I love video games, and always have, in all of their incarnations, whether the games are played on consoles, PCs or online and from the cloud, I love them. I also love them regardless of whether a game is a first-person shooter, RPG, action-adventure, or even a MMORP game, so it’s hard for me to narrow down my choice of favorite video game series of all time. When I look at the one series that has consistently improved its story line, world creation, character development and game engine through each subsequent edition in its game series, I have to confess that I am a passionate member of The Halo Nation, and I believe that the Halo series is my favorite video game series of all time.
Halo was developed by Bungie, and is now owned by Microsoft Corporation and managed by a Microsoft subsidiary, 343 Industries. Since its inception in 2001, each subsequent title has astronomically outsold previous editions. The story line in campaign mode originally centered on the experiences of playable character Master Chief John 117 and his AI companion, Cortana. Master Chief’s laconic sense of humor in the face of desperate odds throughout the events in the series and his verbal banter with Cortana and the aliens that he fights makes the story line enjoyable; it makes you want to complete the game to see what will happen next. This element meshes nicely and gives depth to the visual world portrayed in the Halo series. The addition of the multi-player option in the subsequent Halo editions, which coincided with the development and release of Xbox Live, are what makes each title in the original Halo trilogy, as well as the spin-offs of Halo Wars, Halo ODST and Halo: Reach, remain so playable, despite the fact that they have been released for years. In addition to the story line in campaign mode and the ease of finding players in multi-player mode, the concept of forcing your character to be limited to only carrying two weapons at a time, and a certain number and type of grenades at a time, adds both an element of reality and ease of play to the series. For each edition of the series, the game controls are intuitive; there is not a long, complicated list of choices of weapons or moves to make to play the games.
Halo 4 is rumored to be in development. It is reported that it will be the beginning of a separate and new Halo trilogy. Personally, I do not feel that a satisfying conclusion has been made to the storyline of the original Halo series. At the end of Halo 3, Master Chief and Cortana survive the explosion and are left floating in space in the back half of their destroyed ship. Master Chief suspends himself cryogenically while the ship is drifting towards an unknown planet, will they be rescued, or will their fate remain unknown in the next edition of the series? As Master Chief enters the cryotube he tells Cortana, “Wake me… When you need me.” If only all men were as loyal and dependable in reality as Master Chief is in the Halo Series! After all of these years, and uncountable hours of multi-player and campaign play, I need a more satisfying conclusion for Master Chief, because, to be honest about it, I think I have come to love playing this character. I hope that after all of the adventures that I and other members of the Halo nation have experienced with this character, that these are not the last words that we hear from him; I need to hear from him again, and need to play him again, at least one more time.