Halo: Combat Evolved review:5 stars (One of the best First Person Shooters Ever Made!) - Halo is awesome! I enjoy it just about as much as Medal Of Honor, "which is another great game." This game has millions of cool things about it, but I will just mention a few.

First, the gameplay. This game will have you hooked until you can't stop because of the great story, voice acting, and gameplay.

Second, the graphics. These graphics are top of the line, state of the art. The texture is amazing.

Third, the music. Halo features an exceptional soundtrack, it mixes Techno, Orchestral, Rock, and New Age, all together for a well rounded experience.

This is awesome, really.2 stars (For years I wondered what the fuss was about. Shouldnt have bothered... ) - I hate Halo. The reasons are long and complicated. Let's start from the beginning:

This game was developed for the XBOX and got a rather large fanbase. I heard nothing but good things about it for several YEARS. Not liking sports games and already having several computers to mess around with Linux on, I saw no reason to buy an XBOX. I really didnt want to buy this game because I do NOT like console FPS controls. When the PC version was announced, I got a bit excited. I finally got Halo as an OEM disk with the Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2.

My first stumbling block with Halo was the sleeve it was packed in. On the back, there was a label keeping the flap down to seal the paper and plastic enclosure. Just along the bottom of the flap was printed my CD key. This is the WORST place to put a CD key, because it will be RIPPED. After carefully working around the key, I got the cd out and installed the game. It ran rather well at high detail on my then videocard, a GeForce 4 Ti 4400. I played through the first portion of the game. I felt it was alright, but nothing groundbreaking. Then I tried multiplayer. The update system was severely flawed, and took forever to retrieve small files. When I managed to successfully update (after consulting the official website), I entered a server.

First of all, multiplayer is VERY laggy, no matter what. EVERY server I have ever tried lagged horribly. On top of that, it just wasnt fun. After playing for about 20 minutes, I grew tired of it. Im the kind of guy who can spend a whole Saturday playing any (or all if I want some variety) of the Unreal Tournament games. I LOVE a fun, original FPS. Halo did not satisfy that love for me.

About 6 months later, Halo 2 was about to be released. I got into an argument with about half the people at my school as to how decent a game Halo is. I came home one day and began searching for the CD key to install the game. Sadly, it is lost. Being a resourseful nerd, I exported a registry key from a 2ndary computer that still had the game installed. Success! I began playing each evening after school. All my friends noticed what I was playing on Xfire and asked me why I was playing the game I loathed so much. I was determined to play through the entire game to see why anyone could love it so much. About 8 days later, I completed it. Including messing around in multiplayer (painfully), I completed the game.

It was a poor FPS.

Let me give the reasons for my extreme disdain for Halo:

1. The enemies are really weird and dont feel original enough. They dont seem to be the kind of thing that would represent a threat to earth. Besides, whats up with the 2ft tall guys that cant tell which way theyre running?

2. The weapons are standard FPS guns. A pistol, a shotgun, a repeating machine gun thing, and a few neat ideas that werent that cool. The "sticky" weapons were neat, but could have been cooler. Nothing felt very "real" like the weapons of a better FPS would. A sniper rifle should feel like a sniper rifle. Enough said.

3. The vehicles are clunky. The warthog slides around too much and flying vehicles should be able to do more than jump. The ones that DID fly were just plain hard to control.

4. Arent there enough games that focus on shooting zombies/mutants with a shotgun? "House of the Dead" action doesnt work well in a scifi FPS. The whole chapter where the Flood are introduced was too similar to House of the Dead and DooM.

5. Anyone who has played the Metroid series through (not counting the 3D ones) will notice a DEFINITE influence here. Does anyone see the resemblance of the "Elite" units to the Space Pirates of Metroid? Anyone else wonder about those little creatures that latch onto your head? Make them translucent and what do they resemble? And does anyone notice a certain similarity in Master Chief's visor to a certain bounty hunter's helmet? Oh, and anyone who has finished any of the Metroid games will know EXACTLY how the ending goes. Its no different.

I realize that most people will click "No, this review was not helpful", and I respect that. I don't know very many other people that have my same oppinion on this subject. However, if you want to play something original and unlike any other game you have ever played, look elsewhere. 5 stars (HALO is the best PC out on the market.) - Halo is the best PC game i have ever played. i thank bungie for bringing this game to all gamers. i loved this game. i play it 24/7. the gameplay plays good. great battles that you play through. the stroyline is good. the best pc game i have played. if you are a begginer the online play is hard. their are some good halo players. you will die. BUY THE GAME!!!
Halo: Combat Evolved Features:
Science Fiction (Sci-Fi, Scifi)
Computer Games
Adventure
Action
Shooters (Shooter)
Strategy (Strategic)
CD
ESRB Rating: Mature
Genre: Shooter
Mission: You and the other surviving defenders of the devastated colony-world make a desperate attempt to lure the alien fleet away from earth.
Platform: Windows 98/98SE/Me/2000/XP

Halo- Combat Evolved is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 17.99USD.