For a long stretch of my memory, Halo has been gaming in its entirety. Whether as emblem or active participant, the series has been lodged in the industry’s collective consciousness for the last 12 years. But for all that time, I know I have failed to re-examine the game on a more analytical level. Despite being perhaps the seminal work of 00’s game design, it has been something of a black-box to, until recently.

On re-examining the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, I find it to be incredibly well-honed. The game’s player progression and obstacle introduction have aged surprisingly well, both in terms of encounter difficulty and in tense-and-release structure. The navigation, while nothing monumental (then or now), is approachably streamlined; the multi-modal nature playing into the aforesaid tense-and-release structure. The weapons and enemies manage to pack a lot of variation into a very small number of elements; while the game’s imperative to conserve ammunition and similar resources is unobtrusively integrated.

Halo: Combat Evolved
Image retrieved from http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/File:Halo1610.jpg
Developer	Bungie Studios
Publisher	Miscrosoft Games
Designers	N/A
Platform Played	Xbox, on Xbox 360
Release date(s)	November 15, 2001
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Version Played	Original

Traversal

Incremental Obstacle Introduction

As befitting the game that launched a thousand halo-killers, Halo itself is a very finely tuned experience when it comes to player progression. The first two levels, in particular introduce enemies in a very comfortable, very incremental manner.

During the first level, “Pillar of Autumn”, players are pitted against Grunts (the enemy cannon fodder) in small groups. Soon after that, players are introduced to Elites, stronger enemies with shields (please refer to the chart of enemy types in “skill handling” for clarification of enemy types); though the player first encounters these enemies as solitary enemies, as opposed to the groups of Grunts encountered earlier. Later in the level, players will encounter 1) groups of Grunts led by an Elite, 2) groups of multiple Elites, at once.

Similarly, certain skills are only introduced incrementally within this level. Melee attacks, for instance, are not necessary until players are prompted to 1) break down a door, and subsequently 2) sneak attack a lone grunt (there are numerous opportunities to flank and sneak attack enemies prior, but players are not forced/prompted to do so). Similarly, the flashlight function (an otherwise wholly optional ability used to light corridors) is not needed until a pre-defined dark area is reached.

The second level “Halo”, adds another take to this, with players no longer traversing a linear set of hallways, but instead instructed to defend a particular structure in an architecturally-open arena. Instead of players moving between battles, enemies are spawned and flown into the area via dropship after certain periods of downtime. Additionally, this encounter is used to introduce a new type of enemy, the jackal, mixed in the Grunts of the first few waves.

Navigation handling

Navigation in H:CE is divided between on-foot movement and vehicular movement. In what is now the golden standard of console FPS controls, players are able to control their navigation and aiming through separate inputs. While on foot, this translates to the left analog stick controlling avatar navigational movement, while the right analog stick controls aiming. There is a direct, 1:1 mapping of input to character action, undertaken in continuous real-time.

This separation of aiming and movement might seem somewhat at odds with my Tense-and-Release thesis for H:CE’s overall design. By mapping the two actions to two different controls, the developers incentivized constant movement and action by the player; that is, they are no longer required to stop in place and carefully aim if they wish to hit anything above or below their sight-line.

However, this dichotomy becomes necessary when taken in conjunction with two other design choices present within the game. Certain weapons (grenades) follow parabolic arcs when used, which, while static in their duration, can be aimed to start higher or lower, effectively changing the path of their arc.

Further, certain enemies (Grunts and Jackals) are built to be permanently below a player’s resting aim. Therefore, removing the ability to aim upwards and downwards on the fly would impede the players progress, given the constraints of these two choices. This impediment could throw off the Tense-and-Release structure, invalidating what I assume was the drive for the game’s developers.

To return to the navigational modes, the games’ vehicles take a somewhat more varied approach. Each handles in a slightly different manner, and are only deployed in certain sections, where that ability would be beneficial. Further, because of their application of crossing large distances in little time, the vehicles are more often used to regulate player engagement, rather than as another tool to defeat enemies. The Warthog, especially, provides long stretches of calm navigation, free of hostile interaction, serving to release tension built up by previous encounters.

Vehicle	Behavior	Notes
Warthog	“Aiming” is the same as navigation, i.e. players must always align their view with the axis they want to move along (since the right analog stick is used for throttle, players can move forward and backward along the same axis by using the same actions)	Additional variants in multiplayer
Ghost	Aiming and navigation are separate inputs. Players are able to strafe, as well as using boosting to accelerate along forward heading	Operable
Banshee	Aiming and navigation are again combined, however retains the boost ability of the Ghost.	Inoperable in single player
Wraith	Handles as a slower ghost, fires heavy ordnance in parabolic arc	Inoperable by player
Scorpion	Slow moving, handles similar to Warthog, fires in direct line with rocket-launcher level ordnance	N/A
Spirit Dropship	Mounted with plasma turret, drops off squad of covenant forces; effectively indestructible.	Inoperable by player

fig 1: vehicle behaviors

Skill Handling

As noted in the navigation handling section, aiming is implemented as its own discrete action within H:CE. In addition, player targeting is assisted by the game itself, in the form of “auto-aim” and “magnetism”. Auto-aim will, while the player is moving, push the aiming reticule to focus on an enemy that the player is likely to be focusing on, themselves. Magnetism, on the other hand, allows shots that only barely miss their intended target to change their trajectory slightly and still hit the intended enemy.^{^[1]}

Weapon	Behavior	Notes
Pistol	Standard pistol, capable of zooming	N/A
Assault Rifle	Standard assault rifle: rapid-fire, loses accuracy as firing continues	N/A
Sniper Rifle	Capable of zooming, high damage, standard sniper rifle behavior.	N/A
Shotgun	Fires in spread, damage inversely proportional to distance to target	N/A
Rocket Launcher	Two-round active clip, fires in straight line, comparably slow-moving projectile when compared to other human weaponry.	N/A
Plasma Pistol	Capable of Charge up Shot. Incapable of adding ammunition, instead styled as ‘battery’, with reloading styled as overheating. Fire the weapon for too long, and it will overheat, becoming inoperable for a short time. Run down the battery, and it will become completely inoperable. Each new weapon has its own battery.	N/A
Plasma Rifle	Rapid-fire weapon similar to plasma pistol. Similar ammunition functioning. Lacks charge shot	N/A
Needler	Homing weapon. Shards stick into tracked enemy, explode after timer. More shards, bigger explosion, more damage. Presents ammunition and reloading in same manner as human weaponry	Notable for a certain element of “fire-and-forget”, with combination of homing targeting and delayed damage.
Frag Grenade	Bounces on ground and explodes on timer	N/A
Sticky Grenade	Sticks to first surface encountered (ground, vehicle, enemies), explodes on timer	N/A
Melee Attack	While not explicitly a weapon in its own right, players are capable of making melee attacks against any enemies directly in front of them.	Sneak attack kills, i.e. getting an instant kill by melee attacking an enemy’s back, are essentially QTKs, without the explicit prompting.

fig 2: Weapon behaviors

Further, there is a surprising amount of variation imbued into the enemy characters, for a game that only, nominally, possesses eight types. All enemy types have a distinct body shape and size, that allows for rapid identification by the player, which should allow more time for the player to determine how best to proceed. Further, Grunts, Jackals, and Elites have further variants than those listed below: generally denoted by differences in coloration and silhouette. High-ranking enemies may display more threatening colors, and be equipped with greater health, better shields, or tougher AI. Further, after a certain point, minor changes may be made to silhouette to show even further internal ranking (Elites may sport extra flanges on their helmets, while the grunts may have different shaped backpacks).

Enemy	Behavior	Counter
Grunt	Equipped with Needlers, plasma pistols, the occasional plasma grenade. Deployed in groups. Will panic and run if ‘commander’ (generally an elite or higher color grunt) is killed. If hit with sticky grenade, will run towards other enemies in panic.	Eliminate commander, mop up while panic ensues.
Jackal	Deploy large, round shield that covers most of their hitbox. Shield can be broken, enemy can be made to panic	No special tactics
Elite	Plasma rifle, sticky grenades, regenerative shielding like the player	No special tactics
Hunter	Deployed in pairs. Large rocket-launcher like weapon. Exposed Backs. Charge attacks, as well. Enrages if partner is killed	Attempt to circle around back, much easier to damage if attacking backs
Flood Parasite	Swarms of very small enemies that explode on contact with player	Use shotguns or assault rifles to clear. High rate of fire/spread allows for quick cleanup
Flood Combat	Melee fighter. No shields.	No special tactics
Flood Carrier	Slow-moving, large silhouetted carrier for Parasite Flood. On death, explodes in shower of Parasites. Will lay down and explode regardless of health if close enough to player.	Destroy at long range
Sentinels	Floating enemies that fire long, continuous beams of energy at opposing characters (players & Flood). On destruction, may be picked up as weapon.	Introduced as allies, at first, before turning on player later.

fig 3 Enemy types and behaviors

Resource Management

The game has only three resources for the player to track: health, shields, and ammunition. Shields protect against incoming damage to a limited degree, after which they are depleted. When shields are depleted, players take damage to their health which, when depleted, will lead to their death. Ammunition is used, fittingly, to operate the weapons in-game.

All three of the main (health, ammo, shields) resources can be restocked by the player. Shields will naturally regenerate after depleted, provided that the player takes no further damage during the recharge. For health, there are medpack pick-ups spread throughout the level, that once acquired, refill health. When ammunition is depleted, players will be reduced to scavenging for more ammo, taking weapons from the dead, or simply relying on melee attacks until one of the two prior options can be fulfilled.

Further, there are optional pickups the player can encounter and collect to change their play experience: the stealth camo and overshield. Stealth camo is used to hide the player’s presence from enemies, which must be dropped when attacking enemies. Overshield adds additional strength to the player’s shields (two extra bars worth), effectively making their shield three times as effective.

These systems, as you would expect, placed to regulate player progress. Of course, these systems are not new implementations. The armor/health combo existed at least as early as Grand Theft Auto III, released about a month earlier than Halo. However, their implementation within this game served towards the Tense-and-Release structure so ingrained in its macro-level design. By forcing these breaks, whether by depleting ammo or shields, players must cognitively disengage, albeit it briefly and only on a low-level, from the constant task of progression.

Resource	Function	Replenished by…
Health	Depleted by enemy attacks. Once fully depleted, the game is over, and the player resets to the most recent checkpoint	Medpacks
Shields	Serves as first layer of protection against enemy attacks. Once depleted, players begin to take damage directly to health.	Shields will regenerate naturally as long as player takes no further damage.
Ammunition	Used to operate various weapons in-game. Once depleted, players must either find ammunition appropriate to weapons being carried, or find new weapons to use	Ammunition magazines or weapons placed as pickups or dropped by enemies.