Halo: Fantasy for the Privileged

First person shooters are escapist fantasies, more than most genres. Doom and Duke Nukem 3D put you in the shoes of an 80s action movie hero. Half-Life is a revenge of the computer nerd fantasy.

Halo is a fantasy for the privileged child. The story of the Master Chief is not the story of the underdog, no matter how many Covenant ships are against you. You are pretty much invincible, and allies and enemies all seem to respect this. No character in this game really doubts your capability in any respect; everyone seems to have full confidence in you, and you don't disappoint them.

I had fun playing this game, or I least I wasn't bored enough to quit. But Halo has definitely lost whatever lustre it had. The characters are cut-out. There aren't enough enemy types to spread through ten levels. Worst is the level design itself - as if the areas weren't bland enough, they have the balls to force you to run through an identical-looking region three or four times in a row, in the same level. On more than one level. (We'll see what people think when the HD remake is released.)

I know this is a landmark shooter, but the repetition kills its fun value, at least in single player. The woefully underrated Timesplitters 2 was just a year later, and it solved this problem admirably.