HALO: Combat Evolved - Xbox (2001), PC & Mac (2003)
Every successful console needs at least one great launch game, and HALO: CE was that for the first Xbox. What started as a Real Time Strategy game for Mac and PC became the most acclaimed shooter of its generation when Bungie were bought by Microsoft, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Story: It's the 26th Century, and a fanatical alien race called the Covenant has destroyed the human planet colony of Reach. Escaping from the chaos, space frigate The Pillar of Autumn hyperjumps blind and appears at a ring-shaped planet. Crash landing in an escape pod, the human cyborg Spartan soldier Master Chief and his A.I. companion Cortana make their way to rendezvous with Autumn's remaining crew to fight the Covenant and discover the secrets of Halo...
Gameplay: "30 seconds of fun, over and over again" was the idea - and thanks to a combination of standard-setting enemy A.I., exceptional twin-stick control, enormous roving levels and well-worked vehicle combat it proved a revolution. A lengthy co-operative campaign and amazing split-screen multiplayer modes made this a deserved 10/10-rated release - and that's before you factor in the System Link option, which kick-started 16-player console LAN parties the world over.
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