In 1999, when Microsoft was looking for a game that could help launch their first Xbox videogame system, they focused their sites on an unknown third-person action title that shared the stage with Steve Jobs during the 1999 MacWorld Conference and Expo.
That game was “Halo.”
In June 2000, shortly after confirming the release of “the Xbox project,” Microsoft bought Bungie Studios, the developer of “Halo,” in order to secure “Halo” as an exclusive launch title for the Xbox.
A few tweaks later- namely, changing the perspective from third-person to first-person and streamlining keyboard-and-mouse controls for a handheld controller- and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fast-forward to September 2007, where “Halo 3,” the final installment of the Master Chief trilogy, has made over 300 million dollars in sales during its first week. It is the fastest-selling videogame in history and one of the most successful entertainment properties ever.
“’Halo’ is truly a cultural phenomenon, and the launch of ‘Halo 3’ is an important milestone for Xbox 360 and for videogames as an art form,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “’Halo 3’ embodies our vision for the future of entertainment, where some of the world’s greatest creative minds will deliver a new generation of interactive storytelling.”
Within the title’s first day of launch, players spent more than 3.6 million hours of online gameplay over Xbox LIVE, increasing to 40 million hours of gameplay by the end of the first week, roughly the equivalent of more than 4,500 years of continuous gameplay.
Which begs the question: What have your kids been doing all week?
The Xbox 360 title beat previous U.S. sales records set by blockbuster openings for entertainment events such as “Spider-Man 3” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Though some perspective is needed: movie tickets cost $12 and a “Harry Potter” book approximately $20, “Halo 3’s” price points started a $60 for the basic version and up to $130 for the ultra-collectible “Legendary Edition.” When price points for an entertainment item are that high, it is not difficult to outsell lower priced entertainment items.
Nevertheless, when a videogame outsells movies or books and has cross-marketing partnerships with Burger King, Mountain Dew, Pontiac, and Wal-Mart- suddenly that medium of entertainment doesn’t seem so niche anymore.
Picking up exactly where “Halo 2’s” cliff-hanger left off, the green-armored super-soldier Master Chief has rocketed to earth to “Finish the Fight” against the collection of alien races known as “The Covenant” who have been locked in a battle with humanity for almost thirty years.
The face of the Covenant has changed some, as the alien race known as the Elites have splintered from the Covenant- having been betrayed by the Covenant’s leaders known as “The Prophets” and now at odds with the Prophets’ new favorite enforcers- The Brutes. Additionally, the Arbiter- an Elite and former Covenant commander- discovers that the Halo rings, taught by the Prophets to be holy structures, are actually weapons of galaxy-wide destruction. These betrayals, along with the increasing number of human sympathizers, cause the Elites to fight along side of the humans in an effort to stop the Covenant, destroy the six remaining Halo structures before they detonate, and stop the flood of “The Flood”- parasitic creatures akin to space zombies.
If this is all thoroughly confusing, that’s ok- players can still shoot and blow stuff up without any need to mire themselves down in the narrative. If players really want a re-cap of the twists and turns from the first two games, the Legendary Edition of “Halo 3” comes with over two hours of remastered cutscenes from “Halo’s 1 and 2” which should bring them right up to speed.
Narratives of this complexity are the reasons why “Lord of the Ring’s” director, Peter Jackson signed onto create a new “interactive series” designed specifically around the “Halo” universe. Though the big-screen release of “Halo” has been shelved indefinitely, it is suspected that Jackson is working on an animated series of the franchise.
“Halo 3 is a pop-culture phenomenon,” said Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. “Not only is ‘Halo 3’ setting sales records, it’s also redefining entertainment.”
But what is it about “Halo” that captures such a large audience’s attention? “It starts with the gameplay,” said Kim during an interview with Gamespy.com this past June. “What Bungie has done with the gameplay, and I give them a lot of credit particularly in the online multiplayer space, is first and foremost what makes it stand out.”
One can’t argue with that. Before “Halo” came on the scene, first-person shooters were only at home on a PC. The need for hair-trigger response, quick weapon loading and swapping, and reflexive movements were only attainable with a keyboard and mouse in control. The original “Halo” control scheme worked well in translating those PC demands to the console world.
With the controls in place, the focus was on compelling gameplay within the single-player campaign. “For the original ‘Halo,’ we came up with this concept of ‘thirty seconds of fun.’” Said gameplay designer, Jaime Greisemer, during an interview with Rolling Stone last week. “We decided if we could make something fun for thirty seconds, we could just do that over and over, and it would be fun indefinitely. So you see enemies from a distance, shoot at them, have a little bit of a fight, it breaks up, they scatter. And you keep moving and it starts over again.”
Bouts of fun stretch well beyond thirty seconds in “Halo 3,” especially when playing through the campaign on the “Heroic” difficulty setting. Playing alone on that setting can make battles last for several minutes at a time, given the number of enemies players will face; and a much-improved Artificial Intelligence for enemies means that Covenant and Flood will swarm players from all angles- flanking, regrouping, and defending in ways that make the lone gunman outnumbered and often overwhelmed. Thankfully, players can relax the difficulty if the intensity is too much, or crank it up to “Legendary” difficulty for the truly sadistic.
The “Halo” storyline has always been more fun to play along side of a friend. And in “Halo” and “Halo 2,” cooperative campaigns were limited to two-players and only on the same Xbox. With the connectivity that Xbox LIVE provides players and the processing power of the Xbox 360, online cooperative play has become the newest “must have” feature for triple-A titles. After the success of online cooperative games like “Crackdown” and “Gears of War,” the sights were set on Bungie’s baby to see whether “Halo 3” would follow suit. After a nerve-wracking July when Bungie stated they could not confirm whether the game would have co-op available, they later confirmed it- and with up to four players.
In addition to having a quartet blast through Covenant, Bungie also implemented a scoring system into the campaign, creating a “meta-game” that is reminiscent of old-school arcade games. Scores are kept for each enemy kill, kill style, player death, and completion of the level within a time limit. These points can be tallied for the team as a whole or on an individual basis. The scores, other than being bragging rights against teammates, also unlock Gamerscore Achievements- further adding Nerd-Cred for the Xbox LIVE community to see.
Campaign Scoring adds a whole new dimension to the replayability of the storyline. Though Bungie’s hope is for players to progress through the campaign at a slower pace in order to catch all of the nuances of the sci-fi epic, Campaign Scoring is deliberately made to be played fast and furious. Since only kills are registered, and not assists, it can be a mad free-for-all among teammates to score. Backstabbing is not only encouraged, it is rewarded.
“Halo 2’s” revolutionary multiplayer was a landmark for online console gaming. “Halo 3” not only improves upon multiplayer matches over Xbox LIVE but far exceeds the expectations of this gamer.
Multiplayer matchmaking and custom games return with twelve new maps. A few favorites from “Halo 2,” like the beach map “Zanzibar” return- expanded, tweaked, and better than ever. New maps like “The Pit” and “Sandstorm” continue the Bungie tradition of fantastic multiplayer arenas that allow for frenetic Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, King of the Hill, and Oddball matches. Matchmaking, the bread and butter of “Halo” multiplayer, almost takes a backseat to the customization options that can be had in the “Custom Game” settings. Bungie has given players the freedom to tweak any gametype on virtually any parameter involved in the game. Whether it’s slowing all players down, altering the physics of characters, beefing up everyone’s shields, or painting a target over the leader’s head- party leaders have all the control to make whatever they like.
And unlike prior versions, “Halo 3” allows for those creative types to save, name, and upload their custom matches onto Bungie’s servers for other gamers to download and experiment with. With the fantastic new “Saved Film” feature, players can actually go back and watch replays of, save, and upload the last several matches or campaign levels they played. The file sharing element of “Halo 3” takes a page right out of the YouTube playbook, recognizing that user-created content is the next great tool of game development.
Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in “Halo 3’s” new map-editing mode, “Forge.” In Forge Mode, players can fly throughout any multiplayer map- adding or deleting any of the objects, weapons, vehicles, or spawn points that exist in that level. Each object has a dollar value assigned to it, and each map has a budget where players can spend their money in whatever way they want- creating map features that the Bungie developers never thought of, which can then be saved and shared with the community.
“Halo 3” deserves the press its been getting. Not only is this as close to a perfect playing experience as gamers can get, but the multitude of options available to players is what makes this title so impressive. Alone, none of the new features are terribly revolutionary, but the fact that all of these features are included in the retail release means that the impact of “Halo 3” on the industry, and indeed on pop culture, will not be forgotten quickly.
Like its predecessor, “Halo 3” will be one of those games that remain on the top sales charts long after its release. And will continue to be played well into the next console cycle.
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