Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Remembering Combat Evolved

Have you played the first Halo game? Here are the reasons why you should. Harmony 7 has the low-down on Halo: Combat Evolved.

Long Ago In A Galaxy So Far Away …

I feel like the Halo franchise is dying and my heartbreak couldn’t be stronger. Halo has been a staple in my life and is the reason I picked up an Xbox controller so many years ago. And never put it down.

Let’s talk about where it all began…

Halo: Combat Evolved

Master Chief and Captain Keys
Their first meeting

Combat evolved quickly showed us what a really crap storm humanity was in for. Aliens. Aliens everywhere. And guess who is coming to save the day?! Master chief and his trusty AI, Cortana.

You begin to wonder what this is between a robot and a genetically enhanced cyborg. Pretty soon you really begin to stop caring and start accepting their relationship at face value.

Any good story starts you in the best place! The beginning. Let’s just face it, the life of a Spartan is not a fun or easy one. (Not explained in the game) Spartans are taken as children and bred into soldiers. Genetically enhanced to protect mankind from any enemy that comes your way. You don’t sign up. You don’t enlist. Choice is not an option; you just accept your fate.

Pan over to Master Chief, a.k.a John 117. He is a total beast, a machine. Sent through slipspace travel to find some inhabitable place for humans to live other than Earth. Planet Reach is discovered as the most viable option. The Pillar of Autumn is the glorious vessel Master Chief, Cortana, Captain Keys and Sergeant Johnson of the UNSC all travel in and eventually have to escape. The marines on the other hand, have no such luck. Dropped into a derelict planet discovering a new world SEEMS glamorous and exciting.

Enemies

The largest threat is the Covenant – a large, religion-based army. You will find Elites, which are large, strong, smart alien creatures who seem to be fearless. They use a military-esk ranking system. Grunts are a weak-minded easily persuaded creatures. They also have a ranking system but are much less established. A grunt is much more of a follower. We then have Jackals, who primarily have a shield they carry that can be very tough to penetrate. The scariest most dreaded of all covenant however, are Hunters. A very large creature that have worm-like insides and armor plating on the outside. You will realize there are weaknesses to these creatures. Grenades are obviously a good start but, also melee on a Hunters back a few times takes the big man down!

hunter

The Story

A lot of gamers really love a good Science fiction campaign story. Something you really can sink your teeth into. Congratulations gamers, Halo has it all! The covenant turns out is not the biggest threat on this planet. Unfortunately, a disgusting and repulsive parasitic race known as the Flood is here to infect everyone and everything they touch. They grab the corpses of any and every life form they can and keep on spreading forever unless someone does something about it. The fail-safe for these atrocities is a monitor robot 343 Guilty Spark who is put into place to preserve the galaxy. Guilty convinces the Chief that activating the Halo rings surrounding the planet is the best course of action available to abolish the filthy Flood.

Luckily, trusty Cortana is there to inform him that doing so will destroy any living organism in the galaxy! Intending to do the right thing and to save any intelligent life Cortana and Chief set out to destroy the Halo rings so the monitors and sentinels cannot initiate the sequence to destroy all life forms. Naturally, Guilty is not happy about this and sends his arsenal of sentinels to stop the troop.

Marines on Reach

Why Aren’t You Playing This Now?

The best about Halo: Combat Evolved is the fact that this game was SO epic, they took the time to remaster it! You can find an upgraded crisp version of this classic 2001 masterpiece in two forms. Buy Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary released in 2011 or you might as well go for the gusto and grab Halo Master Chief Collection. You not only get Combat Evolved but also Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4 in all their glory. Next time you’re looking for a new game to play, why not buy something that’s been around. Something old enough that it may just start to feel new again.


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