Halo (video game series)
From Conservapedia
Halo is a series of science fiction first person shooter Video games created by Bungie Studios and distributed by Microsoft. The three games follow a character called Master Chief, a genetically enhanced super-solider, as he fights against an alliance of alien races called the Covenant, and also against another race of mutants called the Flood.
The first game in the series, Halo - Combat Evolved, was released in November 15, 2001 for the original Xbox console, but has since been adapted to the PC and Mac. The sequel to Halo (Halo 2) was released on November 7, 2004 and was also released for the Xbox. As with its predecessor, it was released to run on PC with Windows Vista. Halo 3 was released in September 25, 2007 for the Xbox 360 console and boasted next gen graphics that the previous consoles could not offer. The Halo games were restricted to Microsoft's Xbox console series and have helped increase sales of the console; Halo 3 alone sold $170 million worth in the first 24 hours of release, making it the most anticipated game in history.
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Plot
Halo - Combat Evolved
The first game finds Master Chief, last of the cybernetically enhanced Spartans on the Pillar of Autumn, the only Human ship to escape from Reach, a colony planet destroyed by the Covenant. The ship is ambushed by Covenant forces and crashes on the mysterious Halo ring. Master Chief and Cortana set out to find the survivors and fight the Covenant on the ring. They discover the Flood, a virulent, sentient parasite which devours any living creature in its path and creates zombie-like creatures from them. In a Flood-infested swamp, Master chief finds an intelligent Robot named 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of Halo, or "Installation 04", as he calls it. He tells Master Chief that activating Halo will destroy the Flood. He brings Master Chief to the control room, where Cortana stops the activation cycle, and informs Master Chief that Halo will not destroy Flood. Instead, it will destroy their food- which is all sentient life in the galaxy. The Chief fights the monitor's robot forces to escape the control room. He returns to the Pillar of Autumn and rigs the ship's reactor to explode, then escapes in a fighter craft. The detonating engine core destroy's the Halo ring, along with all the Flood on it, and Master Chief and Cortana return to Earth.
Halo 2
The story is continued in Halo 2. Master Chief returns to Earth as a hero, and the game contrasts this with a Covenant Elite General returning to the Covenant city High Charity in disgrace. A Covenant fleet, led by the Prophet of Regret, then attacks Earth. Master Chief fights aboard Cairo, a defense station in orbit around Earth, and then lands in the African city of New Mombassa. The Covenant only land in that city, and so it is the site of a huge battle. Seeing the battle lost, Regret's ship escapes, with Master Chief following aboard a ship called In Amber Clad.
The story then switches to the Covenant General, who the prophets give the title of Arbiter. He is sent to kill a Heretic, and Elite who claims a Forerunner intelligence has told him shocking facts about Halo. The Arbiter discovers a Flood army on the Hretic's station, and finds that the Forerunner intelligence is 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of the first Halo.
The game returns to Master Chief, who follows Regret to a new Halo ring. He is ordered to kill Regret, and fights through a Covenant Army to reach him. He kills the Prophet, but is thrown into the sea when the Covenant fleet appears and destroys the temple the Chief kills Regret in. He is saved by a mysterious tentacled creature.
The Arbiter returns to High Charity to find the Brutes taking over from his race as the main soldiers of the Covenant. The remaining Prophets send him to retrieve the Index, a key which will activate Halo, as they believe the ring will begin a "Great Journey", an age of salvation. The Arbiter fights through an army of Flood and Sentinel droids to reach the Index. He reaches it, only to find Sgt. Johnson and Miranda Keyes also trying to retrieve it. He knocks them unconcious, and takes the Index. Tarturus, the Brute chieftain, arrives, and tells the Arbiter that he has been ordered by the Prophets to exterminate the Elites. He takes the Index and throws the Arbiter down a shaft. He finds himelf in the grip of the Grvemind, the creature which saved Master Chief. The creature is a Flood intelligence, and he, Master Chief, and his other prisoners convince the Arbiter of the truth about Halo.
The Chief is sent to High Charity, where a civil war is raging between Brutes and Elites. The Flood then begin landing in the city. They kill the second Prophet, Mercy, and practically take over the city. The third Prophet, Truth, takes off in a huge Forerunner ship, on the way to Earth, unaware that Master Chief has stowed away on board.
The Arbiter is sent to Delta Halo, where he has to stop Tartarus setting off Halo. He fights along with the surviving Elites and Sgt. Johnson. They kill Tartarus, and remove the Index. Halo does not detonate, but it sends a beacon which activates the other five Halo rings. 343 Guilty Spark informs them that all the rings can be activated from something called "The Ark."
Halo 3
In Halo 3 the story is concluded with Master Chief arriving back on Earth to fight the Covenant. The Arbiter and the remaining elites now fight alongside him. They attack the Covenant excavation site which is searching for the Ark, but before they destroy it it creates a portal through which a floodship comes to Earth. The Elites destroy the Flood, but wreak massive destruction while doing so. Master Chief and the Arbiter go through the portal to find Cortana and stop the prophet of Truth from activating the Halo rings.
They arrive at the Ark, a massive installation beyond the rim of our galaxy. The Flood then crash High Charity into the Ark and begin to invade it. Master Chief and the Arbiter fight their way to Truth and the Arbiter kills the prophet. A new Halo ring is then created by the Ark. The Chief and the Arbiter go to High Charity and rescue Cortana, who still has the activation index from the first ring. They destroy High Charity to delay the Flood, and land on the new ring. Fighting through hordes of Flood, they and Sgt.Jackson reach the control room, intending on destroying Halo, the Ark, and the Flood with a premature detonation. 343 Guilty Spark appears and proclaims this "unacceptable." He kills Johnson and incapacitates the Arbiter, but is destroyed by Master Chief. The Chief and Arbiter escape in Johnson's ship as the ring explodes and destroys the Ark.
Only the Arbiter makes it back to Earth. The Chief and Cortana are stranded in space, waiting for rescue.
Other Halo Ventures
It is rumored that Bungie Studios are working on more games set in the Halo Universe, and also that there will be a film based on the Halo story. Several novels have been written set within the Halo Universe; there is also a comic book series based on the games. Works by fans based on Halo include popular machinima, Red Vs Blue, a comedy series made using the game.
