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Halo: Combat Evolved: Difference between revisions
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'''''Halo: Combat Evolved''''' (released on November 15, 2001) introduced the ''[[Halo]]'' series from relatively [[Humble Beginnings]]. Humanity has mostly been holding their ground against [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|the Covenant]] for the last 25 years, and the game starts following a devastating defeat at a major Earth colony, Reach, and the crew of the warship the ''Pillar of Autumn''. The game opens [[In Medias Res]] as the warship comes under attack, and is forced to make a crash landing on a mysterious ring-shaped Covenant-worshiped megastructure known as Halo.
The player controls the Master Chief, [[Last of His Kind|one of the last]] of a group of specially raised and trained cyborg [[Super Soldiers]]: the Spartans. He is taken out of stasis during the attack on the ship, and his mission is to protect the survivors, find out what Halo is and what the Covenant want with it. Master Chief is the [[The Stoic|quiet]] type but the AI program "Cortana" linked into his [[Powered Armor|battle suit]] does most of the talking and [[Voice
This [[First-Person Shooter]] was the big title used to launch the [[X Box]] console. Its superior graphics, interesting story and engaging gameplay made it a hit with critics and gamers alike, and it was hugely influential in bringing the concept of LAN parties, which was later expanded upon with ''[[Halo 2]]'' being the [[Killer App]] for online gaming for the Xbox. The seamless integration of vehicles, the very expansive levels and the constant rotation of weapon types gave it a unique experience.
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A port to Windows and Mac OS was released several years later courtesy of Gearbox Software, which added native online multiplayer without tunneling utilities, the Fuel Rod Gun (strangely treated as an energy weapon) and Flamethrower weapons for multiplayer, as well as the Banshee and a new Warthog with a rocket turret as multiplayer vehicles along with the usual computer gaming features (enhanced graphics, mods, and so forth). The original release was not particularly designed for modification, however, and so they released a separate ''Halo: Custom Edition'' with some engine optimizations, exclusively used for multiplayer. It has its own separate download and installer, but requires a CD key from the retail version as well as having a CD check.
After many rumours of a [[Video Game Remake|remake]] [[Milestone Celebration|for its tenth anniversary]], '''''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary''''' was released on November 15, 2011. The intended goal of the remake is to update the graphics, but otherwise replicate the gameplay and story ''exactly'': the campaign mode uses the original ''Halo'' engine for gameplay with a new, toggle-able graphics layer on top. The remake's multiplayer is run out of ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', using a set of playlists that have been balanced to replicate the feel of ''Combat Evolved''. The disc also comes with access to the Anniversary Map Pack, a new set of ''Reach'' maps that includes fan favorites from ''Halo 2'' and ''Halo PC'' in addition to most of the maps from ''Combat Evolved''.
=== ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' contains examples of: ===
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* [[Alien Sky]]: anytime you have a decent view of the sky, you will find the gas giant planet, Threshold. Also the ring itself curves up and away in opposite directions.
** Oddly enough, if you look closely at the ring in the distance, you will see an obvious lighting error.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: The events of Reach and many other elements of the war with the Covenant were explained in the [[Expanded Universe]] novels. ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' is a direct prequel to this game.
* [[Ancient Keeper]]: 343 Guilty Spark.
* [[Bash Brothers]]: Hunters are always encountered in pairs.
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'''Cortana''': "... You did that on purpose." }}
* [[Co-Op Multiplayer]]: If Master Chief is the lone protagonist hero of the game, who is the carbon copy Player 2 is running around as? {{spoiler|In the Expanded Universe Novel of the Events Master Chief's fellow Blue Team member Linda is fatally injured but placed into Stasis with him.}}
** {{spoiler|[[Fanon]] has this as an alternate reality where [[Halo: Reach|Noble Six]] [[For Want of a Nail|didn't stay behind]] on Reach, or (more likely, considering the identical armor) where Linda didn't receive the fatal injury.}}.
** Sadly, this mode has been removed in the PC port, presumably because it was split-screen-only and no split-screen mode was present at all.
** In the Pillar of Autumn there was a terminal in the cryo bay that shows the vital signs of the Master Chief in his cryotube. In Anniversary's co-op mode there are now two terminals. The second? It {{spoiler|identifies Linda as the inhabitant of the cryotube that the second player emerged from.}}
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* [[Laser Blade]]: Gold-armored Elites use these, and can waste you with one hit.
* [[Law of Chromatic Superiority]]: Higher ranks of each enemy type are distinguished by the color of their armor. For example, red Grunts are better than orange grunts. In later games, this was modified so that higher ranking enemy types had very different-looking armor altogether.
* [[Left the Background Music On]]: In one of the cut-scenes, some Marines are heading into battle while generic [[
* [[Marathon Level]]: "Assault on the Control Room." "The Library" can also feel like this.
* [[Mecha-Mooks]]: The Sentinels.
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* [[Precursor Killers]]: The Flood. More accurately, the Forerunner killed themselves and almost all other life in the galaxy in order to stop the Flood.
* [[Psycho Strings]] / [[Drone of Dread]]: Typically used in music associated with the Flood, such as Shadows (Between Beams), Suite Autumn (Suite Fall), What Once was Lost (Unfortunate Discovery), Lament for Pvt. Jenkins (Private Service), Trace Amounts (Bad Dream), Library Suite (Dewey Decimate), and Alien Corridors (Xenoarcheology). The ''Anniversary'' remastered tracks especially turn up the horror factor.
* [[Publisher Chosen Title]]: As Bungie's Jaime Griesemer explained in a retrospective ''[[Edge (
{{quote| "Microsoft marketing thought ''Halo'' was not a good name for a videogame brand. It wasn't descriptive like all the military games we were competing with. We told them ''Halo'' was the name. The compromise was they could add a subtitle. Everyone at Bungie hated it. But it turned out to be a very sticky label and has now entered the gaming lexicon… so I guess in hindsight it was a good compromise. But the real name of the game is just ''Halo''."}}
* [[Reactor Boss]] / [[Unplanned Manual Detonation]]: {{spoiler|Cortana sets a counter to detonate the Pillar of Autumn's engines... and 343 Guilty Spark stops it. Master Chief then does it with rockets and grenades.}}
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* [[Sequel Hook]]: Master Chief muses at the end that this is only the beginning of something bigger. After the credits you can see Guilty Spark humming to himself, flying through space.
* [[Shield Bearing Mook]]: Jackals.
* [[Shout
** Also, the "Bandanna" skull in the Anniversary release is a shout out to Metal Gear Solid, where Snake can get a bandanna that gives infinite ammo.
* [[Sniper Pistol]]: The human pistol. It's the single most practical weapon in the game, with a much higher accuracy and stopping-power than the so-called "assault rifle".
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=== Tropes relating specifically to the remake, ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'': ===
* [[Arc Number]]: {{spoiler|Guilty Spark mentions offhand that the original plan was to build ''twelve'' Halo installations instead of seven...}}
* [[Battle in
* [[Bottomless Magazines]]: The purpose of the [[Metal Gear|Bandanna]] Skull. Remember all that time you kept running out of ammo during "The Library"? Now, you never lose ammo when that skull is on. ''And you can still get achievements with it.''
* [[Call Forward]]: The terminals in ''Anniversary'' details video logs kept by Guilty Spark. One in particular has him talking about how he hasn't heard from his counterpart [[Halo 2|on Installation 5]] for some time, wondering if containment was breached...
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* [[Shot for Shot Remake]]: ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' is identical in nearly every respects to the first game, the original game engine is used with a modern texturing engine overlapping it to give it new high-definition graphics and framerate. That means the game plays exactly the same (completes with a feature to toggle between the old and new graphics) and the cutscenes are similarly remastered (although, on close observation, it can be noticed that the cutscenes have been slightly modified from the original, such as character animation (most noticeable on the secret Legendary ending)). Because of that, it isn't quite up to par with contemporary next-generation graphics, it's about on par with ''[[Halo 3]]'' from 2007.
** The only actual changes is the inclusion of terminals hidden within the original levels containing videos that ties the franchise more closely together as well as potentially hinting towards the story of ''[[Halo 4]]'', as well as unlockable skulls that can be used to modify gameplay when replaying the levels.
* [[Updated Rerelease]] / [[Video Game Remake]]: ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' is a bit of both. The single-player mode actually runs on the original ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' engine, but with updated graphics using resources taken from ''[[Halo: Reach]]''. The multi-player mode, on the other hand, has been rebuilt from the ground up using the ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' engine.
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