Video game reviews: Halo – Part 2

Halo for the xbox console stands as one of the greatest games of all time.

Testament to this is that only 10 games have recieved 10/10 from Edge magazine (one of the worlds most respected games journals) to date and Halo is one of them. (Well actually it's 2 of them as Halo 3 got one as well)

What makes it so good?

Halo is an example of a First Person Shooter or FPS; a type of game where the player is involved in combat and experiences the game through the eyes of their avatar (character). In halo this character is the Master Chief, a Spartan cyrborg charged with protecting Earth and it's colonies from the unstoppable Alien hordes of the covenant.

So far so obvious. The joy of Halo though is in the unexpected and the unrepeated. The main reason for Halo's popularity is that the game engine (the core design of the interactions in the game) provide the opportunity for emergent modes of gameplay.

What does that mean then. Well to put it simply if you wonder into an area with a bunker in it and some bad guys sometimes those bad guys will come out and attack you with assault rifles. Sometimes they'll sit tight and lob grenades at you. Sometimes they'll distract you while their friends flank around and attack you.

Halo is able to achieve this through the genius combination of 3 key elements.

The first is wide and expansive play areas with varied topography and entry points. These allow for a wide range of routes across a play space which provoke differing responses from enemies.

The second element, the varied yet restricted weapon set, also feeds into provoking differing responses. Halo took a brave step compared to it's predecessors in the FPS genre of making the player select their arsenal rather then having access to every weapon they stumbled across once they had stumbled across it. The halo experience is one of constant choice as to which two guns to use on a given section. This constant choice of toys as tools produces vastly different approaches to attack thereby vastly different responses from the enemies.

The amazing emphasis on the simulated AI (artificial intelligence) of the enemies in the campaign mode is the third strand to Halo's overarching success. The different enemies have visable hierachical structures and clearly different responses to the player entering and passing through a play area. This produces a constantly changing and highly believable interpretation of battlefield dynamics.

These key elements are added to by other examples of design genius.

The balance of the weapon set is second to none providing genuine variety without forcing certain options on players. There is always a truly free choice as to how to tackle an area.

The character personality design is astounding. The chatter of the human and alien grunts and officers adds much depth to the game and provides comedy, tragedy and real emotional depth to what is overwise a game of simple running and gunning.

The world of Halo is one of real artistry and breathtaking beauty.

The plot of Halo is one of the finest in videogame history and while plagurisitic is a wonderful example of when films and videos games can cross pollinate in a positive manner.

The final genius of Halo is that all of what applys to the single player mode also transposes to the multiplayer. There are never two games the same, your approach afects your enemies and teamplay is genuinely team based with different players taking different weapons and roles.

Many of these touches of genius have appeared in many games since. Halo remains a fantastic video game because it can clearly claim to have had them first.

Are violent video games and movies really that bad for kids?

Nicholas H asked:


I have a 5 year old son, and I've always been very flexible on what types of movies and video games he plays. I've always been more concerned with limiting the time to video games and movies, not so much the content. He's watched band of brothers with me, and likes it alot. He also likes to play violent video games like Halo and Saints Row. I know the concept of letting my son shoot cops on a video game is repulsive to some, but I've always tried to catch him off guard with questions considering the difference between reality and movies/games and he almost reacts like I'm stupid for asking, of course he knows the difference. He has a good sense or morality to him, and even asks very inquisitive questions like "Why are they fighting each other, why are the Germans the bad guys, etc." It actually invokes a lot of thoughtful questions from him, yet he never expresses any violent sentiments at all (except maybe while playing a game). Any thoughts?
One problem I have with my line of thought, though, is that movies with a lot of sexual material would be okay, which I don't agree with. My half-ass rationale though is that children, boys especially, are born with a natural sense of aggression and violence, they can understand it. Not to say aggression and violence are good virtues, but they seem to comprehend it and its implications. Yet sexual material is beyond their grasp until after puberty (even then it's questionable). There's something wrong with the fact that violence is more acceptable than sex, but I think that's the truth. Boys wrestling and playing guns with each other is a common sight, playing "first date" with other girls is not.

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