I'm not a fan of the Halo series. I appreciate the advancements it made in various fields, such as console multiplayer, and think Master Chief is a cool character...but well, I've never really gotten into the series. I've only played through Combat Evolved's campaign, and a bit of Forge in Reach. The only real time investment I've given the series is the thirty to forty hours put into Combat Evolved's multplayer, which I really love. Since today is Day 117, I thought it would appropriate to reminisce about the beloved feature. Unfortunately, the servers are going to be going down next month...I'm really hoping that the campaign to put servers up through Steam works out.
Look this place!
Well, I just spent a good amount of time on a server playing Slayer, so that was a nice way to get into a Halo mood. It was on a server where ammo was infinite and there was no set end to the match, so it was just a general killfest. There was a bit of spawn killing, but it was all in good fun. Everyone essentially had as many kills as they had deaths. Playing again reminded me of the great times I've had on those maps...
I started playing Combat Evolved's multiplayer in the summer of...2011, I believe. I was at debate camp, and someone had the game on a flashdrive, so it got passed around quite a bit. Soon, we were all playing, and I can happily say that I was dominating. Only a couple of months before then had I binged on the Half-Life series, so my mouse and keyboard skills were more up to snuff than my friends who really only played Tetris Friends. We weren't ever PC Master Race people; most of the people I knew were more casual gamers, again only playing Tetris Friends or Pokemon ROMs. We had several matches, but never an organized tournament or anything. Although, there was one point where this lazy guy said he was the best at the camp and would easily beat me. In that one-on-one match at...I think Battle Creek, I had 25 kills at the end, and he had around 12, I believe. So, I had established myself as the best Halo player at the camp. Yay.
Several of Combat Evolved's mechanics are outdated, but I still find it really fun. The game feels much more agile than other first-person shooters, but to be honest...the weapons are a bit weird. There's just something about shooting them that feels a bit awkward, like I'm not shooting things that will injure or kill my opponent. Of course, this is compensated by the hilarious death animations, and knowing when an enemy's shield has gone down. If you're in a vehicle, or in the air, when you die, your character will flail their arms wildly until than hit the ground, where they collapse in defeat. This can also happen when you get a kill with a grenade, rocket launcher, or the Fuel Rod gun. I remember discovering the Fuel Rod gun in the middle of Blood Gulch..it's sort of like an energy-based less powerful rocket launcher, but you can fire it quickly enough to make it very deadly.
My favorite maps of the bunch were Battle Creek, Blood Gulch, and Hang 'Em High. The first two were great for all modes, but I do think Hang 'Em High isn't as great for Team Slayer, since it's not really designed to have two distinct bases. With Battle Creek, I'd always go for having a sniper and rocket launcher combo, with the Needler if I ran out of ammo with either. One great moment was when I headshot a friend while both of us were jumping in the middle of the map, in mid-jump, and I had the sniper at x8. Immediately afterward he shouted "NO", which seemed to always happen when I managed to get him. Other moments I enjoyed were meleeing people from behind when I acquired the invisible power-up in the cave of the river, and having fierce fights over the flag in the bases while playing CTF.
Blood Gulch is definitely a fan favorite map...it's a long rectangle, with a base on either side. Scattered around the hills in the middle are Warthogs, Fuel Rod guns, rocket launchers, and teleporters. It's a great map for CTF, because it's so hard to actually carry it all the way back to the other side of the map. But when you do...it's so satisfying. Usually it could be achieved by having a team use a Warthog, but even then just one death could ruin it.
This place is deadly.
Hang 'Em High is an interesting multiplayer map. It's got this large rise on one side, with raised walkways extending from it, and plenty of places to take cover. It's weird because there are a lot of things to hide behind, but it feels so open at the same time. Going for the sniper on the raised platforms was always a death sentence, and reaching the blue team's flag? Nigh impossible. Matches here were always pretty good and balanced, though. I remember glitching to an invisible platform up at the very top of the map once, though...I could still shoot down at people, but they didn't exactly know I was up there...good times.
Well, those are the memories I can recall off the top of my head from Halo: Combat Evolved's multplayer...it's a shame that the servers will finally be down soon...but the legacy of the game shall live on, I suppose. Here's to you, Chief.
Peace.