10.06.07
Earl’s Game Closeup-The Halo Series
One of the greatest and most selling game franchises of all time is the Halo series, which never ceased to amaze us with it’s sharp graphics, unique and fun feel to the game, and it’s overall impressive fun factor. So let’s take a look back and see the humble story of this game, shall we?
It all started with Halo:Combat Evolved, a “little” FPS that was made by the hardly known Bungie Studios as a launch title for the original Xbox. It sold over 5 milion copies worldwide, becoming an official smash. The game was critically acclaimed, and although people knew it was going to be a trilogy, noone knew how huge it would eventually become. It even gave people a glimpse of it’s great but soon to be greater multiplayer. Bungie followed up this shooter with Halo 2, released November 9, 2004. people went nuts, and even more than Halo 1, it was an even bigger smash, getting a 10 out of 10 from Game Informer and the “Best Xbox Game Ever” award by IGN. Master Chief was starting to become like video gaming’s Steven Tyler. Bungie planned to blow people away waith their third installment, set to release in 2007. They showed off a trailer at E3 06, and it brought some to tears. It brought even more tears on its September 25, 2007 release date. Millions of people showed up in New York, Seattle, California, and Florida to get their copies. Halo 3 made $170 Million dollars in its first day, and 1.7 million copies were preordered. You could say that a lot of people wanted to play this game. With the Halo trilogy over, Halo Wars on the horizon, and countless other projects like Red vs. Blue, Halo ActionClix, and more coming or already here, we may have finished the Halo story’s fight, but this franchise still has some fight in it left to come.
For more info, go to Halopedia.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It would probably take me 5 pages to type up every single storyline, but basically it follows Link, a farmboy saving the kingdom of Hyrule from Ganondorf or some other evil being, but most of the time, it’s Ganondorf. The games have always been known to do extremely well, with Ocarina of Time topping out several lists as “The Best Game Ever”. I don’t think there’s ever been a bad Zelda game. Yep, the Zelda games will always be known as some of the greatest games of all time. And with Phantom Hourglass for the DS coming this October and another Zelda game possibly in the works for the Wii, it looks like this series is still strong as ever after 20 years. I think Nintendo should just do what it does best, and keep on cranking out quality Zelda games every 2-3 years, I mean, you don’t want to end up like Megaman who has a bad game that comes out every week.
 
 
 
 
devote a post to it. This series has been known for years with fun and unique weapons, impeccable level design, and tons of extras to keep oldvts like myself coming back for more. The series started all the way back in 2002 with their first adventure where they were destined to stop the evil Chairman Drek from destroying the universe in his real estate project. In the second installment, Going Commando, Ratchet and Clank were hired 
to retrieve a dangerous science project before it fell in the wrong hands. My favorite, Up Your Arsenal, had the heroes once gain saving the universe from the nefarious……Dr. Nefarious in his plan to rid the world of all organic lifeforms. They then returned in Ratchet’s solo adventure, Deadlocked, in which he was forced to take part in an illegal gladiator tournament and take it down. They went on to the PSP in 2007 with Size Matters, where they had to stop an evil mastermind leader of a long-used robot society trying to turn the 
tables. This fall they are heading back to the consoles in Ratchet and Clank Future:Tools of Destruction, where Ratchet’s species is being threatened by a man who wants them dead. The series has always been a Sony exclusive, each game appearing on the PS2/Future:PS3, leading myself to force B.K. to buy the game and allow me and him to beat it in one day. The game is also known for its hillarious humor, with such great lines from the Galactic rangers, Al, and even Captain Quark-”Hope you like Custard!”. Overall, if you have never checked out this series, I strongly recommend that you do.
One of my favorite game series is the Destroy All Humans franchise, which started back in June 2005, telling the story of Crypto, an alien on a mission to recover D.NA. from humans to save his race…..”Yes, it’s just a long story…….”. Then, after realizing America wasn’t the only place on Earth, he came back in 2006 with Destroy All Humans…….2! in which Crypto ravaged through Russia, Japan, Europe, and even the moon in order to take out the rest of the humans. Now Crypto is back in two new completely different adventures, Big Willy Unleashed (Wii, PS2, PSP) and Path of the Furon (360, PS3). In Big Willy Unleashed, Crypto and ol’ Poxy are running several fast food restaurants, and along with it, a Big Willy Mech (See picture). Something tells me I’m going to hear a lot of fast food jokes from Crypto. The other adventure, taking place right after Big Willy Unleashed, Path of the Furon, will have Crypto running a casino in Las 
Vegas, where he will lose his enjoyment in killing humans, and seek the path of enlightenment from an older, wiser brother. Both of the versions wil be featuring Crypto’s saucer, and in B.W.U., a Big Willy mech. The game will be following the time format the previous two have followed, #1-50s, #2-60s, #3-70s, and along with them, tons of jokes about them. I am definitely looking forward to both of these games, the humor in them, the G.T.A. gameplay, and the humor. Make sure you check both of these out when they come out. Big Willy Unleashed-TBA 2007, Path of the Furon-Q1 2008. For more info on both of these games, click 
 
 
 
 