Halo: Combat Evolved Review (Blork303)
Halo CE...
I gotta say, I was very skeptical going into the Halo franchise. I want to play all the classic FPS games so I had to go through Halo eventually and oh boy was I in for a ride...
This game is the one that started it all, CE is by no means perfect. Actually I think it has a lot of flaws especially during the 2nd half of the game. The flood is very annoying to fight, the level design is repetitive, some levels will make you go insane quickly if you're not strong/ prepared mentally (erm erm the Library). And some other levels like "Keyes" which is amongst the worst levels in the series to me.
That being said, CE is still a great title. I knew that this game being as old as my older sister would'd be perfect. Especially when the first levels really shine! The first mission is amazing, the combat is very fast paced, engaging and well crafted. The sandbox and enemies go very well together to create this sort of dance and juggling between weapons, melee and grenades. The story is also pretty good but nothing to go crazy about (it does get better in other titles though). I think that a great villain makes a good story and, in CE, we don't know much about the Covenant and its motivation. They're just 'alien = bad so shoot alien' so it holds back the story for me.
Let's talk music. The Halo CE OST is absolutely amazing. The main theme and the remastered theme 'Installation 04' are amongst the best ones. A true delight for my music loving ears.
Overall, CE is pretty good it's very strong in things like: its OST, its combat loop, its enemy design (though the flood is annoying to me) it's synergy between the sandbox and enemies. But it's also heavily flawed in some areas like: its level design being more than repetitive and boring (some levels have a lot of back tracking too which makes them even more repetitive, some of its encounters with the flood that are just borderline frustrating and its story which doesn't do a lot.