Due to the recent release of Halo: the Master Chief Collection, I will write about the series of games that made me realize that a video game could hold a story and universe that rivals that of film.

   Halo!

   This series of games, which not only revolutionized the gameplay of first person shooters, introduced players to a brand new fictional world filled with mythology. If any game series deserves to become a film franchise, this is it! The Halo games are the first games I've ever played that presented a story that could be flawlessly presented as a film. The story is linear, fast paced, and keeps the player wanting to know more about this strange universe.

   The first Halo game (Halo: Combat Evolved) begins in the year 2552. Humans have developed technology that allows them to travel the stars and colonize new planets. Many years before the start of the first game, the Office of Naval Intelligence has begun kidnapping children to enroll in a secret super-soldier experiment codenamed the Spartan II Program.

    In the year 2525 humanity was attacked by a hostile extra-terrestrial empire known as The Covenant. The Spartan II's are the only soldiers prepared for the onslaught of the alien juggernaut. However, there are too few of the Spartans to fully counter the Covenant as they sweep through space destroying all human-colonized worlds.

   25 years later The Covenant arrives at the planet Reach, a heavily fortified military planet, and all that separates the Covenant from earth. All Spartan II's are sent to Reach to hold the Covenant back. However, the Covenant has brought an invasion force larger than any previously seen by human eyes.

   Reach falls and only one ship escapes, The Pillar of Autumn, under the command of Captain Keyes. This ship also carries Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, who many believe to be the last Spartan II (however, the Halo novels prove that others have indeed survived). To escape the wreckage of Reach, The Pillar of Autumn engages the Cole Protocol, in which the ship sets a random course incase the Covenant decides to follow (we wouldn't want them finding earth, now would we?) and arrives at a mysterious planet sized ring in space.

   The first game picks up here, as The Pillar of Autumn arrives at will soon be known as a Halo. The Master Chief Collection includes fully re-vamped graphics for Halo: CE and Halo 2. which I think is great, because the original graphics were a bit outdated...

   Of course, the Covenant not only followed the Pillar of Autumn, but there had already been a fleet waiting at that location. Master Chief is tasked with protecting the ship's onboard artificial intelligence, Cortana, and takes an escape pod down to the surface as Captain Keyes attempts to land The Pillar of Autumn on the alien ring.

   Landing on the Halo ring was a phenomenal experience for me, as a player. Exploring the alien landscape as I assume control of Master Chief and attempt to locate scattered Marines, shoot Covenant Elites, or drive a Warthog reconnaissance vehicle. 

   Master Chief and Cortana rescue Captain Keyes from the Covenant, locate the map room of Halo, and then assault the Covenant occupied control room. However, as Cortana is inserted into the control rooms panel, she realizes that the Covenant did not build this Halo... an ancient race of beings known as Forerunner did, beings that no longer exist. Cortana discovers that something is very wrong... that the Covenant have accidentally unleashed an ancient secret of Halo...

   And then comes the most frightening level of the game. 

   Honestly, I could write about Halo all day. It is my favorite video game series by far. The lore, the universe, the depth of it all is just so immersive. I would continue writing about the game, but you either already know what happens next, or you don't, and if you don't know what happens next then go get the games and find out! You will not regret it. 

All games included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection are the definitive Halo games. There have been a few spin-offs, but none have quite hit home as well as the saga of John 117.