Aiming for the Heavens. Preview

Aiming for the Heavens.

The human race is in jeopardy. An alien league called the Covenant is bent

on eradicating the entire species. In a last ditch effort, a lone earth battlecruiser

lures the Covenant fleet away from Earth, deep into uncharted space. Low on

supplies, the earthlings find a haven on a Niven-esque world in the shape of

a ring that’s over 10,000 miles in diameter. On this artificial world, the humans

must fight a guerilla war, trying to stay alive as long as possible. At least

they chose a gorgeous place to make their last stand.

Halo is the work of Bungie, makers of the fantastic Marathon

and Myth series. It debuted

last year at MacWorld and made the audience collectively gasp. Since then, very

little has been released about this upcoming game, leading many to believe it

was either a hoax or the developers had failed to create what they promised.

Neither could be farther from the truth. Halo is real, ladies and gentlemen,

and, simply put, amazing.

Rumors abound about Halo and Game Revolution is here to help you separate

fact from fiction. If you’re staring at the screenshots right now, you’ll be

please to hear that they were all taken from gameplay. While it might sound

unbelievable, what you are seeing was all created by the in-game engine. On

top of that, you don’t need a god-box in order to play the game. The E3 demo

that GR made sure to see was done on a Pentium 450 with a TNT2 card. Expect

the minimum system requirements to be lower than that, but Halo just

might be worth investing in a new computer or video card.

The single player

game will be a non-linear action game. There are no levels, – simply you, the

aliens, and a gigantic arena for you to explore. This is not to say that the

game is pointless; every action you do, every alien you kill, alters the gameworld

dynamically. There are underground bases to explore, weapons to find, and missions

to complete. Bungie just didn’t want to break up the gameplay into sections.

Your goal is to win a guerilla war; if only you had Che Guevara to help you…

The multiplayer will allow you to play as either the aliens or the humans.

Focusing on fast combat and team tactics, you’re not going to succeed unless

you work as a group. For example, the vehicles in the game (cars, boats, and

airplanes) can all be player-controlled. While one player is driving, another

might choose to hop on the back and man the cannon. For all the FPS fans out

there, there will still be a simple deathmatch mode, but aren’t you tired of

that by now?

If Bungie is able to pull off Halo, it will undoubtedly become a benchmark

on which other games will be compared. The dynamic gameplay and non-linear storyline

is sure to drain away all the free time you thought you might have. So, say

goodbye to your loved ones and make sure the pets are well fed, because Halo

is coming to town.

You still have some time to enjoy sunlight! Halo is due out the beginning

of 2001 for PC and Macintosh.

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