It definitely hasn't aged the best but playing this game for the first time all the way actually makes me see what makes this genre so great in the first place, Halo Combat Evolved is a pretty fun time especially with the multiplayer component
Let's start by saying this, the remaster isn't great, the atmosphere is kinda lost at certain points, making everything look to bright, plus the music and sound effects sound slightly worse compared to the original which are still good but pale in comparison to the original and while some Character models like Chief himself and the humans look a lot better than the original but others like Cortana and the flood just look off to me and from what I've heard Cortana's model is imported from Halo 3 and it kinda shows, even then i feel the colours look kinda saturated and cheap in my opinion, still the fact you can change graphics on the fly is great since in my opinion the original 2001/2003 presentation still holds up today now with a higher framerate and resolution so it makes my complaints a bit obsolete, now onto the game.
First things first, the Multiplayer, it's great probably one of the fun multiplayer experiences I've had right up there with Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Maker 2 , it's a bit unbalanced with the Pistol weapon but i had a great time with it mainly due to the map design, each of them feel unique and overall pretty different from your average fps game, there's a lot of variety too while i mostly played Slayer due to being the most simplistic and fun one to me others like Capture the Flag, Big Team Battle and Race are also pretty good so overall Halo 1's multiplayer is really great.
But i'm rating the while game as a package, not just one part and the campaign while enjoyable certainly takes the package down a lot. The story in this game while simple is decent due to strong character writing and vocal performances, you play as the strongest solider Earth has, Master Chief as you journey through this uncharted alien planet, Halo, while fighting thousands of the alien race, the covenant. There's a lot unexplained but you can at least make out the simple goal and narrative, plus the characters are well written such as Sergeant Johnson and Cortana give some well-needed comic relief in the game while not being intrusive , Keyes and Chief are badasses that will do whatever to protect humanity no matter the cost, and the twists in the 2nd Act of the game are pretty well-executed all things considered one gripe i have is that i wish the villain was better developed but overall in terms of story, Halo Combat Evolved is pretty solid as this.
However in terms of gameplay, this is where CE while fun definitely shows it's age here, the controls feel really smooth to use and the weapons here aren't overpowered or underpowered as each Weapon aside maybe the Assault Rifle have a clear use and weakness in each situation you face plus the Health system (which allows you to give a second chance if you're bombarded with enemies) 2 Weapon limit and the 2 types of Grenades (Frags, which are more powerful and Plasma which can stick to enemies) also add good level of strategy to the Weapon Sandbox, the enemy AI is (mostly) and AI as a whole is good as each of them have a predictable and readable pattern they follow in each battle you but each enemy encounter feels unique.
However where this game's age can be easily showcased is the latter half of the game. First the vehicle physics while fun to mess around with feel janky but i guess that's part of the charm but more importantly the 2nd Act, The first 5 levels in this game are a dream though can a bit confusing at times especially in silent cartographer and Halo, but even then it's very isolated in terms of it being bad a solid 8-9/10 due to the fun, challenging yet fair enemy encounters and strategic Weapon sandbox, then the Flood come in, i do think the level they're introduced in, 343 Guilty Spark is decent especially with the narrative it tells but whenever they peep their ugly heads in, the game turns from a challenging yet fair game into a pretty frustrating one, some encounters are fine but others are hell, mainly in Two Betrayals, oh man Two Betrayals, it, Keyes and maybe the Maw though the Warthog chase is pretty epic it's just the bit where Guilty Spark is floating around and thousands of Flood and Sentinels (oh yeah those exist too) just spawn around you all the time but these levels have an insane amount of trial and error even with any weapon i used i had to get insanely lucky, spamming any Grenades i have to even kill them, whenever the AI duke it out i just let them to their own devices and pray the flood get perished, i feel as if the AI is too good for them since they are completely unpredictable yet still unfeasibly challenging too face and that's my biggest issue with the game, the flood they aren't fun to face and i don't know if i'm bad at the game or the AI but i played on Normal so i don't know if Easy fixes this, there is another issue and that is the repeated level layouts but i wouldn't really mind since the enemy layouts and aesthetics are different along with 3 factions duking it out but again the Flood and sometimes the Sentinels kinda damper the theme they were going with the repeated stages.
So overall Halo 1 is game that is dated but i still have some fun with, the multiplayer is basically a 9/10 though the campaign while still enjoyable, the 2nd Act feels rushed (though considering how this game was basically a RTS turned into a revolutionary FPS i can see why) i can see what makes the fps genre so great in the first place and not all fps games are as boring or as vapid as Call of Duty or the Far Cry Games after 3 so i do hope Halo 2 does improve from the campaigns issues (probably not due to the troubled development but that's for next time).
Let's start by saying this, the remaster isn't great, the atmosphere is kinda lost at certain points, making everything look to bright, plus the music and sound effects sound slightly worse compared to the original which are still good but pale in comparison to the original and while some Character models like Chief himself and the humans look a lot better than the original but others like Cortana and the flood just look off to me and from what I've heard Cortana's model is imported from Halo 3 and it kinda shows, even then i feel the colours look kinda saturated and cheap in my opinion, still the fact you can change graphics on the fly is great since in my opinion the original 2001/2003 presentation still holds up today now with a higher framerate and resolution so it makes my complaints a bit obsolete, now onto the game.
First things first, the Multiplayer, it's great probably one of the fun multiplayer experiences I've had right up there with Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Maker 2 , it's a bit unbalanced with the Pistol weapon but i had a great time with it mainly due to the map design, each of them feel unique and overall pretty different from your average fps game, there's a lot of variety too while i mostly played Slayer due to being the most simplistic and fun one to me others like Capture the Flag, Big Team Battle and Race are also pretty good so overall Halo 1's multiplayer is really great.
But i'm rating the while game as a package, not just one part and the campaign while enjoyable certainly takes the package down a lot. The story in this game while simple is decent due to strong character writing and vocal performances, you play as the strongest solider Earth has, Master Chief as you journey through this uncharted alien planet, Halo, while fighting thousands of the alien race, the covenant. There's a lot unexplained but you can at least make out the simple goal and narrative, plus the characters are well written such as Sergeant Johnson and Cortana give some well-needed comic relief in the game while not being intrusive , Keyes and Chief are badasses that will do whatever to protect humanity no matter the cost, and the twists in the 2nd Act of the game are pretty well-executed all things considered one gripe i have is that i wish the villain was better developed but overall in terms of story, Halo Combat Evolved is pretty solid as this.
However in terms of gameplay, this is where CE while fun definitely shows it's age here, the controls feel really smooth to use and the weapons here aren't overpowered or underpowered as each Weapon aside maybe the Assault Rifle have a clear use and weakness in each situation you face plus the Health system (which allows you to give a second chance if you're bombarded with enemies) 2 Weapon limit and the 2 types of Grenades (Frags, which are more powerful and Plasma which can stick to enemies) also add good level of strategy to the Weapon Sandbox, the enemy AI is (mostly) and AI as a whole is good as each of them have a predictable and readable pattern they follow in each battle you but each enemy encounter feels unique.
However where this game's age can be easily showcased is the latter half of the game. First the vehicle physics while fun to mess around with feel janky but i guess that's part of the charm but more importantly the 2nd Act, The first 5 levels in this game are a dream though can a bit confusing at times especially in silent cartographer and Halo, but even then it's very isolated in terms of it being bad a solid 8-9/10 due to the fun, challenging yet fair enemy encounters and strategic Weapon sandbox, then the Flood come in, i do think the level they're introduced in, 343 Guilty Spark is decent especially with the narrative it tells but whenever they peep their ugly heads in, the game turns from a challenging yet fair game into a pretty frustrating one, some encounters are fine but others are hell, mainly in Two Betrayals, oh man Two Betrayals, it, Keyes and maybe the Maw though the Warthog chase is pretty epic it's just the bit where Guilty Spark is floating around and thousands of Flood and Sentinels (oh yeah those exist too) just spawn around you all the time but these levels have an insane amount of trial and error even with any weapon i used i had to get insanely lucky, spamming any Grenades i have to even kill them, whenever the AI duke it out i just let them to their own devices and pray the flood get perished, i feel as if the AI is too good for them since they are completely unpredictable yet still unfeasibly challenging too face and that's my biggest issue with the game, the flood they aren't fun to face and i don't know if i'm bad at the game or the AI but i played on Normal so i don't know if Easy fixes this, there is another issue and that is the repeated level layouts but i wouldn't really mind since the enemy layouts and aesthetics are different along with 3 factions duking it out but again the Flood and sometimes the Sentinels kinda damper the theme they were going with the repeated stages.
So overall Halo 1 is game that is dated but i still have some fun with, the multiplayer is basically a 9/10 though the campaign while still enjoyable, the 2nd Act feels rushed (though considering how this game was basically a RTS turned into a revolutionary FPS i can see why) i can see what makes the fps genre so great in the first place and not all fps games are as boring or as vapid as Call of Duty or the Far Cry Games after 3 so i do hope Halo 2 does improve from the campaigns issues (probably not due to the troubled development but that's for next time).
Reviewed on Aug 03, 2022