Halo

Bungie Software's sci-fi shooter will take no prisoners! Humans and aliens will battle for the future on the Xbox. Halo ain't no angel

The Xbox gained a lot of attention back when Bungie Software first announced that Halo would be an Xbox title. Now in overdrive mode, the team at Bungie is taking Halo to a level above and beyond what console gamers have come to expect in a first-person shooter.

In Halo, the humans have lost a war with a seemingly unbeatable alien race called the Covenant, and have lost badly. Now, a few survivors of an elite military unit have crash-landed on the planet Halo, where they make a last stand against their alien pursuers. However, this ragtag group of soldiers has stumbled upon something big. This planet holds many secrets, and might be humanity's last hope.

Halo will primarily be a first-person shooter, with some third-person vehicle driving sequences. The gameplay will take place outdoors on the planet's surface, as well as indoors. Outside, you'll get to pilot hovercraft, buggies, tanks, and more on the ground, and you'll be able to take to the air in stolen Covenant ships. However, battles on foot will be the mainstay of gameplay.

Multiplayer games on the Xbox will support up to four players on a split-screen for deathmatch and team-based games. In addition, two players will be able to play through the story in cooperative mode.

The graphics in the Hands-On preview version we played were excellent, with just the right amount of color mixed in with muted tones. The particle effects on explosions were particularly well done, making for very realistic explosions?and there will be a lot of explosions in Halo. Mixing outdoor and indoor environments will also make Halo more visually exciting. Breaking out into full daylight after battling inside shadowed hallways has a dramatic effect.

The gameplay will be fairly standard, with close-quarter and stand-off gun battles indoors. However, in the preview version, it was easy to burn through ammo, and reloading wasn't as fast as you'd like it to be! The aliens also showed some initiative, trying for a better shooting angle or flanking in a gunfight.

Having started out as a PC and Mac game, Halo looks to be making the conversion to the Xbox in fine style. Look for Halo to ship when the Xbox hits shelves this fall.

Comments [0]

post a comment

Post a Comment