Halo

• publisher: Bungie Software
• developer: Bungie Software

[[The game]]

The buzz that Bungie Software's new game Halo created was really something special, perhaps even more unexpected than the game itself. Sure any games that brought us a radical new way to play, combined with killer graphics and a well formed storyline deserves recognition. Halo was however, no ordinary game, this was a game for the Mac. That's right, stop choking on your apple, yeah games are made for Macs. In fact, someone reading these very words might be reading them from a Mac, gasp! But not to worry, this game will also be released on the PC, so all you iMac haters out there can breathe again.
Halo puts you on a new kind of world. The world Halo refers to the name of a thin ring of planetary material orbiting a huge gas giant, which conveniently creates gravity and an atmosphere capable of supporting life. As a new race of aliens called the Covenant being busting its way through to human space, you are forced to take a group of marines and make a stand against the Covenant on Halo. Unfortunately, your ship crashes, all your equipment and weapons are spread around the ring, but the alien's weapons are free to use, providing you can get your grubby paws on them. Because you play as such a small troop of soldiers, you must result on guerilla tactics such as hit and run and more precision attacks instead of insane rushes.

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One of the most unique things about Halo, is that there will be no breaks in the gameplay. Think of it like an adventure game like Myst, but with shooting and all the things that make Quake and StarCraft so wonderful. Halo will also feature many things that will test today's best graphics cards. Simply looking at the screenshots that MegaGames has gathered, it is plain to see the photo realistic sky, with incredible solar effects. The firing and character graphics are also leaps beyond anything that is around today. Unfortunately this means that you will probably need to have one hell of a 3d accelerator. More features include, clouds that move and block then sun and because of shape of the Halo world, look for some bitchin' sunrises.

[[Weapons]]

There will also be a variety of weapons featured in the game including whatever you can pick up from the aliens that you destroy. They include simple hand-to-hand weapons like swords to incredibly advanced things like orbital bombardment, agile aircraft, and massive land-vehicles.

The game will also have multiplayer teams, as the options for multiplayer are seemingly endless with this type of engine. Playing as humans or aliens, there will be many types of multiplayer games available, although the exact kinds have not yet been determined. Most likely, players will join a small guerrilla group of soldiers. One person driving a jeep, another firing from the inside and anther manning the rotating gattling gun on the back.

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This game, having spent almost two years in development, could be the game that makes or breaks Bungie Software. If it succeeds, Halo could be for Bungie what Wolfenstein was for idSoftware. If it fails, Bungie will simply fade away like so many new startups. Whatever the case, if they can pump into Halo all that they have promised, Halo will change the face of gaming as we know it.