Ever wished you could witness the embryonic stage of Halo: Combat Evolved? The original version of Halo: Combat Evolved from a time when the most influential FPS of our time wasn’t even an FPS yet. Then you’re able to now download and play the elusiveHalo 1: Speartestande32kbuilds, completely free of charge, and enjoy a massive blast from an alternate past.
Playable beta builds of Halo 1 just dropped today, from before the game became an FPSpic.twitter.com/SLMy2cfo7r
You can now finally play as that old-school Master Chief with the weird helmet, fire the minigun shown in the very first previews, try out a non-covenant sword, various rocket launchers, a sick flamethrower, and even drive the scorpion tank. It’s all there. Moreover, I was surprised to see just how beautiful and rich the original ringworld looked — and that’s coming from someone who adores the original’s aesthetic.
That’s right,Halois now old somehow enough to make for great e-archeological findings, as we’d recently seen extremely devoted fans unearthing and makingHalo 2‘s fantastic 2003 E3demo playable 21 years later.The unearthing ofSpeartestis arguably even more interesting, as it allows players to experience the game in a completely new way.
Halowas many things before it materialized inHalo: Combat Evolved, the title that would put the original Xbox on the map and change all FPS — yes, not just console ones — forever. Before it was the FPS that most once loved and now have sadly mostly forgotten, it started development as mix between RTS and third person shooter, one envisionedfor Apple systems, no less.Speartestis none other than the version announced by Steve Jobs himself way back in the year 2000.
It was in one of Bill Gates’ dirty blows to Steve Jobs that he managed to snag not justHalobut also Bungie, its developers and makers ofMarathon, Apple’s biggest original series, and take everything to Microsoft.
This release is just a small part of the nearly 25 years ofHalocontent that got leaked after — but not necessarily due to — the Digsite modding team quitting after citing mistreatment by Microsoft.
I and the rest of the team responsible for crash site, e3, alpha moon and most h1h2 content quit BC it was made clear to us that E3 was more successful than Microsoft expected, and they want us to deliver another release on that level, still with no pay, and no resources, at all
You could say thatHaloin the third personisn’t really new anymorebecause ofHalo: Infinite. Still, this proved a potent nostalgia fix for a time I didn’t know I missed, so I recommend that everyone who loves this series to check it out.
If you want to try out the original vision forHaloas a shooter, a 3rd person shooter, you’re able to get Itright herethrough the marvelous Internet Archive.
