During development, Microsoft acquired Bungie and turned Halo into a launch game for its first video game console, the Xbox. Initially, the game was a real-time strategy game that morphed into a third-person shooter before becoming a first-person shooter. Players battle aliens as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped artificial world.īungie began the development of what would eventually become Halo CE in 1997. The Chief is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence. Halo is set in the twenty-sixth century, with the player assuming the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier. The game was later released as a downloadable Xbox Original for the Xbox 360. Microsoft released versions of the game for Windows and Mac OS X in 2003. It was released as a launch game for Microsoft's Xbox video game console on November 15, 2001. Halo: Combat Evolved is a 2001 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios.
