2) * A good example of this poor level design is the infamous "The Library" level, which consists entirely of the player following around a drone to progress through the level, and all the player does is fight of large waves of Flood until they are able to progress. Not only does this create a series of missions that don't flow naturally like the others, but it also creates a level set that gets boring and repetitive very quickly and is easily the lowest point of the whole game.
 * 3) * In addition, a lot of the levels in the later half consist of revisiting levels from the game's earlier first half with only a few differences being how many enemies are on the battlefield and the scenarios the player has to face. In fact the only revisited level with much change would be the Pillar of Autumn wreckage in the final mission, which has a bit of visual changes.
 * 4) On a similar note to the above pointer, the second half of the campaign is not as good as the first half, as that section of the campaign has a lot more of the repetitive level design, as well as not really adding to much new to the experience other than the introduction of the Flood and a new weapon. However, the story and combat elements are still strong in this section, even if repetition has set in hard at that point.
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Commercial Performance
Halo: Combat Evolved was not an instant hit for Bungie and Microsoft at first, but the game would later gain much traction and sell alongside many Xbox consoles. During the first two months of the game's release, it had sold alongside over 50% of Xbox console sales. After about five months of release, Halo: Combat Evolved has sold over one million copies in total, and would end up becoming the fastest-selling game of the sixth cnsole generation, and would end up selling over 4 million copies for the Xbox version alone by the year 2004. Around that same year, the PC version had sold about 670,000 copies in total.

Critical Reception
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Trivia

 * Halo was originally conceived as a spiritual successor to Bungie's earlier Marathon series, but changed to a real-time strategy game, but the design of the game was changed once again to a third-person game, and finally to a first-person shooter. The RTS aspect would later be used for the Halo Wars spin-off games.
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