 In 2003, fans of Halo were already starting to drown in slobber over every new Halo 2 tidbit and screenshot. LAN parties and Red Vs. Blue DVDs did only so much to help keep the world busy. There was plenty of cool Halo stuff to keep the starving and faithful busy - admit it, you thought the Master Chief action figure was pretty much the bee's knees. Any self-respecting Halo fan should have wanted one back then, even just to perch on your desk to remind the world that the Covenant couldn't touch this. Yes, it was only a matter of time before the "next 'best-game-ever'" would come along and smash sales records (over $120 million on launch day), dominate Xbox Live, and jeapordize countless real-life obligations.
One last thing to do before playing Halo 2, if the Halo fan in mind had an attention span, was read the Halo novels. "The Fall of Reach", written by Eric Nylund, was an excellent prequel to Halo that detailed the background of Master Chief and previous human efforts against the Covenant. Although William Dietz's "The Flood" wasn't as interesting or exciting, it re-told the story of Halo and gave additional perspectives on the storyline. In late 2003, the factions that put together the first two novels published a third. "First Strike", which was a link between Halo and Halo 2, also gave fans their first real look at the beginning of Halo 2's story. This was certainly exciting enough to garner attention and praise, and "First Strike" excelled as a result.
Like "Fall of Reach" and "The Flood", Tantor Audiobooks and narrator Todd McLaren now offer unabridged audiobooks of "First Strike" for people interested in the story, but not so interested in the reading. If you have seen our previous reviews for "Fall of Reach" and "The Flood", you will know what to expect from this review and the audiobooks in general, but I highly recommend that all Halo fans check out these novels/audiobooks, so be sure to read on if you haven't.
Check out the final part of the Halo novel trilogy after the jump.
Just to get it out of the way, allow me to say that Todd McLaren did a good job narrating throughout all three Halo audiobooks, solidly delivering all of the voices for every character, human or otherwise. None of that changes in "First Strike", so it gives the listener an easy opportunity to enjoy Nylund's story. I will admit that "The Flood" was the first audiobook I ever listened to (and also the first of the three Halo audiobooks reviewed here on TAG), and I never thought that listening to the story could be as enjoyable as simply reading it. To my surprise, I really started to enjoy kicking back and relaxing while listening to these audiobooks - and the fact that you can zone out to a great story and still live out the battles in your head is great.
"First Strike" is packed with all kinds of great stuff, from character surprises and twists to the great Nylund mix of intense space/ground combat. There actually isn't a lot of Master Chief action from the get-go, so the listener/reader is gently forced into the Halo world through the perspective of different SPARTANs. As the humans struggle to protect the location of Earth from the Covenant and engage them in battle, there are some pressing times where wild tactics and pure bravado are all that keep the Covenant from wiping out everything around them. Although the SPARTANs are properly depicted as pure killing machines, there is definitely more heat in every battle. Nylund evidently consulted military combat manuals and other means of intelligence that allowed him to construct such sequences; I think this is best reflected in the snappy military lingo and terminology.
The reappearance of popular characters after the destruction of Halo is one of the most exciting parts of the story. Fan-favorite Sergeant Johnson, always up for a good fight, is just one of many examples I could rattle off. The Arbiter is another - love or hate him, his involvement in the story is absolutely vital and therefore worth knowing about. Also, love it or hate it, I think the "sci-fi" side of Halo really expands in "First Strike" - beyond plasma weapons and Slipstream, "First Strike" brings some crazy time-bending, a fancy space crystal, and one absolutely gigantic Covenant vessel of death to the party.
The SPARTANs and Marines fight battles in all kinds of locations in this story, and I felt like Nylund really expanded his imagination with the different Halo weapons and vehicles. Not only that, he uses them in some balls-to-the-wall situations that work all too well. Very early in the story, for example, a group of SPARTANs make a crash-landing and jump from the Pelican just in time to be slammed into the ground with the full force of the deadly crash. Almost all of them survive, of course. It might sound a little cheesy, but I mean it when I say that all of the scenes are exciting anyway.
I have to be a little harder on "First Strike", mainly because so many similarities can be drawn between it and "Fall of Reach". Although "First Strike" is written better, a lot of similar situations happen in "Fall of Reach". The battles, particularly the space combat ones, begin to wear a little thin. I feel like Nylund re-explains many of the things he detailed well enough in "Fall of Reach", perhaps just because Dietz and "The Flood" came between them. Really, "The Flood" isn't as bad as I am making it sound, it just seemed to me like there were points in "First Strike" where Nylund's style of writing screams out, "This is how we talk about Halo."
Although it definitely isn't as exciting of a release now that we know all about the Arbiter and the story of Halo 2/Halo 3, "First Strike" is an exciting story throughout. Like the two Tantor audiobooks before it, "First Strike" is put together well. The audio quality is very good, and I have already discussed how McLaren does a fine job narrating. Like both Halo novels before it, it will easily entertain Halo fans interested in the details of their favorite game, particularly the ones who think and care beyond how many rounds it takes in the head with a battle rifle to kill someone. Of course, for those who are interested in more, there are other Halo novels - "Ghosts of Onyx" and "Contact Harvest" are the fourth and fifth novels, the former also written by Nylund. Perhaps Tantor and McLaren will follow up the release of these three audiobooks with those as well.
Final Score: B+
Editor's note: Haven't had a chance to get your hands on the Halo audiobooks yet? You can nab a preorder for the Halo audiobook boxed set on Amazon for $19 and change, a 35% discount over the retail price.
Trackback(0)
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
