Halo: Combat Evolved for Xbox

I really cant say enough about Halo, it's such a great game. The game centers around the scenario that an alien race has conquered Earth, and the surviving humans have fled into outer space and crash-landed on this strange artifact known as Halo. The game then covers the ensuing struggle to unlock the secrets of this strange ring world before the aliens do, and, in the process, save humanity.

Graphics:

This game is absolutely beautiful. Textures are very sharp on nearly every object. characters are very nicely modeled. Most surfaces feature bump-mapping, and the game also features real-time lighting. All these combine to produce a more realistic, immersive atmosphere, and it works! I find myself trying to physically look around corners or ducking when I'm being shot at, I love it.

Gameplay:

The controls take a bit of getting used to, but thats why the first level is easy. After about 5 hours of play, I have absolutely mastered the controls. The controller has dual analog sticks. One is used for motion, the other is used for looking, much like a keypad/mouse combination. The controls are completely customizable so that it's inevitable there will be a control scheme that you will be comfortable with. It may take a little testing to see what you like best, but it works great in the end. This is fairly standard first person shooter fair, point and shoot, but there are also stealth and strategy elements as well. The opposing AI is very smart in higher difficulties, so the typical practice of simply running up and shooting, doesnt work without getting killed. crouching, finding cover, and flanking are all important tactics if you want your character to survive. In addition, your character can, more realistically, only carry two weapons at any time, so it is important to use strategy in choosing what they are.

The best part of the gameplay in my opinion is in the vehicles. When your character enters a vehicle, the game switches to a 3rd person perspective, and you see yourself operating your vehicle. In one player mode you do alot of driving, and it's very fun, it's almost like a game in itself. In co-op mode, you and a friend can exploit the various aspect of the vehicle. For instance, one vehicle is the jeep-like Warthog. In contains space for three marines. What my friends and I usually do is have one person drive, and the other person man the heavy gun mounted on the front. It's really fun.

Worlds:

Never before experienced on a console, thats the only way I can describe these worlds. They are enormous and seamless. In one of the levels, there is an island that would probably take 15 minutes to walk around on the beach, and there are no loading screens. The environments are simply huge.

Controls:

As said before, the main control is covered by the analog sticks. The sticks also have digital clicks when you depress them. Pushing the left stick down causes your character to crouch, pushing the right stick down causes certain weapons to zoom. In addition, there are two triggers on the Xbox controller, one fires your weapon, the other throws grenades. LAstly, the face buttons are mapped for less often used features like jumping or melee combat, switch and swapping weapons, and use of your flashlight(which is real-time). All of those controls are then customizable.

For the most part the controls are easy to use. The face buttons take the most getting used to. For instance, the melee button is particularly handy in close, but it will take about a dozen times of looking down to find it before you get the feel of where it is. The rest of the face buttons really arent used very much in combat, so they dont pose a problem.

Difficulty:

This is a tough game, but it's hard in a great way. It doesnt get frustrating for me at all, because the difficulty levels are set up so well. I play on easy, and I consider it a decent challenge. Playing on normal makes the game an exercise in strategy. Taking cover and co-ordinating attacks with your allies is very important to succeeding on the higher difficulty levels. The levels higher than that are insane, and tremendously hard to beat, so they present a good challenge for people who have mastered the game. On the very hardest setting, I don't think it could ever possibly be easy, and I'd like to meet the person that gets good enough so that it is.

AI:

The AI, opponent and ally is what makes the game shine. Your allies are not stupid, and are actually really great to have next to you in combat. They are nearly as smart as a human player in their attacks. They take cover, they flank. Your enemies are equally smart, they dont just stand there and get shot, and they WILL detect you fairly easily if you do not approach them in stealthy manner.

Multiplayer:

The best multiplayer mode in my opinion is co-op, where you and a friend both control a character on a split screen in the story mode. You'll find yourself yelling back and forth at each other "cover me!", "help, come get me", "get that guy!", "nooooooo!", it's awesome.

There are also Deathmatch and capture the flag options for multiple players, but they are generally only fun with more than 2 people. I would only recommend this option to people with huge screens, or those that plan on using more than one screen, because anything more than a 2-way split in this game is VERY hard to see on a regular-sized TV.

The real downfall of the deathmatches, and the only negative aspect of the game, is that there are no bots, so it's strictly human-to-human combat, no solo pick-up games.

Overall, this is the best game I've ever played, it's so immersive it's unbelievable. It provides at least 15 hours of gameplay even on the easy level. Anyone who appreciates first person shooters must absolutely play this game.