by Mike Shea on 1 January 2003
Halo on the Xbox is the single best FPS I have played on a console. Excellent graphics, great DD5.1 sound, a good story line, and excellent levels and action. The weapons and bad guys are a bit limited but the wide range of level types (snow covered hills, giant space ships, long bridges over chasms) and some excellent action sequences help a lot. The vehicles are nice even though they are a bit hard to control. The game makes excellent use of the rumble pad. Feeling the kick of your rifle adds a whole dimention to console shooters that most PC players don't get. It took about two weeks, perhaps 14 to 18 hours, to win. A perfect duration for a short attention span gamer like myself.
The game did have a couple of problems. The autosave doesn't stick if you turn off the consle. One must go to a "save and quit" option before turning it off. In a fit of frustration last night I turned off the system and this morning I had about 45 minutes to redo. There is no reason it shouldn't perminantly autosave each checkpoint. I also wish the game was in 1080i or at least widescreen.
Quips aside, Halo is a must-buy for any xbox owner, it is one of the best console games out there. Here is some other required Halo reading
xbox.com/halo bungie.net/halo Halo IGN Review Halo at Amazon videogamereview.com/xbox gamespot.com/halo