Halo Combat Evolved
On May 5th, 2004, Halo: Custom Edition was released for free. It is a multiplayer only, 170MB standalone version of Halo PC which enables gamers to play user created content created with the halo editing kit. It requires the original cd and a valid key to play. Download it here.
halo combat evolved
Halo features a wide variety of environments including human and Covenant star ships, ancient buildings on Halo itself, and expansive outdoor climates. The first level, Pillar of Autumn, is fought entirely on the human star ship of the same name. The next level, Halo, takes place in a temperate highland climate with open-air Forerunner structures scattered about. This level also contains the famous "Blue Beam Towers." Truth and Reconciliation begins in a rocky desert, but the setting changes to the titular Covenant cruiser about one-third of the way through. The Silent Cartographer occurs on a tropical island, with substantial combat both outdoors and inside futuristic Forerunner installations. Assault on the Control Room takes place in a snowy, icy area of towering cliffs and underground tunnels as well as high-tech suspension bridges and oft-repeated Forerunner structures built into and through cliff walls.
343 Guilty Spark is a significant departure from these majestic environments, with combat in gloomy, exotic swamps and equally gloomy underground complexes that host the player's introduction to the Flood. The player is then teleported to the second of three entirely indoor levels, The Library, encountering repetitive, foreboding hallways and massive elevators. John-117 returns to the snowy climate of Assault on the Control Room for Two Betrayals, visiting almost no new areas but, interestingly, traveling in the opposite direction. Keyes occurs in the same rocky deserts and the same Covenant ship from Truth and Reconciliation, albeit now heavily damaged, but this time the Flood are present in huge numbers. Finally, The Maw is set on the Pillar of Autumn with three major differences: the presence of the Flood, the heavy structural damage, and access to the Engineering section and service corridors of the ship, which were previously off-limits. In total, six of the ten levels feature a substantial amount of combat outdoors.
Up to four players can play together using the same-console split screen mode. It is also possible for up to 16 players to play together in one Halo game over a local area network, using Xbox and/or Xbox 360 consoles that have been connected through an Ethernet hub, or via Xbox Connect, which is a way of tunneling a connection via a PC. The game's seamless support for this type of play, and a few large maps that can accommodate up to 16 combatants, is a first for console games. Since the game was released before the launch of Xbox Live, mainstream online play was not available for this title. The PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved officially adds online play, also new vehicles (Banshee and Rocket Warthog), weapons (Fuel Rod Gun and Flamethrower) and maps (see list below) for multiplayer. The PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved does not support split screen multiplayer.
In the first Halo game, there are no alien characters who play an important role in the game. However, in the next two halo games, Halo 2 and Halo 3, many important alien characters appear.
Various accomplishments open up new biomes and facilities. Backtracking is required to revisit areas in which your actions have changed the enemies encountered within and enabled access to explore further. Throughout this world are various collectibles. Some serve to upgrade either your combat abilities or your suit while others are terminals or other, assorted items. The story is told entirely through the environment and the text of the terminals you encounter throughout your journey.
The Multiplayer also takes place within this open world in which various multiplayer maps from Halo: CE, Halo 2, and Halo Custom Edition are featured. The majority of the open world is in fact made and composed of these maps, but tailored for single player combat first and foremost. Because the world of Legacies was designed so certain barriers can be removed (as seen in the Campaign), the Multiplayer maps can be enjoyed in a PVP environment as per the original intent of the maps.
U-Z The Unfought: Guilty Spark is never faced in direct combat.
Unique Enemy: In 343 Guilty Spark, there is the Paranoid Marine, a Marine who has been driven crazy by the (then unencountered) Flood and will slowly shoot at the player when approached.
There is only one group of Flood Combat Forms that use active camouflage in the game, encountered if you stay too long inside the armoury adjacent to the Engine Room in The Maw.
Unusable Enemy Equipment: The Fuel Rod Gun, in both its Hunter-integrated and infantry-portable versions. The latter even comes with a Self-Destruct Mechanism; its loaded fuel rods will expel a green gas for a few seconds following its user's death before the weapon violently explodes.
The Energy Sword is equipped with a similar failsafe mechanism, though its blade and hilt will instead harmlessly fizzle out as soon as it's dropped.
Sentinel Beams cannot be looted from destroyed Sentinels.
Villain Decay: Starting with the events following The Reveal, the Covenant gets hit with this hard.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Guilty Spark, who only wants to fire Halo (and thus kill all sentient life in the galaxy) in order to stop the Flood.
Wham Episode: 343 Guilty Spark. The Flood appears, as an Outside-Context Problem.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The Marine the Chief helps into the escape pod at the end of the first level is conspicuously missing if you stop to count the bodies of the Marines killed when the escape pod crashed into Halo, which makes you wonder if he somehow survived and wandered off while the Chief was knocked out.
What the Hell, Hero?: Just as Chief is about to activate Halo, Cortana finally manages to free herself and angrily asks, "Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you do?!" Activating Halo rids the galaxy of the Flood by wiping out all of its food. That is, all life.
A more literal example: should the Chief (or a fellow marine) kill one of his teammates, they will tolerate one death before turning on him, oftentimes yelling some version of this (i.e. "What the hell?!"). However, suppose the player kills Captain Keyes or any of the bridge crew during The Pillar of Autumn. In this case, Cortana will rather hilariously yell "What the hell are you doing?!" before calling in marine security teams to kill you.
Where It All Began: The first and last levels of the game both take place on the Pillar of Autumn.
You Just Had to Say It: After you first enter the titular Covenant ship in The Truth and Reconciliation, Cortana announces that there are no enemy forces detected on the vessel. This prompts this gem:UNSC Marine #1: What? There's no Covenant here? Think maybe nobody's home... (Covenant attack in large groups) UNSC Marine #2: Contacts! Lots'' of contacts! UNSC Marine #3: "No Covenant!" Ya had to open your mouth!
Your Size May Vary: The UNSC Pillar of Autumn is at least three times bigger in the final set-piece than it should be, with you explicitly driving at least 3 km along its 1.17km spine to reach the Longsword space fighter. This happened due to the fact that the interior layout of the missions which take place in the Autumn was completed before the exterior had been decided on and finalized. It's quite funny because, in every other aspect of the game, Bungie went to excruciating detail in creating the scale of the game accurately.
Tropes relating specifically to the standalone and MCC versions of Halo: Combat Evolved: Anniversary: A-D Arc Number: Guilty Spark mentions offhand that the original plan was to build twelve Halo installations instead of seven...note This is taken from The Forerunner Saga.
Battle in the Center of the Mind: One terminal has Captain Keyes struggling to remember who he is and fighting off the Flood infection. By the end, the voice of the Gravemind can be heard.
Bottomless Magazines: The purpose of the Bandanna Skull. Remember all that time you kept running out of ammo during The Library? Now, you never lose ammo when that skull is on. And you can still get achievements with it.
Call-Forward: The terminals in Anniversary are video logs kept by Guilty Spark. One, in particular, has him talking about how he hasn't heard from 2401 Penitent Tangent (the Monitor of Installation 05) for some time, and wondering if containment was breached.
Among the new multiplayer skins in The Master Chief Collection, the "Schism" skins for Covenant weapons and vehicles reference the green armor plating of the Separatist Phantoms in Halo 3. The "Zealot" skin for the Fuel Rod Gun specifically also makes it strongly resemble the gold Fuel Rod Guns in future games.
Character Customisation: The Master Chief Collection adds more options, such as visor colors, as well as both vehicle and weapon skins, unlockable via the seasonal progression system. For players who prefer Combat Evolved to look as classic as possible, an option exists to turn these extras off.
Canon Welding: The terminals interconnect a lot of the other games and the expanded universe together, as the series has evolved significantly since the original game. Guilty Spark narrates most of them, with references to the other Monitors and things that showed up in later games and novels.
Continuity Nod: The terminal videos have several, including towards the expanded universe. In particular, Guilty Spark references a number of things from The Forerunner Saga novel trilogy.
The Keyes terminal showing the eponymous captain and his mental struggle with the Proto-Gravemind is an expanded version of a scene that was in Halo: The Flood. A young Dr Halsey also appears in flashbacks from Keyes' memories, and her appearance is similar to what she looks like in the Halo Legends anime, with elements of her Halo: Reach design. Their daughter, a major figure in the next two games, also makes an appearance.
Linda-058 can be seen on the cryo bay status monitor next to the Chief, a nod to Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike.
Crucified Hero Shot: Keyes is shown in this as John finds him absorbed by the Flood.
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