Here's a review I made of Halo: Combat Evolved back in '06. For those that don't want to wade through it all, overall my impression was "It's a shooter, a decent shooter, but honestly, nothing new came out of it."
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So, being the rather non 1st person shooter player I am, I wasn't too interested in Halo when it came out. Nor when it came to the PC, nor when Halo 2 came out. But, as I'm browsing Gamestop, I come by a used $7.00 copy for the PC and thought, "Meh, why not? Every once in awhile I want to shoot something in the forehead."
So, I install and start to play the game, and get pretty much all the plot in one sitting. Big bad aliens, check. Some superweapon, check. Cyborg badass armed with automatic guns and one-liners, check. And that's about it until Bigger very bad aliens come around in later chapters.
On the PC the game runs pretty smooth. Quick response Half Life keyboard set up. Enjoy the always on hand grenades, and the ability to smack people with the butt of your guns is always pleasant. However, one realizes that the game's innovation ends there. Run, run, shoot, run into their face, smack them with your gun, run to the next guy, rinse, repeat. Now, you do have to "Worry" about your health. Except that you have an ever recharging shield that can deflect rockets. So, honestly, there isn't much need to find cover unless you're low on power. Then you hunker down for a couple minutes and then you're Five by Five and ready to go at the enemies again. There is really no sense of urgancy or personal risk.
Unless that risk happens to come from your allies. The buddies that are "backing you up" seem to have a personal grudge against you at all time. This is most apparent when some wacko gets their hands on a vehicle, like a Banshee. See, Master Chief can take rockets without any sort of issue, but if a hover craft going 5 miles an hour taps his shoulder, you die in the most dramatic fashion possible. It comes to this conclusion that the rest of the army is not there for any of their own fighting. They are there for you to walk up to, and shoot in the face with your shotgun because you need that sniper's rifle they're carrying. Otherwise, they serve no actual purpose.
Now, the first set of levels they offer you to play in actually are pretty fun and unique. Running around a ship, then crash landing and working on foot is pretty cool. Then, after awhile you start to "Explore the bowels of Halo." At this time in designing the game, apparently all the level design personnel failed their drug tests, because you run around and fight in the same room lay out again, and again, and again. (Corridor, Big room with glass encased smaller room inside, corridor, bridge, corridor, Big room with glass encased smaller room inside, repeat ad nauseum.) The only purpose of these rooms is to make you start to run low on ammunition, as the only source of bullets seems to be ripping them out of the dead fingers of your comrades. Fatalities either the baddies made, or you yourself made. Of course, you could use the plasma weapons the aliens use. But those guns are absolute crap anyway. Minus the pistol's slight homing ability, there isn't too much reason to waste your time with the Plasma Rifle, or *shudder* the Needler. Not that the Earth weapons are any better. The pistol is largely a joke since it's absolutely the poor man's sniper's rifle, with less zoom and less power (best thing to do with that is pistol whip your enemies to submission, but all your guns can do that). The rocket launcher is nice, however, you're commonly in small, tight corridors, thus it's impractical to use, though that nigh invulnerability due to shield does come in handy. Your best bet is to carry the Battle Rifle and the Shotgun, and use the Sniper's Rifle on those really long corridors.
So, that's about it with the gameplay. Since I got the game used, I didn't get a manual with it, but I figure what I saw is pretty much the extent of the plot. Master Chief remains a completely ambiguous person with no past, no real intentions, no passions, no hobbies. In other words, a very bland killing machine. Some of the supporting characters attempt to liven the scene, but the Full Metal Jacket Marine Corp.s Sargent, and the valant space admiral, and the bitchy AI just don't really make an impact with anyone, nor actually increase any sort of relationship with anyone.
About this time I get rather bored and... notice things. Various inconsistencies with real science. One, your battle rifle has a nifty little compass right on the barrel where the ammunition counter is. It's nice and pretty. Except, you're in space. Stuck on a circular space station, with no absolute magnetic point to base the compass on. Arguably on the space ships you could say that the compass is pointed towards the Engine bays. But one really can't say this on Halo itself. Two, if the alien menace doesn't know about Earth, and we've only recently come into contact with them. How is it they speak our language so well? The little dudes that seem to be the bulk of enemy forces and the largest bullet magnets all scream things like "It's the enemy!" and "Where is he?" and "Ahh, run away!" Erm... shouldn't they be speaking in an alien tongue that I can't understand? You know, because they're, you know, aliens? You might respond that "Well, they've been listening to the Earthling space ships and heard our language!" And that's probably true, but usually one speaks in their native tongue when surrounded by people of your own race. It makes as much sense as when Hans Gruber in Die Hard screams to shoot the glass in German, and then has to repeat himself in English for his (very German) lackey to understand him.
I guess for what it is, Halo is a pretty decent shooter. It does what every shooter should do, which is let me blast hot lead into the frontal lobes of my enemies. Why this game got so big is still confusing the hell out of me. Apparently it's the Multiplayer, but, eh, if Multiplayer is like Single, all I see is two armies running at each other guns ablazing... then cowering in corners for their shields to recharge.
