- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I used to be a big fan of RPGs when I was younger. When Xbox Generation consoles first hit the market, I had no desire to buy either of the three. Anyway, I was at school and met this guy at school. Every so often, when a video game was brought up, he would mention Halo: Combat Evolved. Fortunately, it wasn't in the annoying way.
You know, where you could just shoot a rubber band across the room and then some annoying guy makes the relationship between a rifle and the finger/elastic-powered weapon and then constantly speak about Halo. From there he'd tell you about ALL his previous Halo experiences and ignore everyone's obvious disapproval of the subject at hand. That annoying guy would always catch the attention of a group; even if his one-sided conversation was aimed at a single person.
To reiterate, this guy was not like that. Somehow his Halo stories would tie into a conversation so well, I would even forget what we were talking about before. I could tell that Bungie did an excellent job on the storyline just by the way he would tell what was going on. If I was intrigued, I would ask a question. The amazing thing was that he could answer in a very detailed manner that wasn't god-forsakenly lengthy. Every story was amazing. This Master Chief character sounded like a BAMF (to all my Dane Cook buddies) that actually had a reason to fight. He wasn't like all the heroes from various FPSes before. I didn't even know they're names. But this Master Chief was the hero that I had subconsciously always admired. Unfortunately, I didn't even know what he looked like. I only had a console that pretty much only made childish games. I now hate that plumber, his brother, his princess girlfriend, and his dinosaur. The only cool one was the dinosaur, but he was deBAMFed, meaning he lacked all BAMF features other than the ability to chew people up and spit them out. I know. I know. I was in sad shape.
Over this time period of story telling, this dude and I became friends. I was probably even a little annoying. I mean, I was probably close to the fellow mentioned above without all the talking. I was just always asking questions.
We were on the way back to school from a weeklong trip, and he gladly told a few stories from the Campaign and Multiplayer modes. He wasn't obnoxious either. He would glorify a story for what had happened; not what he had done. He put it in a way to where I didn't have to listen to some guy just talk about how good he was at a game that I've never played. He was in no way the jerk that you would expect your average Halo player to be. Well, towards the end of the trip, he asks me if I'd ever played. I hadn't, and I responded as such. I guess that led him to invite me to his house. We shared the same sense of humor and found the same types of things to be interesting. Even if he didn't decide to play Halo, we'd still have a great time. I asked my mom ( I was in the eighth grade at the time, by the way. Cut me some slack), she gave the okay, and we made our way to his house.
We finally arrived at the house. We'd been laughing at various things that happened on the weeklong trip mentioned before, and almost as soon as we walked inside he asked me if I wanted to play Halo. Why of course I did, and I answered as such (cool phrase, huh?). He asked his step-father if he could play. The old man had the audacity to reply with something the along the lines of, "Of course you can. You brought me someone else to beat down." I normally wouldn't take a comment like that, but I was raised by a great mother. I was taught to respect elders, so I laughed. He was probably right. I mean, this was my first time actually playing an FPS other than that one secret agent. You know, that one with a particulary expensive eye?
Either way, we got down to business. It was the two of us against his step-father and sister... on split screen... I didn't even know what screen watching was until that point in time. I, trying to be the bigger man, avoided doing as such and focused on things like learning to aim and getting to know the map. If I remember correctly, we were getting dominated, and it was obvious that I was letting the team down. It was okay. AT LEAST I TRIED. Either way, as the finaly CTF match was coming to a close (Blue team - 2 Our Red Team - 0), the blues were coming after our flag in the almight Warthog, or as I like to call it at the time, "it." I called it "it" because when "it" was coming I would let my partner know by shouting, "Here 'it' comes!" By the way, "it" always ran me over. This time I was on top of the base in Blood Gulch. "It" came towards the base, and I threw a well timed and well hidden grenade. "It" was right on top of the grenade as the explosive released the anger I had been storing for the Warthog. The 'Hog tilted vertically; nose in the ground the rest was lying up against the base. The two were easily disposed of. It was the first time I had actually done something worthwhile to defend the base. Eventually though, they won, and it was a little embarrassing being whooped by a girl, but I let that guy know who the boss was eventually going to be with that one grenade.
His sister and father were done playing, and he told me that we should play the campaign. We watched the first Cinema Scene. I loved it. Sergeant Johnson (as I was told his name) had his Marines in line, and the Captain looked very deep in thought as he assessed the situation. It was a really cool moment, and I loved every bit. The first stage was awesome! I just knew I had to escape. To be honest I did die a few times, but that's when I made those really stupid mistakes of running in without thinking. The next stage was just as awesome. The Warthog no longer seemed like the demonic beast I once thought it to be. It eventually became my buddy's steed and I was riding atop the mount with a giant machine gun. SPOILER ALERT! We eventually got to the Flood Levels. The parasitic life-forms couldn't have been introduced in any better fashion. The excitement and fear from that initial confrontation was never quite captured in any game from that point on. The closest was a game for the 360 that involved a lot of water and some pretty big daddies. Halo 3 didn't try to put the fear into like it did with Halo: Combat Evolved, but the excitement was sure there. The Storm was a magnificent level. Bungie even outdid themselves. I always wondered why the Marines and Covenant in Halo never mutated in front of my eyes, but Halo 3 helped me see what I wanted. Marines even transformed while standing. Also, to be honest I felt a little empty inside when the lone marine cried about killing his infected squad. The team was there, dead. He did what he had to do. He was a good soldier. I can't even imagine what I would do if I were in his position. END SPOILERS!!!
Well, from that point on we would continue to play just about every weekend. I even went out and bought my own Xbox (YAY!) when Christmas time rolled around. I had to share the present that year. My brothers and I had to decide on something that we all wanted. I convinced them to get an Xbox and Halo: Combat Evolved. I know they liked the game, but they didn't love it like I did (do). I would play my heart out on weekdays. It even got to the point I was talking to my girl and playing the game at the same time... on Legendary. Call me what you will, but I still had the girl when I had the game. You have to be an expert smooth-talker or a extremely handsome man to pull that off (by the way ladies, she cheated on me later on, so needless to say, we're not together. I am single, and I'm not an expert smooth-talker, but I do look extremely handsome when I play that game you love... Boy, I crack myself up). Either way, I began to dominate the game single player on Legendary. I quickly surpassed my buddy's step-father, and my buddy and I were seemingly equal.
Halo 2 came out and I loved it... for a moment. The campaign just didn't last as long as it did in Combat Evolved. It was great for a moment. I dominated everyone nearby with the help my buddy. Then after a while multiplayer became boring... until he got LIVE! It was pretty awesome getting dominated by tactics (Ha! Tactics! Halo 2! Same Sentence!) that I'd never seen before, and I soon hated the plasma pistol and the battle rifle. It was one thing to take away my baby, the assault rifle, but it was another thing entirely to replace it with a weapon which could be used in such a lame manner. It was fine. After getting a taste of LIVE from my bestest friend in the whole wide world, I quickly purchased it. Soon those people wielding combo were devastated by my one-two grenade-Battle Rifle punch. Well here's where my buddy and I began to take different paths. With the introduction of Xbox Live, I became a skilled killer capable of performing feats unimaginable to the normal human brain. By buddy ol' pal, on the other hand, became a infiltration artist capable of performing bomb plants and flag snatches unimaginable to me to this day even though I've seen them. He was also very deadly without an objective. Live changed everything, and it was good.
Time went by, and he moved two states away. I know, I know. My tag team partner was gone, but thank god we still had Live. To be honest with you Bungie, I had stopped playing Halo 2 with the introduction of a game which centered around four soldiers who liked various kinds of machinery that involved cogs and gears. I pretty sure you catch my drift. After a while, we both became bored with the few multiplayer games we shared. We still spoke, but it wasn't as often. Halo 3 changed everything. It's pretty much all I play now. I'm not sure if likes taking a break from his massively effective RPG, but I do know we share some good times. Just recently we started playing double team together. We're pretty dominant.
Thanks Bungie for bringing us this game. I love saved films!
[Edited on 01.04.2008 5:44 AM PST]