Where's Dr. Halsey? I need some armor plates replaced right away! I got hit with a Needler in an uncomfortable area...
As Spartan 117, better known as Master-chief, you're sent out to explore a ring-shaped planet. Assisted by Cortana, an artificial intelligence integrated in your MJOLNIR suit, you'll have to find out why the Covenant activity is so high there and what their interest possibly can be.
Though the game play is pretty linear you have the freedom to run or drive around to explore the area and clear up some paths you'll be needing to go to after finishing certain tasks. Several actions are scripted, so after hitting a button somewhere to open up a door and traveling to that certain construct you've explored before, you'll find the immediate area not to be empty anymore, but guarded by Grunts, Jackals, Elites or worse: Hunters.
I've found the game somewhat repetitive when you're some levels up and get to clean out a construct consisting of large hallways and big rooms after your first contact with the Flood. The hallways and rooms just keep going on and the Flood keeps coming and coming at you draining your ammo. I most certainly hope Bungie will take notice of that for Halo 2.
The surroundings look wonderful, nicely detailed and good lightning effects. Also the effects of the weapons look great. A surround sound set makes the game more intense, most certainly when you're font of the multi-player. I myself am a solo FPS player, but I can imaging it could be the difference between life or death.
After finishing Halo, I bought and read these books:
Halo: First Strike (How Masterchief was recruited)
Halo: The Flood (The story of the first Halo game)
Halo: The Fall of Reach (The Covenant are looking for Earth)
The good news for us PC gamers is that Halo 2 is coming, I've first found it a shame I couldn't continue to follow Master-chief's adventures without having to buy an X-Box. Microsoft made a wise decision to not let us down completely, bad thing is that we're probably gonna need Windows Vista with DirectX-10 to play the game.