Apologies for the sporadic posting recently; I just moved to a new apartment (well, I moved the couch, TV, and chinchilla, and got the internet set up) so I’ve been unable to surf the zeitgeist as I usually do. I’m hoping to be back on schedule with my posts within a couple of days, but, while I catch up on things, please enjoy this article I wrote shortly after acquiring a Series S (but never got around to posting)….

As I’ve previously mentioned, the only Xbox consoles I’ve owned prior to my recently-acquired Series S were a pair of well-loved 360’s, (the first of whose lives was cut tragically short by the notorious red ring of death). My only real experience with the non-360 entries of the Halo series was through friends’ consoles – I’m talking old-school Xbox, with the Duke and everything.[1] Most of these friends had already played the campaigns of both Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 until the nuances of each level were better engrained in their minds than their mothers’ birthdays, so multiplayer it was. If I had a penny for every time someone blew my (virtual) brains out with a battle rifle, I would be…above the poverty line, probably. I was really bad at Halo (and my friends were much, much better).

Moving on.[2]

I knew the overall plot of the first couple of Halo games, because I’m a tremendous nerd who could be spending his time on better things, but, as mentioned, I had yet to experience the campaigns in the first person (ha, ha). I haven’t gotten to Halo 2’s yet, but I thought it might be good to get my impressions of the first game down while they’re still fresh (given that I just finished it earlier tonight).

First of all, wow, this gameplay. The best way I can describe it is to say that It’s fucking delicious. There are tons of other pieces out there breaking down the specific aspects of Halo’s gameplay loop, weapons, and level design, and why they’re successful (I recommend the Act Man’s YouTube videos on the series, but there are a lot of great takes out there), so I won’t spend much time on the topic here besides saying that this game just feels good to play. The “holy trinity” of gunfire, grenades, and head-bashing is present and accounted for – although I should note that Master Chief’s melee attacks seem to lack a bit of oomph, at least on normal difficulty.

Yes, I know I’m a scrub, that’s why I played on normal. I’m sure I could have gotten through on Heroic, although I don’t think it would have been as fun for someone at my skill level, at least for a first-time playthrough.[3] Part of this, I think, has to do with the different mindset the developers had when approaching Combat Evolved’s design – that is, different in comparison to the ever-present “Ubisoft style” of open-world game design so pervasive in today’s industry. Combat Evolved is distinctly more freeform in its play than games inspired by more “modern” design trends, notwithstanding the fact that many of CE’s levels are (relatively) linear. Everyone knows how great “The Silent Cartographer” is in terms of condensed open-world design, but it’s far from the only setting that permits a wide amount of latitude to the player. Flexibility enough to frustrate yourself, if you’re not willing to explore – but also flexibility enough to allow you to feel truly clever for the way you conquered an encounter, (even on the lowly normal difficulty).

I found myself getting blown up by things that I couldn’t quite identify – as in, I know what it looks like to get blown up by a sticky grenade, or blown up by a Wraith tank, or blown up by a fuel rod cannon – but this just seemed like random barrels exploding, where I didn’t expect random barrels to be doing that. I’m going to blame myself for this one; a lot of initially frustrating situations in Combat Evolved can be overcome with a change in strategy and/or equipment. I just had to break out of the habit of expecting the appropriate weaponry to be spoon-fed to me – once I started spending time poking around levels for spare rocket launchers, my tactical options opened up considerably.

Another point: this isn’t Combat Evolved’s fault, by any means, but I did end up with a frown more than once when I couldn’t boost the Banshee or Ghost…these environments are just begging to get boosted through. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to deduct points from my score because of this, though. Just gives me something to look forward to when I get around to Halo 2. As first demonstrated in Mad Max II: The Road Warrior, vehicular homicide is at its best when turbo-boosts are involved.

Speaking of vehicular homicide, the game’s last level (the excellently-titled “The Maw”) would be close to perfect if Warthogs didn’t have the biggest propensity toward fishtails since Captain Ahab. My escape from the Pillar of Autumn was closer to an embarrassing comedy of errors than a badass getaway, but it’s a testament to the strength of the level’s setup (and the soundtrack) that I didn’t get bored – and only got a little frustrated – over several attempts.[4] I generally preferred the other vehicle-centric levels, particularly the occasions when I got my  hands on a Scorpion tank. My playstyle has always been more “hammer” than “scalpel,” after all.

            Let’s talk about the Flood really quick(ly). As far as plot twistiness goes, the Flood’s entrance hits about as hard as The Sixth Sense[5], given the two (plus) decades that have passed since the game’s initial release. I have to imagine the introduction of a new enemy faction halfway through the game – especially one as gross as the Flood – was mind-blowing back in 2000. Unfortunately, we’re in a much less fun year, and the Flood are less exciting than they almost certainly were back in the good old days.

            You already knew this, but Halo: Combat Evolved has aged like Keanu Reeves (that is, arguably too well). The gameplay is fluid and flexible and supported by interesting encounter design and satisfyingly chunky weapons. The plot managed to be engaging for someone (me) who already pretty much knew everything that was going to happen. The graphics are clean and relatively crisp, especially for an older game.[6]

One final point – I gotta give the soundtrack another shoutout before I wrap this up. Just hearing the opening strains of some of these tunes is enough to make a guy want to drive a poorly-handling military truck into a horde of marauding aliens, consequences be damned.

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[1] Even Shaq felt like his hands were small when he held the Duke.

[2] This is a fun game called “create your own fucking segue.”

[3] If you want to start an argument about video game difficulty re: a game that has difficulty settings, please don’t. You could be doing so many other things instead, like whittling an intricately detailed Man-O’-War from a bulging, vascular hunk of Cedar.

[4] Yes, I’m terrible at video games. You are neither the first nor the last person to realize this, but you’re a beautiful, unique snowflake nonetheless. 

[5] Bruce Willis was living in a simulation the whole time!

[6] Plus, there’s not much point in griping about the graphics of older games unless they were terrible at the time of release or otherwise have aged so heinously that they impact one’s enjoyment of the title.