Halo: Combat Evolved is a <a href="http://halo.wikia.com/search.php?q=video">video</a> <a href="http://halo.wikia.com/search.php?q=game">game</a> in the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre, created by the Microsoft-owned Bungie Studios. It was released for the Xbox <a href="http://halo.wikia.com/search.php?q=game">game</a> console on November 15, 2001 and is backwards-compatible with Xbox 360.
Spoiler warning: Plot and ending details follow.
Gameplay
Summary Halo's gameplay is characterized by several features which set it apart from less acclaimed first-person shooter games:
Storyline execution: Halo's gameplay and storyline have been known to be tightly interwoven, and delivered in a convincing manner which is consistent with the flow of the game. Vehicles: Halo incorporates many vehicles into its single and multiplayer games, including flying ones. Weapons system: Halo's weapons system is unusual in two respects. First, it allows one to carry only two weapons at any given time, forcing the player to switch weapons often and make trade-offs when choosing which weapons to carry. Second, Halo has an independent button for throwing grenades. Artificial intelligence: Halo's AI was quite sophisticated for its time. For example, the more cowardly types of enemies would panic when one of their superiors was killed. If a speeding vehicle came at them, they could dive out of the way, and they could take cover from explosives or suppressive fire. Movement and aiming Movement in Halo is similar to other first-person shooters, allowing the player to move forwards, backwards, and strafe left and right independently of their aim. On the Xbox, moving and aiming are normally separated between the two joysticks; and on the PC, between the mouse and the keyboard.
Halo also allows the player to crouch and jump, although jumping from a high ledge will often result in death. Damage from falling can be reduced or negated entirely with a well-timed crouch, right as one lands.
Damage system Main Article:Health Health: The player in Halo has a finite, non self-regenerating health which can be fully restored by picking up health-packs. Running completely out of health will result in death, but having lower health does not impede player actions. A player's health can only be reduced if his shields have failed. Shields: The player carries a shield which protects all parts of his body from damage. The shield will decrease in strength every time it is hit by a weapon, and will fail after taking enough hits, but will quickly regenerate if it is not hit for a period of time. The shield represents a marked departure from most first-person shooters, in which one's health bar is basically augmented by picking up "armor," and it is entirely possible, in the single-player campaign at least, to simply not have enough health points to survive the next section of gameplay. Halo players, on the other hand, have a more-or-less permanent buffer of health at their disposal (assuming they manage to find time to regenerate the shield), making it less of a disaster to take hits in combat. Powerups There are three types of powerups available in Halo:
Health Pack: Fully restores the health of the player. Active Camouflage: Drastically reduces the player's visibility for approximately 45 seconds, making all but a faint outline of him transparent. This effect is reduced if the player is hit by weapons fire or if he or she fires a weapon. The player looks very similar to the Predator from the movies. Overshield: An enhanced, non-regenerating shield which is three times the strength of the normal one. The overshield functions on top of the regular shield - when it is active, the normal shield does not take damage. In the single player game, the overshield is reduced only when the player is hit, while in the multiplayer game, it also weakens gradually with time. Enemies Three factions of enemies are encountered on Halo:
The Covenant: The Covenant whose Fleet of Particular Justice was led by the Supreme Commander, the future Arbiter are an alliance of different species, including the cowardly Grunts, the weak Jackals with their visible energy shields, the Elites with their personal energy shields, and the huge, tough Hunters with strong armor. The Covenant mostly carry plasma weapons of varying power. They also make extensive use of vehicles. The Flood: The parasitic Flood are encountered in 3 forms: the lowly parasitic spores themselves, which usually die from a single shot; combat forms of former humans and Covenant whose nervous systems have been taken over by the parasite, which are tough and may carry either human or Covenant weapons; and exploding carriers, which cause splash damage and release spores. Forerunner Sentinels: Part of Halo's defense system, the Sentinels, led by the Monitor 343 Guilty Spark, are hovering robotic drones, and will attack Flood, Covenant, and (after the level Two Betrayals) the Master Chief. Although possessing a powerful beam weapon, they are not particularly resistant to damage. Weapons Main Article:Weapons All usable weapons in Halo belong to either the Covenant or the UNSC (humans). The player can only carry two weapons at a time, in addition to up to 8 grenades (four fragmentation grenades and four plasma grenades).
Covenant weapons are better suited for reducing shields, and typically fire faster than their human counterparts. With the exception of the needler, they do not require ammunition or reloading; instead, each weapon comes with its own battery. Once this battery is depleted, the weapon must be discarded. Covenant weapons can also overheat (except the needler) 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 to reducing health, and do not overheat. However, on easy, and normal difficulty level settings, the difference is often negligible.
Human Weapons M6D Pistol MA5B Assault Rifle M90 Shotgun S2 AM Sniper Rifle (SRS99C) M19 SSM Rocket Launcher M7057 Defoliant Projector/Flamethrower (Halo PC) M9 HE-DP Grenade Warthog's AA/chain gun Covenant Weapons Plasma Pistol Plasma Rifle Needler Fuel Rod Cannon (Halo PC) Plasma Grenade Vehicles The vehicles available to the player are listed below:
Warthog - UNSC Light Reconnaissance Vehicle Scorpion - UNSC Battle tank Ghost - Covenant Reconnaissance and Rapid Attack Vehicle Banshee - Covenant Aerial Assault Aircraft Note that the Banshee is unavailable in multiplayer in the Xbox version.
There are also several vehicles that are not player controllable, like the UNSC Pelican dropship, and the Covenant Spirit dropship. The only tactically interesting of these vehicles is the Covenant Wraith Mortar tank, which fires large 'plasma bombs' in parabolic arcs towards its enemies. These bombs, if they score a direct hit, will often destroy vehicles or kill if the spartan is not equipped with an overshield. They can be taken down most effectively with explosive weapons such as the Scorpion's main cannon, the rocket launcher, or the Banshee's fuel rod cannon.
Environments Halo features a wide variety of environments in which combat occurs, including the human starship Pillar of Autumn, the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation and the Flood-infested version of that same ship in Keyes, ancient buildings on Halo itself, and vast outdoor expanses of varying climates, including the temperate lands of the levels The Silent Cartographer and Halo, the desert in the first half of the level Truth and Reconciliation, the winter wasteland of the levels Assault on the Control Room and Two Betrayals, and the spooky forests and swamps of the level 343 Guilty Spark. Six of the ten levels feature a substantial amount of combat outdoors.
Multiplayer Up to 16 players can play together in one Halo game over a local area network, using four Xbox's that have been connected through a Ethernet hub, but also can be played on xbox connect which is a way of tunneling a connection via a pc. The game's seamless support for this type of play, as well as a few large maps that can comfortably hold up to 16 combatants, is a first for console games. The PC version of Halo officially adds online play and also new vehicles (the Banshee which previously only featured in single-player, and a version of the Warthog which features a tri-barrel rocket launcher) and weapons (the Fuel Rod Cannon, sported by the spec-ops grunts on the last level, and the never seen before Flamethrower) for multiplayer.
Blood Gulch is one of the most commonly played multiplayer levels. The level contains two buildings at either end of the level, with open desert in between. Some of the features include a cave, in which experienced players may store vehicles, and cliffs that players can use to snipe their opponents. This level is also the location for the situation comedy Red vs Blue. A revamped version of Blood Gulch reappears in the sequel, Halo 2 under the name Coagulation, and there are some similarities, but the general map size is increased, with added use of caves, and the inclusion of the Banshee.