The evolution of Halo: Jan – Aug 02

Every Xbox owner knows the name of the game. Most own copies, some have only
played but none can escape the game that has sold Xboxes to at least 3
people I know including yours truly. Yes we are speaking of Halo.

January (the beginning)

Team mSa… has come a long way since January: from sorry wretches to the
champions of the eastern U.S. unchallenged from North Carolina to
Philadelphia, and to think it all started with a rental. The first players
of Halo were myself and Mike (aka N-O-Sent) and my lord we were twitchy,
being bond players the idea that one stick moves your player and the other
controls his head was alien to us. Thus the first impression we had was “the
controls suck but it is an ok game”. Enter Joshua, (CACAPINO) who played one
round of slayer and declared the control too crappy and denounced the game.
These were the days of 3-player halo, as we had only 3 controllers. Over the
first month we secured a fourth controller and saw several players come and
go including Izzy & Stephen Bailey until there was a solid playing crew
left: Mike, Joshua, Jeremiah, Glynn, Matthew, Chalmers, and myself. For
those who are paying attention Joshua came around within 2 nights. In this
time CTF became the game of choice with various teams stacking up and
pitting their flag nabbing skills against one another. We were still
learning the ins and outs of all the weapons, but we had gotten the hang of
things and the obsession began.

February (views divided)

The month of February has a few Halo landmarks; the first that comes to mind
is the rise of the shotgun. Until then no weapon rose above the others as a
staple in base penetration equipment. The most proficient sniper of that era
(CACAPINO) laid aside his rifle and took up the close quarters beast, thus
the mastery of weapons had begun. We had no idea where we were going to be
today with regards to weapon application.

Names also evolved in the month of February, at first our names were the
same names we had always used; CACAPINO, NaSteve, Synergy, N-O-Sent,
Illcomplex. Then one day the plague was born, diseases became more common,
with many people being killed by clamydia, AIDS, Syphilis, and Herpes. The
plague stuck and other names with a humorous twist came about, including my
kids, UDntGet2Liv, and a lemming. CACAPINO is the last name that has not
been updated, sorry Josh but HEYSTUPID does not count.

Another notable landmark was the increase of respawn time from instant to 10
seconds. Strategy went through the roof as one could not afford to be dead
at a critical moment, life became more valuable and we learned ways to
protect it, our own anyway. A new contender entered the game…. and he
sucked the way a newborn does on that silly little fake nipple thing.
Welcome to Halo D Lee, now step through a warp and DIE! If only the veterans
knew what was to come, we might have wanted Daniel on our team more in those
days…. when he was cannon fodder.

Truly the largest event of February had to be the creation of the
partition/apparatus. Originally a rig composed of bungee cords and a garbage
bag we split the T.V. screen and suddenly players 1 & 3 vs. 2 & 4 could not
see enemy fields of vision. The rig became more advanced and less stable
when we constructed it out of wooden dowels. Setup was cleaner and somewhat
faster but anybody who walked by at a pace swifter than that of a sponge
would blow the contraption out of alignment. Snipers became more dangerous
as we could not see who was posting up where with a glance at an enemy
screen, the sniper rifle made a slight surge in popularity as a result.
Hiding became a popular activity and the cloak was more valuable than ever.
We were on our way to becoming champions, and were still months away from
being tested.

March (retired comrades team mSa…. is formed)

A second TV and Xbox were purchased and the game got better. This meant we
were renting a copy of halo every couple of nights again but we were on
separate TV’s. With no walls between us the volume was a competition for who
could play with theirs the lowest. It was a large advantage to know your
enemy was mobile in a vehicle or had picked up a power up. Screenwatching
was replaced by sound listening.

On a sadder note this was the time we lost Mike and Chalmers. Mike joined
the navy but left his name written in the blood of those felled by him on a
rock in bloodgulch…. the final wrath of Mikes sniper rifle. A moment often
remembered but never relived. Chalmers is chained in MD, we hear from him
once in a while but mostly the voice of his captor rings more commonly
through our ears “NO CHAD YOU CAN’T PLAY THAT STUPID GAME” Thus the
evolution of team mSa… was completed in regards to who we were. Also of
note is the rise of the pistol, Glynn takes responsibility for the little
piece, I resisted the longest, considering the weapon cheap and boring as I
stuck with my plasma rifle/shotgun combo. Eventually I came around to using
the pistol and now you are practically dead on your feet if you get caught
without one. While CTF did enjoy human weapon only rules for a short time
that changed to the normal weapon set along with flag at home to score.
These have become permanent CTF rules and have not been altered yet since
they were put into place.

April-July (taking it upstairs)

The TVs were placed in two separate rooms, doors were closed, and in
bloodgulch two flags waved… ready for the taking. In this time I had
beaten the solo missions on legendary and was the most skilled player, every
game began with the following questions: “So what’s teams? Me Steve and
______?” Team mSa… was to be christened by Jeremiah before he evolved from
UdntGet2Liv to Unabomber in the days just prior to the tournament.

In the hands of a little Olsen girl or a charliegook the sniper rifle became
a weapon that was feared. Daniel had found his calling and the game would
never be the same. Posted on the cliff edge he would lay opponents down as
they spawned, nobody was safe, and nobody was a match for him. The sniper
rifle was charliegooks great strength and great weakness, for once the ammo
was done so was he. and in those days if you started marching on him you
could watch him visibly panic, still 12 rounds equal a lot of dead bodies.

With the beginning of 4 vs. 4 games the respawn time was once again outdated
and had to increase again. 15 seconds is max and that is how long dying will
put you out of the game. It seemed like forever at first, but that did not
last long. We all evolved in skill, Daniel is the house sniper, Joshua’s
expertise is base penetration, Jeremiah is an expert grenadier, Glynn’s
specialty is sneaking around and violating the enemy base, Matthew is a
rocket man, and my skill is warthog stunt driving. We were all fairly well
rounded at this point with the exception of one area, game formats, and CTF
was all we played despite protest from some. We were unskilled at king of
the hill, oddball, and race games. But that was to change in the first weeks
of August.

August (champions are forged in battle)

The tournament was coming, we all knew it, and all of us knew we needed to
be ready, so we began training. Week one saw us all together practicing as a
group of 6, our numbers started dropping until the final night of practice
week 2 when we only had 4. And our skills became nothing short of amazing.
We all became proficient with sniper rifles and close combat, movement and
grenades, we still have our specialty areas but all around skill is even
among 4 of our team. Those that missed the training sessions will catch up
easily, it seems that as soon as any one person breaks new ground the rest
of us follow with no trouble. The games are more varied now, CTF is still
the staple of our Halo experience but the strategies have changed a lot.
Hiding does not work unless you have a brilliant spot. Stationary sniping is
the quickest way to get yourself killed. Do not wander about without a
pistol. We are experimenting with weapon sets and will tweak our game play a
little further until the training we undertake in the next few months… our
preparation for the Halo 50k tournament. God help all who stand in our way.

The rest of the story

Our evolution has many other fine points that deserve mention, but memory
fails me and so they cannot be placed properly into our timeline. Look
sensitivity evolved slowly step by step, some of us even spent a little time
at 1 in order to be proficient snipers while others went all the way to 10.
The Current optimal setting is 5-7 for most of our team, although some of us
are pushing into the high area once again.

Long ago a mobile jeep was a dangerous thing, until we mastered the dodge
skill, but recently CACAPINO has taken it a step further and developed a new
mow ‘em down style, we have to learn to doge warthogs all over again. Tanks
are useless… if somebody gets annoyed enough they are eliminated from
bloodgulch.

Snipers have become so proficient that all one can do sometimes is cower in
the base, even a warthog does not guarantee an escape as people have been
sniped from the seat of a warthog traveling at full speed. Due to the sniper
threat another strategy has developed, some of us have adopted the habit of
holding the stick just before respawn so that we are instantly moving once
we “wake up”.

Several other strategies have come and gone over time, such as parking
warthogs inside ones own base in such a way as to block the escape of a flag
carrier. This strategy was defeated by sneaking into the base and
positioning a jeep for a quick and easy get away before scooping up the
flag. An enemy in the gunner seat of the warthog is much less of a threat
these days, when snipers and pistol wielders are sneaking about.
Communication is essential to a team victory, and over the past 6 months we
have learned how to work well with our teammates, enemy locations are called
out as well as who is inbound with a vehicle and what direction they will be
coming from.

The future

What is next? Unreal? Halo2? Time will certainly tell if the current game of
choice will become a game we play just to have fond memories. Until then we
continue to increase our skills, developing new strategies, sharpen or
sniping abilities. Where will we be in about 6 months when we show ourselves
at Halo 50k? I dare not imagine.

Steven Rather
the plague
Team mSa…
2002.08.27