There are few games I’ve put more hours into than Halo. Split-screen and system link multiplayer sessions were at the very least weekly for my friends up until Halo 2’s release, and the campaign I consistently replayed for years past that. But since giving it one last go in preparation for Halo 3’s release, I’d not touched it until this past week. And for the first time, it was really starting to show its age.
Gameplay hasn’t fared exceptionally well, either. Too often encounters are reduced to fighting wave after wave of enemies. It gets tiring. The guns, vehicles and enemy types added in the sequels are sorely missed here. Level design is still mostly excellent, and the core mechanics are solid and well balanced, but it’s starting to feel antiquated.
Where Halo still shines as brightly as ever is in its presentation. Its story is, on the base level, as cheesy as any video game’s, but it’s shown to the player with such confidence and verve that to doubt it is to miss the point. When Sergeant Johnson says, “Am I right? Damn right, I am!” you should laugh a little and pump your first, not scowl and shake your head like you should at most similar FPS cut scenes.
It’s like Star Wars - basically a fairy tale. But it still has depth, with characters that do develop, a universe as complex as any, and religious undertones that you shouldn’t dare ignore. It’s also artfully presented, with cutscene direction that’s still top-shelf. Pacing and scripted sequences are ripped pretty much verbatim from Half-Life, but are just as effective.
Then come the space zombies. I’ve heard people claim they saw Halo’s plot twist coming. I’m pretty sure they were just being assholes. The introduction of the Flood is everything a plot twist should be - it’s totally unexpected, totally a mindfuck, and totally changes gameplay. It’s almost as if the game starts all over again when it’s over halfway done. You’ve gotten used to fighting one way, then all of the sudden you have to re-learn combat. It’s like how Gears of War fucks with your head through slowly introducing new enemies, but all at once. It’s truly sudden the first time you play it. You will be shaken.
Halo is special. It’s plain and simple. Whether you like the game or not (any game with sales and critical reception like this one is bound to spawn haters, I know, but it seems like this series has set a new bar in that respect), its laundry list of quiet innovations have defined what video games this decade have been; more than maybe any other single game. There’s no doubt in my mind it will be looked at as a large part of video game history. Just be sure to play through it again soon, because with every year that passes it inches closer and closer to feeling dated.
