Combat Evolved - Gaming Devolved
I don't have an X-Box or an X-Box 360, so the initial Halo frenzy passed me by. It took a few years, the X-Box had to establish itself, but Microsoft finally ported Halo: Combat Evolved to the PC. I was finally able to see what all the fuss was about. Halo is like bad pizza. It's disappointing, but it's still pizza. Halo is primarily responsible for bringing the “innovations†of regenerating health and a 2-weapon carry limit to first-person shooters. Then, every cookie-cutter FPS game tried to copy it because Halo was popular and ruined real innovation for years to come. Halo is also responsible for introducing millions of people to the genre, a genre that PC gamers had been experiencing for years before. That's a double-edged sword. But when I put aside my personal judgments, the game was satisfying in the way a bad pizza is satisfying. It filled me up, but I still wish it was better. It's a compelling action game with a shallow FPS story. It's an action-shooter that's good at what it does. There's plenty to shoot. Even though I say it's disappointing, and that I don't like what it brought to the genre, the most outstanding feature of the game must be it's music. I was so enthralled by it that I had to go buy the soundtrack and bring it with me to the gym when I run. Halo should be tried, just to see what the frenzy is about.
