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This article is about the video game called Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the Halo series.

Halo: Combat Evolved
Developer(s)	Bungie Studios, PC port by Gearbox Software
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Platform(s)	Xbox, Windows PC, Apple Macintosh
Release	Xbox: November 15, 2001 (U.S.) March 14, 2002 (Europe) April 25, 2002 (Japan) PC and Mac: September 30, 2003 (U.S.)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a first-person shooter video game, created by Bungie Studios. It was one of the launch titles released for the Xbox gaming system on November 15, 2001, and is considered to be that platform's "killer app," or must-have "killer game." Halo was also later ported to the PC and Mac.

In Halo, the player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cyborg "super-soldier" with MJOLNIR battle armor accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence that resides in the neural implant between the battle armor and the Master Chief's brain. The game has been called "easy to learn," and has also been praised for its engaging story.

Halo has sold over 9.3 million copies worldwide since its release on November 15 2001, and only its sequel, Halo 2, has sold more units for the Xbox video game console. The game is widely considered to be one of the best, and most influential, first-person shooters of all time, rivaling such classics as GoldenEye 007 and Half-Life; for example, the usually harsh Edge gave it a full score of ten out of ten, its fourth in the magazine's 12-year history.

Storyline

Template:Spoiler Halo's storyline is presented to the player through an instruction manual, scripted events and conversations during the game, and a number of cut-scenes rendered using the game's graphics engine. This method of storyline delivery is common among modern video games.

Synopsis

The titular Halo refers to an enormous (according to Bungie Studios, either 10,000 kilometers or 10,000 miles in diameter) artificial space habitat which is discovered by the human warship Pillar of Autumn. The central character, the SPARTAN-II super-soldier Master Chief John-117, is aboard this vessel at the start of the game.

The game puts forth that humanity is locked in a bitter war with a conglomerate of alien races dubbed the Covenant. Following the annihilation of one of humanity's last remaining strongholds, Reach, the Pillar of Autumn survives the alien onslaught and initiates a random jump into slip-space, hoping to lead the enemy away from Earth.

The Pillar of Autumn exits slip-space near the gas giant Threshold, its satellite, Basis, and a mysterious ring-shaped space station that orbits Threshold at a Lagrange point between Threshold and Basis. The ring, called "Halo" by the Covenant, is artificial, though teeming with life. A Covenant fleet, however, is also present, and a subsequent battle heavily damages the Pillar of Autumn. Captain Keyes initiates The Cole Protocol —- all records of Earth's location are erased, and the Autumn crashlands onto Halo. The ship's AI construct, Cortana, leaves the Autumn with the Master Chief in an escape pod which also crash lands on Halo.

Game play begins in earnest with the Master Chief's escape from the Autumn, and continues upon crash landing on Halo. With the help of his fellow marines and the ship's artificial intelligence, Cortana, the Master Chief discovers the secrets of Halo while fighting off the Covenant.

The first levels of the game deal with gathering human survivors and an attempt to reach Halo's control center to uncover its purpose. While in Halo's control center, Cortana discovers something, and remains in the control center while she sends Master Chief to find Captain Keyes.

Halo: Combat Evolved chapter sequence

• Chapter 1: The Pillar of Autumn
• Chapter 2: Halo
• Chapter 3: The Truth and Reconciliation
• Chapter 4: The Silent Cartographer
• Chapter 5: Assault on the Control Room
• Chapter 6: 343 Guilty Spark
• Chapter 7: The Library
• Chapter 8: Two Betrayals
• Chapter 9: Keyes
• Chapter 10: The Maw

It is soon discovered that the Covenant had accidentally released the Flood, a parasitic race that gets its name from the way they overwhelm, infest, then spread, much like a flood of water. The Flood sweep across Halo and destroy human and Covenant forces present on it. The release of the Flood prompts 343 Guilty Spark, an eccentric - and possibly rampant - AI responsible for monitoring and maintaining the ring world's systems, to ask the Master Chief to activate Halo's defense system.

After enduring trials and tribulations to retrieve the Index, a key that would activate Halo, Cortana appears and warns the Master Chief not to continue with the activation. She has discovered that this defense system is in fact a pulse weapon that, when fired, would wipe out all life in the galaxy of sufficient biomass and brain capacity to be hosts for the Flood. When confronted with this information, Guilty Spark states that technically, this installation only has a maximum effective radius of 25,000 light years, but the pulse would trigger other similar installations as well, effectively killing most sentient life in the galaxy. This system is designed to stop the Flood from spreading through the universe, if they escape the confinement of Halo, by the only way possible: starving the Flood of any life source large enough to sustain them.

The final levels of the game revolve around the Master Chief's attempts to destroy Halo before it fires, while fighting off the Flood, the Covenant, and Guilty Spark's Sentinels. The game leaves the story open to further developments, with the revelation that there are most likely several Halo ring worlds in the galaxy, due to Halo being numbered Installation 04 by 343 Guilty Spark.

Template:Endspoiler

Characters

Main article: List of Halo characters

Back story

Main article: Halo universe

Gameplay

Halo was the first game to combine features such as recharging shields and a limited inventory of weapons, and has been widely imitated since the game's release. Halo also incorporates different vehicles into its single and multiplayer game types, including an aircraft. The player can instantly change from guerrilla foot tactics to vehicle operations. The vehicles range from giant Scorpion tanks and Banshee ground-assault aircraft, to Warthog jeeps and sleek Ghost hovercraft, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. When driving or piloting a vehicle, the camera switches to a third-person perspective. Vehicles in Halo: Combat Evolved are indestructible, with the exception of Covenant vehicles during the game's single-player campaign, and thus the most common way to take control of an occupied vehicle is to kill the driver, though when a vehicle is flipped over, the entire crew is ejected from it.

Halo's arsenal is smaller than those of most other first-person shooters, but the game has been praised for giving every weapon a unique purpose, making them all useful in different situations. In addition, the Master Chief can only carry two weapons at any given time, forcing the player to switch between them often, and make trade-offs when choosing which weapons to carry. These decisions can be driven by factors like enemy composition both now and in the future, personal proficiency, or even ammunition availability—Covenant plasma weapons cannot be reloaded, and must simply be discarded when their batteries run out, as opposed to the reloadable human weapons. Covenant weapons, though more capable of depleting shields than their UNSC counterparts, can also overheat if fired too often, after which they must be given time to cool down before they can be used again. Human weapons, on the other hand, require both ammunition and constant reloading. They are better suited against unshielded opponents and do not overheat.

In addition, Halo integrated a melee-based close-range combat mechanic - a feature rarely seen before the game's release. Melee attacks do a great deal of damage, but require a steady aim. One distinguishing feature of the game's combat was the relative convenience of sneaking up behind an unaware alien soldier and killing him with a swift melee-attack to the back, which did not alert nearby enemies. The double-melee glitch was prominent in higher class games, as it allowed a near instant kill on a close ranged opponent from behind. The game has a feature whereby hitting an opponent while standing is weaker than hitting an opponent while running or nearing the end of a jump - a useful feature in desperate or close-range situations.

The game is designed with an independent "throw grenade" button, as opposed to most first-person shooters, in which one must holster one's firearm to throw them, and their proper use is critical to survival. The player can carry up to eight grenades, four of each type (human fragmentation grenades and Covenant plasma grenades), at one time. Like the game's other weapons, the two types of grenades are different in their application and effectiveness against enemies: the fragmentation grenade bounces, detonates quickly, and does physical damage (weak against shields) over a short distance, whereas the plasma grenade sticks to enemy targets, takes a little longer to detonate, causes plasma damage (stronger against shields) over a wide area.

The Master Chief's MJOLNIR battle armor has a shield, represented by the large blue bar in the graphic to the right, which protects all parts of his body from damage. The bar (and the shield) is depleted by weapon fire, falling from high areas, being run into by vehicles and grenade explosions, but will quickly recharge if the player is not attacked for a short period of time. As a player's health can only be reduced if his shields have failed, the shield provides the player with a large and relatively permanent buffer of health, and represents a marked departure from most other first-person shooters. In Halo, the shield is the player's primary defense, and on the game's higher difficulty settings, players who do not learn to retreat and regenerate it will find themselves repeatedly killed. Players who do, on the other hand, can survive almost indefinitely. Thus, the shield encourages an almost cerebral level of tactics and decision-making, in addition to the game's "twitch"-based gameplay. If a player takes physical damage after losing his or her shield, it is still possible to regain it through use of a single health pack, which fully restores a player's health.

The game also sports "power-ups." For example, a "stealth" power-up reduces the player's visibility for a period of time, making him little more than a distortion in the air. This effect is gradually weakened if the player is hit by weapons fire or if the player fires a weapon, and then the effect soon recharges. After the camouflage runs out, the player will slowly fade into view. Although this powerup is commonly used for stealth, the player's movement in multiplayer can still be sensed by the motion tracker. Another power-up is the "over shield" - a non-regenerating extra shield which functions on top of the regular shield, giving the player three times their normal damage capacity. When it is active, the normal shield does not take damage until the over shield is completely gone, although any damage overlapping from something destroying the overshield (for example, a grenade's explosion) will take the rest of its effect on the player's normal shield and health. If the over shield is picked up when the player's normal shield is down, the player receives a full charge and the effects of the over shield stay. In the single-player game, the over shield is reduced only when the player is hit, while in the multiplayer game it also weakens at a constant rate.

Allies and enemies

In Halo, there are many types of AI-controlled allies and enemies. The main enemy force seen in the game, The Covenant, is a conglomeration of different species. The Covenant's forces range from the "Grunt," a cowardly opponent who often flees in terror instead of fighting back, to "Jackals," which are somewhat stronger creatures equipped with energy shields attached to their arms, to "Elites," powerful Covenant troops equipped with personal recharging energy shields, to Hunters - large, extremely powerful creatures which have thick armor plates covering the majority of their bodies.

The other main enemy force, the parasitic "Flood," is seen in three major forms; the "Infection Flood" are the parasitic spores themselves, which make up for their extreme fragility by travelling in large swarms, whereas "Combat Flood" are humans and Covenant Elites that have been infested by Infection Flood, their bodies hideously deformed. The third most common form, "Carrier Flood" are infested bodies that cannot be used for combat. Instead, the Carriers are walking incubators for Infection Flood. When wounded or close to a potential victim, they explode, releasing their spores and causing damage to nearby life forms. However, if shot while in a group of Flood, they will also destroy their cohorts. Combatting the Flood are the Sentinels - drones designed by the "Forerunners" to maintain and limit the Flood. The Sentinels possess a powerful beam weapon but, while immune to infection by the Flood, are not particularly durable or resistant to damage. In the first two levels where the Sentinels are encountered, the Sentinels assist the Master Chief in destroying the Flood, but later, they target all opponents, be it Covenant forces, the Flood or the Master Chief.

The Master Chief is often aided by "UNSC" Marines. These troops offer effective ground support, including riding alongside the Master Chief in Warthog jeeps, manning its gun turret or riding shotgun, as well as being passengers on the Scorpion tank.

The AI in Halo was quite advanced at the time of the game's release. For example, the more cowardly types of enemies panic when one of their superiors is killed. If a speeding vehicle comes at them, they can dive out of the way, and prioritise taking cover from explosives or suppressive fire. On the hardest difficulties, the Elites will formulate attack strategies and easily destroy the Master Chief's Marine cohorts.

History

Halo was initially planned as a release for the Mac OS and Windows platforms; in fact, the game was first previewed at the Macworld Conference & Expo, New York, in 1999. Halo was originally conceived as a real-time strategy game, which Bungie Studios has called "basically Myth in a sci-fi universe."

Early versions of Halo with slightly different storylines were presented at both Macworld 1999 and at E3 2000. In these versions of the game, the player was a Marine Recon Unit of the Human Empire. Pursued by Alien Covenant ships, a ship under the command of the Human Empire is damaged and crashes on Halo, where the player would have had to defeat humankind's sworn enemy through a guerrilla war over air, land, and sea above and below the surface of Halo.

However, on June 19, 2000, Microsoft announced that it had acquired Bungie Studios. Following the announcement, Halo was redesigned exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox video game console, and after numerous delays released on November 15, 2001 in North America, March 14, 2002 in Europe and Australia, and April 25, 2002 in Japan.

On September 30, 2003 a port of Halo developed by Gearbox Software was released for Windows, followed by a release for Mac OS X on December 11, 2003. The port released for the PC comes with slightly altered multiplayer maps when compared to the original Xbox release. The Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game were released with coding issues that caused some slower systems to be unable to play the game, however, and thus the Halo ports required a more powerful computer and graphics card to run smoothly than other PC first person shooters with similar system requirements.

Easter eggs

Halo contains a number of Easter eggs:

• The "Megg:" An egg which was originally intended as a "gift" only to be seen by the then-girlfriend, Meg, of Jaime Griesemer, a Halo developer. Meg later revealed the location of the Megg through clues.
• A developer's tag stained into a wall (Rex)
• The "Food Nipple Grunt:" a Grunt who is only in the game to deliver his one line, and is the only Covenant enemy who has a weapon but will not attack the player
• The ability to hear a musical selection ("Siege of Madrigal") from a previous Bungie Studios game, Myth, in a special zone within the campaign mode
• Outside the bridge on the Pillar Of Autumn, there is a bulletin board with several posters on it, most of which are eggs
• Upon selecting "Edit Gametypes" on the multiplayer select screen, an image of a Spartan appears to the right, with small captions pointing to various parts of his body. On closer inspection it is revealed that these captions are actually easter eggs, such as the line "All your base are belong to us", an internet meme
• The badge on Captain Jacob Keyes' shirt bears the Marathon logo. It also has a piece of text next to it. The text reads "Hello, my name KEYES," a spoof on "Hello, my name is" stickers given out at conventions for identification purposes
• When a player name is created as ".fortune" (not including the double quotes, but including the period) certain quotes will appear on the screen. The most famous to gamers, I like beans. Note, this doesn't work on the PC version as periods cannot be used in creating profiles

Multiplayer

Halo's multiplayer is accepted as some of the best available on any console. It was revolutionary in its seamless support for up to sixteen players through a standard network hub. This, combined with a well balanced array of vehicles, weapons and maps led to Halo becoming a firm favourite among console owners.

Halo: Combat Evolved does not support Microsoft's broadband gaming service Xbox Live, due to it not being available at the time the game was released. However, the game is playable via Xbox Connect packet tunnelling software, which simulates a Local Area Network over the Internet. Thus, using the game's "System Link" option enables people to play online with and against each other. The successor of Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, fully supports Xbox Live. I will own you all on halo pc

Criticisms

Halo has its criticisms - GameSpy placed the game in tenth place on its list of the Top 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time, one reviewer stating that the game "recycl the same areas over and over until you were bored to tears."

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Books

As of December 2005, three books have been written based in the Halo universe. With a few exceptions that are addressed below, these books are considered canon by Bungie.

• Halo: The Fall of Reach is a prequel to the game, written by Eric Nylund.
• Halo: The Flood is an adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved by William C. Dietz.
• Halo: First Strike takes place between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, and is written again by Eric Nylund.

Additionally, Halo: Ghosts of Coral (working title) is currently being written by the author of two of the previous novels, Eric Nylund. Presumably, this book will pick up where Halo: First Strike left off; otherwise, the beginning of the sequel game, Halo 2.

Awards

• E3 2000 Game Critics Awards: Best Action Game

See also

• Halo (video game series)
• Halo: Custom Edition
• Halo 2
• Halo 3
• Halo Original Soundtrack
• Red vs Blue

References

1. "Halo: Combat Evolved on Metacritic".
2. Game cover
3. "Halo: Combat Evolved review at DreamStation.cc". Retrieved August 5. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
4. Accardo, Sal. "GameSpy's review of Halo: Combat Evolved for the Xbox". GameSpy.
5. "Halo sales". Retrieved 2006-05-19.
6. "Halo 2 sales". Retrieved 2006-05-19.
7. Issue 105, pg 1
8. "Interview with Matt Soell". Retrieved August 4. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
9. "Halo: Combat Evolved" for Xbox review". Retrieved August 2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
10. "Inside Bungie: History". Retrieved 2006-06-19.
11. "Subnova Megg page". Retrieved 2006-06-07.
12. "Top 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time". Retrieved 2006-06-26.
13. "Joe Staten Interview". Retrieved August 6. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• Official site
• Halo on Xbox.com
• Halo wiki walkthrough at StrategyWiki
• Halo: Combat Evolved at MobyGames
• Combat Evolved at The Halo Wiki

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• Mac OS games
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