Halo scores a ringer!

It's the year 2552. Earth still exists, but we've expanded our territory considerably. Unfortunately, this doesn't sit too well with an alien coalition known as The Covenant. And, this being an action game, the Covenant is solving this by blasting the crap out of humanity. One ship, the Pillar of Autumn, manages to flee a devastating assault to come across Halo, a metallic ring with planetary atmosphere and landforms. Here is where you, the Master Chief, will take a stand for humanity, and battle The Covenant by land and air for galactic supremacy...

...and that's just the first few levels.

Yes folks, the Xbox has arrived, and it's flagship title, Halo, is a staggering success. Forget the PS2 and Gamecube, this is the way to go, and Halo shows what console gaming is capable of like no game before it.

The gameplay is fairly typical FPS fare, run around shooting and blasting anything that's blinking red on your radar, with a few differences. Firstly, you have considerable fire support from other marines fighting with you on Halo. This really helps to improve the scope of the game, immersing you further into the game and showing you that you really are part of something bigger. Also, you've got 4 different vehicles to move around in, and when you've got marines riding an assault Jeep, firing the miniguns while you fight with the wheel to get your booty around the next turn, this stops being a gimmick and becomes something really cool. Granted, the final mission feels like an excuse to pull out the Jeep one last time, but it's tense and fun, and that's all you can really ask for. The difficulty level is actually fairly low, but accurate. The easy setting is easy(I was able to finish the game in 2 days), and the higher levels get a whole lot tougher. I'd like to note that the AI only improves in courage(not running away from you like sissies) and aim as you increase the level. Their tactics are fairly solid when they stick around and fight at all levels.

I was quite wary of the controls at first, having been very disappointed by the PS2 setup, but with the big, bulky, Xbox controller, one actually has considerable control, and movement and looking feel natural, with jumping, firing and the rest all working fine. The controls aren't quite as good as the Dreamcast's brilliant control design, but you take what you get.

The sound is handled nicely, with a nice choral theme for the game's intro and some pumping guitar riffs whenever the action gets crazy. Voice acting is all above average, and the effects and ambient sounds all feel real enough.

Now, the game's true test was being able to showcase the graphics horsepower of the Xbox, and while the graphics don't seem too spectacular off the top, they vault into the stratosphere once you flick on your flashlight for the first time. The way the light casts it's own shadows that move and twist as you walk around, and reflect off walls beautifully. This is the one effect that the game NAILS, and it feels so eerie to see your flashlight's beam on the walls of ventilation ducts as you crawl around the game's various starships. The rest of the game looks quite nice, particularly the cloaked enemies. The game rips off the effect that the Predator movies used, only this time it's rendered in real-time.

Multiplayer has a variety of modes and variations we've all seen before. Perfect Dark had better MP, so don't buy this game for the multiplayer gaming. It's there, it's just not anywhere near as impressive as the stellar single player campaign.

Overall, the game ranks up with Perfect Dark as one of the best FPS games to ever grace a console. And, with the added graphics horsepower the Xbox provides, it is bar none the best-looking. Provided you have an xbox and don't own this, stop reading now and go buy it. If you don't own one yet, rent one and try this game. It's one of the best, but 200 bucks may be a hefty price tag. If you can afford it, grab a copy today.