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#3
Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox/2001)
For the longest time I thought Halo wasn't worth my attention. I had played it briefly with my friend, who raved about its greatness, but it never clicked for me. The control scheme and mechanics were alien to me. I had grown up with GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, and later moved to games like TimeSplitters and Nightfire. Halo was a different animal, and I didn't get it. Years later, when I purchased my Xbox 360, I pledged to play all the Xbox originals I missed. I picked up Morrowind and Ninja Gaiden, KOTOR and Doom 3, and, of course, the first two Halo games. Halo was the first game I played on my Xbox 360 and it remains, to this day, the very best. I realized then how great and revolutionary the game really was. On a technical front, the game boasts superior graphics, sound design, and artificial intelligence. On an aesthetic front, the game demonstrates a surprisingly detailed and coherent art direction that brings its alien worlds, facilities, and creatures to life. Best of all, though, are its controls, which are tight, responsive, and straight-forward; its weapon inventory system, which has been spared any unneccesary features and options; and its firefights, by far the best of any game ever made, thanks to the one idea that makes Halo the very best shooter ever made: improvisation.
