Halo Combat Evolved Retro Review
Halo: Combat Evolved Retro Review
Top 10 Games with Amazing Third Person Melee Combat
Since I was a kid, I have played many shooters, from classics like “Call of Duty” and “DOOM” to indie titles like “Nightmare Reaper” and “Heavy Bullets”. And yet, in all my years of playing games, not once have I sat down and played a “Halo” game. Yeah, I know, how dare I, I’m not a real gamer, fire Ty, he has no business reviewing games, blah blah blah. I do have an explanation for this. During the height of “Halo’s” career (circa late 2000’s), just about every game studio was putting out their own gritty military sci-fi shooter. From my perspective, “in the winter, it’s a gun-toting world!”, and I wanted games with more personality, with worlds and mechanics I hadn’t seen before. At that time, I couldn’t help but view every FPS as the same game. And so, I stuck with my own pool of racing, fighting, party, and platformer games. Even though I had an Xbox 360 throughout high school, the closest I got to “Halo” was messing around in “Reach’s” Forge Map with friends. I just couldn’t care about the Chief and his games. It’s not that I didn’t like them - I just couldn’t care...until today. If you follow me on Twitter or pay attention to the MojoPlays YouTube Stories, you might be aware that I have recently become a new owner of an Xbox Series S. I’ve been out of the Xbox ecosystem for nearly a decade now, and after reading some of your suggestions for games to play, I’ve finally decided it was time. Time to step out of my comfort zone. Time to give the Chief a chance and see if “Halo” can capture me just as it did for millions back in 2001. Will it be enough to invigorate an interest in me? Will I end up jumping the PlayStation ship and joining the Xbox family? Will it entice me to *in Master Chief voice* finish this fight? Greetings, ladies and gentlemen of the internet! My name is Ty with MojoPlays, and this is a Retro Review of “Halo: Combat Evolved”! Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos! And hey, you wanna talk Xbox? Got a suggestion for a new Retro Review episode? Follow me on Twitter - @GhostRyderTyler! Before we continue, I’d like to clarify a few things. Yes, I am aware that “Halo: Reach” is the first game in the story, but I felt it was more important to experience the first release as it may set up my expectations for later titles. Plus, the newer games may have evolved better than the original game. Speaking of which, I played this through the “Master Chief Collection” since this is the original game in its most commercially available form. Please understand. Honestly, I’m rather shocked at how quickly I became invested in “Halo’s” story. “Combat Evolved” opens with potentially traitorous bastard Captain Keyes and his crew being attacked by the Covenant, an alien race that plots to use a colossal ringworld to destroy mankind. As faceless-soldier-with-a-sexy-deadpan-voice Master Chief, it’s up to you and the other nameless default soldiers to stop the Covenant and save the human race...though, considering how long “Halo” has been going for, I can tell Chief hasn’t succeeded yet. “Combat Evolved” doesn’t really do anything remarkable that other first-person shooters hadn’t done before. However, I wasn’t really expecting it to, and the game actually did a lot of things to separate itself and make my experience with it truly unique. Environments were diverse and detailed with views that you couldn’t witness in other titles back in 2001. There were a handful of times when I’d stop just to look at all of Halo - the ringworld - from one side to the other and ponder how the Covenant managed to create such a massive structure. I honestly didn’t think I’d be this curious about a franchise I had previously been so apathetic towards. Unfortunately, there were a few times where levels started to overstay their welcome, the most notable ones being when you go and rescue possible-backstabbing-buttmunch Keyes and the level where you assault the Covenant’s snowy base. I get having to use recycled assets as much as possible to save time, but this was ridiculous. The snow level, in particular, had an insane number of rooms that felt the same as the last seven. Gunplay, on the other hand, wasn’t anything I was freaking out about. See, I can be a little picky when it comes to gunplay. Maybe it’s because of how much I play boomer shooters, but I prefer my shooters to be like a stick of dynamite - the reload time is the fuse with my trigger as the “BANG!” I like the suspense between shots. “Combat Evolved” felt a little more like “Call of Duty” but with more spread and less impact. Unless I was using the sniper rifle, it often felt like I had to just keep shooting and pray to god that my shots would hit where I was aiming. This was mostly because of how unnecessarily large my reticles were, and it didn’t help that there weren’t any indicators to tell me whether my shots hit. Perhaps this was a problem that just wasn’t considered back in 2001, but it makes me question why 343 Industries couldn’t implement a simple feedback mechanic. This isn’t to say I disliked all of the combat - I actually rather enjoyed it...for the most part. Weapons such as the Needler, sniper rifle, and Plasma Grenades were fun to use as the way they functioned help break up the monotony of having to use the standard assault rifle. AI was smarter than I anticipated, too. I’m not saying “I expected them to be dumb”, but it felt just as advanced as “Half-Life’s”, if not more. Thing is I can only say that for enemy AI. As for allies, well… Benedict-Arnold-wannabe Keyes got himself offed several times when I was playing on Heroic difficulty. Escort missions, am I right? The one thing I found most surprising was just how goofy “Halo” actually is. I speak as someone who was once an outsider and only knew about the franchise through its marketing. How many times did I get bombarded with ads featuring dramatic music and intense sci-fi shooter action? Too many times, which quickly led to my apathy. By the time “Halo 4” had started blasting itself across the internet and TV stations with ads, I had begun wondering if the games industry had forgotten how to have fun. Imagine my delight when I finally picked up “Combat Evolved” and noticed the silliness that had been lying underneath the marketing’s overly dramatic exterior. Grunts and Jackals cower in fear and run away when they find themselves getting overpowered. You bet I chased them down, elbowing them in the back like how Keyes could carry out a backstab. And way for the game to bring out my psychotic side by planting sleeping Grunts on occasion. Give everyone a taste of the mighty elbow! I also wasn’t expecting to see surviving companions smacktalk and shoot at Covenant corpses. That little touch made my entire experience even more hilarious! I may have some problems with “Halo: Combat Evolved”, but at the same time, I’m kind of glad it didn’t change. There was something charming about it, something about how early 2000’s shooters were made that you can’t find in newer games. It’s a relic preserved to revisit a time in Xbox’s history, a time where people had a reason to pay attention to the newest contender in the console wars. And frankly, I’m really glad I played “Combat Evolved” instead of starting with “Reach” like I originally planned. Despite having spent most of my time in the Nintendo and PlayStation ecosystems, I am stoked now more than ever about playing through all of the “Halo” games while I wait for “Infinite” to come out. After all these years of wondering why so many people were constantly excited about “Halo”, I can finally see it. I can see it about as well as a certain starship captain plotting to betray his crew like the ultra slimeball asshat he is. Did you enjoy the review? Check out some of our other videos, and comment which games you’d like to see covered in future Retro Reviews!