By Joshua Madden
A&E Editor
What exactly is art? Is it something that asks a question about the nature of humanity? Is it something that provides intellectual stimulation? Or is it pure visual enjoyment?
Almost any definition of art will leave you with one conclusion about Bungie’s “Halo: Combat Evolved” — this game is art.
The storyline in “Halo” rivals many good films, leading you to care about the characters and the story as you navigate your way through the artificial planet of Halo. It’s good because the story makes you ask questions about the nature of humanity. How far would we, as a species, be willing to go in order to survive?
By creating a faceless hero in Master Chief, Bungie has given the world a faceless hero that we can all relate to. There’s something oddly relatable about this masked guardian of humanity, and that’s part of what makes the game so great.
But it’s just one small part. The main thing that makes “Halo: Combat Evolved” so great is the gameplay itself. Let there be no question: “Halo” is fun to play.
The campaign features various difficulty settings. It can be fun for novices to play, but also for hardened veterans to attempt to shoot through on “Legendary.” If you want a challenge or just some alien cannon fodder, “Halo” will provide you with both.
Xbox’s “Halo: Combat Evolved” brought us the ultimate multiplayer experience: blowing up your friends with a tank. Remember how cool that was when the game first came out? It has become commonplace now, but at the time, at least for a console game, it was the coolest thing ever. I spent nights blasting my friends off the many maps in “Halo.”
“Halo” was first released in 2001, which is recent enough most of us can remember it being released, but just hidden enough in the past for us to be able to acknowledge it as a modern classic.
Our “Great Video Game” list would not be complete without including “Halo: Combat Evolved.” It is indisputably one of the best video games of all time.
Do you know of a Great Video Game? Suggest it to us — email us at lariat@baylor.edu. If you give us a convincing enough argument, we might just publish it here. Just a pick a game that hasn’t been picked yet.
