Nothing totally immerses you in the Halo experience quite like hearing a sniper's bullet whiz dangerously past your head only to hit the Warthog behind you with a loud "plink" while in "System Link" play. Sound.basically everything I said about graphics, you could change the context and apply it to sound. Lighting, shadowing, color, effects.just beautiful.
But, one look at Halo and I thought "This is the most beautiful game I've ever seen." To this day after almost a full year of playing the game, I'm still prone to getting capped in the back of the head while enjoying the serenity of the blades of grass in Blood Gulch, or the majestic cliffs and water of Battle Creek. While I do tend to focus on graphics (especially in reference to clean animation) I don't necessarily hold it as equal to game play and it certainly isn't more important. Now, when I first saw Halo, my jaw dropped. With that said, I get the feeling that some of the less friendly reviews of Halo stem more from contempt towards Microsoft, the XBox, and the idea that Bungie "sold out" when Microsoft purchased the company than any problems with the game itself. Halo was 75% of the reason for me to purchase an XBox.
Like many, I was skeptical about Microsoft's leap into the console fray and Nintendo's N64, while at times great, left me feeling like they just weren't trying to get anything good onto their system that wasn't a first party title (with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark being glaring exceptions to that).
Let me preface this review by saying that when the next generation consoles (PS2, XBOX, Gamecube) arrived, I purchased my PS2 with the intention of not purchasing another console. After many days on the ring world you find that the planet is infested with another species of alien and must set upon a mammoth task to destroy the planet to protect the galaxy. After battling through the ship and leaving in an escape pod you land on a mysterious ring world. Upon reaching the office you accept a pistol and an AI program, and are tasked with the protection of the AI because it knows the location of Earth. You are hastily removed from a Cryogenic freezer one day to find that the ship you have been traveling through space on, the Pillar of Autumn, is under attack from the Covenant (A conglomerate of several species of extra-terrestrials who have declared war on the Human race after their first inter-galactic settlement was formed) and you have been summoned by the Captain. As the last of these super soldiers you alone wear The Mjolnir enhanced suit that increases your physical prowess through motor assistance. You are the last of a genetically enhanced group of super-soldiers of the Spartan II project.
The updated cover also has clearer and more prominent messaging about which consoles the game will work on.You Play the mysterious John, known as Spartan-117 and The Master Cheif, a Master Cheif Petty Officer in the United Nations Space Corp of the 26th Century. This provides more space for the artwork as the Xbox branding is less of an obstruction. The new box art has a cleaner look, which removes the Xbox banner from the top of the case and replaces it with a smaller logo in the top left corner. Twitter user _XboxNews was one of the first to notice the change and put together an image showing the differences between the two designs. The move has switched up the design of the cases for physical releases, with Microsoft quietly releasing the new covers for Microsoft Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, and Halo: Infinite.
Microsoft has seemingly updated the box art for Xbox Series X and Xbox One games. Related: Biggest Game Reveals & Moments From Bethesda's E3 2021 Showcase This follows Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda, the company behind franchises such as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
The two companies also released a brand new trailer for Starfield during the event, which will be exclusive to Xbox and PC when it launches on November 11, 2022.
Xbox and Bethesda made a number of high-profile announcements during E3 2021. An earlier design included a large and intrusive logo that confirmed whether a game was optimized for Xbox Series X, something the company quickly ditched following feedback from players. This is not the first time that Microsoft has switched the box art for its latest console. Microsoft has updated the box art for its Xbox games, with the new covers offering more space for artwork on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.