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1[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/halo-combat-evolved-001_7852.png]]
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3->''"Men, we led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep them from getting their filthy claws on Earth. But, we stumbled onto something they're so hot for that they're scrambling over each other to get it! Well, I don't care if it's God's own anti-sonavabitch machine or a giant hula hoop! We're not gonna let 'em have it! What we ''will'' let 'em have is a belly full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in!... AM I RIGHT MARINES?!"''
4
5->''"Sir, yes Sir!"''
6
7->''"Mmmhmm! Damn right, I am. Now move it out, double-time! All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close, this is gonna be your lucky day!"''
8-->--'''Staff Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson, addressing marines before the Battle of Installation 04'''
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10''Halo: Combat Evolved''[[note]]The ''Combat Evolved'' under the title was intended as a TagLine or PublisherChosenTitle, but later became an official {{retronym}} in rereleases so that the first game in the ''Halo'' series would have a distinct title. Within the original release's menu, it referred to itself as just ''Halo''.[[/note]] (released on November 15, 2001[[note]]In North America. The rest of the world didn't get it until the spring of 2002.[[/note]]) introduced the ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' series from relatively HumbleBeginnings.
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12Humanity has been losing a war against [[ScaryDogmaticAliens the Covenant]] for the last 27 years, with the game taking place right after humanity has just [[VideoGame/HaloReach suffered a devastating defeat at their most important colony, Reach]]. The story begins InMediasRes as the human warship the ''Pillar of Autumn'', which had just escaped Reach, comes under attack by Covenant pursuers and is forced to make a crash landing on a mysterious ring-shaped mega-structure worshipped by the Covenant, known as Halo.
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14The player controls the Master Chief, [[LastOfHisKind one of the last]] of a group of specially raised and trained cyborg SuperSoldiers: the Spartan-[=IIs=]. He is taken out of stasis during the attack on the ship, with his mission being to protect the survivors and find out what Halo is and what the Covenant want with it. Master Chief is the [[TheStoic quiet]] type, but the AI program "Cortana" linked into his [[PoweredArmor battle suit]] does most of the talking and [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection provides plenty of tech support]]. Together they eventually uncover an [[SealedEvilInACan ancient threat aboard the Halo]] which [[FromBadToWorse makes the Covenant look like a church picnic]], and ''then'' they learn the Halo itself has a much more malevolent purpose...
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16This FirstPersonShooter developed by Creator/{{Bungie}} was the big title used to launch the Platform/{{Xbox}} console. Its superior graphics, interesting story and engaging gameplay made it a hit with critics and gamers alike, and it was hugely influential in bringing the concept of LAN parties, which was later expanded upon with ''VideoGame/Halo2'' being the KillerApp for online gaming for the Xbox. The seamless integration of vehicles, the very expansive missions and the constant rotation of weapon types gave it a unique experience.
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18A port to Windows and Mac OS was released two years later courtesy of Creator/GearboxSoftware, which added native online multiplayer without tunnelling utilities, the Fuel Rod Gun (strangely treated as an energy weapon) and Flamethrower weapons for multiplayer, as well as the Banshee and a new Warthog with a rocket turret as multiplayer vehicles, along with the usual computer gaming features (enhanced graphics, {{game mod}}s, and so forth). The original release was not particularly designed for modification, however, and so they released a separate ''Halo: Custom Edition'' with some engine optimizations, exclusively used for multiplayer. It has a separate download and installer but requires a CD key from the retail version as well as a CD check. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TQSGzR95xU fan-made mod for the Custom Edition]] named ''VideoGame/{{SPV3}}'' overhauls graphics and level layout, and adds in the weapons and enemies of the more modern ''Halo'' games.
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20The game received multiple {{Updated Rerelease}}s for [[MilestoneCelebration various milestones]]:
21* ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' was released by Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries on November 15, 2011. The graphics were revamped to high definition but it sought to replicate the gameplay and story ''exactly'': the campaign mode uses the Gearbox PC port as a basis for the MediaNotes/GameEngine with a feature to toggle between the new graphics and the old. In addition, {{Easter Egg}}s that became common in later games were included, including Terminals and Skulls. Multiplayer was run through the concurrent ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' system with new maps and game types designed to emulate the feel of CE.
22* Three years later, the ''Anniversary'' version would be included as part of ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection'' on Xbox One. The single-player version is the same as the Xbox 360 version from 2011 (complete with the switchable graphics), but the original game's multiplayer mode has also been restored, letting it be playable on Xbox LIVE for the first time.
23** ''Anniversary'' was once more ported to the PC in March 2020 as part of the general MCC PC Port. It has the ''Anniversary'' updated graphics and features, though it does lack some of the PC-specific features of the original 2003 PC port of ''Combat Evolved'' and is incompatible with the ''Custom Edition'' mod release. In this form, the game would see minor rolling updates offered for free by 343, including more customization options, but also a "2.5" overhaul for the 20th anniversary meant to correct numerous bugs and glitches that have persisted through the years. This version also later saw the release of the Halo CE Mod Tools, a rerelease of the ''Custom Edition'' tools with expanded functionalities/limits & compatibility for campaign modding.
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25This game is also the only entry in the series to have an official {{novelization}}, ''Literature/HaloTheFlood''. ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' is a prequel to the events of the story, in fact setting up many core facets of the game's backstory and the franchises' ExpandedUniverse. Meanwhile, ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'' is an immediate sequel to this game, bridging the gap between ''Combat Evolved'' and ''2''.
26----
27!!I don't keep it loaded, son. You'll have to find tropes as you go:
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29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:A-D]]
32* AbandonShip: The first level, which features the crew doing a staged evacuation of the ''Pillar of Autumn'' while holding back Covenant boarders. Of course, after evacuating, the only location to land on is the Halo ring itself, setting the stage for the rest of the game.
33* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:343 Guilty Spark]], who remains oh-so-polite even after he turns on you.
34* AIIsACrapshoot: Averted by Cortana, who remains on your side. [[spoiler: Even 343 Guilty Spark stays loyal to his programming, though has still gone completely nuts from isolation.]]
35* AlienSky: Anytime you have a decent view of the sky, you will see the gas giant planet Threshold alongside its largest satellite, Basis. Also, the ring itself curves up and away in opposite directions. Oddly enough, if you look closely at the ring in the distance, you will see an obvious lighting error.
36* AllThereInTheManual: The events of Reach and many other elements of the war with the Covenant were explained in the ExpandedUniverse novels, most notably ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach''. There's also ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' (not to be confused with the book), which is a direct prequel to this game.
37* AlternateRealityGame: The "Cortana Letters", while not a true ARG, served as a foreshadowing of things to come in the promotion of subsequent instalments. These were a series of e-mails sent from Bungie-controlled addresses (and a couple of hidden messages on the discs of other Bungie games) to notable ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' fandom people, authored by an AI entity named Cortana, intent on warning humanity about an impending alien invasion. Throughout the letters, she shared details about "the humorless war machine" she has to share processing space with and the religious zealots "whose main form of worship takes place at the altar of orbital bombardment", as well as the "unbroken ring" whose creators have simply vanished. While many of the details revealed in this way back in 1998-1999 have since changed significantly (particularly in terms of Cortana's characterization), the Letters nonetheless gave away quite a good chunk of the game's plot.
38* AncientKeeper: 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor of Installation 04.
39* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
40** If you're playing on Heroic or [[HarderThanHard Legendary]] difficulties, "The Pillar of Autumn" assumes that you're a player that's experienced with the game and automatically skips past the JustifiedTutorial to get the level running.
41** You get a short window of immunity from being crushed while you flip over vehicles or Shade turrets. Since the physics for flipping over vehicles can be a bit unpredictable, this means you don't need to worry about being killed by your Warthog falling on top of you. This feature is retained in future games, but it is most perceptible in ''Combat Evolved'' given that the game's crude way of measuring object momentum means even just a slight tap from a moving object can kill you.
42** The ''Anniversary'' graphics option adds arrow-shaped floor lights as seen in "Assault on the Control Room" to "[[MarathonLevel The Library]]", making the latter easier to navigate.
43* ApocalypticLog: The Flood gets introduced through a video recording from the helmet cam of a (deceased) Marine Private named Wallace Jenkins.
44* ArtificialBrilliance: The unit A.I. in ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' was quite a step up from its contemporaries and was praised by critics as one of its best technical points. The enemy composition was a key factor to the overall experience of the game, with a rotation of disposable grunts, shield jackals and elites along with different ranks for each, giving you more options on how to fight the enemy and the appearance of random behaviors. Killing the elites first will cause [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere the grunts to get scared and try to run]]. Much of the player base found the challenge of "smart" enemies to be a huge appeal of the game's combat.
45* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Nuclear reactors are not bombs.
46* BarrierWarrior: Master Chief, the Elites, and the Sentinels are protected by full-body energy fields.
47* BashBrothers: Hunters are always encountered in pairs. [[AngstySurvivingTwin If you kill one]], expect the other to [[BerserkButton charge at you more often.]]
48* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Basically what [[spoiler: the Halo rings]] were designed to do; [[spoiler: specifically, they kill all sentient life in the galaxy in order to starve the Flood]].
49* {{BFG}}: The Fuel Rod Gun, especially when wielded by tiny Grunts. The weapon is unusable by the player in the Xbox version. On the [=PC=] version, it's still only usable in multiplayer.
50* BleakLevel: ''343 Guilty Spark'', which features few enemies and lots of wrecked equipment to drive home the creepiness factor. Most of the mission is designed to confuse the hell out of players, playing initially more like a {{Horror}} game with guns than an FPS. [[spoiler:And all this is ''before'' you discover the existence of the Flood.]]
51* BodyHorror: All victims of the Flood suffer this, [[spoiler: especially Captain Keyes.]]
52* BookEnds:
53** The game begins and ends on the ''Pillar of Autumn''.
54** In a more general example, the last three missions of the game consist of locations from the first half but are revisited in the opposite order of when you first came through them.
55* BoringButPractical: As you may learn from Jackals on Legendary, the Plasma Pistol is ''extremely'' useful when paired with a fast trigger finger. Semi-auto fire + very short overheat + good against health AND shields = murder machine. The only gun that can compete with it for sheer damage output is the shotgun at close range. Plus, you don't have to worry about chewing through batteries because it's the most common gun in the game!
56* BossInMookClothing: The gold-armored Elite Zealots; extremely agile foes whose shields are three times as strong as that of a regular blue Elite Minor's and primarily wield Energy Swords. In the latter half of the game, Zealots will also occasionally wield Plasma Rifles, with which they possess the highest accuracy of any Elite rank and fire in much longer bursts, all the while dodging and taking cover from any return fire thrown their way.
57* BigBad: Unlike subsequent games, ''Combat Evolved'' is notable for not having any; [[spoiler: 343 Guilty Spark]] is the most personal enemy in the latter half of the game, but he is only an obstacle rather than the source of the protagonist's troubles.
58* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The threat of the Flood is halted by the destruction of the ring, taking a huge Covenant armada with it for good measure, but the Master Chief and Cortana are seemingly the only survivors of the ''Autumn'''s crew.[[note]]Though ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'' revealed there were a few other humans who managed to escape[[/note]]. Not only that, but humanity is still losing its war against the Covenant.]]
59* CannonFodder: The Grunts.
60* TheCaptain: Captain Keyes is running the show.
61* CarFu: "Roadkill!" This is almost to {{Exaggerated|Trope}} levels, given that even the slightest nudge from a vehicle is instant death. This was a result of the limited physics engine at the time, which had difficulty translating collision momentum into damage, so all hits were lethal.
62* CasualDangerDialogue: Behold, the following:
63-->'''Cortana''': This thing is falling apart!\
64'''Master Chief''': It'll hold.\
65'''Cortana''': We're not gonna make it!\
66'''Master Chief''': We'll make it.\
67'''Cortana''': Pull up! Pull up!\
68''[Crash!]''\
69'''Cortana''': ... You did that on purpose.
70* ChaosArchitecture: The interior of the Pillar of Autumn takes significant liberties in comparison to the exterior. This is especially true to the game's final level, The Maw, which sees the Chief drive down a two-kilometre-long service corridor stated to be running along the ship's dorsal structure. Since the player embarks on a service lift for a long elevator ride to reach it, [[https://www.halopedia.org/images/b/b9/POA-Full-Int-Ext.jpg it would place the maintenance way far above and away from the ship itself]]. After their initial escape ride is shot down, the player has to travel a kilometre further to one of the hangar bays on the side of the ship, despite the route being a mostly straight line from the player's previous destination!
71* CharacterCustomisation: Extremely basic compared to later ''Halo'' games, but for multiplayer, this game allows you to choose the color of your armor for non-team modes.
72* ChekhovsGun:
73** Captain Keyes mentions his "neural lace" in the very first conversation the Chief has with him. [[spoiler: The Chief is later forced to retrieve these implants to allow Cortana to trigger the ''Pillar of Autumn's'' reactor meltdown.]]
74** A Longsword fighter-bomber is visible in the ''Autumn's'' hangar bay while the marines are tooling up in the opening cutscene; the same fighter Master Chief uses to escape the ship at the end of the game.
75* CoOpMultiplayer: One of the most popular features of the game, allowing for two identical Chiefs to fight through the campaign at the same time. Sadly, it was not available on the Gearbox PC port, presumably for compatibility reasons (co-op was split-screen-only, but no split-screen mode was present in the PC version at all. Do the math). This would thankfully be rectified with ''The Master Chief Collection'''s release on PC, which allowed for networked Co-Op play.
76* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Continuing the tradition set by its predecessor, ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', ''Combat Evolved'' signifies a Covenant soldier's rank through their armor color. While later games often paired this colour-coding system with unique armor designs for each rank (up until ''VideoGame/Halo4'', which largely dropped the system altogether), visual variants of ''Combat Evolved'''s Covenant armor (Grunt backpack shape, Elite helmet design, etc.) were almost exclusively cosmetic, meaning that color (and in some cases, weapon choice and battle strategy) was the only way to determine an enemy's rank at a glance.
77** Grunt ranks include Minors (Orange), Majors (Red), and Spec-Ops (Black).
78** Elite ranks include Minors (Blue), Majors (Maroon), Stealth (Cyan + Grey trim), Spec-Ops (Black), and Zealots (Gold).
79** Jackal ranks are determined by the color of their shields, with Minors being equipped with blue shields and Majors with orange. This also determines their shield strength, with the latter being predictably stronger than the former.
80* CopyAndPasteEnvironments: The game is based on a pseudo-[[WideOpenSandbox sandbox]]-style level design, with you having to traverse many locations that are identical in appearance. While other ''Halo'' games are guilty of this, it is most noticeable here since this game takes place entirely on Halo; you not only travel through several identical areas, but some levels are prior levels done backwards.
81* CreatorCameo:
82** Writer Matt Soell voices the sole line of a character affectionately dubbed "Crewman 1" by the developers ("They're right behind us!"). Artist David Dunn also voices another crewman ("Help me, help you!").
83** Chris Carney, a multiplayer artist, has a brief scene as Corporal Lovik, the Marine who sends a distress message to Johnson and Keyes in "343 Guilty Spark".
84** Similarly, cinematic artist Lorraine [=McLees=] voices the Pelican pilot who carries Johnson and his squad in "343 Guilty Spark".
85* CryoSickness: Half-jokingly referred to as "freezer burn." The {{Novelization}} states that anything worn into a cryo pod gives the wearer a horrible rash. The Chief getting frozen in his PoweredArmor showcases how [[MadeOfIron durable]] he is.
86* DarkestHour: As ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' indicated, this game ''begins'' with one. Reach has fallen, most of the UNSC is glassed by the Covenant, and the Master Chief and Cortana arrive in the Pillar of Autumn for a desperate mission with research information that ''might'' turn the war in humanity's favor.
87* DeadlyEscapeMechanism: Early in the game, Master Chief is aboard an escape pod that is unable to land safely - when it crashes, he is the only survivor.
88* DevelopersForesight:
89** If you start shooting at the Marines, they'll ignore the first couple of shots as accidental friendly fire but then will turn hostile. There are even lines of dialogue for Cortana, Captain Keyes, and the Marines [[WhatTheHellPlayer specifically recorded for if the player does this]].
90** In "The Silent Cartographer", the encouraged route is to try to enter the map room complex, get locked out, and then find the security room to reopen the map room. If you decide to go to the security room first, not only does the game let you skip going through the 'getting locked out' moment, but the dialogue is changed to reflect the fact that you haven't been shut out.
91--->'''Cortana:''' ''[normal dialogue]'' Use the holo-panel to shut down the security system.\
92'''Cortana:''' ''[alternate dialogue]'' This isn't the map room. Analyzing... This is a security override station for the main facility, located somewhere else on this island. Shut the system down so the Covenant won't be able to lock us out.
93** In "343 Guilty Spark", you're encouraged to go into the Forerunner structure after your initial sweep of the swamp area, then take the lift down to progress. In the event you do take the lift down, and then decide to go back up to the surface, there are fresh Marine bodies that were not there before, allowing you to get more ammo while furthering the mystery of what is going on since nothing is stated about them happening.
94* DiscOneFinalDungeon: The Control Room. Getting to it is a major part of the UNSC's goal of stopping the Covenant, and it takes a lot of work to get there. Once you do, the WhamEpisode starts, and it becomes clear how trivial the Control Room is.
95* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Sergeant Johnson]]'s apparent death got retconned into being this in ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'' and ''VideoGame/Halo2''. Even though, despite his fairly low screen time, Bungie did everything but show his actual death. [[spoiler: The Legendary ending does show him to be on the ring when it explodes, but this was obviously non-canon; Bungie later jokingly stated that it was his twin brother instead.]]
96* TheDogBitesBack: Marines do not tolerate treason - kill more than a couple of them, and the rest will mutiny. And they're pretty formidable opponents, so keep them on your side.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:E-H]]
100* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Several.
101** The first one that ''Halo 2'' explicitly calls out is that your health bar [[RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth is completely separate from your energy shield]], requires you to track down medkits to heal yourself if you take hits while your shield is out. Later mainline games, while technically still having a separate health bar, simply have it instantly refill once your shields start to recharge. Also shared with ''Halo 2'', the motion tracker and shield bar are paired together in the corner, while ''Halo 3'' placed the shield bar much wider at the top of the HUD, which became standard.
102** While a number of entries in the series have FallingDamage, ''Combat Evolved'' is the game where Master Chief and the multiplayer SPARTAN-II lineup have glass for kneecaps; simply falling from ten feet high will wipe your shields and potentially even tear into health, and any notable height further than that is almost assured death upon impact. Later games would either make fall damage a bit more reasonable, where it takes a genuinely severe height to hurt you, or outright have no fall damage that isn't the player falling into an instant-death pit out of the map boundaries.
103** There are no [[TheBrute Brutes]] or [[BeePeople Drones]]; it was originally intended that ''First Strike'' was humanity's first encounter with either race, which fell through when other works set before this game featured them both anyway (Brutes went from being newly-introduced in ''First Strike'' to the second Covenant species humanity ever encountered). There are also far fewer Covenant sub-variants in general, and many ranks that are staples of the future games are absent here, including Grunt Heavies, Grunt, Elite Ultras, Elite Rangers, and Jackal Snipers.
104** Hunters are only slightly taller than Spartans[=/=]Elites (though noticeably bulkier), and aren't ImmuneToBullets; they just have high health and take reduced damage from most weapons when not shot in their exposed flesh. They can still be killed just by shooting their armor enough, though it does take well over several dozen rounds of automatic weapons fire to do the job.
105** Vehicles can't be hijacked, and human vehicles can't even be destroyed (Covenant ones can, but only when they're occupied). There's also a small number of them and, beyond both having some variety of dropship, there are no attempts to give both sides equivalent vehicles (humans get the only playable vehicles that can take passengers, the Covenant gets the only playable flying vehicles).
106** Banshees are less resistant to small-arms fire compared to later games, and can be shot down relatively easily with human projectile weapons such as the pistol, assault rifle, or shotgun.
107** For vehicles that can accept additional passengers (Warthog, Scorpion), the health bars of all these occupants are displayed on the driver's HUD. Destructible vehicles (Ghost, Banshee) also have their health bar displayed on the driver's HUD. Both of these features were dropped for future games.
108** The weapon selection is more limited; you have the [=MA5B=] Assault Rifle and the [[SniperPistol [=M6D=] Pistol]] for standard automatic and precision weapons, and the specialty weapons are a Rocket Launcher, Shotgun, and Sniper Rifle. The [=MA5B=] Assault Rifle has a 60-round magazine and 600-round spare ammo reserve; the assault rifles featured in subsequent titles have a smaller magazine capacity but better accuracy. Among the Covenant, they do have the Energy Sword and Fuel Rod Cannon but in contrast to all other infantry weapons are {{unusable|EnemyEquipment}}, disappearing after the enemy is defeated (the latter only shows up in multiplayer of the PC port). Also, in single-player, Fuel Rod Cannons ''explode'' when their operator is killed. The iconic Battle Rifle didn't show up until ''Halo 2''.
109** The tone is fairly light and often comical, especially before the Flood shows up. Chief and Cortana share some witty banter and a few sight gags, complete with a farcical ending scene with Johnson and an Elite in the Legendary ending. The story was told predominantly from just Chief and Cortana's perspectives, with them coming upon events or being told of complications rather than cutting away to show what happened before they were there (you first learn of the flood by reviewing [[ApocalypticLog footage found on a dead marine]]), there is [[TwoLinesNoWaiting no secondary group to fill up the plot]]. A lot of elements such as the design of the UNSC Marines' armor and equipment are also cribbed directly from films such as ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Film/{{Predator}}''; later influences would not be quite so blatant.
110** Sergeant Johnson is treated as a RecurringExtra who exists simply to fill the role of a generic Marine sergeant in this game, rather than as a major defined character as in the rest of the trilogy. As an example of his unimportance, he appears in the level "Assault on the Control Room" as the leader of Fireteam Zulu, even though canonically, he should instead be accompanying Keyes on the mission to recover the supposed weapon cache.
111** Early parts of the franchise would place a heavy emphasis on the Master Chief being [[LastOfHisKind the last living SPARTAN-II]], an idea that would start to be downplayed in ''First Strike'' and then dropped altogether later on, especially with the later introduction of third- and then fourth-generation [=SPARTANs=]. Notably, the continuity of the main games continued this narrative until ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' (''14 years later'') finally reunited him with the surviving members of Blue Team, which caused some ContinuityLockOut.
112** The Chief is referred to as a "Cyborg" several times, including by Grunts, plus the in-game description of the level "Keyes". The Chief, plus Spartans in general, are never referred to as such again. The setting involves most humans having some degree of cybernetic implants, so this moniker is irrelevant.
113** Cortana is inexplicably written as if she had a British accent, most notably when she tells 343 Guilty Spark to "sod off" at the beginning of "Two Betrayals". This quirk was understandably dropped, though the idea of your main AI companion having a British accent was revisited for Serina in ''VideoGame/HaloWars''. Speaking of Cortana, she has a very different look in this game, with her hologram colored purple and possessing much shorter hair. ''Anniversary'' updates her to the look she had in ''VideoGame/Halo3''.
114** After linking with Halo, on a few occasions, Cortana behaves unusually abrasively towards Chief, seemingly being annoyed by his limited intelligence compared to her and otherwise throwing up a handful of red flags for players who are familiar with Bungie's previous ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series and know that A.I.s are prone to having [[FaceHeelTurn Face Heel Turns]]. Bungie has revealed that Cortana was originally supposed to be corrupted by the Forerunner's knowledge and power and turn evil about halfway through the game, but that plot thread was dropped fairly early in development. These elements of her character were removed from subsequent games until her FaceHeelTurn was realized in ''Halo 5''.
115** [[LadderPhysics This game includes a few ladders on its maps]], especially in multiplayer. Future games almost always go with gravity lifts instead for two main reasons: First, gravity lifts are far more intuitive to use. Second, the animators absolutely hated how there was no ladder-climbing animation. A good way of showing how this aspect of level design was abandoned is to compare the multiplayer maps "Battle Creek" and "Wizard", two maps that both use ladders, with their ''Halo 2'' remakes "Beaver Creek" (which replaces the ladders with ramps) and "Warlock" (which replaces them with gravity lifts).
116** Multiplayer medals also don't exist yet. The announcer does have some callouts that serve as a predecessor for that system, appearing for a Double Kill, Triple Kill, Killtacular (4 kills as opposed to 5 in future entries), Killing Spree, and Running Riot (10 kills instead of 15).
117** According to Cortana, the Covenant already knows that Halo is a superweapon, though the ringworld is still significant to their religion in an unspecified way. Keyes notes that they even have a saying, "Whoever controls Halo, controls the fate of the universe." From the second game onwards, it would become a major plot point that the Covenant at large ''doesn't'' know Halo's true purpose and instead believes the Halo rings are a way to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. Additionally, this saying implies that the Covenant refers to the ring by its true name Halo, while in every work after this, the Covenant almost exclusively refers to the Halos as the Sacred Rings.
118** It is also a major plot point throughout the series that the Covenant cannot easily interact with Forerunner technology as they lack the Mantle of Responsibility that was granted to humans. As such, they need to either slowly research the tech they are interacting with or capture and use a human as a "Reclaimer" to make any progress. This idea is completely absent from ''Combat Evolved''; notably a significant chunk of "The Silent Cartographer" revolves around the Covenant having no issues with turning a Forerunner security system against the Chief and locking him out of the Silent Cartographer's facility, necessitating him going off to deactivate it.
119** ''Combat Evolved'' features the only level in the series with an ExactTimeToFailure. The very few other times a ''Halo'' game puts you under time pressure, it always uses a CollapsingLair to force the player to keep moving forward.
120** The main weakness of the [[StickyBomb Plasma Grenade]] in this game was that it had a very long fuse in comparison to the Frag Grenade. ''Halo 2'' went in the alternate direction of the Plasma Grenade having a short fuse but a much smaller blast radius to frame the weapon more around its insta-kill sticks, a design decision that has stuck for all future entries.
121** Even after he becomes hostile to you, [[spoiler:343 Guilty Spark]] is incapable of combat, and all he can do is send Sentinels after you while he flees the battle. Later games would reveal that he can produce and fire a hazardous laser from [[spoiler:his eye]] and in ''3'', [[spoiler:he outright kills Sgt. Johnson when he threatens to destroy Installation 04B]].
122** In "The Maw", if you hang around in the Armory for too long, you'll be attacked by Elite Combat Forms using Active Camouflage. This is the only game in which Active Camo Flood appears in any capacity.
123** The insane marine in "343 Guilty Spark" that shoots at Chief while vaguely rambling about the Flood mentions that the only reason he survived was because he played dead, and that the Flood "took the live ones". As later games would demonstrate, the Flood ''do'' take over corpses just as readily as living creatures, so playing dead shouldn't have saved him.
124* EarthShatteringKaboom: Granted, Halo is an artificial world, but the last few levels have you trying to engineer one.
125* EliteMooks:
126** The aptly named Elites — the backbone of the Covenant military.
127** The final portion of ''Keyes'' introduces you to the Special Operations Covenant; tougher, black-armored Grunts and Elites capable of actions their regular brethren cannot, such as wielding Fuel Rod Cannons and throwing plasma grenades, respectively. The Spec-Ops Elites are particularly tough, being much more accurate with their grenades than Grunts, and having twice as durable shields and slightly more health as a regular Elite. Come ''The Maw'', ''all'' standard Covenant troops (besides Hunters, who only have a single rank, and Jackals, who don't appear in the level) have been supplanted by the Spec-Ops Covenant.
128* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: The Elites come in more varieties than any other enemy. Also, the Master Chief himself is a highly elite SuperSoldier.
129* EnemyChatter: The Grunts always have something to say: "Wake up, bad guys!" "He's here!" "Look out!" "Run away!" "Shoot you!" "Die Devil!" '''"HE'S UNSTOPPABLE!"''' '''"LEADER DEAD! RUN A-WAY!"''' '''"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"''' '''"OOH, AAH, GET IT OFF OF ME!!"''' '''"NO-HO-HOOOOOO!!!"'''
130* EnemyDetectingRadar: Foes appear as red dots on your motion tracker, and friendlies appear as yellow dots. As its name implies, the motion tracker is unable to detect stationary enemies. Not all yellow dots are truly friendly, however; unmanned vehicles that are still in motion are represented as such, [[spoiler: while the opening swamp section of the level "343 Guilty Spark" features several Flood Combat Forms that register as allies on the tracker, all of them moving around & watching the Chief from far away.]]
131* EnemyMine: A smaller, more subtle moment can be seen in the level "343 Guilty Spark", as there are a couple of instances where the Chief can find human and jackal bodies lying next to each other with weapons scattered around them, the implication being that they stopped fighting each other to deal with the Flood.
132* TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter: Zig-zagged.
133** Covenant Plasma weaponry ''vastly'' outperforms the [=UNSC=]'s ballistic firearms at melting energy shielding, balanced out by the latter being much more capable at shredding health than the former. In addition, Covenant weapons are generally far easier to find since you can loot them from the hands of your dead foes, instead of relying on predetermined spawns for UNSC weapons.
134** Played straight when comparing the [=MA5B=] Assault Rifle (Chief's starting weapon for most missions) to its Covenant counterpart, the Plasma Rifle; the former is strictly limited to use at close range due to its egregious bullet spread, while the latter is viable at close-, medium-, or even medium-long range as, despite their increased travel time, the projectiles will always be fired with pinpoint accuracy.
135** Averted when comparing the [=M6D=] Pistol (Chief's ''other'' starting weapon for most missions) and the Plasma Pistol; while the latter's overcharge shot and sheer abundance make it an effective disposable shield-stripper, the former wins out thanks to its impressive damage (enough to punch through the shields of most lower-ranked Elites without wasting too much ammo) and being one of only two headshot-capable weapons in the game.
136** On the other hand, when the Flood come into play, they have a distinct resistance to plasma weapons and melee, making ballistic firearms the most viable choice for dealing with them, with the Shotgun in particular often one-shotting Combat Forms, followed by the Assault Rifle. Both weapons are regularly dropped by the Flood (who are infecting both sides of the conflict), so it's much easier to restock on ammunition. Unfortunately, the fact that they can use UNSC weapons also means they will occasionally show up with ''Rocket Launchers'', which is just as much of a danger to you as it is a potential boon.
137* EnergyWeapon: Most of the Covenant arsenal, alongside the Sentinel Beam.
138* EscortMission: The final portion of ''The Truth and Reconciliation'' has you escort Captain Keyes to the hangar of a Covenant battleship so you can escape via one of the enemy dropships.
139* ExactTimeToFailure: The last Warthog run through the ''Pillar of Autumn'' takes place whilst its fusion drive core is in the process of undergoing a massive meltdown, followed by a huge explosion. Cortana helpfully places a very exact timer onto your HUD to show when the meltdown will occur. Interestingly, the time can halt and change throughout the section as the situation changes. This tends to suggest that the time displayed is Cortana's prediction of how much longer they have to be able to OutrunTheFireball in time, rather than when the final detonation will occur.
140* FailsafeFailure: The last level has you deliberately engineering one.
141* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:The mission ''Keyes''. You'll never reach the captain in time to save him no matter how quickly you clear the level.]] Made all the worse due to an InsurmountableWaistHeightFence.
142* FanRemake: ''Halo: Custom Edition'' for PC allows mods to be made to the single-player campaign. One of the more prolific examples of these modded campaigns is ''VideoGame/{{SPV3}}'', which incorporates content from the entire franchise including new/reworked weapons, vehicles, enemies, and mechanics alongside modern-quality graphics. Until the release of the ''Master Chief Collection'' on PC in 2020, ''[=SPV3=]'' was the only way for PC players to experience gameplay in the style of the later ''Halo'' games.
143* FiveSecondForeshadowing: If one has a keen eye, they might notice that among the enemies faced at the beginning of "343 Guilty Spark", there isn't a single Elite encountered. After TheReveal, it becomes clear that they were all infected by the Flood, and sure enough, Flood-infected Elites show up later on in the level.
144* FirstPersonGhost: The one game in the series where this is played straight.
145* {{Foreshadowing}}:
146** There's one for the entire trilogy. In the Control Room, you can see a hologram of the ring that you're on (Installation 04 aka Alpha Halo), but you can also clearly see holograms of six other rings. Furthermore, when asked about Halo's superweapon, Guilty Spark casually mentions "the others" that will simultaneously fire [[spoiler:to ensure the entire galaxy is cleansed of life]].
147** Sgt. Johnson's pre-battle speech on the ''Pillar of Autumn'' on Legendary difficulty yields this:
148--->'''Sgt. Johnson''': Well, I don't care if it's God's own [[FantasticNuke anti-son-of-a-bitch-machine]] or a giant hula hoop; we're not going to let them have it!
149* GameMod: The whole purpose of ''Halo: Custom Edition'' for PC was meant to allow players to play user-created mods and custom multiplayer maps. Fans however have since then created various mods with ''Custom Edition'', from UI replacements, and client modifications to expand on its multiplayer features and providing quality-of-life fixes, porting the entirety of the original Xbox version's campaign and its assets to the PC version, to the aforementioned ''[=SPV3=]'' project.
150* GenreShift: The game starts as a MilitaryScienceFiction FPS where you're fighting against intelligent enemy aliens, but midway, it turns into SurvivalHorror once the Flood arrives.
151* GodzillaThreshold: Since the Flood is so dangerous, Halo is meant to [[spoiler:wipe out absolutely all life in the galaxy]] to starve them out.
152* TheGoomba: Basic Grunts. Slow, stupid, only carry Plasma Pistols and Plasma Grenades, die in three shots from the weakest gun, and almost as likely to [[DirtyCoward run away]] at the sight of the player character as to attempt to fight - unless there's an [[EliteMooks Elite]] nearby, in which case you kill the Elite and ''then'' they run away.
153* HandCannon: The [=M6D=] Pistol, chambered for .50 calibre ''high-explosive armour-piercing'' bullets.
154* HangingSeparately: Despite being attacked by both the Flood and Sentinels, the UNSC and the Covenant are unwilling to help each other, to the point that Covenant enemies will ''prioritize'' Master Chief even when being attacked at that moment by the Flood. Justified in that the Covenant are waging a holy war against humanity, and the Chief is seen as their version of the Anti-Christ; neither these new aliens nor the robot servants of the gods they worship are going to stop them from [[KillAllHumans killing some more humans]]. ''Halo 2'' also establishes that the Covenant are already familiar with the Flood and have dealt with it before, and while they do consider it an extremely serious threat to them it's not the "oh shit all bets are off" complete surprise that it is to the humans.
155* HarderThanHard: The Legendary difficulty setting. As it says in-game: "This is suicide." Enemies do almost double the damage and have about 40% more health and shields; more importantly, they have better reflexes, are ''laser-accurate'' and have a much higher rate of fire.
156* HeavilyArmoredMook: Hunters are nearly invincible unless you can shoot them in their orange weak spots, you hit them with enough grenades, or happen to have a [[{{BFG}} rocket launcher]]. [[TankGoodness Or a tank.]]
157* {{Homage}}: The Halo worlds are a direct homage to Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' books.
158[[/folder]]
159
160[[folder:I-L]]
161* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Two in "Keyes".
162** You start literally in the hallway right next to the endpoint, but it's inaccessible due to locked doors. You can see into the room through a metal grating.
163** Just down the hall is a hole in the ship which you must jump down to continue through the mission, but should be easily small enough a gap for someone like the Master Chief to make.
164* InvisibleMonsters:
165** Elites with active camouflage.
166** [[spoiler:In one very unexpected and terrifying late-game encounter in ''The Maw'', [[OhCrap there are about a dozen invisible Flood Combat Forms! And you just happen to be in the tight confines of an armory at that time]].]]
167* ItCanThink: The Flood initially appears to be completely feral zombies, charging into melee with no thought for self-preservation, but partway through their debut they suddenly start brandishing guns. "The Library" and "Keyes" later bring up the worrying notion that the Flood are intelligent enough to hot-wire damaged spaceships and escape Halo, which is why the Covenant send their best forces to defend the wrecks of the ''Pillar of Autumn'' and ''Truth and Reconciliation''.
168-->'''Guilty Spark:''' The Flood are already hard at work repairing your vessel. Its parasitic nature belies the Flood's intelligence.
169* JackOfAllStats: Rather unusually for an [=FPS=], the game's jack-of-all-stats weapon is ''not'' the default assault rifle (which functions more like a short-range submachine gun), but rather the alien Plasma Rifle, which is viable at all ranges and overall balanced but not overpowering against most everything except maybe Hunters and Flood.
170* JustifiedTutorial: You're taught how to control your character under the pretext of a post-cryosleep examination. This is skipped entirely in co-op or on higher difficulties.
171* LaserBlade: The Energy Sword, wielded by most Elite Zealots and the occasional Stealth Elite. It's one of the game's few OneHitKill weapons [[note]]so long as you aren't playing on Easy difficulty, where it takes three hits to kill the player when at full health[[/note]]), and Elites wielding it become ''much'' more aggressive, relentlessly chasing down and ''leaping'' foes before performing wide, blindingly-fast swings that practically decimate everything in front of and beside them.
172* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Higher ranks of each enemy type are distinguished by the color of their armor. For example, red Grunt Majors are better than orange Grunt Minors.
173* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: In one of the cutscenes, some Marines are heading into battle while generic HeavyMetal plays. One of them asks "Why do we always have to listen to the old stuff?" and Sergeant Johnson replies that it is part of Earth's culture. WordOfGod is that Bungie originally planned to license Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" or Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" for this scene, but was vetoed, resulting in the generic electric guitar.
174* LevelInReverse: Half of the game is you moving into areas to fight the Covenant. The last third is you pulling back to escape the Flood.
175* LimitedLoadout: TropeCodifier for the modern FirstPersonShooter. Master Chief can wield any two of the game's eight weapons and four of each of the two types of grenades at once. Melee attacks with whatever's currently in your hands are [[QuickMelee always an option]], too. Interestingly, compared to most later games which [[FollowTheLeader copied this trope]] from ''Halo'', this game also had it go hand-in-hand with ThrowAwayGuns: no one weapon was useful for every situation (the most general split being that Covenant plasma weapons cut through shields quickly but barely damaged health, while human kinetic weapons bounced off of shields but tore up health), and you would have to learn how to think ahead and know when to drop a weapon you like and/or are good at using in favor of something with more plentiful ammo or which dealt with the current situation better.
176* LordBritishPostulate: On the first level, Captain Keyes hands the Master Chief his sidearm, telling you he doesn't keep it loaded so he'll have to find some bullets elsewhere on the ship. Once you find a loaded magazine a couple of compartments away, it is completely possible to turn right around and go kill Captain Keyes and his bridge crew. Creator/{{Bungie}} even [[DevelopersForesight had the voice actors for Keyes, Cortana et al. record special lines specifically in case the player tried this]]; it results in [[WhatTheHellPlayer every Marine on the ship turning hostile and hosing the Chief down with rifle fire]].
177[[/folder]]
178
179[[folder:M-P]]
180* MarathonLevel: ''Assault on the Control Room''. ''The Library'' can also feel like this.
181* MechaMooks: The Sentinels, floating Forerunner drones that shoot lasers.
182* MeleeATrois: The later missions feature a four-way conflict between the UNSC, the Covenant, Halo's Sentinels, and the Flood.
183* MissingMissionControl: At the end of ''Assault on the Control Room'', Master Chief leaves Cortana behind to go and rescue Keyes, only returning two missions later. This is done so that the Chief's constant companion is missing for your first encounter with the Flood.
184* MonsterDelay: The level leading up to the reveal of the Flood, with its thick tension and atmosphere building, but especially the early parts of the level where "friendly" units show up on your motion tracker. If you keep an eye out, you can occasionally see a glimpse of something moving around the jungle in the fog. Not to mention the moment that you find Grunts and Jackals running away, terrified from something firing at them from inside the structure, only to make your way inside and find nobody.
185* MooksButNoBosses: Not counting the ReactorBoss mentioned below, this trope is played straight.
186* MoraleMechanic: If a squad leader (usually an Elite) dies, nearby Grunts and Jackals will stop shooting and run around in an aimless panic for a few seconds, making them easy targets. This makes targeting the Elite first a valid tactic, and this feature would become standard for every ''Halo'' FPS.
187* NeglectfulPrecursors: Despite building Halo as a weapon against the Flood, the Forerunners saw fit to install a research facility on the ringworld where live samples of the organism were kept in stasis, shielded from the Halo weapon's effects. This inevitably results in the galaxy-ending parasite surviving to the modern day, and even the ringworld's AncientKeeper admits that this decision "may have been in error."
188* NoNameGiven: John-117 is never referred to by name in this game, only by his rank.
189* NonCombatantImmunity: Until you get a weapon in "The Pillar of Autumn," you never directly engage Covenant soldiers. That said, you can still take damage from stray shots.
190* NothingIsScarier: You fight virtually no enemies during the beginning of ''343 Guilty Spark'' beyond a few panicked Grunts and Jackals, to build suspense.
191* ObviousRulePatch: Under normal circumstances, the massive RampJump near the end of "The Maw" would technically be unsurvivable, as the distance is far enough that the game will trigger death by falling. Just for this one level, the game extends how far you can fall without dying so this won't happen.
192* OneHitKill: Chief can survive a lot of things, even explosions so long as he's not directly on top of them and he has a full shield and health bar (barring those damned Rocket Launcher Flood or grenades being detonated by each other which will kill ''everything around them''), but if an Energy Sword-wielding Elite manages to get in and hit you, consider yourself dead, especially if it's from the [[BossInMookClothing Elite Zealots]].
193* OneWordTitle: Bungie intended for the game's title to be just "''Halo''" alone, but as explained below, a [[PublisherChosenTitle Publisher Chosen Subtitle]] was added.
194* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Flood are Parasite Zombies; if one of their small, popcorn-like Infection Forms latches on to an unshielded victim, said victim turns into a Combat Form armed with CombatTentacles. These Combat Forms aren't just fast; they're also smart enough to use guns. [[spoiler:And smart enough to hijack spaceships.]]
195* OutrunTheFireball: [[spoiler: Master Chief has to race through the ''Pillar of Autumn'' while it's exploding.]]
196* {{Overheating}}: Covenant plasma weapons will overheat if fired continuously.
197* PaperTiger:
198** Elites armed with Energy Swords can be fearsome foes at first, given their relentless pursuit of the player. In reality, they are one of the easiest enemies in the game; whereas their firearm-wielding comrades will bob, weave and dive for cover like no one's business, swordsmen will charge ''straight at the player'' with little regard for personal safety, making them incredibly easy to bait out into a plasma grenade stick, noob combo, or headshots.
199** Hunters; While they may look intimidating and can do quite a lot of damage with their fuel rod guns and melee attacks, they can still be brought down with one shot to any of their orange body parts with a headshot-capable weapon... including the excessively common Pistol.
200* PlotCoupon: The Index, which is needed to activate Halo.
201* PoweredArmor: Master Chief's MJOLNIR Mark V suit.
202* PrecursorKillers: The Flood. More accurately, [[spoiler:the Forerunners were forced to kill themselves and almost all other life in the galaxy to stop the Flood]].
203* PsychoStrings: Typically used in music associated with the Flood, such as ''Shadows (Between Beams)'', ''Suite Autumn (Suite Fall)'', ''What Once was Lost (Unfortunate Discovery)'', ''Lament for Pvt. Jenkins (Private Service)'', ''Trace Amounts (Bad Dream)'', ''Library Suite (Dewey Decimate)'', ''Devils... Monsters... (Demons and Heretics)'' and ''Alien Corridors (Xenoarcheology)''. The ''Anniversary'' remastered tracks especially turn up the horror factor.
204* PunchPackingPistol: The [=M6D=] Pistol may be a HandCannon, but the Plasma Pistol is no slouch either. It actually does ''more'' damage per shot than the Plasma Rifle, can strip Elite shields very quickly, and does a fairly decent job at killing Grunts and Jackals (especially when shooting their exposed hand to stagger them). It only seems weak when wielded by those two races because it receives a massive damage debuff against the player's shields.
205[[/folder]]
206
207[[folder:Q-T]]
208* RadarIsUseless: The Master Chief and a squad of Marine allies are ferried via [[DropShip Pelican]] to within a few kilometres of the Covenant battlecruiser ''Truth and Reconciliation'' in the eponymous third mission. Given the advanced tech level of the Covenant, systems on the warship should have been able to detect this easily.
209* ReactorBoss: [[spoiler: Cortana sets a counter to detonate the Pillar of Autumn's engines... and 343 Guilty Spark stops it. Master Chief then has to do the job with rockets and grenades.]]
210* RecurringExtra: This game introduces Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, Private First Class Chips Dubbo, and Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker, all of whom can die at any moment in gameplay and return to the next level with no consequence. Sergeant Johnson, already given more focus than the other two, would become an AscendedExtra thanks to his popularity, while Dubbo and Stacker would both continue to show up as expendable Marines in the games going forward.
211* {{Redshirt}}: The UNSC crewmen, which only appear in the first couple of missions ''The Pillar of Autumn'' and ''Halo''. They have less health than even a Grunt and are only armed with [=M6D=] Pistols (if at all). Some of them even wear red uniforms!
212* RedshirtArmy: The UNSC Marines. Useless for almost everything except manning your Warthog's gun. [[GameBreaker Unless they have Sniper Rifles.]]
213* RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth: The only game in the series to play this 100% straight; later games went for full-on RegeneratingHealth or had the "shields" be replaced with something else noticeably weaker.
214* TheReveal: We have two regarding Halo's purpose. The first is that it's a containment facility designed to contain the Flood for study and research. [[spoiler:The second is that Halo's superweapon is intended to indiscriminately kill all sentient life within 25,000 light-years of itself, to starve out the Flood -- and it was already activated once before]].
215* SaltTheEarth: Exaggerated by the Halo arrays. [[spoiler: They work by wiping out all sentient life within their range so as to deny the Flood any viable hosts.]]
216* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The Covenant are the religious fundamentalist type.
217* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale:
218** In the final mission, Cortana states that the ''Pillar of Autumn''[='s=] self-destruction will produce an explosion with a temperature of almost 100 million degrees (presumably Fahrenheit); this would be nearly 4 times as hot as the core of the sun. If this measurement is in Celsius, then 100 million degrees would be just enough to cause hydrogen to undergo nuclear fusion, which would create an explosion equal to a standard nuclear bomb - nowhere near the scale of the explosion that is seen destroying Halo.
219* SealedCastInAMultipack: If you play co-op, this is how both players begin the game. Otherwise, it is simply SealedBadassInACan.
220* SealedEvilInACan: One of the many structures on Halo is a containment facility (likely one of several) imprisoning an ancient, galaxy-ending parasitic lifeform called the Flood. According to the ringworld's AncientKeeper, the intent was to preserve specimens of the parasite for study after its eradication, but he admits [[NeglectfulPrecursors "that decision may have been in error"]].
221* SequelHook: Master Chief muses at the end that this is only the beginning of something bigger. After the credits, you can see [[spoiler:Guilty Spark humming to himself, flying through space]].
222* SequenceBreaking: In "Assault on the Control Room", when you reach the bridge overlooking the pyramid where the control room lies, if you're quick and accurate with a sniper rifle, then it's possible to kill the Elite scripted to get in the empty Banshee, take it for yourself, and use it to fly to the top of the pyramid, bypassing the entire final quarter of the level. ''Anniversary'' added an achievement for getting in a Banshee during the level.
223* ShieldBearingMook: Jackals, who carry energy shields vulnerable to plasma, and Hunters, who carry shields impervious to everything except heavy weapons.
224* ShoutOut:
225** Many to Bungie's older FirstPersonShooter series ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', to which Halo is a SpiritualSuccessor. As Matt Seoll (who ran Bungie PR from the ''Marathon'' era up through the first ''Halo'' title) said, "Anyone will be able to enjoy ''Halo'', but the ones who will enjoy it the most will be the old-school fans."
226** The "Bandanna" skull in the ''Anniversary'' release is a shout-out to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', where Snake can get a bandanna that gives infinite ammo.
227** A notice at the back of the Pillar of Autumn's bridge mentions [[Film/{{Alien}} a missing cat named "Jonesy".]]
228** The opening scene is very reminiscent of ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
229** In classic graphics, the crewmen aboard the ''Pillar of Autumn'' wear [[Franchise/StarTrek red, yellow, and blue coloured uniforms]].
230* SniperPistol: The [=M6D=] Pistol, literally so, as it's one of only two scoped/headshot-capable weapons in the game. It's the single most practical weapon in the game, with much higher accuracy and stopping power than the so-called "Assault Rifle".
231* SnipingMission: The first part of ''The Truth and Reconciliation'', before boarding the ship.
232* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:At the end of the game, you are the only human who manages to escape Halo. This was later retconned in the novel ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike''.]]
233* StandardFPSEnemies: Not much variety to be found here.
234** ''The Grunt'': Grunts and Jackals.
235** ''The Soldier'': Elite Minors and Majors.
236** ''The Ninja'': Stealth Elites, who trade shields for active camouflage.
237** ''The Elite'': Spec-Ops Grunts and Elites encountered in the final two levels.
238** ''The Champion'': Elite Zealots.
239** ''The Heavy'': Hunters, mixed with The Shield for being coated in armor and their large, arm-mounted shields.
240** ''The Just Plain Tank'': Wraith plasma mortar tanks.
241** ''The Gunship'': Banshee fighters. Spirit dropships also come with underslung turrets that will fire if you draw their attention.
242** ''The Turret'': Covenant Shade turrets.
243** ''The Rat'': Flood Infection Forms.
244** ''The Zombie'': Flood Combat Forms.
245** ''The Canister'': Flood Carrier Forms.
246** ''The Bat'': Sentinel Aggressors.
247* StalkedByTheBell:
248** At the very start of "Halo", you get a bit of time to explore your open surroundings as you land on the ring, but if you hang around for too long then the Covenant dropship that typically appears when you try to leave the area will arrive early.
249** In "The Maw", just before the engine room you have the option of visiting an armory to stock up on weapons. This room is full of Rocket Launchers, Shotguns, and Frag Grenades, but hanging around inside for too long will cause a swarm of Active Camouflaged Flood to enter the room to keep you on your toes.
250* StandardFPSGuns: This game features a fairly standard lineup: Pistol, Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, grenades, energy gun,[[note]]the Covenant Plasma Pistol and Plasma Rifle shoot similar projectiles despite differences between their rate of fire, accuracy, damage and other unique properties.[[/note]] and Melee. The only odd one out is the Needler. Somewhat played with; in an example of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, the pistol plays more like a marksman rifle and the assault rifle plays more like a submachine gun.
251* StealthyMook: Stealth Elites use [[VisibleInvisibility Active Camouflage]], and can be equipped with either Plasma Rifles or Energy Swords; the difficulty in tracking them is compensated for by the fact that they do not have energy shields, so a careful (or lucky) headshot will be a OneHitKill.
252* StickyBomb: Plasma grenades. Most enemies panic when stuck with one of these.
253-->'''Covenant Grunt:''' OOH, AAH, GET IT OFF OF ME!! ''[BOOM!]'' GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!! ''[BOOM!]''
254* StockFootage: Due to a coding error, ''another'' Sgt. Johnson drives a Warthog behind Sgt. Johnson in his introductory speech. ''Anniversary'', built on the same code, kept it[[note]]It was (jokingly) stated that the Legendary ending featured his twin brother, so maybe it was him we saw[[/note]].
255* StopTheHeroTwist: Halfway through the game, the UNSC survivors led by Keyes think they've found a weapon to use against the Covenant, but Cortana accesses the files of Halo's Control Room and learns something that terrifies her. She immediately tells Chief that he has to stop Keyes before it's too late, but he fails and this results in the release of the Flood, the horrifying menace that Halo was created to contain and destroy in the first place, and a far greater threat than the Covenant ever was.
256* TankGoodness: The Scorpion tank is an unstoppable force.
257* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jXTBAGv9ZQ main theme]] gets redone for many other tracks in the game. For instance, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H20Ok5BKR-Q "Perilous Journey"]] gives it a slightly understated variation and a different time signature, while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3db17gQ8XTs "Ambient Wonder"]] is, predictably, an ambient remix.
258* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: After concluding they need to self-destruct the ''Autumn'' to prevent Halo from being fired, Cortana states they need to retrieve the activation code from Captain Keyes' neural implants. Yet, when the self-destruct sequence is cancelled by Guilty Spark in ''The Maw'', the Chief just asks if they could destroy the engine manually via grenades. Getting Keyes' neural implant was never necessary, to begin with, and the entire ''Keyes'' mission (along with the first half of ''The Maw'') could've just been skipped if they decided to blow up the engines from the start.
259** To be fair (and this is brought up in the novelization ''The Flood''), from ''343 Guilty Spark'' on, the Chief is operating completely outside his chain of command, answering only to Cortana. Going to find Keyes may have been a matter of reporting on the current state of affairs, as well as potentially warning any surviving Marines about the far greater threat the Flood posed.
260* TimedMission: The [[spoiler:Warthog Run]], the final section of the game's final mission ''The Maw''. 6 minutes (5 on Legendary) to [[spoiler:bug out of the self-destructing ''Pillar of Autumn'' as [[MeleeATrois Spec-Ops Covenant, Flood and Sentinels]] wage war throughout the length of the run]].
261* TractorBeam: The Gravity Lift on the underside of the ''Truth and Reconciliation'' allows passage in and out of the ship.
262* TurnsRed: The Elites have a subtle one: killing enough of their subordinates, or dealing enough damage to them personally, will cause the Elite to play a short 'enraged' animation, after which the Elite will act more aggressively. This animation is ''just'' long enough for the player to finish the Elite off without retaliation if they focus on them, so it can work both ways.
263[[/folder]]
264
265[[folder:U-Z]]
266* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Guilty Spark]] is never faced in direct combat.
267* UniqueEnemy:
268** In ''343 Guilty Spark'', there is the Paranoid Marine, a Marine who has been driven crazy by the (then unencountered) Flood and will slowly shoot at the player when approached.
269** There is only one group of Flood Combat Forms [[spoiler:that use active camouflage in the game, encountered if you stay too long inside the armoury adjacent to the Engine Room]] in ''The Maw''.
270* UnusableEnemyEquipment:
271** The Fuel Rod Gun, in both its Hunter-integrated and infantry-portable versions. The latter even comes with a SelfDestructMechanism; its loaded fuel rods will expel a green gas for a few seconds following its user's death before the weapon violently explodes.
272** The Energy Sword is equipped with a similar failsafe mechanism, though its blade and hilt will instead harmlessly fizzle out as soon as it's dropped.
273** Sentinel Beams cannot be looted from destroyed Sentinels.
274* VillainDecay: [[spoiler:Starting with the events following TheReveal, the Covenant gets hit with this hard.]]
275* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Guilty Spark]], who only wants to [[spoiler:fire Halo (and thus kill all sentient life in the galaxy)]] in order to stop the Flood.
276* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:''343 Guilty Spark''. The Flood appears, as an OutsideContextProblem.]]
277* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Marine the Chief helps into the escape pod at the end of the first level is conspicuously missing if you stop to count the bodies of the Marines killed when the escape pod crashed into Halo, which makes you wonder if he somehow survived and wandered off while the Chief was knocked out.
278* WhatTheHellHero:
279** Just as Chief is about to activate Halo, Cortana finally manages to free herself and angrily asks, '''"Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you do?!"''' [[spoiler:Activating Halo rids the galaxy of the Flood by wiping out all of its food. That is, ''all life''.]]
280** A more literal example: should the Chief (or [[ArtificialStupidity a fellow marine]]) kill one of his teammates, they will tolerate one death before turning on him, oftentimes yelling some version of this (i.e. "What the ''hell?!''"). However, suppose the player kills Captain Keyes or any of the bridge crew during ''The Pillar of Autumn''. In this case, Cortana will rather hilariously yell "What the ''hell'' are you doing?!" before calling in marine security teams to kill you.
281* WhereItAllBegan: The first and last levels of the game both take place on the Pillar of Autumn.
282* YouJustHadToSayIt: After you first enter the titular Covenant ship in ''The Truth and Reconciliation'', Cortana announces that there are no enemy forces detected on the vessel. This prompts this gem:
283-->'''UNSC Marine #1:''' What? There's no Covenant here? Think maybe nobody's home...\
284''(Covenant attack in large groups)\
285'''UNSC Marine #2:''' Contacts! ''Lots'' of contacts!\
286'''UNSC Marine #3:''' "No Covenant!" Ya had to open your mouth!
287* YourSizeMayVary: The UNSC ''Pillar of Autumn'' is at least three times bigger in the final set-piece than it should be, with you explicitly driving at least 3 km along its 1.17km spine to reach the Longsword space fighter. This happened because the interior layouts of the missions that take place in the ''Autumn'' were completed before the exterior had been decided on and finalized. It's quite funny because, in every other aspect of the game, Bungie went to [[http://halo.bungie.org/misc/sloftus_scalecomparison/ excruciating detail]] in creating the scale of the game accurately.
288[[/folder]]
289
290!! Tropes relating specifically to the standalone and MCC versions of ''Halo: Combat Evolved: Anniversary'':
291[[folder:A-D]]
292* ArcNumber: Guilty Spark mentions offhand that the original plan was to build ''twelve'' Halo installations instead of seven...[[note]]This is taken from ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga''.[[/note]]
293* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: One terminal has [[spoiler:Captain Keyes]] struggling to remember who he is and fighting off the Flood infection. [[spoiler:By the end, the voice of the Gravemind can be heard.]]
294* BottomlessMagazines: The purpose of the [[VideoGame/MetalGear Bandanna]] Skull. Remember all that time you kept running out of ammo during ''The Library''? Now, you never lose ammo when that skull is on. ''And you can still get achievements with it.''
295* CallForward:
296** The terminals in ''Anniversary'' are video logs kept by Guilty Spark. One, in particular, has him talking about how he hasn't heard from 2401 Penitent Tangent ([[VideoGame/Halo2 the Monitor of Installation 05]]) for some time, and wondering if containment was breached.
297** Among the new multiplayer skins in ''The Master Chief Collection'', the "Schism" skins for Covenant weapons and vehicles reference the green armor plating of the Separatist Phantoms in ''VideoGame/Halo3''. The "Zealot" skin for the Fuel Rod Gun specifically also makes it strongly resemble the gold Fuel Rod Guns in future games.
298* CharacterCustomisation: ''The Master Chief Collection'' adds more options, such as visor colors, as well as both vehicle and weapon skins, unlockable via the seasonal progression system. For players who prefer ''Combat Evolved'' to look as classic as possible, an option exists to turn these extras off.
299* CanonWelding: The terminals interconnect a lot of the other games and the expanded universe together, as the series has evolved significantly since the original game. Guilty Spark narrates most of them, with references to the other Monitors and things that showed up in later games and novels.
300* ContinuityNod:
301** The terminal videos have several, including towards the expanded universe. In particular, Guilty Spark references several things from ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' novel trilogy.
302** The ''Keyes'' terminal showing the eponymous captain and [[spoiler:his mental struggle with the Proto-Gravemind]] is an expanded version of a scene that was in ''Literature/HaloTheFlood''. A young Dr Halsey also appears in flashbacks from Keyes' memories, and her appearance is similar to what she looks like in the ''Anime/HaloLegends'' anime, with elements of her ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' design. Their daughter, a major figure in the next two games, also makes an appearance.
303** Linda-058 can be seen on the cryo bay status monitor next to the Chief, a nod to ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'' and ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike''.
304* CrucifiedHeroShot: [[spoiler:Keyes is shown in this as John finds him absorbed by the Flood.]]
305[[/folder]]
306
307[[folder:E-H]]
308* EarlyBirdCameo: The existence of the Flood is revealed -- and its nature and the threat it represents are strongly hinted at -- in Terminals Three and Four, long before its main reveal.
309* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:In Terminal 10, amid his furious rantings about the Reclaimers plotting to destroy his installation, 343 Guilty Spark wishes he had some Prometheans around to deal with the situation. He then muses that that would require the Didact to be present, and observes with grim satisfaction that the Reclaimers might be better off facing the Flood than his unchecked rage. This sets up the plot of ''VideoGame/Halo4''.]]
310* GoMadFromTheIsolation: The terminals show Guilty Spark going crazy over time as a result of being alone on Halo for 100,000 years.
311[[/folder]]
312
313[[folder:I-L]]
314
315[[/folder]]
316
317[[folder:M-P]]
318* ModularDifficulty: ''Anniversary'' brings the series-staple Skulls to ''CE's'' campaign; difficulty modifiers that can be applied before starting a mission. Each skull varies wildly in effect; some are completely useless vanities, some are cheats that afford powerful boons at the cost of disabling campaign scoring & timekeeping and some make the game harder while also applying a campaign score multiplier.
319* MindRape: [[spoiler:Terminal 9 shows the excruciating ordeal Keyes goes through as he tries to prevent the Flood from sifting through his memories for valuable intel.]]
320* ProgressiveEraMontage: In the first Terminal, 343 Guilty Spark discovers that the Pillar of Autumn is a human ship when he examines the ship's records and discovers a summary of human history since the Forerunners left them. Starting with prehistoric humans around a fire, and going to Ancient Greece, the Egyptian pyramids, the Industrial Revolution, World War II, the atomic bomb, Neil Armstrong on the Moon, the International Space Station, the invention of the slipspace drive, the construction of the Orbital Defense Platforms, and finally the Spartan-II program.
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder:Q-T]]
324* ShotForShotRemake: Exaggerated, as it's not a "remake", and was advertised to be "identical" in nearly every respect to the first game, despite it using the Gearbox PC port as the basis[[note]]which included several graphical and texture (as well as enemy A.I.) oddities which were not present in 2001 original Xbox release[[/note]]. The original game engine is used with the Saber Engine overlapping it to facilitate the new high-definition graphics. That means the game plays ''almost'' identically (complete with a feature to toggle between the old and new graphics on the fly), though the cutscenes are entirely re-animated for the character models. Because of that, it isn't quite up to par with then-contemporary next-generation graphics; instead, it's about on par with 2007's ''VideoGame/Halo3''
325** The only actual changes are the inclusion of terminals hidden within the original missions containing videos that tie the franchise more closely together as well as a hint towards the story of the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/Halo4'', and unlockable skulls that can be used to modify gameplay when replaying the missions.
326* ShoutOut: The Marine that Master Chief rescues at the end of "The Pillar of Autumn" now looks almost exactly like Marcus Fenix, the hero of ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', the Xbox 360's other major exclusive shooter franchise (and he's noticeably missing if you examine the bodies at the crash site in the next mission).
327[[/folder]]
328
329[[folder:W-Z]]
330* UpdatedRerelease:
331** ''Anniversary'', of course. The Campaign ran on the PC port of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', but with updated graphics using some assets taken from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' alongside updated sound effects (excluding dialogue), redone cutscenes, and a remixed soundtrack. The Multiplayer mode, on the other hand, utilized ''Reach's'' engine, with 1:1 CE map remakes and the weapon sandbox is re-balanced to mimic the weapon sandbox of the original Combat Evolved.
332** It was then upgraded further for ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection''; while still running on the Gearbox PC port, it included the ability to finally play the original game's multiplayer on Xbox Live. With the ''Collection'' getting ported to PC, further upgrades would be included via the seasonal releases:
333*** Season 2 - Spark: Coinciding with the release of ''Combat Evolved Anniversary'' to PC was the release of the second seasonal cosmetics pass, which included brand-new visor colours and skins for both weapons and vehicles.
334*** Season 7 - Elite: While this season's pass primarily included cosmetics for ''Halo 3'' and ''4'', ''Combat Evolved'' also received 10 Warthog skins (evenly divided between the Chaingun & Rocket variants) released via the Exchange, primarily backports of other Warthog skins introduced into ''Halo 3''. This however pales to the real meat of the update, which included a slew of graphical fixes and improvements to address many visual/gameplay inconsistencies introduced in the Gearbox PC port, bringing the game up to parity with the original Xbox release.
335*** Season 8 - Mythic: While once again not the focus of the update, ''Combat Evolved Anniversary'' once again saw several minor but bespoke improvements shared with other games, such weapon/vehicle skins could now be toggled to appear during the campaign and customisable weapon viewmodel positions. Most notable was the inclusion of the classic ''Combat Evolved'' HUD (distinct from the modified Gearbox PC port and overhauled Anniversary [=HUDs=]), remastered in 4K and able to be toggled over or alongside the Anniversary HUD.
336[[/folder]]
337----
338->"Halo. It's finished."

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