Halo 1 made its way into the world on November 15th, 2001. I cannot say exactly when I purchased it, but when I did buy it, I did so by purhcasing the limited edition Halo Xbox console! Halo: Combat Evolved made its way into my FPS heart and would stay there through the years. My love for Halo came from the story, the graphics, the ability to play four players to a console and link four Xbox systems together to allow for 16 players to battle it out! My love for FPS multiplayer was bred from Doom 2, Quake 2 and Golden Eye. With tight bonds to my cousins and siblings we all loved to pile onto the early Nintendo system and play Gauntlet 2, Off Road Racing, M.U.L.E., then Super Nintendo's Bomber man and various other early excursions into the multiplayer realm.
With a terrific background raised in gaming with others, Halo 1 brought everything to the table that appealed to me. I dove into Xbox and Halo well after its release, but never wanted to leave. Each time a new Halo was released I was there at midnight waiting to get my copy. The next day I was calling out sick and playing it all day, once my brother Ben joined me in the ritual!
When Halo 2 came out it was my first experience with a Halo game right at the release. It was exciting waiting in line (one of the few times you'll ever hear that said) outside the Gamestop for the midnight release. My brother and I played together through most of the Campaign since it allowed for Cooperative play. This was another appealing asset of the Halo games. This game was the first Halo to allow play on Xbox live. Another great addition that only added to the greatness of the Halo games and never took away from them! Halo 2 did have a huge cliffhanger at the end and left us wanting more. The only solace I took in the abrupt ending was that there would be a Halo 3. No way they would leave us hanging! 
Halo 3 - This game came to me and was bittersweet. I longed to play it the day I finished Halo 2's campaign. The story needed to continue, but also, this was the third game in the trilogy. As the midnight release near I struggled with the realization that this may be the last Halo game to be put out. September 25, 2007 came, it was after midnight. I'm pretty sure I had to work the next day but this time I was even more prepared than with Halo 2. Instead of calling out sick, I took an entire week of leave to play Halo 3. If this was to be the end of one of my best loved video game series, then I was going to devote a small amount of my paid leave to appreciate it fully! I bought several of those limited edition Halo 3 mountain dew soft drinks and sat down to some well deserved gaming! I still have one of those limited edition Halo 3 cans on display in my house and a 12 pack downstairs. They are definitely expired by now!
Halo 3 walked through my door and right into my console. By now Xbox live was even more commonplace and I could play cooperatively with my brothers and cousins through it without leaving the house. You could still play 4 player coop on one console, but in times where everyone could not gather together, it was nice to be able to just send an invite and go to town! One of the things that always made me appreciate Bungie and Halo, was that they never skimped on the multiplayer portion of the game. Series like NASCAR, Call of Duty, Gears of War, these games did not allow 4 players to a console and 4 consoles wired together. You could do 16 players in Call of Duty, but you better have 16 TVs, 16 games, 16 consoles. Those games took away from my ability to wire all of us up on four TVs, 4 consoles and get 16 people into a match. Halo 3 still allowed us to do that. Bless the guys at Bungie for keeping that awesome part of multiplayer alive.
Halo 3 was great, the ending sad, and the game satisfying. After playing it the online play and quest to reach a high rank waged on, but I hung my head because the story came to an end. While I was saddened I also was intrigued. During the Halo games I took notice of the troopers around me (the Master Chief) and I really got interested in the troopers who were labeled ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troops). I loved their helmets, I loved the orbital drop theme, I wanted to be one of them! I immediately adopted the ODST helmet for my Halo 3 multiplayer character and dreamed of being one.So this was the end, the series was over. I lived my days often, then only occasionally, online in Halo 3 multiplayer. I sported my support for ODST with my helmet choice and never considered any other. I never considered another game would be released, or one that would strike so dear to my soul that they might as well have wrote themselves a check for $59.99, signed my name, and took the money from my account. Halo 3: ODST was announced.
Ok, so once I remember the world kinda revolved around money, and that the Halo series was $$$ it was not to simple to grasp the idea that Bungie would do another game for the series! I think the fact the story ended with Halo 3 forced a bit of finality into my mind. I didn't think they would touch on another story or part of the game later. It made sense they might, and I knocked myself in the noggin for completely writing off the option of another game. Especially after Halo: Wars was released, but RTS did not appeal to me at the time, but we'll return to that later.
Halo 3: ODST - Wow... Right now I want to let you know anything you read after this is totally bias. I am a Halo 3 ODST fanboy, so keep that in mind as you read. Halo ODST puts you in the shoes of a rookie ODST trooper in the company of a group of seasoned troopers with background together. What I loved was they included Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin as two voice actors, these guys played together in Firefly. A terrific series that was short lived because of the ignorance of FOX, but I digress. Two of my favorite actors, from one of my favorite shows, in my favorite game! Who dared to bring such a boon to a video game of mine!
The game played through a mission that the troopers jumped into. The Earth city of New Mombasa was under Covenant attack. A female officer, Dare, attached herself to the mission in order to fulfill some intelligence recon requirement and disregarded the ship hovering over the city. The games graphics were great, the night time helmet friend and foe system was neat to use. I only wished the game expanded out beyond the city and allowed for more combat drops. Only once in the drop pod was too little for me! ODST also added a firefight option, much like Gears of War horde game play where you face waves of enemies alone or with several friends. It was a good game overall, short and some controversy on whether it was a true sequel or expansion, worth $60 or $40. What else was included in the game? A nice little code that allowed you access into the Halo: Reach beta testing! So here we go, Halo: Reach, but before we get there, lets touch on, I'm ashamed to say, one of my less experienced Halo region.
Halo Wars... a game that took the FP out of FPS and threw in an RT instead! Real Time Strategy. Not one of my strong suits. I enjoy the simplicity of pointing, clicking, and dealing out death one frag at a time. Management of resources, multiple units, differing strategy, objectives, and the fact I've never attempted an RTS on a console before, kept me from getting excited about Halo Wars. I regret I did not make it to a midnight release of this game, if they had one. Since I am an avid Halo played, I still did purchase this game after a year. The game takes place 21 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. You are onboard the Spirit of Fire and fighting against the Covenant as they seek out some ancient technology. The graphics are decent, you get to use many of the equipment seen in the Halo games with additional versions of tanks and vehicles not used in the games. I am enjoying it but am not finished with it yet.
Now we come to the end, of the beginning, of wait... Here we have Halo: Reach! It is the site of the Spartan project. The once home of Master Chief, who boarded the Pillar of Autumn and blind jumped away as Reach was being sieged. We return to the beginning in this game and live the last days of a dying planet. What will we see? Who will we see? Will this be the end? Past experience with Halo: 3 tells me no, but my heart aches thinking that nothing with the name Halo on it will appear on the shelves after this. Who knows where we go from here, but on September 14th, we will remember Reach. So, after that long winded post, I come to the reason for writing this. In honor of Reach I dedicated the first 14 days of September 2010 to Halo! On September first I dusted off Halo: Combat Evolved, made a character and started the campaign. In 14 days I will navigate through Halo 1 to Halo 3, onto Halo ODST and then Halo Wars. I feel foolish to admit, but starting Halo 1 over and going through the beginning on the bridge gave me chills. I doubt there will be enough time to tackle all the games but I will do my best!
Below are some awesome Live action videos, commercials, spoofs and good fun that Halo helped create! Enjoy!
Halo ODST Fanboy Spoof - This is hilarious but so TRUE! - don't forget to watch the very end!
~Remember Reach
