Just finished the 8-hour drive home, and I must say, the Halo party was a BLAST. Many people already seem to have sent in full reviews, but I'll plague you with my own.
First off, props to all the cool Bungie fans. Theocracity and I spent many an hour running each other over with Warthogs. (I was the aforementioned team casualty in his jeep story, and I'd just picked up the rocket launcher too. Damn.) I also got to meet chief poster Vector40, The Mark Levin Conspiracy?, Mnemesis, Face-7? (If I messed up your name, sorry. Feel free to take a needler to me.), and a bunch of other great guys. The Bungie community rocks, 'nuff said.
Alright, where to begin? Me and my group got there about 40 minutes early, which turned out to be very fortunate for us. While we waited for it to open, somebody walked down the line with a movie camera a few times, so you guys will be able to see the sheer number of people that were there. We were in the second group to get in, myself being number 7. :)
The RSVP idea apparently flopped, because the line was quite a few blocks long. At about 9:00 the line was STILL there, barely depleted. They had to tell quite a few to go home, only 250 people could legally fit in the room.
When you walked in, you took a short elevator ride down to the sign-in table. There, you filled out a little admission name tag and spent $15 on a neato Halo shirt. It's lightish blue with a blue duochrome marine on it. Sweet stuff.
One then proceeded to the room, to be greeted by 12 Xboxes, of varying types. There were a bunch of developer and debug kits, all of which were hooked up either to a big 'ol TV, or a projector casting on one of four screens in the corners. There were two little islands in the center, each rigged with 4 boxes, 4 TVs, and 16 controllers, all linked up and ready to roll. As soon as enough people were in, we started the LAN carnage. Put quite simply, Halo multiplay RULES. But more on that subject later. And if that wasn't enough, there was a room down the hall with another 6 boxes in it, all running Halo single player. That is also to be mentioned later.
After a little while, Matt Soell got up gave us a little presentation. It consisted first of a little movie they put together featuring sarge, which introduced us to Halo. I hope that somebody can find that movie and put it up; it was pee-your-pants funny. BLAM, that's all I have to say. Matt then continued to introduce us to whoever Bungie was present. Mostly Total Audio and web guys, although all of them denied that they were the elusive Bungie webmaster. The search continues.
As for food, the promised meal was rather absent. Well, after about 15 minutes it was. Those who didn't hop to the moment the food came out went without dinner that night, myself included. :(
Anyway, on to the good stuff. Most of what happened that night was Halo multiplay, and it is good. Personally, the most fun I've ever had playing multiplayer.
First off, the control. The Xbox controller is a little bigger than one might be used to, but is suprisingly comfortable and fits the hand very well. All the buttons are within easy reach, except the back and start buttons, which you rarely need anyway. The dual analog stick setup is PERFECT for a game like Halo. You just use one stick to strafe, the other to look. It was a little hard getting used to the look stick (pushing it up made you look up, etc.), but that is changeable in the options. You use the right trigger to fire, and the left to throw grenades, allowing you to use quite a few different combinations without having to switch weapons. Very handy. The buttons perform various functions such as jumping, switching weapons, pulling out your pistol, and swinging your current weapon like a bludgeon. :)
On to the gameplay.
The physics in Halo are absolutely unrivaled. They have to be experienced to be believed. Players fly sky-high when hit between the feet with a grenade, and land with their mangled frames conforming to the terrain. No Unreal-esque flat player animations here, it's all dynamically handled by real physics calculations. It's quite impressive to see a player fall on steps, to say the least. Also in the physics area is the Warthog. There were few things as satisfying as watching the jeep being launched into the air by a well-placed grenade, throwing all its passengers out like G.I. Joe figurines.
The weapons are very good. The assault rifle is a great all-range weapon, able to pump out serious damage in a pretty short amount of time. The plasma pistol is a nice little rapid-fire weapon, while the plasma rifle can charge up and release a highly damaging blast. The needler is fun to play with; its projectiles home in on an enemy, latch onto him, drain life for a while, then go pop. It's offset by their relatively low speed, making them easy to dodge. The rocket launcher fires majorly explosive cigars, 'nuff said. Also, the sniper rifle is great. Zoom in on a target, then POW.
In a category all its own are the vehicles. The Warthog is probably the most fun addition ever to hit the land of multiplay. Driving it is fairly easy, although it's hard to master. If you're not careful, you'll smash into walls or worse flip it, sending all the passengers flying. However, the jeep can be deadly in the hands of a skilled driver. Running over anybody, friend or foe, will kill them. Needless to say, mowing down entire enemy strike teams is quite gratifying. You can also load up a gunner in the turret, who can fire with reckless abandon at anything that moves. Infinite ammo and a big gun helps. Somebody can also take passenger side with whatever weapon they choose. With a sniper or rocket guy in the passenger seat, the jeep becomes a veritable rolling gunboat. Probably the most talked-about thing that night was the jeep. Almost every story worth telling involves somebody getting crushed, blow up, or flipped at, on, under, in, or by a Warthog. Sheer brilliance on Bungie's part, and an addition that adds such depth and fun it's uncanny.
As for single player, it is just as unbelievable. They of course had to tone down the poly counts for multiplay, but the single player pulls out all the stops. It suffices to say that every detail is polygons, not textures. Draw your own conclusions.
The gameplay is fantastic. The AI for each enemy is varied, and fits perfectly. The Covenant duck and run for cover, but are also formidable hand-to-hand opponents. The grunts are weak, slow, and funny. Watching them run away with their hands flailing in the air is rather entertaining. Shooting them in the back even more so. ;)
The combat is varied even moreso. Sometimes you're gunning your way through claustrophobic corridors, other times in large, rolling fields. One must learn to adapt to the terrain in order to survive. Sheer perfection, again. Taking out a ghost is jaw-dropping.
I'm afraid I've run out of words to describe the party. Perhaps that's a good thing.
In summary: Halo rocks, it's reason to buy an Xbox all by itself. Heck, it's reason to buy 4 Xboxes, 4 TVs, 16 controllers....
