A revolutionary game that sets the bar for FPS games.
You play the part of the Master Chief, a cyborg soldier who was genetically enhanced in the Spartan II Project. You are believed to be the last of your kind after the planet of Reach was destroyed buy a mysterious alien force known as the Covenant. After an encounter on the Pillar of Autumn with the Covenant, you land on a strange ring world the Covenant calls Halo. You try to uncover the mysteries of Halo, but the Covenant controls Halo, and they aren't gonna just let you find out what's going on. Time to fight.
First off, the gameplay. The gameplay is smooth and functions perfectly. The controls are easy to learn during the first mission and by the time your into the second level the controls will be embedded into your brain. Not only do you use guns, you must utilize vehicles such as small alien hovercrafts and flying alien gunships. But it all comes together nicely and the vehicular control is simple.
Second, the graphics were great for the time. In 2001 we didn't have all the high tech s**t we have now, so you might think the graphics in Halo are bad, but just remember it's a 2001 game. The aliens look very detailed, and the humans look like a normal human would. They have different facial expressions, during the different moods that they go through. It's all very realistic and makes the battles so much better. Sometimes the game seizes up when alot of enemies are in the same place, but if you back away this stops instantly the game goes back to normal.
Third, the story. In our time, alien video games have been really overdone and they all usually have the same plot: aliens come to Earth to kill us. But in this game, they don't come to Earth to kill us, the don't even make it to earth in this game. Instead they are looking for Halo, which is believed to be some sort of religious artifact to them. Not to spoil the story, but this thing isn't an artifact.
If you want an action filled game with solid play and a unique story, pick up Halo: Combat Evolved. It's truly one of the greatest FPS games ever.