Is it worth playing Halo in 2020? We deal with the original trilogy

In 2019, a collection was published Halo: The Master Chief Collection, who finally made it possible to play PC players in the classical issues of the series. And in mid-July 2020, it was replenished with the third part. Why do you need these games at all, some of which are almost twenty years old? We understand the example of the original trilogy, how the franchise is played Halo in 2020.

The forerunner of success

It all started with the fact that the developers Alex Seropyan and Jason Jones created a small company Bungie Software Products Corporation to make software and modest games like a puzzle Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete. In 1993, they developed an exclusive shooter for Macintosh PathWays Into Darkness. The game became quite successful, which allowed Seropyan and Jones to increase the team and move to the new studio. There they are in an atmosphere resembling a student hostel, they managed to somehow develop a cult shooter Marathon, who brought them good dividends. It already had some mechanics who in the future will become a characteristic feature of Halo. Obtaining information about the world through hidden diaries and computers, multi -level cards and reloading the power shield in addition to the main strip of health.

Branded gray corridors, for which Halo love and hate, also became a chip of Bungie long before her flagship project

Initially, Marathon was to be a continuation of Pathways Into Darkness, but from mysticism the studio passed to science fiction and aliens. About the same story happened with Halo: from it they wanted to make a strategy and at the same time a sequel to another successful IP studio – Myth (As a result, the third part was given to the development of another company). And she became a juper even by a happy chance. Once Jones and Seropyan saw how Marcus Leuto, art director of the studio, “closed” the camera in the technical demo to Warthog’s infantryman. They liked it so much that they decided to try to rebuild the mechanics and make a first -person shooter, returning to the concept of Marathon. On E3 1999, the game was personally represented by Steve Jobs, in 2000 Microsoft acquired Bungie , and the game has become a temporary exclusive for Xbox.

What happened next is already a story.

Halo concept art from the artist Bungie Shi Kai Vanga

Sandbox before the start of times

The plot of the first part even then struck the imagination with its scope – at least by the standards of the shooters. In the XXVI century, people are conducting a desperate struggle against the Covenant, the Union of Alien Ras, which longs to completely destroy humanity. The ship Pillar of Autumn with Master Chief on board finds a mysterious planet-ring Halo-a sacred object for carpets. In fact, it turns out that the planet is a superweapon designed to save the galaxy from interplanetary parasites.

The rich ENT is one of the most significant advantages of the game, but most love the creation of Bungie, first of all, for the honed gameplay. In appearance, Halo is not much different from other shooters, but for 2001 she offered a lot of innovations. First of all, the authors brought the enemies to a new level: each variety of carpets had their own habits. The shitty shorties of the grunts scattered if someone was killed next to them, the proud elites could get angry and run into hand-to-hand, if they shoot at them too aggressively, and the flood, the same parasites, just dragged the player on the endless stream of biomass.

Hunters are another corporate enemy of the Halo series, the main headache of all players. A fight with several of them immediately often turns into a test of strength and accuracy

But intelligence is not all. Before Halo, no one made such beautiful open spaces that the players immediately christened with “sandboxes”: not in the usual understanding of the Sandbox-IGR, but close to them. There is a level divided into conventional zones (for example, the valley goes into closed rooms that lead to the beach), and there is an ultimate goal-usually to capture something, beat off something or pull the desired switch. How and in what order you will come to this goal – your business. You can rush into the most bake with a machine gun at the ready; You can find a sniper rifle and clean the area from afar; And you can try to knock out a pilot out of enemy equipment and break into a fort on a trophy tank with plasma guns.

Sniper rifle in Halo – an ultimatical weapon. It is better to protect each cartridge, like a real treasure

From the chamber of measures and weights

Among other things, it was in Halo that mechanics appeared, which for many years became a standard for console shooters – an energy shield, which gradually restored after a small “rest” in shelter. This significantly increased the dynamics of the game: together with smart enemies and a shortage of first -aid kits (ordinary health, unlike the shield, was not automatically restored), the mechanic allowed to take risks and stay in the battle until the last. Even if the player was mistaken and received damage, he did not have to run in level for a long time to replenish his health.

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Playing the first and second part through the Master Chief Collection, by pressing Tab you can switch the updated graphics to the original and see what great work the artists did

In general, much of the fact that in modern shooters is accepted for granted, in Halo appeared for the first time. But how it is https://playhub-casino.co.uk/ felt now? If you have happened to go to reprint and you just want to refresh memories, then there is nothing to worry about. In the Master Chief Collection set, developers noticeably pulled the schedule of the first parts. They looked good before, and now some landscapes can be admired without jokes.

If you are just starting to get acquainted with the series, then the better. The first Halo is still able to surprise even the most sophisticated players-gamedes and work on AI passed the test of time. Thanks to them, each new shootout really does not look like the previous. Grushoki cowardly cling to the elites and firmly shoot at the player from around the corner, but it is worth turning away-and some daredevil will definitely finge you in the back. Cunning jackals, in which case, may be divided: part will fire to suppress, and the rest will try to get around you from the flanks. In the end, sometimes carpets fight the flood without your participation; you can not be substituted in vain and pass by – let yourself be fighting.

And such situations – a wagon and a small cart. At high levels of complexity, Halo, in principle, does not forgive errors; At the time when AAA-blockbusters lead the player by the handle, such a game experience is very missing.

Shots solve everything

Thanks to the success of the first part, the question of the sequel did not stand: it was clear to everyone that Halo 2 should come out. The developers have prepared very thoroughly: American gamers, for example, remember well Arg (augmented reality) called I Love Bees dedicated to the release. Some of those who have passed the similar game The Beast, for example, received mysterious parcels with honey banks inside. For the rest, Bungie hid a hint in the Halo 2 trailer, which led to the site Ilovebees.COM: there the player community received tasks and solved puzzles to prevent the invasion of some artificial intelligence, allegedly related to the invasion of the carpets.

Loading screen I love bees

The game diverged in a circulation of almost 8.5 million copies – an absolute record for the first Xbox. But the release on the PC, held three years later, disappointed many. There were reasons for this: weak graphics with exorbitantly high system requirements, dozens of bugs and an exclusivity imposed by Microsoft for Windows Vista, which, to put it mildly, few people like.

But under all these problems, fortunately, there is still a great game. The plot has become more sweeping: Chif beats the attack of carpets on the ground, only to see how a flood accidentally released in the first part becomes a real threat to all living things. Moreover, you can see these events with the prospects of the carpets, because playable characters in Halo 2 two: master chief and alien arbiter. So Bungie tried to better reveal the main antagonists of the series: from a faceless threat, the aliens turned into a full side of the conflict, with their motivation and background.

Gameplain, the referee almost did not differ from Chif, but the opportunity to look at the confrontation from his point of view is a good move

Otherwise Halo 2 Remained Verna to the principles laid down in the first part, but became more, more beautiful and richer on opportunities. The arsenal of weapons has expanded, and now some trunks could be taken in both hands. The health scale disappeared, only the energy shield remained – therefore, the first -aid kits sunk into oblivion, which strengthened the mechanics of health regeneration in console shooters even more. As a result, the sequel as of 2020 is played no worse, and even better in places the first part – it is larger and more dynamic. Someone can say that the absence of a radically new ideas is a sure sign of a bad game, but not in the case of Halo.

A joke repeated three times

If the first two games were available to PC Gamers, then the third at one time bypassed computers by the side. Halo 2 had an open finale, and now those who have never had Xbox can finally find out how the three -way conflict of humanity, carpet and flood – Halo 3 reached a PC in Master Chief Collection. The developers did not change anything in the gameplay and simply improved what already worked perfectly: new weapons, new gadgets (for example, transparent carpet-barrier of the carpets), AI of opponents feels even smarter.

At the end of the trilogy (the new enemy will be released in the next games in the arena) Chief and the referee finally brought down in the same team. In addition, in Halo 3, a cooperative for four players first appeared – to pass the campaign shoulder to shoulder with friends is much more interesting than alone; some levels are quite difficult to master without a cohesive team. The studio worked well on the flood: to fight with gragor -like parasites is now not more difficult than before; The level inside the hive has become one of the brightest moments of the game. And for fans of the network game, the Forge editor was prepared, which to this day praised for flexibility and convenience.

Otherwise, this, once again, is the same game as in 2001 – and this is never bad. Only the technical side is upset. I can’t judge for sure, because I did not play the console version, but the graphics seem to have not changed at all – – Halo 3 It looks worse than older brothers. Plus there are strange problems with sound – a click when reloading the weapon seems to be muffled, which at first is slightly confused. And in general, of course, for someone it can be a serious problem that he is in the same time, in fact, the same game for the third time. Just know that if you do not like the first two parts of the game, is unlikely to like the third.

In Halo 1-3, a modern player can certainly miss something. Pumping, crafting, open peace, “royal battle” … On the other hand, there is nothing superfluous in them. Everything is in its place, everything works like a clock even after more than ten years. And now the trilogy can fly in one fell swoop – what I advise you to do.

Still, FPS with such honed gameplay is a rarity.

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