Halo : Combat Evolved?

Bobfish — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:52:36 +0000

OVER THE CENTURIES of Human history, there have been issues that have divided us. Matters of such great importance that even the possibility of meeting someone with an opinion different than your own will cause anything and everything to grind to a complete halt until the argument can be resolved. And just when you think you have considered every possible permutation, every facet and diverse angle, along comes someone else that can say â€œyes! But what if?â€

Questions such as which came first, the chicken or the egg? Do aliens exist? Empire or Jedi? (I say neither personally. A new hope is the best by far). But none have divided so many people so rapidly, as the choice between Halo and Half-Life. Having now taken the time to play through both of them, I find myself in the unenviable position of putting forward my own opinions on the matter. Though, as this is a review for Halo, the Half-Life references will cease here. We’ve had enough of the endless back and forth bickering between those two factions thank you very much.

So this brings us to the nitty gritty. Is Halo really any good?

Sadly, my opinion is that it is nothing more than mediocre. Whilst I can see why some people would like the game, especially if it was their first foray into the FPS genre, I personally found very little to keep me entertained. The choice of weaponry available is almost criminally tiny and I found the aiming reticules to be, well, odd to say the least. And speaking of weapons, I find it highly dubious that the Chief somehow managed to procure an assault rifle from…somewhere during the few seconds between the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next. Of course, picking up a new one whilst taking a ride on a Pelican is one thing, but to just…acquire one out in the middle of a swamp is…makes you wonder where he gets them from.

Of course, that’s only a minor issue. But it’s the kind of thing that actually rather bugs me simple because it’s so minor. After all, surely being such a simple issue it should have been the matter of only a couple of seconds to implement. It’s like how on other games (no names) you have to fiddle with your weapons and what not to get it back to what you had when you last played the game rather than the necessary information being stored as part of your save game.

Halo, does, however, have some points in its favour. The mythology behind it all is rich and intruiging, and the fact that it is actually the â€œnobleâ€ Humans being portrayed as the savage, bigotted destroyers was a nice touch. After all, Halo is a holy place for the Covenant, the fact that it also happens to be a weapon designed to wipe out all organic life in existence had nothing to do with them. Of course, when it comes to a choice between destroying a holy site and genocide, the Chief probably made the right choice. But that doesn’t make his motivation any less suspect.

Long story short, I was far from impressed with Halo, and really cannot fathom why some people are so rabidly profuse about how great it is. The level design was uninspired, the scripting was awful (especially Cortana’s incessant bitching) and the game was just too damned easy. Plus, well, it has to be said, but if I wanted to play Half-Life again then I’d just play Half-Life. So there’s one more reference, so sue me.

Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Audio/Music: 7/10
Plot/Scripting: 5/10
Overall: 5.5/10

Final note : This game does, however, earn the Bobfish Almighty award for being the best bluffer of the recent gaming years

Gamerz Reviewz » Combat Evolved

Halo : Combat Evolved?