Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)

Beat numerous times, most often on Heroic coop, which was the best way to play the game. I never had an original xbox so I missed out on this game until several years later when I got a 360. In 2017 I beat it on Legendary. It was an interesting experience but the extreme measures needed to avoid constantly dying made it less enjoyable than Heroic. There was a lot of trial and error, cheap one hit deaths, backtracking for weapons and ammo, camping, and shooting from as far away as possible. I used stealth and vehicles whenever possible, including tediously sniping at long range with the ghost and warthog. The most important thing on Legendary was dealing with elites and their regenerating energy shields. Every other enemy in the game could be worn down with pot shots, but the energy shields forced more aggressive play since any time and ammo spent without actually killing an elite were wasted if they got the chance to take cover and regen the shields. To this end it was important to always have a balanced weapon set with the capability to burst down elites and handle the other enemies in the game. This was less important on lower difficulties and especially in coop when both players could focus down elites.

My weapon preference order:

1. Sniper rifle. I am more of a sniper that prefers to hang back and pick enemies off from safe distance rather than do CQC. This rifle can take out elites with 2 to 3 shots without ever coming into risk of taking damage, so it was the best weapon for elites. It was also good for jackals and turrets but ammo was very limited so I had to carefully consider whether the kill could be made easily enough with a more plentiful weapon. It could be used to kill elites at close range too (such as the sword guys), but was otherwise bad to bring into close range battles. It needed to be paired with a close range weapon, with pistol being my favorite combo even if not the most balanced.

2. Rocket launcher. Capable of 1 shotting elites and hunters while also being great against wraiths and ghosts. Wasted against anything else unless just using up the last bit of ammo to swap to something else. As much as I would love to take this and the sniper rifle, this weapon absolutely had to be paired with something versatile. I paired it with shotgun for the final mission destroying the reactor.

3. Plasma rifle. My most used weapon throughout the campaign because it was both common and highly versatile. While not the best against anything, it was a true jack of all trades that was reasonably effective in any situation against any enemy. I preferred the cooling mechanic over reloading because it allowed me to front load damage then switch to another weapon, melee, or take cover. Or to adjust my firing rate to avoid overheating for constant pressure on the enemies. In particular the plasma rifle could burn through an elite's shields and then kill him, while the assault rifle would need to be reloaded. Plasma was highly accurate but the slower projectiles made it more difficult to hit moving targets, especially at range. The battery mechanic meant frequently having to scavenge new weapons and was inherently worse than stockpiling ammo.

4. Plasma pistol. Nearly identical to the rifle in effectiveness. I often used them interchangeably depending on which had the most battery. Or used both at once. The pistol could actually be fired faster than the rifle but this required rapidly pressing the button rather than just holding it down. The charge up shot was great for hit and run, and taking down elite shields, making this gun slightly edge out the rifle on Legendary. Rifle was more fun to use in general though. Ideally paired with something quick firing and accurate to finish off elites after a charge shot.

5. Pistol. The best weapon for taking out grunts and jackals, due to long range accurate shots and plenty of ammo. Also the best against hunters for one shotting them in the back, but it was risky to go in close on Legendary. It was not good against elite shields or vehicles, and only mediocre against flood. It was most often in my loadout during the first half of the game and rarely used in the latter half. It needed to be paired with an anti elite weapon, such as needler or plasma pistol. I never played pvp but I am aware of how overpowered this pistol was. Seems like it should have taken several shots to get through the energy shield while 1 or 2 shotting to the head after the shield went down, like campaign elites.

6. Shotgun. By far the best weapon for flood with reliable 1 hit kills at close range. It was also good against any enemy at close range, including hunters and elites. Unfortunately the shotgun was only effective at close range, making it a huge liability to take outside. It found a spot in my inventory for the close quarters flood missions but I ditched it for plasma when things opened up.

7. Assault rifle. This was another versatile weapon that was reasonably effective against most things, but unlike plasma it had a specialization and weakness. Due to the nearly instant speed of bullets, this gun excelled at hitting moving targets, especially banshees. It was by far the best weapon to shoot them down, being a mandatory part of my inventory whenever they were around. It was also very good at mowing down grunts, sentinels and spore flood. I found it to be a little better than plasma against humanoid flood on Legendary, so my loadout for those missions was shotgun + AR. Unfortunately the AR was less effective against jackals and elites as it could not destroy jackal shields, and required more time and resources to burn through an elite than a plasma weapon. Some may prefer the combo gameplay of having to combine melee, frags, weapon switching and avoiding fire while reloading, but I usually ditched my AR for a plasma weapon at first opportunity. Though I did kill some elites on Legendary via single shot long range sniping with the AR, it only worked because they had no cover.

8. Needler. This weapon was hyper specialized against elites, but not very good against most other enemies. It needed to be used at fairly close range though not as close as the shotgun. I used it by popping out of cover, unloading a full clip at an elite, then rushing back into cover. The after explosion made sure that elite died. This was one of the most effective ways to kill elites on Legendary, so the needler was often in my inventory. But in most situations it was only used as a last resort because it was not as effective in open areas and at range. It could be used on grunts and hunters but was useless against jackal shields. And it was a bad idea to trigger after explosions on the melee preferring flood. It absolutely needed to be paired with a versatile weapon (plasma, AR, shotgun) or one that balanced out its weakness (pistol).

I tended to not use grenades as much as I could have. It was always satisfying to stick and Elite, make him jump somewhere dangerous, or to set off a hilarious chain reaction of explosions from all the grenades I could not pick up. I found plasma grenades better against Elites and Hunters, while frags were better against grunts, jackals, and flood. The best part of the game was operating the warthog with another person or at least an AI. I almost always ended up as the driver and it was a ton of fun to weave around the enemies making hit and run attacks. The AI was actually pretty damn good shot too. The tank was the second most fun because it was the best thing in the game, one shotting nearly everything from long range. It was awkward for me to use the machine gun though because of boxer controls scheme mapping the gun to B. I did not particularly like ghosts and Banshees, but at least they were better than being on foot. The mobility of the ghost was great for taking out nearly anything, especially wraiths, but I had a tendency to reverse into obstacles and flip myself over. Banshees were very difficult to fight in because they lacked any kind of lateral movement, operating like a jet, which was not helpful for evading attacks. I usually just flew where I needed to go then bailed out.

Thinking back to all the people I've played this game with. My very first time playing was co-op with my ex-wife on heroic. She was a close range Grenadier who favored close range weapons and grenade spam, while absolutely refusing to drive any vehicle or even man the Warthog gun. My cousin preferred the assault rifle, rarely using the alien weapons. He was more into CQC, but not to the extreme level as my ex. I played with a 6 year old on Normal or Easy, which was the only time I got to be the warthog gunner. There were other people who did not stand out. I played with my girlfriend in 2023, who knew nothing about the series. It was very interesting seeing her reactions to the story and gameplay. She only wanted to use the sniper and pistol because she came from Call of Duty games and was used to aiming down sight. This time I was the more CQC oriented player. During the tank level I let her use it while I drove the warthog with an AI gunner; that was fun. She got killed a lot while in the tank and I ended up having to drive in front to distract the enemies and make them reveal their positions. Near the end of the 2nd last level in the Covenant shuttle bay, we had to resort to her distracting the enemies from above to give me the chance to rush in and take down 1 enemy at a time. This part was a massive bitch on Legendary. We had a bunch of silly deaths, like me flipping the warthog on top of her, me landing a banshee and getting crushed by it upon exiting, and me accidentally meleeing her while trying to get spore flood. I usually meleed the little ones to save ammo, unless there were a lot or my shields were down. And of course the sudden massive chain explosions from grenades on the ground.

The Master Chief is one of the kings of FPS. Legendary gameplay, weapon, enemy and vehicle design, with excellent AI, story, characters and lore. I don't consider Halo to be quite as good as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Half Life though due to lack of saving at any time and mod support. Split screen makes up somewhat but there were also a few poorly designed elements. The escort mission where you fail if he dies was particularly frustrating on Legendary, the checkpoints could occur right in the middle of a bad situation, and some of the level design was overly repetitive. Sometimes it was difficult to know where to go, and easy to get lost in the repeated rooms. While I can appreciate that it does convey the vast scale of Forerunner Construction, there should have at least been landmarks to make each room and corridor unique; alien writing, dead bodies, damage, equipment, something. The level where the flood were introduced did a pretty good job at making samey looking environments be more distinctive. The level design was the worst aspect of the game. Maps and more regular objective markers would have helped too. Other than that, I did not like how some weapon pickups vanished, probably to help with performance, and the limited flashlight. The flashlight should instead have increased the delay for shield recharge or lowered max shields, allowing me to have it on all the time if I want, but with a tactical cost.

9.2/10

03/12/23

Well, we've almost completed our adventures on Gears of War... So that means the start of a new game!!! And this one has me crazy excited!

While we're on the "Nostalgia" topic, here's a pop quiz: what's more nostalgic for the gamers who have owned and played Xbox their entire lives?

The answer is, HALO!!

Although i'm slightly embarrassed to say that I have never touched any of the campaigns from any of the Halo games, I really am looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about.

Starting with Halo: Combat Evolved, this marks the beginning of my Halo adventures!

Wish me luck, stay tuned for some updates.

Cheers, ~ Groovy Tony

Any Halo fans out there?

Can't recommend the SPV3 mod for the original PC version enough. You need to verify you own a copy, but can find a working PC code online to input if you can't secure one and look hard enough.

I used to look at cut content like the flamethrower, mongooses with mounted guns, etc from the original Halo and cry myself to sleep as the little nine year old I was at the time. They made good on this content in the sequels, sure, but it's not the same as them being in the true classic.

Some madman made my dreams come true. Total overhaul with remastered graphics, new weapons, vehicles, mechanics, sections of levels, etc. Feels like the classic I always loved is fresh again.