awesome game an instant classic
I must admit that I had been skeptical about how Halo would play. Why? Well I'm a very big 1st Person Shooter fan yet I have to say that I have gotten very bored of the same old gameplay coming out time after time. (With the exception of Return To Castle Wolfenstein). Then there is the Xbox controller to consider, consoles don't tend to be the easiest way to play 1st person shooters which most of us gaming fans play via the mouse on a PC.
So how did I feel the gameplay went? Well it has to be said that Halo has one of the best "introduction to controls" sequences I have played on most console games (or PC games for that matter), once you begin the campaign the game begins with a great intro sequence which is all done via the in-game engine. Once the intro has finished and your character is released from his cryo tube to help the fight against the alien menace one of the other friendly characters from the game begins to lead you through the controls. These range from using the top left directional pad to move around to using the bottom right directional pad to look around, there are a load of other controls such as duck, reload etc. It only took a short amount of time to learn how to use the controller at its best, and I can say right now that the controls are excellent and easy to use.
Review Quotes
"It only took a short amount of time to learn how to use the controller at its best, and I can say right now that the controls are excellent and easy to use"
You play most of Halo in first person mode similar to Quake on the PC or Red Faction on the Playstation 2. With Halo this means lots and lots of enemies coming at you at one time, which reminded me of the good old days of Doom on the PC. During the game you can pick up all kinds of weapons ranging from plain old pistols to alien weapons that can fire shards of glass at your enemies. The weapon firing is controller with the top right index finger button on the controller, the left one fires grenades, and it really is great fun throwing them about I can tell you.
In Halo you can only carry two weapons at a time, during the game you tend to make up your own mind about which weapons you like to carry around with you at all times. Picking up a new weapon is easy, all you have to do is walk over it and then hold down the X button on the controller and it then replaces the weapon you were holding in your hand at the time, it is a very simple system that works really well.
During the game you get to ride different vehicles from the fab warthog jeep to flying ships. This is where Halo distinguishes itself from other first person shooters, the way you switch to driving vehicles is done so well it is easy to drive them. They are basically controlled in the same way that you control your character in the first person part of halo, one stick for acceleration/reverse the other for the direction.
So are there downsides to the all great all action gameplay? Yeah sure there are, the fighting can get a little repetitive and there is not enough variety in the alien menace. But none of these detract from the fact that Halo is some of the best fun I have had in a first person shooter since Half Life