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Kicking off one of the most influential series in gaming, 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved is a first-person shooter with heavy science fiction elements and gameplay that helped cement the FPS genre in mainstream culture. Taking place in the 26th century, the player assumes the role of Master Chief, a type of supersoldier known as a Spartan – one that has been cybernetically enhanced at the hands of the United Nations Space Command to battle deadly alien forces.. With the help of AI assistant Cortana, he blasts through countless enemies in a quest to destroy a giant ring that is set to cause a disaster of galactic proportions.
While story is certainly not lacking, it takes a backseat to Halo‘s impeccible gameplay. Smooth movement, intuitive aiming, and engaging enemy AI make for an incredibly entertaining single-player campaign. A generous arsenal of weapons and occasional vehicle use augment the already stellar gameplay. Although the first Halo didn’t officially support online multiplayer, it does offer a split-screen versus mode with up to four players on a single console. For more dedicated players, up to four consoles (along with four corresponding screens) can be linked together, allowing sixteen sweaty gamers to cram into the same space (enticing, eh?) for some of the most intense deathmatches to date.
Development began with Bungie setting out to make a successor to the Marathon series, and the two series share a number of characteristics. But once the team realized their favorite part of the experience was going in and blasting things up, it was clear it would have to be the gameplay’s core. Halo was born! The franchise’s success is so immense that it has almost become synonymous with the Xbox brand and even Microsoft to a degree with the 2014 introduction of Cortana as the Windows AI assistant.
The game would go on to spawn a number of sequels, but in 2007 Bungie split from Microsoft after having been a subsidiary of the tech giant for seven years. Newly appointed developer 343 has handled development ever since; the results have been divisive and of varying quality. No matter the current state of the series, it has delivered some of the most iconic video game characters, weapons, and vehicles to date. Its polished gameplay has been mimicked countless times, an influence that lingers into the current generation.
