Halo: Combat Evolved is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. The first game of the Halo series, it was released on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is considered that platform's "killer application". Microsoft released versions of the game for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in 2003, and the surrounding storyline was adapted and elaborated into a series of novels. In Halo's twenty-sixth century setting, the player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced "SPARTAN" super-soldier. The player is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence who occupies the Master Chief's neural interface. Players battle various aliens on foot and in vehicles as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped structure. Some game magazines have ranked Halo among the best and most important games of all time. Other reviewers criticized the game for repetitive levels and the lack of online multiplayer play in the Xbox release. The game's popularity has led to labels such as "Halo clone" and "Halo killer", applied respectively to games either similar to or anticipated to be better than it. The game inspired and was used in the fan-created Red vs. Blue video series, which is credited as the "first big success" of machinima. (more...)
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