This is placeholding text so that the image displays properly!
-
You can actually see this text if you highlight the logo!
I've been on a bit of a Halo kick recently, thanks in no small part to the obtaining of the Halo 3 special edition Xbox 360; which I can now play my original copy of the Halo games on. So, as an excuse to actually post to the overhauled site, I'll make a short review of the first entry: Halo Combat Evolved!
Compared to later entries in the series, Combat Evolved has a very small weapons sandbox. Of course, this doesn't lead to a lack of fun weapons to use. In fact, I'd say it leads to a very interesting group of weapons that are all able to shine on their own merits. Some of my favorites to use throughout my playthrough were the Plasma Rifle, Needler, SPNKR, and, surprisingly, the Plasma Pistol. Even the more basic weapons are able to shine, which I really appreciate as a girl who grew up on Halo 3 which, while really good, struggles a bit with how similar certain weapons get.
The Covenant is similar to the weapons sandbox; narrow. There aren't any Brutes, Drones, Jackal snipers, or anything of the like. Instead, each species that is in the game has been fine-tuned to be as fun to fight as possible. The Elites in this game especially were some of my favorites to fight in the series; and definitely the best "main enemy" to fight of the original trilogy. My only issue would be with the Hunters, as they can be easily one-shot with a single Magnum shot to the back.
One gripe I do have with the game is the repetitiveness of its missions, particularly during the latter half of the game. Levels like Assault on the Control Room, Two Betrayals, and Keyes all struggle with repetitive room types that can easily get you lost or, even worse, bored. Of course, these don't take away from how good other missions like Truth and Reconciliation and Halo. I don't have much else to say on this specific topic, but I do want to highlight two missions in particular...
Halo Combat Evolved handled the Flood in, I think, the best way any game in the series has so far. First up, there's the mission 343 Guilty Spark. The slow, haunting introduction to the Flood is done so well here. You're actually given time to wonder what the fuck happened to scare the otherwise unstoppable force you've been dealing with up until this point. In my opinion, the repetitiveness of the facility itself is actually good here, as it amps up the horror of being trapped in a weird alien facility with zombie-parasite-things.
Then there's The Library, which I actually didn't hate. The mission has a bit of a reputation in the community for being long, repetitive, and annoying. That's how I felt too a couple years ago when I last played the game. However, this time I actually enjoyed the mission. I think it does a good job at portraying the sheer numbers that the Flood has, and forcing you to deal with it in close quarters really pushes you into playing things safe. I still wouldn't say it's may favorite mission involving the Flood, but it's definitely not as bad as I had initially thoight.
Something I don't see enough people talking about is the game's visuals. For an original Xbox game, it makes really good use of techniques to push the visuals. Those lightmap things or whatever are used all over the place to give otherwise flat textures more depth, and the energy effects for things like Jackal shields are done really well. Honestly, I'd say I prefer the look of this entry over Halo 2, even though that game is technically more impressive.
But yeah, those are my thoughts on Halo CE. I've really started to appreciate this game over the years as I play it more. I'd say that it's currently my second favorite Halo game, behind Halo 3.
