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Translation of MSN DK Halo Review from the original Danish.
Translation: Sippan
Posted: March 16, 2002
Halo is an FPS (first-person-shooter) and this is
naturally not very revolutionary. Halo is different
however, because it is extremely thoroughly-went-overt
game, with awesome details and a good story. The story
begins in outer space, where humans are, with violence
and power, trying to keep aliens away from Earth. The
aliens have formed an alliance, called Covenant, and
they want to take over Earth, exterminate humanity and
reap the fruits of the germinating [it was hard to
find a good translation to that word] planet
themselves. You assume the role of The Master Chief, a
nameless soldier. He is the last survivor of a secret
military project, with the purpose to create perfect
genetic fighting soldiers. You quickly find that your
spaceship is under a hostile attack and all you can do
is escape. The escape ends on the planet Halo, which
is a synthetic planet, meaning it has been built "from
scratch." It has been discovered that Halo is
habitable for almindelige [have no idea what this
means] humans, because it has an atmosphere and a
landscape much like that of Earth. But Halo also holds
secrets...
16 players at a time
The game contains the many gametypes we know from
earlier FPS's. It's the classic single player mode,
cooperative, and a lot of multiplayer gametypes. The
single player part contains 10 very large missions and
follows the story, described above, and the solo
levels can also be played with 2 players, which is a
nice feature. If you like multiplayer the game offers
lots of possibilities. You can play up to 16 players
at a time, by linking 4 machines together. This of
course requires 4 television sets, as the screen is
split in 4 as in other console games in this genre.
Something that scares off many PC-players from this
type of console games is the controls. But the Xbox
controls work eminent in Halo. One analog control
stick controls in which direction you're facing, while
the other controls your rotation. [Yes, that's what it
said if I don't suck at Danish.] Your weapon is
controlled with the 2 analog triggers on the back,
while other functions like changing weapns and
reloading is controlled with buttons on the "upper"
side. This works prefectly, but if you're not
satisfied, you can change to whatever you like best.
A part of a whole
The game itself is like in other FPS’s, but there are
some things that are different, der giver lidt
adspredelse. [Uhm...ask someone from Denmark to
translate that.] You can for example control a few
different vehicles, and then the game view switches to
3rd person, so you can see better what's going on. The
first vehicle is a jeep with a machine gun mounted on
the back. You can chooose to drive the jeep, while one
of the other soldiers control the machine gun.
Controlling these vehicles can be difficult at first,
but after 10 minutes you get the hang of it. You can
also man numerous stationary cannons that can also be
used to fight off the enemies, after you have killed
the creature that was controlling it at first. But one
of the things that makes this game better than others,
is that you always feel like a part of a military
unit. Almost wherever you are, there's someone with
you, backing you up, covering you when you run rowards
the enemy, or go scouting the area. This makes the
game feel very realistic and not like you against the
rest of the world, as in many other games. These
soldiers are not just there to look good either, they
have an extremely good AI, that makes them take
matters into their on hands and attacking enemies to
the left and right, while you lige er uopmærksom.
[This apparently has something to do with paying
attention, but I don't understand the grammar.]
AI and strategy
The enemy AI is almost even more intelligent, because
they, as opposed to so many other enemies, actually
think before they act. They rarely attack alone, but
often in formations. And if they're backing into a
corner, they will do anything to find cover in the
surroundings. You often see a group of enemies attack,
and then suddenly one of them cover behind a shiled
like a [sniper?]. If you throw a grenade into a group
of enemies, they will run away in all directions,
instead of just standing there like nothing happened.
They are also smart enough to ambush and attack your
flanks, and spread out and attack from both sides, if
you were stupid enough to position yourself in the
middle of an open area. This tactic you can use
yuorself, by seperating from the group and sneaking up
on the enemies from behind, while the other soldiers
are attacking them from the other side. Another good
thing is their weapons, you are adviced to use them.
[Not sure about that.] They don't differ much from
other games, but you can only carry 2, plus grenades,
at a time and not 15 as in many other games. If you're
low on ammo you can knock down an enemy with your gun,
steal his weapon, and use it instead. ome weapons are
better than others in certain situations, so it's good
to be tactic when you have to choose between the
shotgun and the sniper rifle. The sniper rifle is by
the way one of the coolest things we have ever seen.
It is equipped with 2x and 10x zoom and it's exact on
the millimeter. It's also equipped with night vision,
which is very nicely done.
Eminent graphics
To sort of supply the finishing touch, the game has a
graphics engine that completely lives up to this
game's standards. Since the Xbox is still young,
Bungie has been smart enough to include astonishing
effects and a high framerate, [even?] in splitscreen
multiplayer. All the cutscenes are made with the
game's own graphics engine, the grass is almost
photorealistic [only ALMOST???!!!] and trees and other
scenery is marvellous. The effects have also been
thoroughly worked on. At a first glance you can't see
them all, because you're too busy playing, [heh, for
me it was like the total opposite] but given time, you
will see things like trees swaying in the wind and
other kræs. [Once again, ask someone from Denmark.]
You almost drop both nose and mouth when you see the
sunrays shine through a tree's branches, o when you
can see the heat trace from the bullet you fired with
your sniper rifle in nightvision-mode. We could go on
forever talking about the graphical goodies, but
finally we will talk about the characters and their
animations, which are very lifelike. No stiff-boned
soldiers here, but a fully functioning fighting squad,
and just as well-working and well animated aliens. The
sound is as astonishing as the graphics. You don't
really notice the music, but when you do, it is
intense, gloomy and very instinct with feeling. The
sound effects are also great and the many weapons have
a really great effect. In addition, the game contains
lots of communication, both in cutscenes and in the
game itself. The oter soldiers communicate frequently
and you have some [input??] yourself, and all the
voices are loud and [appropriate or overacted]
The best ever
To end with the same phrase as we started, [I didn't
translate the headline, but yes, it was "The best game
ever"] there is a reason why Halo won 4 prizes at the
AIAA-awards. The game is without doubt the best FPS
ever on the console market and the best PC game ever
[and here there's some strange twist in the middle of
the sentence so it all ends with that] the console
market has to be getting better since this is just the
launch title. [I think something was wrong with my
Danish there.] The game is careefully though out from
beginning to end, with lots of eminent eyecandy,
sublime graphics and sound, that really gives us a
hint about what we can expect when the developers
seriously start working with the Xbox. If you only buy
one game on the launch day there's no doubt about
what, Halo: Combat Evolved, which therefore gets top
grade.
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