Episode 93 - Regenerating Biofoam - Halo: Combat Evolved

Did you sleep well? No thanks to your podcasting, yes. Welcome back
to a moderately special episode of NOCLIP! JJ has returned to
discuss Halo: Combat Evolved. The first game in one of the
unarguably largest game franchises in history, Halo really brought
the first person shooter to consoles in a way that managed to
popularize the genre much more universally than had been
accomplished in the past. While this growth really hit a fever
pitch with the accessibility of online multiplayer through Xbox
Live, the single player campaign mode was still an expected and
important part of a console game experience, and Halo delivered on
that front and was probably most known for its creature design,
protagonist and stunning outdoor vistas before the ubiquity of team
deathmatch really took hold. And this is what we’re going to be
talking about today. How does the campaign hold up under a modern
lens, and what elements of design did they get so right to spawn
such a monumental series? We’re going to be talking about the
game’s presentation of it’s sci-fi plot through visuals and
dialogue, the way the game diversifies its encounters with enemy AI
and weapon availability, and discuss the existential horror of
being caught in a “Womp loop.” Thank you so much for joining us
today. Halo is a game that has been looming as one of the “must
talk about” games since the beginning (along with a few others I’m
sure you’re thinking of we haven’t covered yet), and I’m really
happy with how it turned out. What do you think about Halo? Does it
hold up to modern games, or even other entries in the same series?
Do you feel like a badass because you have grenades that stick to
stuff and have a twenty foot tall vertical leap? Join us in
discussing the game on our Discord, or leave us a comment on
YouTube, and make sure to subscribe, because we’re heading into
Mystery May in June, "Nancy June," next time when we talk about
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.