GAME REVIEW

HALO>GAME REVIEW

FIRST ENCOUNTER

    What's one way a game really gets your attention? Aside from the obvious (eye-popping graphics, great gameplay, tons of eye candy, cool sounds, rocking tunes, fun factor, etc.), there's something else, and it's the result of dozens of details and seemingly unrelated features: the suspension of disbelief.
     Anyone creating a story works hard to develop something so good that disbelief is suspended for the time you're within the world of that story. That suspension provides the audience with a sense of "reality" within the fictional world of the game/movie/book. Countless little details all work together to help create that world into something both interesting and believable.
     Halo creates a reality within a fiction, and it's compelling. The story, the physics, the weapons, and AI all retain enough of a sense of realism to really draw you into the world that game developer Bungie creates.

This extends to gameplay: for example, the Master Chief can carry only two weapons at a time. This simple limitation is believable (I can't remember the last time I saw a soldier of mere human lineage carrying multiple assault rifles, rocket launchers, and pistols. Those things are heavy!); it also forces you to think about what weapons you're going to carry. I was shocked the first time one of the Marines lost his cool and started unloading his assault rifle into an already defeated enemy while screaming at the top of his lungs. I couldn't really blame the guy. The AI has personality, and makes sense. Some creatures get frightened and run away, while others seem to think you are a mere nuisance and keep on charging, bent on flattening you like an insect.
Any game that makes you think about how you're going to proceed, and more importantly, to survive, is doing a good job of drawing you into its world. Yes, Halo has amazing graphics, great sound and music, good gameplay and story, but most importantly it has a feeling of being there. You become the Master Chief. Even though you know better, you duck and cover when a plasma grenade goes whistling by your head.

This review was done by Carlson

CO-OP MULTI-PLAYER

    My buddy Kyle and I sat down together to a game of cooperative play. We plugged in our two controllers and loaded the first of the multiplayer options. Together, we took on the single-player campaign. When the bullets began to fly, it didn't take long before we got so boisterous that Aunt Caitlin asked us to turn down the volume. Heh.
     Playing as a team, us against them, made it all the more exciting. The action moves faster, and you have to pay closer attention so you don't wipe out your partner. And you can coordinate your efforts as well. At one point, Kyle played sniper and took out the Covenant scouts from a distance, while I positioned myself for a charge.
     Once they'd discovered us, I went in with guns blaring while he changed weapons and prepared to join me. Sometimes we even successfully flanked the enemy, moving in from both sides to meet in the middle in a puddle of alien blood.

Of course, we really felt it when one of us died because it left the other guy standing alone. The game doesn't bring you back to life until your partner has either died or cleared the immediate area of all threats. The wait didn't seem long, but when you're itching to get back in the game it's tough to watch your partner dodge plasma bursts alone. When you both die, the game sends you back to the last checkpoint, as in the single-player game.
It's best if one of you can avoid dying and clear up the area so the dead one can return to the game at the same spot. This means that the surviving player has to take extra care and play ultra-defensively in order to avoid throwing both of you back to the last checkpoint. All the responsibility�and pressure�falls to the player left standing alone. I died first more often than Kyle, so I cheered a lot: "It's all you, dude!"

When I died, the screen remained split, so I had to make sure to keep an eye on my half. They don't give you any audio warning when you're reborn so sometimes I'd get caught flat, still watching my partner's action while the bad guys had started firing at me again.
     Also, we noticed to our dismay that when you quit and save, the game doesn't save at the last checkpoint like it does in the single-player game; it puts you all the way back to the beginning of your current level.
     I found vehicle combat the most interesting in two-player. Kyle drove the jeep (running over Covenant weenies) while I stood in the back and handled the mounted machine gun. I had a hard time at first trying to counter his� driving� while aiming. It added a whole new, frenetic dimension to the action that surprised me. But I got the hang of it. Plus, standing in the back gave me a 360-degree view so I could serve as a second pair of eyes for him.

The advantage to playing with a live person right next to you rather than through an online network is that you get to talk while you play. We were hooting and hollering, tossing back and forth hurried directions and talking strategy throughout the game.
We coordinated our movements, learned each others' tactics and began to work together like a well-oiled machine. Even Kyle said, "We make a pretty good team"; he was right. And then he had to go back to high school and I had to go to work. Sigh.

Review by Martyn Rose