Halo Through the Years

If you're a gamer, then you've undoubtedly heard of the Halo franchise. You may have broken open the first halo upon its release and unleashed it upon your Xbox, or maybe you joined the development a little bit later with the release of Halo 2 or 3. Either way, it has been one of the most successful franchises of our time. Let's take a look at Halo throughout the years and decide how far it's come and if it'll ever finish it's fantastic reign over the first person shooter genre.

--Halo--

The first Halo game was definitely something that first person shooter obsessed gamers hadn't seen before. Yes we've seen aliens and yes we've seen guns, but the sheer fluidity of Halo was at the time, the best out there. The first Halo really served the original Xbox, as it inspired many gamers to look outside their platform and purchase the console just to play Halo. It was the milestone of the Xbox, and still could be considered the best game with the most longevity to ever grace the console.

1. Graphics

Even for the Xbox, the graphics could have been better for the original Halo. This by no means makes it a bad game, but you'll have to agree that even former shooters could match Halo in the graphics category. They didn't look bad, but hey, let's face it - they weren't the greatest. The saving grace for Halo was that graphics didn't matter, because the gameplay was so good.

2. Gameplay

Right from the beginning, whether you're playing the storyline or multi-player, you're going to have a great time with the first Halo game. It has this sense of real cohesiveness to it. The storyline was enrapturing and really made you care about the characters. It also helped that your character looked incredibly sturdy. Halo succeeded in bring you into the game, and with it came a real sense of urgency and reward for the player.

--Halo 2--

The second Halo game isn't really that far away from the first, but is that a bad thing? If it ain't broke, why would you fix it. Still, we did see some improvements. Microsoft really took some time out and made sure that they'd get the sequel right. All of the changes made to the Halo franchise in the sequel were for the best, and I can honestly say that most Halo fans would agree with me.

1. Graphics

Well, it's the same engine so the graphics didn't look THAT much better. Still, they topped the original Halo. Microsoft did some tweaking, and the tweaking rewarded them. They expanded on their noteworthy fluidity of their characters and environments in Halo 2.

2. Gameplay

If you liked the story in the first Halo, the sequel fails to disappoint. You are again, Master Chief, charged with killing all the baddies. The second story has much more going on, more impressive monsters and enemies, and a much more creepy vibe. You could sit down and play it in the darkness and It could borderline behave just like a ghost story.

--Halo 3--

Halo 3 was a step up from 2, but it still had some issued. We put up with them though because It was still such a darn good game. As gamers, we barely have the capacity for forgiveness when somebody makes us wait three years, then gives us a buggy game, but for Halo 3, we let it slide.

1. Graphics

Obviously they look much, much better due to this game being released on the Xbox 360. There's not much else you can say about it, but if you're used to playing on the Xbox, you've gotta check out the 360 Graphics.

2. Gameplay

By far the best Halo to date. The first one shocked us with it's excellent storyline, and playability. Halo 3 continues with the tradition, and even betters it. If you've been out of Halo for a while, you should go test the waters near the island that is Halo 3.