Halo for the XBOX is one of the finest first person shooters to have ever been released. It definitely deserves a spot up there with classics like Half-Life, Doom, Goldeneye, and Quake. Why is that? You might ask. Well my friend, it's because of a little thing called CO-OP. Cooperative play is one of the most underused types of gameplay in the history of games. It allows two people to achieve the huge goal of beating the single player portion of a game together. Sure, Doom was fun on deathmatch, but nothing could compare to blasting through hundreds and hundreds of demons with a friend. It amplifies both the single player and multiplayer experience to a whole new level. Which leaves me wondering why it wasn't included in the miserable PC version...err...PC PORT. Regardless, Halo has many highpoints that virtually every gamer should enjoy.

         Basically, you play as Master Chief, one of the most badass space marines since iD made up space marines in Doom. But, unfortunately for you, a fellowship of aliens (the Covenent) don't really think you (or Earth...or humans) are that badass, so they shoot down the ship you're on, thus marooning you and several crew members on an ancient ring-world Halo. Basically the game is a race to stop the Covenent and find out what the hell Halo is. There's lots of squad based fighting (as many of the other marines escaped during the attack on your ship), but you only control Master Chief throughout the game. Also, the squad's A.I. is very well done. 99% of the time, they stay out of your way, and cover you back...and that's all you really need.

          Now, Halo's story may be simple, but the gameplay and the levels certainly are not. Halo has some of the best level designs since Half-Life. Half-Life did incredible job detailing things and scripting sequences but it was mostly confined to small areas (due to the inflexibility of the Quake engine). Halo however, takes that excellent level design, and puts it in some of the hugest outdoor and indoor levels ever created. Without the easily controllable and wonderfully fun vehicles, some of the maps would take forever to complete.

          And while I may be a stickler for Co-Op, I'm happy to repot that the multiplayer deathmatch/teamplay is also very well done. They provide several maps (that vary in size, some good for small groups, others not), and also several different types of gameplay; almost like mini-mods. There's a lot of customization available as far as setting up the multiplayer as well, and the addition of creating your own player is very handy indeed; something I wish Half-Life would've done. Like Natural-Selection for Half-Life, you can only hold 2 weapons at a time, and then hold accessories such as grenades. I like this style of play because it forces you to improve your skills with each weapon.