How to understand the Halo series (and not go crazy)

Halo is one of the most famous video game franchises and one of the flagship series Microsoft. Which, at one time, has become a real coup among console shooters and systemseller of the very first Xbox. This is a game that has a huge number of fans around the world. But at the same time, it is almost unknown in the CIS countries. The reasons for this are generally understandable: the first Xbox in our area has never been popular, respectively, and its exclusives were also not popular. True, the first two games still looked at the PC. But, I believe that the PC games in the beginning, in the middle of the zero had enough games that pulled attention.

Hello! And do not pay attention to the console dick.

Actually they made me under the consoles, but still hello!

I have a console genre and I am traveling here, but still hello!

I also made under the console, but who cares? Hello!

It is not a fact that your computer will not pull me, but still hello!

! Etywetsvardz Eonilatorb Ynecho

And the third game on the PC was not at all before the release of The Master Chief Collection, so for the series PC players seemed to not exist at all. Yes, and console players at that time were more like PS2. Plus a translation into Russian appeared only during the fourth part. So, as I said, most players in our area did not understand why it would be possible to fan in the game, where a hefty dude in green armor runs and shoots different aliens? That there are few such shooters? Why is it a sin to hide, I myself, after the first passage, are also not a fanatic from the game: I liked the atmosphere, I appreciated the unusual gameplay, and that, in fact, is all. So I don’t understand the players who decided not to continue acquaintance with the series further. But at some point I still became interested in, but for what they love a series and I started to understand the issue, and now this is one of my favorite video game franchises. So if you abandoned the series after the first game, then perhaps you should give her another chance, because, in my opinion, a series of that is worth. Well, I will try to tell you that there is an interesting thing in it.

Start

Alex Seropyan (left Bungie in 2004)

I’ll probably start with a brief history of the company that created Halo – Bungie. Bungie was created by Alex Seropyan, in Chicago in 1991. The first games that the company released was GNOP! and Operation: Desert Storm. They were both created by Alex himself.

Operation: Desert Storm

The first game was an ordinary pung (with the name written backwards in advance). And the second was a tank shooter in the “scenery” of the Middle East (a kind of Battle City). Both games were released on Macintosh. Around then, his paths crossed with young programmer Jason Jones, whom he took into the team. Jason at that time had already designed in his hands on Apple II Minotaur game. After he portended her on Macintosh, Bungie released her in the same 1991 Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete.

She was a network cooperative game. Although there was also a “single” regime there, but there was nothing especially to do in it – except to explore the card. This game, like past, also went to Macintosh. And, running ahead, they continued to cooperate with Apple, releasing the games exclusively on Macintosh, until the very release of the first Halo.

Jason Jones initially planned the next game to make the Minotaurus sequel and transfer it to 3D, but in the process he refused this idea (from the idea of ​​continuing, and not from the idea of ​​transferring to 3D). So their next game was made “PathWays Into Darkness “, which became their first commercially successful game.

The studio in those days was still small, so Jason did most of the game almost alone, Alex at that time was already engaged in operational issues and did not participate in the development. But success Pathway Into Darkness allowed Bungie to increase the staff of employees, and Jason even decided to swing to develop two projects: Mosaic And Marathon . However, Macworld Expo ’93 Marathon was met coolly, noting its similarity with Pathways Into Darkness – their past game. And Jason had to decide: either continue to work on two projects, and leave everything as it is or quit all efforts to refine Marathon. As a result, Mosaic was canceled. And Marathon became successful and launched a whole series: the game had two sequels (one of which was even ported on Windows). About the first game by Monsieur Karnov even came out a material that you can read somewhere here.

But in the mid-1990s, Bungie was engaged not only in the creation of her own games, but also, for example, by porting (abuse) and edition (Weekend Warrior) other games on mac. After finishing work on the marathon, they set to create another game – Myth: The Fallen Lords, which also later turned into a series. It’s funny, by the way, that its final view was influenced by Quake, which came out shortly before. At some point, Jason Jones realized that the game came up too much to the creation of ID Software and, a little thought, made it as much as possible on Quake.

Myth: The Fallen Lords

Map from Myth, on which you can notice the carpet

Myth, by the way, became their first series (with a small reservation), all parts of which were released not only on Mac, but also on Windows. In somewhere in the time of the MYTH series, people like Marty O’Donnell (with Michael Salvatori) and Joseph Stamen appeared in the Bungie series-these people (along with Jason Jones, of course) are more responsible for the final view of the first Halo games. O’Donnell and Salvatori wrote music to them, plus O’Donnell during the development of Bungie also a sound engineer, so that he was not only music, but also sound accompaniment, so that part of his atmosphere can also be thanking. Well, Stamen was responsible for the plots of most Halo games made by Bungie.

In general, things in the mid-90s of the studio went well: they even opened another studio in California-Bungie West. But here the trouble came from where they did not expect: the first batch of discs with Myth II: Soulblighter contained a critical bug, which, when trying to delete the game from the disk, made the contents of your hard drive (and, in general, it is also very painful). The bug was discovered too late: after the first batch of discs was sent shopping. As a result, Jason Jones faced a choice: roll out a patch that users could download and install from the official site (yes, these were the times when it was necessary to do this yourself), or to withdraw the entire batch of discs and replace them with already punctured versions. Jason chose the second. As a result – this bug cost the studio at about $ 800,000 losses. Therefore, the further development and publication of the games was in question, including for Title, which they then developed – Halo. Initially, it was planned to be released on Macintosh, Windows (and even rumors about PS2 versions).

The quality is not very good, but the shots are unique in some way: Jason Jones represents the trailer for their new game on MacWorld Expo ’99.

But, since, now Bungie has experienced some financial problems, they had to sell the rights to the Oni and the Myth series Take-Two. That is why Myth developed the third part and issued no Bungie anymore. And the Oni developed by Bungie West was published by Rockstar, a subsidiary of Take-Two. Well, Bungie herself eventually bought Microsoft, and they had to move from Chicago to Washington, closer to the Microsoft head office. Well, the shooter they developed urgently had to be redone under a new platform: the exclusivity on Xbox was one of the conditions of the transaction (they say that Jobs was just furious).

Well, so that you understand how hastily Bungie had to redo everything: Microsoft acquired them in 2000, and the first Halo was released in 2001. Remember this when you go through the level in the library.

… that the name for the AI ​​- “Cortana” was chosen not just like that, but because there was AI – Durandal in Marthon. And Bungie decided that in their new game it would be nice to call AI again in honor of some legendary sword. But since the name of the sword of Charles the Great is “Zhuayoza”, it seemed too stupid to them, they chose the mosque of Edward the Confessor – “Cortane”. In general, Kortana is a weapon.

Well, then you probably already know: the revolution in the genre of console shooters, millions of sales, success, a crowd of fans and blah blah blah … So what is interesting in it? Someone will surely say: gameplay, and will be right. Indeed, unlike most shooters of that time, in Halo you cannot carry a whole arsenal with you: all that is available to you is two types of weapons and two types of grenades, which forces you to act more tactically. Although usually usually weapons, scattered in terms of level and falling out from enemies, may well be enough, so by and large it is enough just to follow the number of cartridges in the weapon that you use, which is easy. But what is even cooler – you do not even have to use weapons during skirmishes with enemies: you can just beat them with a handle. Yes, because we play for a genetically improved super -soldier, in increasing armor, so he has a very strong blow. Attacking the enemy from behind, you can even cut it off from one blow (even some brut). So if you wish, you can just jump everywhere and cut down enemies without using cartridges at all. Although this may not work on legendary complexity. After some time, you risk it so much to get used to it that, once again, the game will just beat the hand-to-row: elites, britches, walls, glasses, boxes and gates (otherwise they open for so long?). Although you often don’t have to participate in a shootout even in a shootout. Of course, there are situations when you are locked in a arena, such as a pair of locations at the Cairo station in the second part or the place where you first encounter the flood in the first game, or the very beginning of the level of the “grave mind” from the same two. But often you can, without getting involved in a shootout, just “skip” further, and let the carpenants continue to decide what it was now. In general, the charm of the first games is that this is just a large field for experiments where you can arrange, for example, something like this.

Mint Blitz on such things, on YouTube, we can say that he built his career.

In short, playing Halo can www.quacksino.co.uk be very fun.

There are such videos for each part, but I like the video for the second more

But all of the above is only the peak of the iceberg. Halo is not just a shooter where you shoot aliens: in fact, it has ceased to be about twenty years like that. After all, the master of Chif is not just a dude in green armor – he has a background, and aliens are not just blanks – they have different races, their own story, hierarchy, many have a well -prescribed ENT. In the end, not just like that, the game has videos like this.

And if you are here and if you are still here and you are still interested, then it’s time to dive further.

So, any newcomer who comes in the fandom is quite old (and Halo has been fulfilled for almost a quarter century), the question arises: “And where to start here?»I will not be original and I will say that it is better to start with the first game – Halo: Combat Evolved. Yes-she is somewhat outdated and yes-the plot in her is far from some kind of stunning. However, the game performs one important function – it introduces you to some of the main characters of this universe (you will meet the rest in the second game).

And here, depending on how in detail you would like to understand the universe, your further actions will vary. To understand the most basic basics, you just need to go through the original trilogy. And that’s all. After passing the first three games, you will know enough, to maintain a secular conversation with any Halo fan.

Master Chief (John-117)

Sergeant Avery Johnson

Prophet of truth (one of the antagonists)

However, in order to understand this universe better, you, of course, will have to dive much deeper into the rabbit hole. And if you are ready, then … hunting-the most interesting.

But before you go right away, what you have to encounter, it is worth stipulating a few points that you should be prepared for. The first is inconsistencies. There will be a lot of them. Moreover, the very first one can be found almost at the very beginning of the second game.

The final of the first game: no one survived ..

The beginning of the second game: well, like no one ..

Well, the second – it will take a lot of time. Although if you really “hook” you, I do not think that this will be such a big problem. Other things will be the problem, but more on that later.

So, you went through the first three games and decided to plunge into the universe further, which is further in line – the fourth part? Well … in fact there is no. Your next step (the “starterpak” of the expanded universe, so to speak) should be the passage of two more games that Bungie made in this universe – Odst and Reach . In them you will learn about the events that took place immediately before the first part (reach), and the events that took place somewhere in parallel to the second part (ODST). In both of these games, you will have to play for the master of Chif: in the case of Reach, it will be a detachment of Spartans-III-Noobble, and in the case of ODST-the Alfa-9 detachment (ODST is not Spartans, if that).

Squad “Nawble”, almost in full force, from left to right: George-052, Carter-A259, Emil-A239, Katherine-B320, Jun-A266

Squad “Alfa-9”, from left to right: beginner, dang, Mickey, Veronika Dair, Buck and Romeo

These games are worth passing, since some of the characters that appeared in these games play an important role in the expanded universe.

And so you have passed all five games, you like everything and now you are better than understanding Halo Laura. It’s time to move to the fourth part? And again not. After all, if you want to better understand Laura, then you should not forget about another game made, however, not Bungie, but Ensemble Studios. True, she did not become worse from this. I’m talking about Halo Wars . And it is interesting in the plot that, unlike Bungie games, which are about the last months of the conflict with the Covenant, this game is about the first years of this conflict. So yes, I think that if you are interested in an ENT, then Halo Wars is worth passing. And even if the strategies are not your genre and you do not love it, then this is a console strategy. And besides, you can always put low complexity.

Well, finally you went through the first three games plus ODST, Reach and Halo Wars. You are even better versed in Laura, now you can already move on to the fourth part?

In fact, of course, no one prevents you from moving immediately to the fourth if you are only interested in games. But if you are also interested in an ENT (after all, for some reason you went through Reach, Odst and Halo Wars, true?), then Halo 4 is not where you should go further. Perhaps someone has already guessed where I was going, but I will say anyway: the Halo franchise is not only games, but also books, comics, series and even one animated full-length. So without reading (at least) books in Laura you will not understand normally.

Yes, I can understand – reading books in the universe may not seem such an interesting idea, especially Bungie herself has done a lot so that fans of Halo do not like libraries.

Rumor has it that in Halo fans you can cause a seizure of this melody alone.

However, books on the franchise, these are still not Joyce: they are not complicated at all and in volume it is not “war and peace” (or “Saga about Forsytes” or ). They are small enough and read relatively quickly. Depending on the speed of your reading, you can read them in a week or faster. And many of them expand the ENT well. True, with such a study of the lorus arises Small A problem that can become a stumbling block if you decide to thoroughly study the ENT … The fact is that out of about 35 books in the Halo universe, less than ten has officially translated into Russian (taking into account fan translations, the number exceeds a dozen, but not much). That is, if you decide to read only the translated books, then you will definitely miss all the latest alpine changes. After all, books on the universe continue to be released if (over the past three years has been published as many as six). Of course, you can try to read those that have not been translated, but if your knowledge of English leaves much to be desired, then you will most likely have to read in an embrace with a dictionary. Personally my opinion is that it is worth it, although, of course, in this case, your reading will slow down very much, because (from personal experience) read in another language, even if not such big books are still a little complicated.

But, in general, to understand some very foundations of an extended universe, those books that have already been translated can be enough. For example, if you are interested in some details regarding the main trilogy, then a pretty good idea will read a series with which it all started.

The cover of the Russian edition

The cover of the Russian edition

Halo: First blow

Halo: The ghosts of onyx

And the “fall of the limit” can become a good entrance point into this very expanded universe … And now I will try, briefly, explain why starting with the “fall of the limit” is not a very good idea too. The fact is that Bungie never liked this novel and, perhaps, that is why they did so that in some details Halo: Reach is noticeably so diverging with the book. Because of what, after passing Halo: Reach and reading a book, you can some kind of dissonance. And it will only intensify after further acquaintance with the expanded universe, especially after reading “Ghosts of onyx” And “Glazed land”, passing Halo Wars, and viewing “Forward Unto Dawn” (but I run a little ahead). “The fall of the limit” still remains a pretty good book in which you can also get acquainted with many important actors of the expanded universe, but there are many questions about its canonicality (either to Halo: Reach – although I have questions for both of them).

The second huge creature turned to the master chief.
John barely managed to press the button and put up in front of him, on which he fixed the shield generator, as the stranger closest to him fired again.
The air in the face of one hundred and the seventeenth froze and exploded – the workshop flew through the air, crashed into the wall, breaking it, and only ten meters later stopped, hitting the wall of the next room.
The Generator of the Protective Field was Sick Dobela. John tore off the melted device and threw it aside.
He never encountered nothing even reminiscent of this plasma weapon. It seemed that unknown creatures use a portable analogue of stationary plasma guns.

“The fall of the limit”

After this, I would like to ask: “Grandfather, you forgot to drink pills again? What other “unknown creatures”, which “never encountered”, has already forgotten something, how he defended the Cadets from Korbulon in 2526?”

Frame from the Forward Unto Dawn mini-series, where you can notice as a master of Chief “never faced” with similar creatures.
P.WITH. It is obvious that John is so cool that he fights with his eyes closed, and he simply does not see this mgalekolo.

And this is not counting that the crew of the “spirit of fire” in 2531 came across hunters.

But, as an option, instead of reading the “fall of the limit” you can watch “The Fall of the Luminous” – the 2015 animation film, shot based on the book. True, they filmed there about half the book there, but quite close to the original source.

The next book, “Flood”, you can safely skip. Seriously. Not only did she come out enough mediocre, but in fact she is simply a retelling of the first game. Only a little expanded. So if you have already passed Halo: Combat Evolved, you will not find almost nothing new in the book. Yes, it pays a little more attention in the fact that Chif was not alone on the halo, and there was still a lot of people with him from the “pillar of autumn”. But you can already notice this in the game itself.

Yes, more attention is paid to Captain Kizu and Kavalde (Carol Rowley)-the pilot Echo-419, and a little more show the other side of the conflict-the Covenant (which was simply … was in the game). But by and large, these additions have little effect on. And if you went through the game, then how it will end there, you already know. Unless you really are very interesting for some additional details about the events at the installation-04.

Instead of “Flood”, I would advise you to read the “first blow” – it is an order of magnitude more interesting. And it is a plot of it a direct continuation of the first game, so if you were interested in how Chif got from the destroyed halo to the ground and why, after the explosion of the “Pillars of Autumn” reactor, not only “Dustin Echo” survived, then this book is that you need. At the same time, you will find out what happened to the limit after glazing, how Halsey got out of there, and you will better recognize some members of the “blue team”-Freda-104, Lindu-058 and Kelly-087. “First Bunch” can serve as a good such bridge between the first and second games. Only now we can’t get the book officially now (if only with hands). After his publication in 2009, she was no longer reprinted, but … yo-hoo, if you really want to get acquainted with her, then I do not think that it will be a big problem to get it.

Well, to complete this marathon of books complementing the events of the first three games, stands “ghosts of onyx”. Especially if after passing Reach, You were interested in the details about the Spartan-III program-even if no one in the game was particularly Spartan-III (probably because of George). Events in the “ghosts of onyx” unfold almost immediately after the events of the “first blow”, so that in fact it can be considered a continuation, although not direct (as in the case of “falling limit” – “flood” – “first blow”). The book, in general, was quite good, although the ending, in my opinion, turned out a little chaotic, but it still costs attention. The book does not have an official translation into Russian, but in the vast network you can find a fan.

For those who, after passing Halo Wars, wanted to learn more about the beginning of the conflict, you can advise the book “Contact on the Harvest”. It is about the very first days of the conflict: how the Kig-Yarov patrol (Shakalov) discovered a small agricultural planet of the harvest, about the first contact of mankind and Kovenant, and how everything came to what came to. The book came out pretty good, its only problem is that part of the information in it is directly conflict, with the one that will be told further in Halo 4 (but I prefer to believe that this is the problem of the fourth, and not this book). Read more I will dwell on this when I reach Halo 4.

The cover of the Russian edition

The cover of the Russian edition

Well, here is only a fan translation

Small comic Halo Wars Genesis It may be of interest to those who want to know more about some characters in the game Halo Wars. If you are interested in the view of the carpet, so to speak, “from the inside”, then you can read the book “Torn Circle”, the events of which develop both long before the events of the games and parallel to the second game (it was funny, for example, to read about anxiety on the highest mercy and know who exactly arranged it). The plot in it will be conducted on behalf of Sangheili (Elites) and San’Shayumov (Prophets). At the same time, you can find out in it about where this highest mercy came from.

In general, I would probably have to tell about the “Cole protocol” here, but in fact I have almost nothing to say about him, because I did not read it. (What? How? Discharged from Halo fans!)

The only thing I can say about it is that the book is not officially translated into Russian, but you can find a fan translation.

And now, when you are almost thoroughly, you understand all the details in all the events that took place during the first three games and even know some details about the beginning of the conflict, you can go to the fourth part. And here it is worth knowing a few things.

By the fourth part in the series, quite important changes occurred: it moved to the new developer studio-343 Industries (or just 343i). And this was pretty strongly reflected in how Halo began to play (and generally felt). 343i began to form in 2007, after the release of Halo 3. Bungie at that moment was already in full swimming to go on free swimming. By the third part, almost no one in the studio did not want to engage in Halo anymore, the development of the series games for them took place with great difficulties. After they remade the first game for another platform in a short time, Bungie at first did not plan the second part. But after the success of the first Halo, Jason Jones had ideas for the second game, especially during the porting, they had to cut a lot from the first game. In general, Bungie had a sea of ​​ideas and they began to develop Halo 2. But the development of the second game was again not quite smooth. But the real “fun” happened after E3 2003, to which they went with the game trailer.

You may notice that everything that happens is different from the final version of the game

It turned out that the build with whom they went to E3 simply does not work fine, and in the end they decided to redo everything from scratch. And the second part, I remind you, came out on November 9, 2004. That is, they practically re -re -play in a year with a little. Remember this when you are a jackal of a jackal on legendary complexity. The result of such tough tremors was the complete removal of the third act and Cliffhenger in the final. And far -reaching consequences, about which a little later.

In general, Bungie was going to end the story in the second game, but now, of course, the third part was just suggested by itself. True, no one particularly wanted to engage in her: Jason Jones was just herself, under the pretext that the development of a third part would simply make him. Joe Steiten also took a long time off, during which he began to register “Contact on the Harvest”, to look at what Ensemble Studios C Halo Wars is doing, and drove to New Zealand to communicate with Peter Jackson about the possible film on Halo (it was eventually canceled). In general, all the participation of the Stiten on the third game was limited to a small polishing script.

And during the development of a noise from Bungie, Max Hobertman dumped, who later founded his company – Certain Affinity. What is funny, in the future this studio will help Microsoft more than once when working on Halo. In general, he was so tired of working on Halo that he left Bungie and founded his company, which then helped to work on Halo.

Bungie did not really get along with Microsoft then and wanted to go to free bread. But before they were released, they were obliged to make two more games. Bungie decided to make one full -fledged game and one expansion to the third part. And while the main part of the studio, led by Marcus Leito, went to do what was then Halo: Reach, Joseph Steiten took Bertonn’s arm in an armful, a group of enthusiasts and went to do Halo 3: Odst.