Video Game Review: Halo The Covenant War

       I decided to do my first video game review on one of my favorite game series of all time, Halo.  And with the release of the new trilogy out now, I decided to review the series up until this point, the Bungie era, or as I like to call it the Covenant War.  These are the games that the humans are at war with the alien group named the Covenant.  I'm gonna do Halo 1-3, ODST, Reach, and Halo Wars, individually, then do an average.

       Halo: Combat Evolved/Anniversary

       I'm combining the two here because all Anniversary is  is a rerendered copy of the original.  This is the game that got my into the Xbox, it was amazing, the story was engaging, the multiplayer for this game is solely responsible for starting the LAN party craze, at the time called "Halo parties".  Then ten years later the game was rereleased for the 360 with redone graphics, Kinect & Live support, and the ability to play the campaign with 4 players.  But the best part of this game however is how well it holds up, to this day my friends and I on occasion get together and play this particular game because of how fun it is.  However this game didn't have my personal best weapons in it, so it isn't my favorite, but because of how well it was made for the time I give it an A.

Halo 2

       Halo 2 is by far the biggest improvement of the series, this game added so much that it almost felt like a different series.  The weapon selection almost doubled, the graphics were upgraded to the point that it took a second for the renders to finish in cutscenes, and they added the ability to steal vehicles, which were able to be destroyed as well.  The campaign added a new character to play as, the Arbiter, the most sacred warrior of the Covenant army.  They also added boss fights, and is thus far the only game to do so (I haven't played 4 yet, I'm getting my hands on it tomorrow).  The multiplayer again was where the game shined, the maps were massive, they embraced the Halo Party crowd, but it made the maps a little too large for just a group  who got together.  The game also introduced duel-wielding small arms weapons, the greatest thing to happen to these games.  I give this installment an A.

       Next is Halo 3, the end of the Chief's story in this war.  The first Halo game to be released on the 360.  The game had an upgraded on graphics, but everything else felt the same here.  There were some new weapons, grenade types, and items are added.  The game did away with boss fights, and the multiplayer maps were fixed to have a balance of map sizes.  This game is also the first to make the skulls a major element, before they were simply Easter eggs.  This game was good, but since there wasn't much change I'm forced to give it a B+.

       Halo 3 ODST was an interesting idea, with some cool new features, and great characters.  The issue was that in this game you play as an ODST, the elite UNSC forces, which wouldn't be a problem if you didn't play as a super soldier for the last 3 games.  ODST took away duel wielding (presumably because ODSTs weren't strong enough to do so), and items were removed as well.  But this game added the Firefight gametype, a favorite of mine, and the VISR, which is a form of super vision that outlines your enemies and friends in different colors, which hasn't been done since.  The character you play as here never speaks, so it makes you feel like your awkwardly watching someone else's story, and compared to the other games the story is kinda watered down.  The shining point of this game is the voice cast, basically the cast of Firefly played their characters, but in the Halo universe.  I give this particular game a C+.

       Halo Wars

       Little known fact, Halo was originally intended to be an RTS, so I like to believe this game was the original vision made real.  This game takes place years before the others, the Spartans in this game are of an older generation, and there are more of them.  The graphics of this game were remarkable, the story was really good, the gameplay however is a different story.  I'm not a huge RTS fan, but I'll play them on occasion, and I do enjoy them.  But my brother who loves RTSs claims that it was a little easy.  Also for an RTS I felt kinda cheated with only two options for armies, especially since the flood, sentinels, and insurrectionists were in the game.  Also because of the RTS style, it became impossible to play multiplayer on one XBox.  S give this game a B.

Halo Reach

       The last of Bungie's Halo games.  Reach tells the story of a Spartan squad, so all new characters.  The game did away with half of the grenade types, and the multiplayer maps were all just carbon copies of campaign locations.  The major point of this game is that since the game centers around you, the player creates a custom Spartan that is used in both multiplayer and campaign.  The customization allowed players to change armor, add effects, and even change the voice of their Spartans.  Though still not the huge improvement 2 was, the game was way better than the previous couple of installments.  Because of that I give the game an A-.

Average

Halo     A

Halo 2     A

Halo 3     B+

Halo 3 ODST     C+

Halo Wars     B

Halo Reach     A-

Average     B+

Agree with me, disagree?  or if you simply have a comment, feel free to post it below.