Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved is a video game that consists of 7 releases
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Halo: Combat Evolved takes place primarily on an artificial ring world called Halo or Installation-04, created by an extinct, technologically superior race known as the Forerunners. You play as
Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117, a super soldier, with both genetic and surgical enhancements, created by the UNSC (United Nations Space Command). The game begins with your ship, The Pillar of Autumn, exiting "Slip Space" near the Halo. However, you soon find out you were followed by a genocidal race of alien fanatics known as the Covenant. These aliens have declared war on humanity, moving from world to world eradicating the human race. You crash land in an escape pod carrying the ships A.I., Cortana, given orders to protect her at all costs. You later discover your C.O., Commander Keyes, has also survived the crash, but was unfortunately captured by the Covenant and is being held prisoner on one of their ships, The Truth and Reconciliation. So, Master Chief, Cortana, and some of the marines that survived board the ship and rescue him. Afterwords, Keyes orders Master Chief to find the map room, also known as the Cartographer, and discover the Halo's purpose while he searches for a cache of weapons. Meanwhile, the Covenant releases the Flood, a parasite that devours everything in its path, both Covenant and human. As you fight a two front guerrilla war on the Halo, its purpose is revealed as a giant weapon to eradicate all possible Flood hosts, eliminating all sentient life in the galaxy. You spend the rest of the game trying to find an alternate solution while being assailed by the Covenant, the Flood, and even the robotic keepers of the ring who wish to activate it to contain the outbreak of the Flood. After the game came a book whose main contents were the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, which was called "Halo: The Flood", and is the second book in the Halo book series.
The weapons are separated into two categories, Covenant and Human. The human side is fairly standard, with futuristic looking versions of the classics ( assault rifle, shotgun, sniper, etc.). The covenant technology is all energy based weaponry that fires charged bolts of plasma, or needles/crystals. The plasma rifle and plasma pistol both make use of the bolts of plasma, which you never reload but your gun does over heat and run out of plasma. The needler uses the plasma type crystals to hit and stick to the enemy doing average damage, but when many are stuck to the target it causes them to explode causing heavy damage. The plasma grenade is much like the frag grenade except it sticks to an opponent if they're hit with it. The final weapon is the awesome energy sword which in this game cannot be wielded by the player. Power ups include over-shields (essentially just extra armor), health packs, and active camo (invisibility).
In the PC port of the game, done by Gearbox Software, two additional weapons were added to the multiplayer arsenal, the UNSC Flamethrower and the Covenant Fuel Rod gun. Both of these weapons did not make a major appearance in Multiplayer until Halo 3.
Since the platform did not exist at the time, Halo: CE did not have online multiplayer. This "issue" was resolved with the PC port, adding full on 16 player online multiplayer to the game, multiplayer Banshees, and additional maps created from scratch by Gearbox. (Danger Canyon, Death Island, Gephyrophobia, Ice Fields, Infinity and Timberland)
The first known iteration of Halo was a Real Time Strategy game (Something that was later achieved by Halo Wars) cited by Bungie to be "basically Myth in a sci-fi universe". "E3 2000 featured the first trailer for Halo, which was well received and even before this some journalists had seen previews for the game under a non disclosure agreement and were amazed by it. At this point halo was intended to be a third person action game, in which a ship crash lands on a ring world and early versions of the covenant aliens appear simply to loot what they can, and the humans resort to guerrilla warfare. Microsoft announced on June 19th, 2000 that it had acquired Bungie Studios; Halo had become an Xbox exclusive and Bungie rewrote the game's engine, turning it into a first person shooter. Playable demos carried mixed reactions up to it's release simultaneously with the Xbox on November 15th, 2001.
Halo: Custom Edition is a free expansion that requires a key code from Halo: Combat Evolved to be played. Custom Edition was made by Bungie Studios, which was ported to the PC by Gearbox Software. Halo CE was released by Gearbox as an unsupported version of the original game. However, users do not need to pay to play it, as it is downloadable from selected websites. Halo Custom Edition has the ability to load and play user-created content and maps created with the Halo Editing Kit. Many custom levels have been created by dedicated members of the modding community and have been posted for download at a large number of websites.
Mac System requirements
Minimum
Recommended
With a grand campaign adventure, as well as a finely-tuned, balanced, and highly competitive multiplayer component, Halo: Combat Evolved managed to simultaneously renovate and innovate the console first person shooter genre -- making the original Xbox a viable console option for gamers of a new generation.
Overview
Halo: Combat Evolved is a first-person shooter, created by Bungie Studios, a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios at the time. It was released as an Xbox launch title on November 15, 2001. It is one of the most popular video games for the Xbox, with over five million copies sold. Its sales are rivaled by its sequel, Halo 2, and later by Halo 3. It has been available as an Xbox Original title since December 4th, 2007, allowing users to download the game on Xbox Live Marketplace for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).Story
Halo: Combat Evolved takes place primarily on an artificial ring world called Halo or Installation-04, created by an extinct, technologically superior race known as the Forerunners. You play as
"Into the belly of the beast"
Gameplay
Mechanics
Halo is a pretty standard first person shooter, in the controls department, on the console you use the two joy sticks to move and aim, while on the PC you use the keyboard and mouse. It differs from most others at the time in the damage system, you have the standard health bar with eight bars which decrease if your hit while your shields have failed (can be replenished with health packs). As opposed to picking up an "armor power up" the player always has shields which slowly take damage when hit like a secondary health bar, if hit enough they fail and your health begins to decrease, and if you keep your head down long enough they recharge. Halo made this style of health regeneration popular within many games made today, and this reason is one of many of why Halo was so revolutionary. Along with popularizing health regeneration Halo also popularized restricting the player to only carrying two weapons at a time. It is also remembered for it's extremely tight controls which made it the first great feeling FPS, on the console.Weapons
SPNKr Rocket Launcher
MA5B Assault Rifle
In the PC port of the game, done by Gearbox Software, two additional weapons were added to the multiplayer arsenal, the UNSC Flamethrower and the Covenant Fuel Rod gun. Both of these weapons did not make a major appearance in Multiplayer until Halo 3.
Multiplayer
Halo: Combat Evolved's multiplayer, gameplay-wise, is arguably the best of the entire series by many of the veteran Halo players who have been with the series since its debut in 2001. While Halo 2 and Halo 3 each had seamless online play, a multitude of custom options, and additional new features, Halo: CE's multiplayer component was a culmination of excellent design decisions and all around balanced gameplay. With a truly enormous skill gap separating new players from the battle-hardened pros, an abundance of maps that rewarded player movement and inventive decision-making, and a weapon sandbox that was uniquely well-balanced, Halo: Combat Evolved was not only a fun game to play with a large group of players in a casual environment, it was also an extremely deep, competitive experience.Since the platform did not exist at the time, Halo: CE did not have online multiplayer. This "issue" was resolved with the PC port, adding full on 16 player online multiplayer to the game, multiplayer Banshees, and additional maps created from scratch by Gearbox. (Danger Canyon, Death Island, Gephyrophobia, Ice Fields, Infinity and Timberland)
Development/Production
First Official Halo Screenshot
Post Release
Halo: Combat Evolved gained a large community of fans through the internet and in the gaming media. It also inherited the Bungie fan community that already existed and gained many new fans due to its fantastic campaign mode and multiplayer matches. By connecting up to 4 Xbox consoles through System Link (with Ethernet cables and a router if necessary) Halo LAN parties made Halo: Combat Evolved a phenomenon. Players could play up to 16 player multiplayer matches while all being in the same location to trash talk and berate each other. A year after release Halo: combat Evolved was already being played competitively in tournaments and online using legal tunneling software such as Xbox Connect. While Halo: Combat Evolved's gameplay was simple and straightforward, it has spawned a highly successful series with fans all over the world.Halo Custom Edition
Halo: Custom Edition
Custom Edition's Halo Editing Kit let people create many things including:
- Level geometry
- Bitmaps
- Player Character
- Weapons
- Vehicles
- Sounds
- Game Interfaces
- Level Scripts and Interactivity
- Objects
- Special Effects
- Animations
- Single Player Modifications
- HUDS
Soundtrack
Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori created the now famous soundtrack for Halo 1. The soundtrack was released on CD shortly after the release of the game.Track listing
The Halo Original Soundtrack
- Opening Suite – 3:33
- Truth and Reconciliation Suite – 8:25
- Brothers in Arms – 1:29
- Enough Dead Heroes – 3:00
- Perilous Journey – 2:26
- A Walk in the Woods – 1:52
- Ambient Wonder – 1:57
- The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe – 2:26
- Trace Amounts – 1:51
- Under Cover of Night – 3:41
- What Once Was Lost – 1:40
- Lament for Pvt. Jenkins – 1:14
- Devils, Monsters – 1:30
- Covenant Dance – 1:57
- Alien Corridors – 1:48
- Rock Anthem for Saving the World – 1:17
- The Maw – 1:06
- Drumrun – 1:01
- On a Pale Horse – 1:35
- Perchance to Dream – 1:00
- Library Suite" – 6:47
- The Long Run – 2:12
- Suite Autumn – 4:22
- Shadows – 0:59
- Dust and Echoes – 2:49
- Halo – 4:22
PC System Requirements
- Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP -- 128 MB RAM
- Processor - 733Mhz
- Hard drive - 1.2 GB
- Video Card - 32 mb/ 3D T&L capable
Online/Multiplayer Requirements:
- 56.6 kbps modem or LAN; broadband to run a server
Other:
- 8x CD, sound card & speakers/headphones
Mac System requirements
Minimum
- macintosh computer with 800 mhz or faster processor
- Mac OS X v10.2.8 or higher
- 256MB RAM
- 32MB AGP Video Card (GeForce 2MX/ATI 7000 or better)
- 1.4GB hard disk space
- Internet or LAN connection required for online play
Recommended
- 1GHz G4 or faster processor
- Mac OS X v10.3
- 512MB RAM
- 64MB AGP Video Card (GeForce 4ti-ATI 9000 or better)
| Game Name | Halo: Combat Evolved |
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| Original US Release |
Nov. 15, 2001
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| Original US Release |
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| Aliases |
Halo 1 Halo Halo: CE |
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