GENERAL posted Jul 19th, 2011 Managing Editor Richard Cox takes a moment during Halo Week to look at some of the ways the Halo Franchise has impacted the shooter genre as a whole. In my opinion, the Halo franchise has done more for the shooter genre than any other franchise out there.
Halo wasn't the first shooter. Halo wasn't the first to introduce online multiplayer. Halo wasn't even the first Bungie game to feature an armored peacekeeper and sexy female AI battling aliens in outer space. Halo, in many ways, is unoriginal.
The mysterious, armor-clad hero of the human race is not quite human himself: As part of the Spartan program, Halo's Master Chief, aka John-117, was genetically engineered and reared by the military to become the xenocidal savior of everything.
Halo: Combat Evolved , also referred to as Halo: CE , Halo 1 , or simply Halo , is a 2001 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The first game of the Halo franchise, it was released on November 15, 2001 as an exclusive launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is considered the platform's " killer app".
The franchise that defined the Xbox, Halo contains some of the most popular games ever released. The Halo FPS titles are revered for their excellent gamepad control and high-quality online multiplayer. The franchise now contains novels, soda tie-ins, an RTS spin-off, toys, and more.