Xbox Gamers's own Akuma has written a Halo review. The game was praised for its immaculate sound and gameplay as well as in all other reviewed criteria. Xbox Gamers scored Halo 9.9 out of 10. (Thanks HBO)
Krillian Hex of Xbox Gaming got a hold of Halo and gave it an extremely positive review:
The game never gets boring. It will have you playing for hours upon hours, days upon days. The game doesn't have a very unique story line, but when played, the gameplay is more than what you expected. The AI is incredible. You will have enemies duck, or even run away from you if you killed all there teammates. Your troops will back you up and deploy specific tactics in order to win. They don't just run in with guns blazing- if they know they are outnumbered, you will have to sniper to clear as many enemies as you can before you are spotted.
As pointed out in numerous reviews, Halo's story doesn't seem to be its strong point, which is contrary to what we expected from Bungie. Nonetheless, Halo scored 98% overall. (Thanks HBO)
Interestingly enough, PC Magazine has reviewed the Xbox version of Halo, though it is an extremely short article:
If the Xbox has a killer app this is it. Halo is simply the best action game to surface since Half-Life was released for the PC in 1998. Stunning 3-D graphics, an epic sci-fi storyline and tense shoot-em-up action all make Halo a compelling and memorable game experience. Trapped on the artificial ring world of Halo, you must battle past waves of hostile aliens while trying to unravel the mystery of Halo.
PC Magazine scored Halo 5 out of 5. (Thanks HBO)
Byron Hinson at ActiveXbox has posted a Halo review, and he gives the game a 95% rating:
What can I say? Graphically Halo is miles ahead of any other console game released today. Sound wise again I have to say, I haven't really heard such a great range of voices, sound effects or Dolby 5.1 in any other game ever. Gameplay can become a little repetitive but in saying that, I enjoyed every moment playing Halo and if you play all of the different difficulty levels then you are going to be treated to different endings.
The only negative points in the review included some framerate slowdowns, level repetitiveness, and I want Halo 2. Which I suppose isn't really a criticism.
The Armchair Empire has given Halo a rating of 9 out of 10, lauding it especially for the graphics, while griping a bit about a few framerate issues:
On the graphics front, Halo is simply stunning. Though the levels are huge and, as such, fairly sparsely detailed, the details that are there are truly amazing. The textures are high-resolution and feature heavy use of bump mapping, giving every object, building, or vehicle a solid, real life look that is completely unmatched to this point on consoles. Watching two friends play co-op on the night of the Xbox launch, I noticed them constantly focusing on the ground to look at how real the grass seemed and zooming in with the sniper rifle on things like tree bark and tire treads. Amazingly, the textures displayed no blurring, regardless of how close the camera got to them. The characters and creatures are equally well done. I had nearly as much fun watching the computer-controlled members of my assault team exchange fire with the aliens as I did killing them myself.
Game Over also reviewed Halo, giving it a 97% rating. They liked the AI particularly:
Another area that Halo excels in is artificial intelligence, both enemy and friendly. When youТre accompanied on a mission by a team of marines, youТll never have to issue orders or worry whether or not theyТre taking cover in heavy fire. They react accordingly to the situation and, at times, issue you orders to advance or provide cover fire for them. If you hop into a Warthog, donТt be surprised if a couple of soldiers jump in with you, one in the passengerТs seat, the other manning the three-barelled machine-gun mounted on the rear. Considering in most first-person shooters, itТs often the player that comes to the rescue of the NPCs, itТs a welcome sight to see the favour gets returned in Halo.
Interesting to see them cite the fact that you can't give orders to NPCs as a plus, instead of a minus.
Halo is listed as a choice on VoodooExtreme's Game of the Year poll. In fact.. it's far and away in the lead, with a whopping 46% of the vote, trouncing the next nearest competitors, GTA3 (14%), MGS2 (11%) and Smash Bros. Melee (5%).
Thanks to Louis Wu at HBO who posted it after a heads-up from Mhaddy of The Junkyard.
IGN Xbox has made available a Halo PDF guide for its Insiders. No word on whether it's simply the Halo walkthrough at IGN Guides available in PDF format or if it's something entirely different. We won't know until an Insider gives us the scoop.
Remember Halo's review in the Official Xbox Magazine that we reported about a while ago? In case you missed it, HBO has added the scans of the review to its site.
Kudos to Louis Wu of HBO for scanning the Halo review from the November 2001 issue of Game Informer. They called it the Xbox essential and gave it a 9.5 out of 10 rating. The bottom line? [Halo is] one of the most impressive, if not THE most impressive, first-person shooter consoles have ever seen.
Another Halo review has seen the light of day, this time at 123 Xbox. Halo got near-perfect scores in every category; in fact, its lowest score was 9.7 out of 10 in the life cycle rubric. Overall, Halo scored 9.8 out of 10. (Thanks HBO)
PlanetXbox is reporting that The NPD Group has stated the Xbox and Halo are selling tremendously well. PlanetXbox's story reads:
The Xbox video game system from Microsoft had the best-selling video game console launch on record after two weeks of sales, according to The NPD Group Inc., the definitive source for sales and market data on the video game industry.The data clearly show that Xbox is off to a torrid start, said Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer at Microsoft. Xbox sold out as soon as we launched, and we're selling systems as fast as we can produce them. More than 100,000 units a week are being delivered to retailers, so game players are likely to find Xbox systems throughout the holiday season. With one of the best launch lineups ever, I understand why Xbox is the most sought-after gift for the holiday.
Most importantly, Xbox purchasers can't get enough of the Xbox launch games. According to The NPD Group, gamers are buying 2.4 Xbox games with every Xbox, resulting in the highest game attach rate ever recorded for a console at launch. Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. sold 1.9 games with every PlayStation 2 during the first two weeks of its launch last year, and Nintendo Company Ltd. has sold 1.9 games with every GameCube to date.
The NPD Group also claims that Halo is the Xbox's best-selling game and is even selling more than Luigi's Mansion for Nintendo's GameCube.
Truth And Reconciliation has had a couple of updates today. Twelve new screenshots have been added to the site, including pictures of the third race in Halo. Watch out though, as there are some spoilers in the screenshots.
Part IV: Power-Ups has been added to the multiplayer guide. While it is a short chapter, expect the next two sections to be much more extensive.
Gamers.com has reviewed Halo, who I gather liked the game since they called it the best first person shooter ever . Going on:
From the very start, you are drawn in like no other game, due to the well-scripted dialogue and storyline as well as the natural immersion the first-person perspective provides. Featuring as many shocking and exciting plot twists as Metal Gear Solid 2, Halo sheds the ultra-stealth focus of that title and replaces it with white-knuckle intensity Goldeneye wishes it had.
Gamers.com scored Halo 10 out of 10 themselves, while their average reader review is 8.9 out of 10. (Thanks HBO)
Halo has been reviewed by The Entertainment Depot, who found it to be an excellent title. Ryan Newman writes one of Halo's more critical reviews, but in the end he finds it to be a fantastic title:
Just short of being an epic adventure, Halo should satisfy all those craving a solid first-person shooter on a console.† While it may not be revolutionary, it certainly offers up a better experience than most others from developers whose bread and butter are milking the genre forall itТs worth.
Overall, Halo scored 8.5 out of 10. (Thanks HBO)
