8-Jan-2002 Armies of awesome aliens and grizzled marines clash in this epic bloodbath. Like us, you'll want to finish it in one sitting. You won't
Since the dawn of time, frag-freaks have been grunting on about the superiority of the PC when it comes to first-person shooters. And the annoying thing is, they've got a point. With heavy duty processing power, fancy graphics cards and super-precise keyboard and mouse controls, most great PC shooters far outdo almost any in console history; only a few exceptions spring to mind, including Perfect Dark, Red Faction, and the class GoldenEye.
Up 'til now it's been impossible for a console to match the brute computing force of a high-spec PC and create a game that could challenge the likes of Return To Castle Wolfenstein, AVP2, or MoH: Allied Assault. But there's a new brute on the block, Xbox, bringing with it the power and potential to level the stakes in the battle for FPS supremacy.
And Halo proves that consoles can finally kick it with the PC crowd in this neck of the woods, offering an awesome blend of solo and multiplayer co-op magic. "But what about the controls?," you scream, having seen the awkward-looking Xbox pad. Admittedly, the controller has received a lot of stick for being about the size of a small turkey but truth is the controls in Halo are perhaps the most comfortable and instinctive ever found in a console shooter. Add sizzling gameplay and a terrific, twisty plot into the mix and what you're left with is one of the finest first-person blasters ever to grace the console world.
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE You play an elite cyborg, whose ship is forced to crash-land after alien race the Covenant launches an attack. You and your marines end up on weird ring planet Halo and it's up to you to pull Mankind's butt out of the fire.
Now picture this: your motion tracker picks up a cluster of hostile red dots approaching from the east, but suddenly they vanish. In a previous skirmish most of your team were wiped out, so that just leaves you and a couple of grunts to clear a dense woodland area. You catch a glimpse of a Covenant alien hiding behind a shield in the distance. It's an ambush! So you whip out your sniper rifle, zoom in and blat the ugly sucker with one clean shot. But the moment your weapon makes a sound, hoards of aliens appear and a full-scale battle kicks off, catching you in an insane crossfire. And just when you thought things couldn't get much worse, an enemy dropship unloads another small army of aliens, who just the battle. Arse.
What do you do? Find cover behind a cluster of rocks and fight off legions of ETs with your marine buddies, offering back-up in a tactical and intense firefight lasting about twenty minutes. And that's the norm in Halo – there's rarely a moment when you're not immersed in heart-thumping.
CO-OP HEAVEN There are ten Campaign stages and each is enormous and tough as old boots, even when you're playing on the 'normal' difficulty setting. Each level takes a few manic hours to work through by yourself, but you can crank up the excitement factor by tackling it in the two-player co-op mode. Playing in either split-screen or via the Xbox link cable, this hasn't just been tacked on as a multiplayer extra, it's a whole new game.
Thankfully you can play the entire campaign with a mate without having to unlock each level in single player first. And even though the levels are the same as the single-player game, playing through Halo in co-op feels totally different and amazing because you're applying different tactics all the way. Trust us, the sensation of camaraderie is unlike anything you'll have come across in a console shooter.
Throughout the missions, you'll be constantly discussing what strategies to implement in each battle scenario. Also, aliens react differently when two of you are playing: one of you can distract them, while the other sneaks around the back; if you both attack from different sides, they'll split up and try to take each of you on in equal numbers. In later levels there are swarms of small jellyfish-like scuttling creatures that'll try to latch onto you in silly numbers.
There's virtually never slow-down either, no matter how much mayhem is kicking off on screen.
I GOT YOUR BACK! In a typical scenario, you both storm an alien bunker and employ a battle move that involves one of you distracting a giant Covenant bad guy as your partner wedges a plasma grenade in the back of his armour, all the while fending off loads of little aliens. Boom! You decorate the walls in a vibrant mix of extra-terrestrial blood, then go back to the surface and rendezvous with some marine survivors who've been in a battle up top while you've been gutting the base.
There's a 4x4-armoured Warthog jeep overturned on the beach, so you flip it and each choose your positions. You can drive, fire your weapon first-person from the passenger seat, or man the heavy machine gun on the back of the vehicle in third-person. An AI soldier will occupy whichever position is left.
If there are two Warthogs in the area, you can drive one each, with your own team of AI marines riding along with you (to offer covering fire). Plus you get to bomb around in nearly every alien vehicle that pops up in the game – including a flying Banshee – and are able to use most ET weaponry (lots of cool sci-fi laser-type artillery!). The two-player experience is utterly brilliant, but it's all the cool detail, the mysterious plot, and tight gameplay that make Halo feel so involving and unique.
AI = ALIEN INTELLIGENCE There are so many great touches in Campaign mode and you'll love 'em all whether in one or two-player, but it's the AI of the enemies and your interaction with them that really makes it stand out. If they see you chuck a grenade at them they'll dive out of the way. Lodge a pineapple in their armour and they'll run around, arms flailing, before exploding into vapour. They use their surroundings as you would too, ducking behind walls or any object that offers cover.
Small aliens usually attack in large numbers but if they get separated from their buddies they'll run like cowards. However, if you're faced by a big bad momma, they won't be afraid, hanging around to try to break your ass.
As the story progresses you come across another gruesome race of alien mutant-type creatures known as the Flood. Looking like a cross between a Res Evil zombie, one of the Silent Hill nurses and an Alien face-hugger, these guys are pure evil.
Some of these gooey monsters will attack you with blood vessel-like tendrils, others use human weapons like rocket launchers and shotguns, while there's one particular kind that looks like a huge walking Yorkshire pudding that explodes, releasing tons of gunky wall-crawling nasties. In certain parts of the game the Covenant and the Flood will be having a massive battle, and you can just let them get on with it or join in on the carnage.
GIVE IT TO ME GATESY, AHA, AHA There're a few minor niggles, like the lack of map. The main character's jump is a bit floaty too, and some areas in the game tend to repeat themselves. But most of its weaknesses are easily overshadowed by the all-out action bonanza that Halo constantly puts in your path. There are stunning details and sweet gameplay touches that'll impress you from start to finish. Try shooting enemy craft out of the sky and raiding the body of the pilot, or using invisibility suits to take out impossibly hard sword-swinging Covenant aliens. You can even sneak up behind enemies and butt them in the back of the head stealthily so as to not attract attention.
It's details like these, and the fact that the gameplay feels so fantastically organic and fluid, that make Halo a killer launch game for Xbox. If this is the shape of things to come, bring it on Mr Gates, 'cos this is the mutt's nuts.
Michael Cooper
// Overview
Verdict
Halo is truly blessed with its slick sci-fi storyline, buckets of gut-buzzing atmosphere and explosively intense alien-annihilating action. Awesome in both single and multiplayer, this pushes console shooters to an all-new high and even gives the finest the PC can offer a run for its money.
The battles in Halo are huge, and throughout the game you're thrown into some of the most ridiculously intense scenarios ever seen in a console shooter. There are times when hoards of aliens are moving in on you from all sides, on multiple levels, with enough firepower at their disposal to take out a small country. The level of adrenaline that bubbles up inside you as you blast through literally hundreds of aliens will make your hands tremble and your heart pump faster than a hummingbird on heat.
Storm into battle and show 'em what you're made of
Chucking grenades is a brilliant way of clearing small areas
Switch to a rapid-fire weapon to fend off Covenant droves
Every battle is filled with one-on-one close encounters
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