Summary
- Halo: Combat Evolved revolutionized the gaming industry, influencing newer franchises and establishing Xbox as a viable console.
- The game's precise dual analog stick control system made console shooters mainstream, leading to the future success of franchises like Call of Duty.
- Halo also paved the way for online multiplayer, Esports, and AI innovations, shaping the gaming landscape and increasing replay value in FPS games.
The world of video games was very different in 2001, before the release of the very first Halo game. It is hard to imagine a time when Master Chief wasn't an instantly recognizable gaming mascot, and the Xbox wasn't one of the leading consoles on the market. The franchise has gone on to release a string of sequels and spin-offs since this original game, and players have repeatedly fallen in love with the franchise by playing both the single-player campaigns and in online competitive matches. However, Halo has been a lot more successful than most gamers realize.
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Halo is an incredibly influential franchise, and many video game fans from the time can pinpoint the release of this game as the day the industry changed forever. Many newer franchises have modeled themselves on some of the innovations made in this first game, and Halo continues to be an influential presence in gaming today.
6 Establishing Xbox As A Viable Console
Games Influenced: Gears of War, Fable, Sea of Thieves
There was a time in gaming when most console fans would only argue that either Sony or Nintendo had the best console on the market. That is why Microsoft had its work cut out trying to break into the gaming market when it announced it was releasing the Xbox in 2001. For the console to succeed, it needed to provide some hardware that could rival the already-released PS2 and previously announced GameCube. Also, it had to provide games that made people want to buy a brand-new console.
Microsoft made a great decision by including Halo: Combat Evolved as the console's first exclusive title. The game was so popular and revolutionary that it got gamers talking about the new Xbox as a viable console. Since then, Microsoft has continued to be a huge player in the game's console market, but this success would not have happened if not for the release of Halo.
5 Making Console Shooters Mainstream
Games Influenced: Battlefield, Wolfenstein, Borderlands, Fallout
First-person shooters have been a staple of the gaming industry since the early 1973's Maze Wars. Unfortunately for console gamers, these games were usually only available on arcade machines or the PC before the year 2001. It seemed that console gaming devices were not precise enough to accurately allow players to aim their weapons in the way the developers intended. That is, until Halo was released.
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The first Xbox utilized a dual analog stick control system in its games that has become standard in today's world. This precise movement made it possible for players to have the utmost control over their video games. This also meant that first-person shooters were now a viable genre for console gamers. This innovation has led to huge FPS franchises being released in the years since. The Call of Duty franchise has sold over 400 million copies, and it is all thanks to Halo.
4 Online Multiplayer Is Now Mainstream
Game Influenced: All Co-Op FPS Games
Before the first Halo game and the Xbox, the only way for gamers to play video games with their friends was by using the same console. Multiplayer video games would have to include a split-screen mode, a two-player option that would shrink the screen, so two people could play a game side by side. While the first Halo did have a split-screen mode, Microsoft and Bungie used this game to test out one revolutionary feature: online multiplayer.
Xbox Live allowed players of Halo: Combat Evolved to connect their consoles to the internet and play with people from all over the world. Thus, online multiplayer was born. It may come as standard for many games on the market now, but Halo was the first game to allow players to join friends online t o fight each other in a deathmatch, or complete a campaign.
3 Esports
Game Influenced: Online Competitive Shooters
As players could now join each other online to play games like Halo, it only made sense that some people would want to test their gaming skills through this method. Unfortunately, there weren't many places that held online gaming tournaments in people's local area. A few gaming tournaments existed, but they weren't mainstream enough for casual gamers to join in. The term 'Esports' was definitely not in the public vocabulary yet. That was until the first Halo: Combat Evolved Championship in 2001.
This tournament brought together players of the most popular game at the time in an exciting tournament to make Esports a professional hobby for many. Nowadays, millions of players watch these tournaments, and some of the most popular gaming franchises such as Pokémon and Fortnite hold regular events.
2 AI Innovations
Games Influenced: Borderlands, Wolfenstein, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto
A big part of the gaming experience is being constantly surprised. Enemies that behave the same all the time will bore a player in any game, not just in an FPS, and that massively affects a game's replay value. The main feature in a game's program that controls an enemy's behavior is the AI, and technology had not come far in that field in 2001. Most enemies in a first-person shooter would follow a set path, which made it easy for players to find out how to beat them and progress.
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Halo: Combat Evolved did not want to repeat this same mistake, which is why the developers tried to focus as much attention on the AI as possible. This made the world of Halo feel lived in, as well as making enemy encounters unpredictable and hard to repeat. This is a note that many other game developers have taken on board since.
1 Varied Weaponry & Playstyles
Games Influenced: Modern First- and Third-Person Shooters
The main focus of most first-person shooters before 2001 was progression. Most games would equip the player with a weapon, and the test was to see how far they could get with that one gun and a few ammo drops. That was fun for a time until Halo changed the nature of FPS games in 2001. The developers at Bungie included a myriad of weapons that all behaved differently. As such, players could experiment with these guns to find out which ones they enjoyed using the most. It also helped to increase the replay value of the game and made it more challenging.
Including a vast sandbox of weapons was a genius decision, one that the series is still reaping the rewards of today. Also, many other gaming franchises have taken this same approach. It is rare that new games are released without a wide selection of weapons or play styles available.
Halo: Combat Evolved
