Halo: Combat Evolved

    Now when I review this game I'm going to be speaking in retrospective or basically review the game from a 2001 perspective as opposed to a 2009 perspective because to be honest it would be harder to review this game from a 2009 perspective mainly because its very old and many games have copied the formula this game has laid out.
 
    Halo: Combat Evolved is a FPS game or First Person Shooter game from Developer Bungie who brought us the popular Marathon series and in fact Halo does bear some resemblance to that game, but at the same time it really doesn't which in all honesty is a good thing. The game revolutionizes First Person Shooters on so many levels that is simply quite put one of the best games ever created. Whether it be the Gorgeous visuals or the Outstanding gameplay, Halo sets the bar for the genre. I don't even know where I should begin.
 
 
                                                                                    INNOVATIONS
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    Throughout the Whole game you'll be in this suit of armor called the  MJOLNIR Mark V which basically has an overshield installed on it. This is where one of Halo's many innovations shows itself, as opposed to having a certain percentage of health and retrieving health packs to regain or restore some of that health, Halo gives you this energy shield and basically whenever it gets lowered to a certain point a beeping sound is made and all you have to do to restore it back up is not get damaged for a certain amount of time. This is such an in genius concept that works so well on many levels and really keeps you in the action as opposed to scurrying the levels for health packs, worrying about your health meter all the time. Another one of Halo's innovations is that all the weapons in the game are all balanced as opposed to one weapon being really powerful and another being really weak. This helps make the game fair especially in the multiplayer, gone are the days of getting "the best gun" and having an unfair advantage over the rest of the players in the match. This plays very well in the Single Player portion of the game as well since you wont find yourself being stuck with a shitty pistol, fighting hordes of enemies and instead you will be given a magnum which possesses a lot of power and even a invisible scope which gives it considerable range making just as good as any assault rifle or Shotgun which all have their strengths and weaknesses.  I could go on and on about the many subtle innovations that the game has, but I wont for the sake of time. 
 
 
                                                                          
Gameplay:     The game play in Halo: Combat Evolved is simply put incredibly fun and is satisfying at so many levels. All the weapons sound great and powerful really adding to the satisfaction that the game is so good at doing.All the Weapons are balanced and you can only carry two weapons at a time which may seem like something of a nuisance, but it isn't at all and it really adds a great level of strategy and realism to the game.  Vehicles have also been seamlessly added into the game and it really has never been done this good before. All of the vehicles that the game boasts are satisfying to use each having their strengths and weaknesses, but in all honesty the Scorpion Tank seems to be the most powerful vehicle in the game making the vehicles unbalanced in a certain sense. In a nutshell you'll have a hard time putting the controller down once you get into Halo: Combat Evolved.
 
A.I:    The enemy artificial intelligence in Halo is superb and adds a great amount of challenge to the enemies in which you'll face. Enemies take cover, flank you and your men, dive out of the way of incoming vehicles, and even run away when they feel they cannot hold their ground against you. The A.I is so dynamic in Halo that each time you fight a group of enemies it will never be the same and should be the foreground for future games to follow. Your  allies while not as witty as your enemies do stand their ground fairly well, but are not as helpful as you would hope for them to be, They tend to stand still in the same place a lot and don't really do a good job at taking down enemies, but nonetheless they do help distract  the enemy and overall add a larger scale to some of the battles fought within the game.
 
Graphics: Simply put Halo is one of the best looking console games to date and sets the bar for future Xbox titles to be released in the coming months. The textures look great and are very detailed along with an unseen level of polish and
and the character models themselves look good as well. The enviroments are vast and beautiful to look at to the say the least with draw distances as far as the eye can see. Overall the only minor problem technically that Halo has is that the Framerate can dip pretty low at times during hectic battle sequences or when a lots going on onscreen, but this doesn't happen often enough for it to be a big problem.          
 
Story: The Story in Halo is a unique sci-fi tale of a man named the Master Chief who is a cybernetic super soldier who narrowly escapes a ship called the Pillar of Autumn which was shot down by Covenant forces and crash lands on a nearby artificial planet called Halo. From there you discover concerning revelations about the planet itself and go on a adventure that last 8-10 hours long. I'm not going to give any more of it away because it should be experienced first hand. To put it shortly like everything else the Story is excellent in Halo: Combat Evolved.
 
Sound: The Sound in Halo: Combat Evolved is top notch to say the least. Everything from the sound of your gun firing to the marines at your side chattering about the current battle situation sounds fantastic and is a compliment to the game's excellent graphics. The game's orchestral theme is epic and truly original, it is something as iconic as the Super Mario Bros. theme or the Legend of Zelda theme and will be remembered through the ages for time and time to come in gaming history. Nonetheless the sound in the game also helps make it more satisfying at least in my opinion it does and Halo nails this slap dack in the ass which adds to the experience.
 
 Multiplayer: Halo's Multiplayer is split into two sections: Coop and Competitive and both are outstanding, but the Coop comes out on top as superior to the Competitive portion mainly because the Campaign is the best part of the game so playing it with a friend really makes it a blast to play. The cooperative player plays as a second Spartan soldier which looks identical to the Master Chief, which does not fit into the story anywhere and doesn't make any sense, but that is not what matters. What matters is whether or not its fun and it sure is.  The Competitive portion is great as well especially if you play it in System Link which isn't too conventional because you need multiple TV's and Xbox's to play it so really Split Screen is your only viable option here. Basically the Competitive multiplayer modes consist of your typical deathmatch or in this case Slayer, Capture the Flag Territories and a few unique modes of it own such as  Oddball in which every man is for himself and they have to grab this skull and hold onto it as long as they can without dying. This isn't terribly original, but its still fun nonetheless.    
 
 I could go on and on about this game and what makes it so special, but I would be here forever, but in conclusion Halo: Combat Evolved is simply not only the best Xbox game, but one of the best games ever made on any platform.