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Nickie Koskinen
A spiritual successor to the studio's earlier Marathon series, Halo takes place in the far-future 2525 where humanity's military force (the United Nations Space Command, or "UNSC") is in the middle of an intergalactic war with an advanced collective of alien races (known as the Covenant). Players control Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (more commonly known as the "Master Chief"), an advanced cybernetic super-soldier (and part of the UNSC's secret SPARTAN program) who is sent out to investigate a mysterious ringworld while being pursued by the Covenant. He is aided by the crew of the starship Pillar of Autumn (namely its commanding officer Cpt. Jacob Keyes and AI construct Cortana).
Along with a single-player campaign (which can be played co-operatively with another player via split-screen), the game features an arena-based multiplayer component for up to four-players split-screen and for up to 16 players through its unique "System Link" setup (where four Xbox consoles are linked together in a local area network, with each console supporting four-player split-screen). Key features of this game includes a limited inventory system (where players can only carry two weapons at a time, and must swap with weapons on the ground) and regenerative shields (which charge over time). The game received numerous sequels and spin-offs throughout the years, mainly for the Xbox line of consoles.
The game also received a port to the PC (in conjunction with Gearbox) on September 30, 2003. This version traded split-screen multiplayer support with online multiplayer for up to 16 players. Along with a Mac release on December 3, 2003, Gearbox released a multiplayer-focused expansion (called Halo Custom Edition) allowing for custom user-created maps, mods, and other content.
The game later received an enhanced port by 343 Industries (in collaboration with Saber) for the Xbox 360. Published by Microsoft on November 15, 2011 as Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, this port features updated high-definition graphics (which can be toggled on-the-fly using either a dedicated button and Kinect voice recognition), remastered sounds, Xbox Live co-operative multiplayer, bonus features (including using Kinect voice recognition to give in-combat directives and finding collectible "Skulls" that modify gameplay when active). Although the multiplayer part of Halo is not included, the port includes a restricted version of the multiplayer portion of Bungie's Halo: Reach, featuring six remakes (created by Certain Affinity) of classic Halo maps. The campaign portion (alongside the original Multiplayer) was later included n the Halo: The Master Chief Collection compilation for the Xbox One.
Halo was a revolutionary first-person shooter in the controls department, inventing the concept of using the two analogue sticks to move and aim, while on the PC the player uses the keyboard and mouse. It differs from most others at the time in the damage system, where it has the standard health bar with eight bars which decrease when hit after the shields have failed (can be replenished with health packs). As opposed to picking up an "armor power up" the player always has shields which slowly take damage when hit like a secondary health bar, if hit enough they fail and health begins to decrease, and if the player keeps their head down long enough they recharge. Halo made this style of health regeneration popular within many games made today, and this reason is one of many of why Halo was so revolutionary. Along with popularizing health regeneration Halo also popularized restricting the player to only carrying two weapons at a time, simultaneously solving the problem of cycling through large numbers of weapons on a console pad and forcing developers to make every weapon "count", as the pistol could no longer be a near-useless weapon of last resort, for example.
Along with the main campaign (which can be done in single-player or two-player split-screen), the game includes PvP arena multiplayer. This mode supports four player locally (through split-screen) and up to 16 players via System Link (where players link up to four Xbox consoles in a local area network, each Xbox supporting four players through split-screen). Unlike other arena multiplayer games at the time, no bots are supported.
While the PC and Mac ports of the game removed split-screen multiplayer support, they added support for online multiplayer for up to 16 players through GameSpy. Shortly before the demise of GameSpy's service in May 2014, Bungie released an official patch to keep the server list functionality online.
The game includes five game modes (known as "gametypes") built-in, all of which are customizable with numerous options (including weapon/vehicle restrictions, objectives, score limits, and respawn timers). After customizing, players can save these configuration as named gametype variants. The game also includes numerous variants built-in.
By default, Slayer variants include an instant respawn timer (with a +10 second penalty for suicides). In addition, players who respawn move faster for a short time, and players who score a kill move slower for a short time (both as a temporary handicap for newer players). Warthogs are the only vehicles that spawn and cannot respawn.
A "kill the man with the ball" objective mode (in free-for-all or team scenarios) where players must find and maintain possession of the titular Oddball to score points. They earn points over time by having one player hold onto the ball. Players who hold an Oddball cannot use weapons or equipment, but they can melee enemies for bonus melee damage.
In addition to allowing multiple Balls, changing traits of ball carriers (and non-ball carriers), and whether or not the Ball spawns in a random location, this mode can be used without the Ball so that players instead gain points by being specially "marked" (which they get by killing another marked player, or by killing anyone if nobody is marked).
By default, Oddball variants include a 5 second base respawn timer (with a +5 second penalty for suicides). In addition, players who are able to score points have a hindered movement speed. All vehicles are disabled.
A "king of the hill" objective mode (in free-for-all or team scenarios) where players/teams must maintain possession of a marked area (known as the "Hill") to score points. They earn points over time by keeping their position inside the Hill's specially-marked boundary.
By default, King of the Hill variants include a 5 second base respawn timer (with a +5 second penalty for suicides) In addition, the Hill remains at the same location throughout the match and has a waypoint marked over it at all times. Warthogs are the only vehicles that spawn and cannot respawn.
A two-team "capture the flag" objective mode where teams must take possession of an enemy flag and bring it back to their flag zone to score points. Similar to Oddball, players who hold an enemy flag cannot use weapons, but they can melee enemies for bonus melee damage.
The plot of Halo: Combat Evolved begins in the year 2525. Humans, under the United Nations Space Command ( UNSC) have harnessed faster-than-light "Slipspace" travel and have colonized hundreds of planets in solar systems across the galaxy. During the Human expansion, they encounter an alliance of alien species, called the Covenant, who are inexplicably intent on the complete eradication of Humankind from the galaxy. Fortunately, the UNSC had previously created a supersoldier program to deal with terrorists, labelling the genetically-modified subjects " Spartans," and equipping the super soldiers with a suit of power armour made of the most cutting edge technology available, that was soon made even more formidable with the addition of energy shields based on stolen Covenant technology.
In August of 2552, the Covenant find the planet Reach, a major Human military stronghold, the second-most well protected planet after Earth herself, and assault the planet with a massive fleet. Reach falls, and most of the Spartans are lost in the battle. One, however, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, commonly known as simply " the Master Chief," escapes aboard the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, a Halcyon-class battlecruiser, that flees into Slipspace away from Reach at a supposedly random vector. The Pillar of Autumn falls out of Slipspace several weeks later in an unknown quadrant of space, unable to contact any other UNSC forces. There, they find a massive artificial installation, shaped like a perfectly round ring, orbiting a gas giant. Cortana, the ship's onboard AI, notes to Captain Jacob Keyes that the ring's inner concave features a terraformed landscape similar to most terrestrial planets, and even has atmosphere and gravity levels comparable to that of Earth.
Within moments of exiting Slipspace and finding the ring, the Pillar of Autumn is located by a Covenant starship, which was already in the vicinity of the ringworld when they arrived. The Covenant, however, withhold bombarding the Autumn with plasma weapons so close to the ring, and instead deploy infantry to board the cruiser. Just before the Covenant's arrival on-board, the Master Chief is awakened from cryo-sleep, from which he makes his way to the bridge, where Captain Keyes gives him his pistol. Keyes's plan is to crash-land the Autumn on the habitable ringworld. Before leaving, the Master Chief takes the chip that contains Cortana and inserts the chip into his MJOLNIR suit in order to prevent her from falling into Covenant hands. Together, the Master Chief and Cortana make their way through the quickly-deteriorating Autumn, toward the ship's escape pods, where the remaining marines on-board have prepared for evacuation. The Master Chief enters a escape pod, and it jettisons from the Pillar of Autumn as the cruiser careens into the atmosphere of the ring.
The Master Chief's escape pod crash-lands onto the ring, killing all the marines within and knocking the Master Chief unconscious. After regaining consciousness, the Master Chief learns that other pods have landed safely within the vicinity and Cortana intercepts Covenant chatter revealing that the Covenant have seized the wreckage of the Autumn and have captured Captain Keyes himself, holding him prisoner aboard the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation. Collecting what is left of the UNSC Marines, the Master Chief, Sergeant Avery Johnson, and dropship pilot Carol Rawley (known in-game by her callsign "Foe Hammer") make a push for the Truth and Reconciliation, where they plan to rescue Keyes from capture. Upon meeting up with him again, Captain Keyes reveals that he has learned through eavesdropping on his captor's conversations that the Covenant call the ringworld " Halo," and that they deem it not only as a religious relic, but as a powerful superweapon, one with enough influence to give its manipulator the power to control the galaxy. Cortana remarks she had intercepted several transmissions referring to a "control room," and that she assumed the Covenant were looking for a control room to a cruiser damaged in the battle above the ring. Instead, the Covenant are actually looking for Halo's control center. Cortana believes that the Humans can get there first if she can interface with a local mapping station referred to by the Covenant as the "Silent Cartographer".
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