Halo: Combat Evolved Retrospective (7/10)

Before novels, action figures, sequels or films were even contemplated, Bungie gave itself the task of establishing a huge sci-fi shooter franchise on the original Xbox in 2001, launching Halo: Combat Evolved to a wealth of success. Now, looking back, Combat Evolved has some retro graphics for an FPS, and while with many titles that could be seen as a complement, here at times the Grunts, Elites and Jackals of old just look plain ugly. Plus, at the time there weren't many truly awesome sci-fi gaming yarns, so Halo made its mark simply by having one which was out of the ordinary, but in 2010 we can see it was by no means extraordinary: you'd think that the tale of the Master Chief escaping a planet's destruction (see Halo: Reach this Autumn), only to find a ring with similar atmosphere to Earth that is destined to destroy all life in the universe and then have the soldier tasked with its destruction and the safekeeping of the cosmos would be an amazing plot, but it doesn't work for the most part, and many levels feel far too dragged out. In all honesty, I would probably give Combat Evolved a much lower score even were it released with HD graphics as the first in a new series today, but considering it established such a huge franchise and one of the best shooters ever (Halo 3- 9/10), it can be forgiven of its flaws.