Article written by Andy Manson
Ask your average player of video games what their favourite first-person puzzle games are, and you’ll generally get the same small set of answers. Some will cite Antichamber. Others will say Q.U.B.E or The Talos Principle. More than likely though, most will probably answer (understandably so) with the Portal series.
Ask me though? Well, ask me, and you’ll probably think I’ve gone a bit mental, but bear with me.
I’m going with the Halo franchise. (I told you you’d have to bear with me.)
Let me give you an example. In Halo: Combat Evolved, towards the end of the game, I travelled on a hijacked Ghost through a narrow cavern, which opened out into a large open area, split off in two by a large rock formation in the middle and containing a few other smaller rock formations that can be used as cover. Off at the far end of this area were two Wraiths, some Ghosts and a mixture of Hunters, Elites, Brutes and Grunts. On one of the smaller rock formations was a plasma turret. Topping it all off was the arrival of several members of the Flood, one of whom was armed with a rocket launcher.
Safe to say that it wasn’t going to be easy to complete my objective – at the very back of the cavern sat two Banshees, one of which I’d have to steal to both escape that cavern and fly to an elevated platform leading me to a pulse generator.
There are two ways to approach this. The obvious way, based on the genre that Halo predominantly sits in, is to go in with guns blazing, hoping that your reflexes are sharp enough to keep you out of harm’s way for long enough to take them all out.
But here’s the thing – I’m an old man now. My reflexes are about 16 years past their best before date. So, I have to approach this kind of situation in the other way – like a puzzle game. Looking at it on a much more cerebral level. Enemies react more organically in Halo games than they do in your standard FPS titles, but there are still certain patterns that you can see.
The turret sits slightly isolated, so take that Ghost down the left side and take it out. Back up and head down the right side, because the Flood with the rocket launcher always enters the arena from the right-hand side. Take him and his colleagues out, and swipe that rocket launcher. Hang back and take aim at the Wraith on the right. Two direct hits from the rocket launcher will take it out. However, the destruction of that Wraith draws the attention of all those other enemies I mentioned earlier. My old man instincts kick in, and I know I have no chance of taking them all out, especially when there’s still a Wraith and a Ghost or two to deal with. As with most puzzle games, this is when a little bit of trial and error kicks in. Ploughing through the middle with the Ghost? Dead. Trying to attack down the left-hand side, where the door from which more of those enemies emerge sits? Dead. Sneaking down the right-hand side round a rock formation, then legging it for the Banshee, whilst jumping up and down like a kangaroo to avoid enemy projectiles? Success! It genuinely gave me as much satisfaction to complete that section, as it did to complete any puzzle in Portal.
And the best thing about it all? Every Halo game is filled with those very kinds of moments! This isn’t a one-off. Almost every single mission in every single Halo game can be approached in similar ways, which makes it the complete antithesis to your standard corridor shooters.
The Halo series isn’t without its problems, of course. In general, the Flood sections are terrible, partly because they can’t be treated in a different way. They’re either too overwhelming in numbers, or they’re in areas that are too narrow to adopt different approaches in.
However, for the most part, they’re quite unlike just about every other shooter on the market, because they’re not just shooters. They’re so much more than that…
Article written by Andy Manson
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