June 12, 2008

The Architecture of War

> — Vociferous @ 12:42 pm

What is undeniably one of the greatest traits of the Halo series is its ability to graft together memorable and authentically complex encounters. Whether it’s the immersion of the environment, the choices the sandbox inherently offers or even the scope and scale of the battle – when an encounter is done right, it can leave you speechless.

This immediately begs the rather obvious question: “What is an encounter?”

At its most basic categorization and within the context of this series, it is essentially a player’s interaction with an enemy. On a broader and more applicable level, most encounters involve a player or players being faced with a variety of enemies, all of which may be differing in number, size, type and location. Encounters can be simultaneous or sequential, but they all engineer a situation where, in order to move forward, the player must be strategic and interact with each enemy tactically.

In a game with such impressive encounters, every fan should feel obligated to take a closer look at how and why these scenarios have played out so successfully. Despite all of the elaborate trappings which catch our eye when we play, there are still only three main factors which, when working together, forge a complete encounter: environment, sandbox and enemies. These three core attributes, and all which flow from them, are the ingredients of an encounter.

For the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at these elements within the trilogy and exploring each individual title to determine how the series has provided such fascinating and complex experiences. Selecting an entry below will grant you access to each part of the series, their introductory page and the comments section which allows for any reader responses.

By examining these core attributes, we should gain a better understanding of the intricate architecture of war within the Halo games and why its encounters have stood the test of time.