Halo: Combat Evolved

 If you're visiting Giant Bomb, then you already know what the Halo series is generally about.  However, you might not have played the original Halo: Combat Evolved.  If you haven't then I will skip right to the end and say that you should.

Halo: Combat Evolved (H:CE) was a launch title for the original Xbox.  I firmly believe that it was the title that caused Microsoft from just simply packing up and shutting down, as no other title was really worth playing on the console for over a year after the Xbox's launch.  But even with the dubious title of best Xbox launch title, it is a game that holds up over time.

Bungie famously said that their goal is to create 5 seconds of fun over and over.  That is essentially what H:CE does.  But not only does it do this, but it introduced a "real" sense of place and time to a genre (first person shooters) that outside of a few key titles seriously lacked any sense of time and place.

The brilliance of H:CE is that it doesn't try to get too big (aka: Halo 2).  It is a straight forward plot of you, being Master Chief - a super human warrior, trying to survive against a hostile race on a mysterious world (to both you and and the race trying to kill you).  As you travel the ring world of Halo, you learn little about its purpose, its connection to the Covenant (the race trying to kill you), and about the virus like creatures known as "The Flood".  It keeps the story focused and with an appropriate scope.

There are flaws in the game, to be sure.  Some of the levels, the Library for instance, are repetitive and go on way too long.  The vehicle mechanics are tough to get used to as well.  However, these flaws don't take away from the overall experience.

Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the games on my all-time favorite list.  It is a classic, and actually holds up over time.  If you own an Xbox or an Xbox 360, you owe it to yourself to get a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved.