The One Party Game To Rule Them All

Here's one idea that I've been harboring for a long time. When I say party game, one immediately conjures up images of Mario Party games once past. With up to 4 players, one could easily waste away hours upon hours of time making ones way around the game board, obtaining items, and playing minigame after minigame.

What if I were to tell you that a new series of party games is in town? One that this blogger believes eclipses the entire Mario Party series. It's name? Halo. What, not what you were expecting? Think about it! What do you play when everything else is boring? What do you pop in the good ol' XBox if a few friends come over?

Take a deap breath, It's gonna be okay. Once you've recovered from such a bold statement, read on for why I think Halo is one of the best party games to come out in a while.

Halo is what it is. A fun, potentially challenging (try legendary and tell me it isn't damn near impossible) First Person Shooter. Bungie's knowledge of this genre served them (and Microsoft) very well. What started out as a 3rd person RTS style game, quickly grew and evolved into a flagship title for the XBox gaming console. But enough on the background. If you don't know what Halo is, you must've been living under a rock or something. Even the "real" news has done a few stories on Halo:CE and it's sequel.

It's the summer time, and nothing says summer like sitting around the house playing videogames, (sarcasm folks). But it turns out that that is what I'm spending most of my summer doing: playing videogames. Sometimes to break up the monotony of playing with myself (pun intended), I'll call up my bud Brad, and ask If I can come over.

If my buddy Brad isn't intent on showing me a new game he's recently added to his collection, we'll usually result to Halo 2. See, one part of Halo's appeal is the fun multiplayer. From assault, to CTF, to slayer, there is just tons of stuff to play! Any gamer knows that there is a huge potential for fun. Whatever your gaming style, weither stealthy Ninja type, or Rambo shoot-it-if-it-moves style, you're bound to find a custom gametype for you. If not, it's easy to create your own.

Which brings me back to my main point. Custom gametypes really helped Halo stand out from the crowd. You could customize to your hearts content. Wanna play a game of Snipers? Sure, you can do that. Wanna give everyone overshields? Fine by Bungie. Wanna just mess around and try out some glitches? If that's your cup of tea, go ahead.

See, it's this customization that makes me believe that Halo has become on of the best selling, biggest party games ever. You can see it all over XBox Live. Custom gametypes abound: zombies, tower of power, frogger, the list goes on. And you don't even have to be on Live to enjoy these custom games.

Another reason that Halo has become a party game, is the system Link aspect. Who needs to spend $50 to play with up to 15 strangers you don't know? The real joy is getting a group of guys together, hooking several XBoxes up, and fraggin' it up with 15 others. Ever want to reach through the TV and chock that spawn camper? Now you can rib your friends, and he might actually stop, unlike that ahole over Live you'll never see again.

Halo is pretty accessible too. Every XBox owner has it. Just go over to your friends and he's liable to have it. The controls are pretty sensical, and easy to learn. The shield system adds another safety net, allowing noobs a chance to get used to the game play. Easy controls, intuitive game play, custom gametypes=Halo is the best party game ever.