The Halo series has become one of the most influential first-person shooters in video game history, known for innovative game mechanics and complex plots which prove that a fun action game can be just as epic and story-driven as a good roleplaying game. But when the first game of the franchise started development, it wasn’t envisioned as being the beginning of a series of games – or even as an FPS.

Though Halo is now almost synonymous with Microsoft, the first game in the series was first publically announced at Apple’s Macworld Conference & Expo in 1999. At the time the game’s developer, Bungie, was creating Halo as a real-time strategy game; it became a third-person action game by the time the first trailer for the game was released at E3 2000.

In June 2000, Microsoft acquired Bungie and announced that Halo would now be an exclusive game for its upcoming console, the Xbox. Halo was changed into an FPS and the planned online multiplayer aspect of it was scrapped because the Xbox’s online service, Xbox Live, wouldn’t be ready in time for the game’s release. The game, renamed Halo: Combat Evolved, launched on the same day as the Xbox: November 15, 2001.

Halo: Combat Evolved takes place in the 26th century, when humanity has colonized other planets. The player takes on the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (or simply “Master Chief”), a “supersoldier” developed as part of the SPARTAN-II project on the human-colonized planet Reach. Master Chief is one of the few survivors of an attack on Reach by the Covenant, a group of advanced alien races dedicated to wiping out all of humanity for religious reasons. After his fleeing ship crashes on a mysterious ring-shaped structure the Covenant calls “Halo,” Master Chief – accompanied by a group of Marines and the AI construct Cortana – must battle against the Covenant, a parasitic alien race known as the Flood, and robotic drone Sentinels to save his ship’s captured captain, stop the Flood, and destroy the Halo.

While Halo: Combat Evolved adhered to many of the gameplay conventions of other FPS games, it also featured some innovative mechanics, including a regenerating energy shield, a limited inventory of unique weapons, and the ability to perform melee attacks while a gun is equipped. These innovations were a source of praise amongst players and critics, as was the AI in the game. Halo: Combat Evolved also included very well-received local multiplayer modes which could support up to 16 players via LAN – a first for a console game. Halo: Combat Evolved sold millions of copies and became a major selling point for the Xbox system itself.

When development on Halo 2 began, Bungie was determined to include online multiplayer, a goal which negatively impacted other areas of development – including the story, which alternates the player between playing as Master Chief and a Covenant commander known as Thel ’Vadam. During the course of the game the humans must defend Earth against a Covenant attack, civil war starts in the Covenant, and both humans and Covenant forces must fight the Flood. In spite of the game’s unsatisfying cliffhanger ending, Halo 2 went on to sell several more millions of copies and was highly praised by critics, especially for its well-executed online multiplayer modes.

Development on Halo 3 started while many members of Bungie’s staff were still working on Halo 2. Because the game was being developed for Microsoft’s new console, the Xbox 360, many improvements were planned, including better graphics – though the game couldn’t render in true HD resolution like other Xbox 360 games. New features in Halo 3 included high-powered but unwieldly “support weapons,” a map-editing tool called Forge, and the ability to save gameplay films.

In Halo 3, Covenant and human forces are transported to a massive structure outside the Milky Way galaxy called the Ark. The Flood arrive and begin to infest the Ark, and Master Chief and his allies must work to stop the Flood and save the galaxy. Halo 3, released on September 25, 2007, went on to sell 14.5 million copies around the world, making it the best-selling Xbox 360-exclusive title of all time.

The full text of this article is in The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Video Games, available at gemstonepub.com.