Black/Onyx, Winter/Silver, and Blush/Rose Gold. [254], Larger organizations soon began operating Halo competitive games. [246], Variety called Halo "the equivalent of Star Wars". The UNSC sponsors the SPARTAN-II Project to create an elite group of enhanced supersoldiers, whose purpose is to suppress the rebellions covertly. [18] GameDaily noted Halo 2's launch was "easily comparable to the biggest in other sectors of the entertainment industry", marking the first time a video game launch has become a major cultural event in the United States. [146], Blomkamp declared the project dead in late 2007,[151] but Jackson replied that the film would still be made. Reach additionally sold well internationally, in addition to moving more than three million units its first month in North America. As the game would take place on a human world doomed to be destroyed, their focus on the environment in the game was extensive. [21] After receiving Xbox development kits, Bungie rewrote the game's engine, heavily altered its presentation, and turned it into a first-person shooter.
The game includes the full campaign and multiplayer modes of Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. For Halo Wars, the task of creating the game's music fell to Stephen Rippy.
The five-part series was published between July and November 2009. The Cortana Letters, a series of cryptic email messages, were circulated by Bungie prior to Halo: Combat Evolved's release. [139] Lente's series, originally titled Spartan Black, revolves around a black ops team of Spartan supersoldiers assigned to the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence.
Critical reception was positive, with reviews from GamePro, IGN, and Official Xbox Magazine calling it "the best Halo title yet." [97][169] Six of the stories are officially part of the Halo canon, with the seventh, made by Toei, intended to be a parody of the universe.
The Halo franchise includes various types of merchandise and adaptations outside of the video games. A notable machinima production is the comedy series Red vs. Blue created by Rooster Teeth Productions. [143] Also announced was Halo: Escalation, an ongoing comic series covering the period directly after Halo 4. For Bungie's last game in the Halo series, Halo: Reach, Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori returned to compose the soundtrack. The campaign of Halo 3: ODST was later released as downloadable content, and was free for those who bought The Master Chief Collection during late 2014. [260] This prize pool was later announced to be crowd-funded, which later resulted in Major League Gaming announcing that the prize pool had climbed to $2 million USD. Most productions are set outside Halo canon, while others are based on fan fiction closely relating to the story. The Halo 4 Original Soundtrack was released on October 22, 2012, followed by a two-disc Special Edition on November 6.