Halo: Combat Evolved… 14 Years Later

Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the most legendary video games ever created. Launching a new console and franchise, Bungie’s Xbox launch title is often unchallenged as a flawless masterpiece… but is it really?

[Paulhammer]

Nicely done. Great retrospective on the game that changed console FPS

[XBLSkull]

Still the standard to which all other shooters are measured. Game is still every bit as good as it ever was, I still run through it at least once a year. Never had a reason to even touch my PS2 after this release, it changed the game forever.

[3-4-5]

For the time it released, it really was the game that pushed FPS games to the next level and showed us what they could be.

A lot of us went from playing Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark & Time Splitters to playing Halo and the difference was definitely noticeable.

* I loved playing on Sidewinder I think it's called...the curved snowy map level.

Halo has also helped keep couch co-op alive....well until Halo 5 that is, but still Halo as a franchise has had a huge impact on gaming & it all started with this classic.

Early OG xbox had so many good games.

[Vegamyster]

When Halo came out i had my Achilles tendons surgically stretched so for 6 weeks i played this game continuously, had so much fun :p

[CuHnadian]

Halo 2... 11 Years Later is currently being worked on.

[Digital_Anomaly]

Looking forward to it!

[Paytaa]

Still my favorite game of all time. No other game has given me the same feeling as Halo CE.

[spicelicka]

Definitely, also my favourite franchise of all time.

When I watch a video on halo, i wanna play halo.

When I read about halo, I wanna play halo.

When I hear the halo music, I wanna play halo.

The magic of halo games is beyond words to explain.

[Paytaa]

Damn it I hit disagree by accident but yeah I'm the same way. I have more memories with Halo than any game, movie, etc.

It's one magical franchise that I'm happy I got the privledge to grow up with.

[Benchm4rk]

So im not the only one then lol

[Allsystemgamer]

I bought an X1 just for MCC. I can play all the campaigns but I keep getting stuck on that stupid "downloading matchmaking" loop. Incredibly frustrating.

[ThePope]

You may want to reinstall, or failing that go to the 343 forums and ask there I'm sure its an easy fix.

[ElementX]

Halo was good but nothing can touch Half Life 2. I'm really looking forward to Halo 5, I still have to play through the others again in the MCC

[CuHnadian]

While I don't have a favorite game of all time, Half Life 2 is definitely in the top three. Perhaps I'll do a Years Later video on that series once Halo is wrapped up.

[Paytaa]

I personally think Halo and Half-Life are the two best FPS's to ever happen. Both were very revolutionary in their own right. Both universes are among some of the most interesting in overall entertainment.

[Halo2ODST2]

element - you best play mcc first, so you can experience the best of halo first before halo 5

[user9950279]

with you 100%. the only game that even comes close is smb3.

I used to play the game like nothing else, over and over. Played via XBconnect before the days of Xbox Live. had a few 16 player lan parties. Played the campaign solo a million times. Modded both the campaign and multiplayer suites like crazy on console. Was my first real foray into coding and 3d modeling. also played the game on pc a ton. the game means a lot to me.

I never got the remaster on x360, so when I played through the campaign solo im the MCC with the remastered visuals, "religious experience" is about as close to an accurate description as I can get. I enjoyed it so completely I couldnt even believe is. Justified the MCC in itself. Something about the whole thing brings me to pieces. I could play The Pillar of Autumn over and over for ever.

its not even the type of thing I can accurately put into words, and I doubt many people can sympathize. but I LOVE Halo CE, in every sense of the word love. Just the musical scores in the remastered version turn me into a puddle. That moment in truth and reconciliation when you come out of the underground into the canyon with the full mood and covies fighting.... gah. ill stop now.

no wonder I love Xbox, Halo burrowed into my soul in a formative way.

[Paytaa]

Believe me, I can sympathize. The game shaped part of my life. It's why I'm the gamer I am today.

[AizenSosuke]

Nostalgic beauty: two words.

[N0TaB0T]

Best music, best guns, best atmosphere.

Best mod support of any game I've seen.

[BlackTar187]

The handgun is the best weapon to me to this day on a FPS game.

[Benchm4rk]

100% with you there. That thing is Amazing

[GrimmQuiorra]

The Godfather of the console fps.

One of the biggest reasons why FPS games became popular on consoles.

Regardless of your opinions on the FPS genre, what Halo did for it on consoles cannot be understated.

[BlackTar187]

what about Goldeneye?

Sorry Halo is great one of the greatest games i've ever played but it is not the Grandfather of FPS on consoles. Goldeneye was huge and amazing and i think moved more units on consoles and that was back in 1997 before the internet hit consoles like a storm.

@CuHnadian that doesn't make Halo the granfather of FPS on consoles. Halo on the orginal Xbox shows it's age too.

I also don't know how much you played Goldeneye but the 64 controls when you got good were amazing and strafing and fast paced shootouts.

Timespiltters 2 was also a pretty fricken amazing FPS

I'm not hating on halo it's probably top 5-10 game i've ever played and i've been gaming for about 30yrs

[CuHnadian]

As explained in the video, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are great, but they show their age; made the way they were due to the limitations of the N64 controller. Bungie modernized the shooter in ways that Rare were unable to.

[GrimmQuiorra]

What about it?

Are you seriously trying to say that Golden Eye had nearly as much impact on the console FPS genre as Halo did?

No. It was a fantastic game, but no.

[IVanSpinal]

Grandfather?

[CuHnadian]

Grandfather, no, but I would make the argument that Halo made a larger impact on FPS console shooters than Rare's Goldeneye.

I've played through Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and Timesplitters 2 (Really wish we would get a 4th game already), they're great, but their snap-targeting control scheme is very dated. That's what surprised me about going back and playing through Halo for this video, it's amazing how close its control scheme compares to shooters released over a decade later.

Goldeneye proved that shooters could be fun on consoles, Halo confirmed that shooters on consoles could stand up with titans on the PC, that's something Rare simply could not do with the control and technology they had available for Goldeneye.

@BlackTar187

It absolutely is; Goldeneye planted the seeds for console shooters (I don't think many will argue in favor of DOOM and Wolfenstein on the SNES), it very much deserves that credit.

[BlackTar187]

I'm saying that Halo didn't make FPS popular on consoles. I'm saying people were already well in tune with the potential of FPS on consoles as made by Goldeneye who sold like 9 million copies back in 1997 and had huge parties of people always playing the game spilt screen. Okay halo did great with the controls and the game is amazing and still a good game to this day. Goldeneye isn't a bad game to this day it just suffers from a control scheme and graphics of a 64bit system.

People knew FPS were going to be huge when goldeneye came out and blew up. I mean it was pretty much before Online reviews and such took off where you had small little sites for people who actually had the internet and was really before console gaming was even online.

So i'm not discredting Halo at all but it's not the granfather if a very very very popular FPS came out before it. Goldeneye was a game that peopl eplayed for years just like Halo one. Both games are great but was arguing the use of grandfather which is hard for me to see when the actual Goldeneye game may have moved more CONSOLE units then Halo. I think Halo outsold it overall with the PC version.

Anyways both great games Halo is a better game going back and playing them now but you guys are seriously discrediting the impact goldeneye had on home consoles.

@Cuhnadian

I agree with you. My whole point is Halo is not the gandfather but the successor who improved on a lot of stuff. I agree with you. Although Goldeneye selling 9million units back in 97 is pretty damn impressive.

[MeliMel]

Dude if hes wrong you are too. Ive been gaming same time aswell but FPS were nothing new. And those games you mentioned were fun. But back in the days Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein...I was having fun with those before Goldeneye or Halo.

That being said not to many games have ever touched my gaming soul like Halo did in my first playthrough.

[gangsta_red]

I think partof the reason Halo is above Goldeneye in terms of being the "grand-daddy" of FPS's is because at that time PC diehards were still carrying on about how FPS games can only be played with a mouse and keyboard.

That FPS games were inferior on consoles due to using a controller.

Halo came and changed all that instantly. It had just as accurate and tight control as any FPS counterpart played on the PC with a keyboard and mouse. And now we don't even see those types of comments anymore. Also the network multiplayer and LAN hook up was usually lag free, easy to connect and fun as hell.

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were excellent games, Loved playing them. But Halo is the game that really changed the way FPS games were perceived and made for consoles. (IMO)

[BlackTar187]

Melimel,

Those are great games on PC and you aren't really proving your point. THis is about Console FPS not PC lol i mean console has been said in this little chain like 15x not sure how you missed it.

Also @gangsta Goldeneye sold more copies then Halo and was played by a huge # so yes overall PC was right but goldeneye was a masterpiece of it's time and paved the way for FPS on consoles. Halo is not the grand daddy on consoles that's the point Goldeneye was more pop. in sales so it to be discredited makes no sense. I agree with you partially though Gangsta but Goldeneye like Halo was played by million and millions of people on consoles for multiple years in a row till their succesor came out Halo 2 and Perfect dark. To say the one that came later is the granfather makes no sense. It really doesn't.

Also to this day no console controller is more accurate or that close for that matter to a Keyboard and mouse. Sorry

[PurpHerbison]

The only Halo I gave a damn about.

[Double_O_Revan]

14 years later?!? Jesus, where has the time gone???

[Black0ut]

The original has held up quite well with time. I remember I was so young when I played it that I was afraid of the grunts...LOL.

Great memories and for that I am very thankful that Halo plays a vital role in what FPS is today!

[kotaku77]

Bungie made the greatest american game ever!!! People like Jason Jones, Chris Butcher, John Howard, Marcus Lehto, Tyson Green, Griesemer, of course the composer Marty O'Donnell... The name means nothing, is the people behind: they put their hearts and souls into this game.
w/o them is just an empty shelf.

[raggy-rocket]

My favourite universe in all of entertainment, not just gaming. Over the past year I've REALLY dived into every piece of lore I can get and I know almost everything about the universe now so Halo 5 will be extra special for me. Halo 1 will always hold a special place in my heart as being the game that started it all and after 343 learned some extremely valuable lessons (the very painful way) with H4 and MCC, it's clear to see Halo 5 will most likely be the best Halo yet, but the original Bungie games will always be special to me as without them there'd be no Halo today, but I think 343 are even better at storytelling, though that's mainly speculation until Halo 5 releases. I think it's not a case of 343 having a different style to Bungie, but Halo 1-3 had the silent Master Chief, the big space opera, whereas after that, Chief is a bit more talkative and the story becomes more personal. That progression feels natural

Thank to Halo for everything it's done for the gaming industry and for becoming such a big part of my life and I hope Halo 1 remains as one of the considered best games of all time

[Halo2ODST2]

Some people actually like the style of Bungie's Halo games, Silent Badass character, with a massive space opera, & mysterious lore- always keeping in the background, I felt Halo 4's style of have Masterchief talk every minute for even the most pointless conversations, of putting Cortana into a USB port was just out of place and lame (you consider this to be Chief is a bit more talkative and the story becomes more personal.) eh, I perfered badass chief, with awesome one liners, walking through battles, blowing up everything on the way through, rather than nonsense like arguing with a UNSC commander just because it was written that way. or Cortana moaning that she's an ai & not a real person, but i guess some people just prefer that cliched stuff.

[Halo2ODST2]

"Halo 4 had the best campaign in the series by far" & That is you're opinion, everyone has an opinion. My Opinion is that having a story completely made up of cliches isn't really that interesting, but then again people have different tastes, some people like interesting and compelling writing while others would rather reuse cliches.

[Wenapee]

Changing history and making it look like halo reinvented shooters on consoles. Ridiculous video, making any tiny bit basic concept from halo a revolutionary invention, almost funny. Even original timesplitters released before Halo had better console gameplay.

[CuHnadian]

What history did I change exactly? I would like to know for future reference.

@Wenapee

Researching the era of gaming, I would argue that Halo did indeed change console shooters. Timesplitters was a great original shooter, but it didn't sell consoles and impact the industry the way Halo did; the team at Free Radical were trying to carry the torch of the shooters they made previously at Rare, not reinvent the wheel.

Thanks, glad you think it is. Which shooter do you think had more of an impact on the console FPS market?

[Wenapee]

It was presented as if halo revolutionised console gaming. This is by far not the case.

"Changing history": I meant when current knowledge is limited about the past, and history videos make such statements it could be seen as fact by many others.

If it is your video it is a nice video and I used hard words. Especially halo fans will like such a video

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

Halo:CE still holds up incredibly well. I'm having a blast playing through it again.

[Ristul]

Such a great game, still the best in the series imo.

[pelenow]

The game that started my love affair with FPS games!

[tigertron]

One of the finest games ever made.