Halo. Just by hearing that name it provokes a reaction out of anyone. Some people love it, others hate it, and some don’t understand either. Selling millions on release day, odds are if you have a Xbox, you have one of the three games. But why is it so appealing? What about it draws in so many people? And why is it still one of the most played games over Xbox Live?

Before Halo, first-person shooters usually fit into one of three categories. First-person shooters were usually either frantic frag fests (Quake, Unreal Tournament), slow tactical team oriented combat (early Rainbow Six, Counter Strike), or the old classic run-n-gun style games (Half-Life, Duke Nukem.) Halo used a blend of all three, primarily adding a tactical element to the faster styled multiplayer games.

The main difference lies within the ability to only carry two guns at a time. No longer could you just pick up every weapon you encountered like in the old run-n-gun games. You had to think and make choices on the field based on what you think you’d come up against. You had to balance your loadout, because if you end up relying too much on long, medium, or short range combat a good player could take advantage of your weaknesses. Older style tactical games allowed a small selection of weapons, but for most missions you never changed weapons and stuck primarily with what you started with. Halo blended all three styles of play, to allow a fast paced tactical run-n-gun game.

Staying on why the combat of Halo is what made such an impact was giving grenades their own button. Most games before hand had grenades as their own weapon, making it difficult to use on the fly. Grenades became a very tactical part of the game, becoming much  more than just a weapon, it became a tool. Making it easy to access allowed you to use it during a retreat to lengthen the gap, could use it as a distraction, or even to create a quick way to block LOS from a sniper. While this feature was hardly revolutionary, it helped to create that fast paced tactical gameplay.

While not a Battlefield game, vehicles helped play a large role into what made Halo so fascinating. While hard to control, the Warthog was a fast vehicle, and got teammates where you needed to be with that extra firepower from the chain gun. Vehicles became an important part in team work in objective based games, very often making the difference between winning or even making that comeback. Vehicles of course had been done in games before, but the vehicles in Halo worked so seamless into the fast paced gameplay, that they just had that extra charm other games had lacked.

While the gameplay was a lot of the glue that kept the game together, the story is definitely the material used. While there is no denying that Halo does take inspiration from various different sci-fi stories throughout history, there is no way you can say it rips any of it off. The Halo universe is very expansive, even from the first game. Even if you didn’t know the motives and story behind the Covenant, it was still there. This created an atmosphere of mystery, and as a player you wanted to know more. Not only did you want to learn more of the Covenant, but about the Forerunners and their installation you are battling over. The story was as much about survival as it was about learning more. And while the first game didn’t give you too many answers, it still gave you enough to want to play more to find out.

Many people like to point out how stale and unrelatable Master Chief is as a character. Some see this as a bad move, but I honestly think it worked out better in this setting. As a first-person shooter, you’ll find it easy to immersive yourself into the actual role of the person your playing. By giving this person a personality, it distances you further from filling that first person role. Many other games do this, primarily in older RPGs and action adventure games (Zelda and other “silent protagonist” games come to mind.) It wasn’t the fact that Bungie couldn’t make characters with personality, as the supporting cast (and later main characters) filled the role of relatable characters.

My last point is personally, one of my favorites, and is why the game was so immersive to me. And that’s the music. It’s no question at all, that good music and make or break a game series. Music moves us and when done properly, resonates with you. Music can get stuck in your head, and drive you nuts until you hear it properly. Some of the most memorable parts of some of your favorite games was the music. And Halo is no different. Even those who hate the Halo series can admit that the music is some of the best to be in a game. The music helps create the feel of the game so often and so well, it exponentially enhances the experience.

None of these examples were perfect, nor the sole reason Halo became so popular. They were however done very well, and helped change the first-person genre. While none of the ideas and features were necessarily new or revolutionary, they were all done well and flowed to create a very enjoyable experience. Even though it all comes down to a matter of opinion and preference, I honestly can’t say Halo is over rated. It does what it does well, and creates a fast paced tactical first-person shooter. Is it the deepest and most complex game you’ll find? Not at all, but there is a balance between complexity and simplicity that when struck appeals to a large amount of gamers, and Halo did just that.