Title	Game Info	Screenshots	Gamester Score
	Publisher: Microsoft   Developer: Bungie   Genre: Action   Release: 11/14/01   Rating: Mature		Control 5/5 Graphics 5/5 Sound 5/5 Orginality 5/5 Value 5/5 Overall 5/5

You play Halo through the eyes of a character known as the Master Chief, an enigmatic cyborg commando whom you don't know much about but whom everyone in the game seems to have heard of and talks about reverentially ("He's taller than I thought." "Glad you're here, sir." "We were worried before you showed up, sir."). Halo takes place in a space-faring future, where Earth's forces have come into conflict with an alien race known as The Covenant. In the beginning of the game, you're awakened out of a cryo sleep and learn that The Covenant are trying to obtain a mysterious artifact--perhaps a weapon--on an artificial ring-shaped world known as Halo, and it's up to you to prevent that from happening.

Before you arrive on the planet, your ship is boarded by Covenant troops, whom your marine allies engage while your commander briefs and arms you. As you attempt to sweep the ship clean of enemies, you come across numerous instances of marines and Covenant forces engaged in firefights from behind hastily erected barricades. The first time you enter a scene like this, Covenant soldiers attempt to flank you by sneaking up from a passageway to the side, but you can repel them and turn their technique against them, attacking the main nest of them from the right while your allies keep their front line busy. This sort of combat is par for the course in Halo, making the simple days of running and gunning down enemies down the center of a corridor seem like a thing of the past. The Covenant know how to work together as a team and will send in point men to hunt for you in the last place you were seen if you back off to momentarily lick your wounds and let your shields recharge.

The combat in Halo is challenging and never gets old or repetitive because the enemy AI is so good that your foes react in a variety of different ways depending on the situation. If there's a cannon or vehicle nearby, they might get into it. If you blast a volley of glass shards at them from the needler or if their force field's shields are low, they'll likely run behind a rock and hide. If one is close to death, expect him to rush into close quarters and attempt to bludgeon you to death with his gun. Or one might lob a grenade at you from behind a pylon or provide cover fire for an ally attempting to move around to attack you from behind. And your marine allies are just as smart. If you hop into the Warthog jeep and a marine is nearby, he'll jump in back and man its machine gun turret. If another marine is there, he'll climb in and ride shotgun. The marine AI is so lifelike that sometimes you'll find yourself assisting them, instead of the other way around. In one section of the game, you have the opportunity to provide cover for a marine armed with a sniper rifle who's staked out a plateau above a valley where Covenant dropships are letting off troops. He's able to pick off a decent number of them before they draw near, but for both of you to survive, you have to guard the entrance to the plateau to keep anyone from sneaking up, providing the marine with enough time to properly thin the herd. Suffice it to say, if you found yourself replaying the marine sections of Half-Life: Opposing Force to try to keep all your troops alive, you'll be spending a lot of time with Halo.

There are also many choices available to you in the parts of the game where vehicles appear. At some points you even have the opportunity to pick from multiple vehicles, such as the Warthog jeep, the Ghost hovercraft, the Scorpion tank, or the Banshee attack craft. You'll have a very different experience depending on which one you choose. If you take the Ghost, you can quickly maneuver around your enemies. If you get in the Banshee, you can rain fire down on them from the sky. If you use the Scorpion tank, up to four marines can hop on the outside. If one of the marines on board has a sniper rifle, he'll start picking off enemies who get too close, while you concentrate on larger targets like cannons and other tanks. Between segments like this and another where you can--if you're fast enough--hijack a Banshee and use it to fly down to a valley below to combat enemies you wouldn't normally confront for another half hour, it should be easy to understand why the vehicle sections of the game are worth playing over and over again. They contribute greatly toward making Halo feel more like a 3D version of classic shooters like Contra and Ikari Warriors than just another first-person shooter by giving it that one-man-army feel.

It might sound like a bold claim, but Halo's single-player game is worth picking up an Xbox for alone. It's so good that you'll find yourself looking forward to playing the game over again before you even beat it the first time, and the excellent AI and variety of options for accomplishing your goals will ensure that you'll have unique experiences every time you do. Halo sets new standards for both console and PC first-person shooters, reshuffling the deck to make even recent games like Red Faction--once considered at least near the forefront of console first-person shooters--look dated by comparison.

Halo's a stunning-looking game, full of huge environments that are packed with eye candy. Turn on your flashlight in a hallway, and you'll see a plastic reflective sheen to the wall. Walk up close to a marine, and you'll notice that the visor on his helmet reflects light too. Throw a grenade outside, and the explosion will send up a cloud of dust. Turn your jeep sharply, and clumps of dirt go flying. The game isn't as hyperdetailed as Quake III Arena, but its immense levels, excellent textures, and great special effects put it in the same class.