image courtesy of Etsy’s Evan Daniels

On Black Friday, I had a bunch of highschool friends over to play Halo: Combat Evolved (the original Halo, released in 2001). It’s funny, I hadn’t seen some of these guys or played that game in about 6 years. But everything came back so naturally.

It was the opposite reaction to my experience with the Nintendo 64. For me, the Nintendo 64 feels a bit foreign. When I was playing Mario 64 (for the article I haven’t gotten around to writing yet), bits and pieces would come back to me. I would remember a secret here and a strategy there, but F me if I could remember how to control the camera properly, much less where each of the red coins are in that first bob-om stage.

With Halo, it was like I had never stopped playing it. Of course the rocket launcher is on top of that big rock outcropping in Beaver Creek. Of course a pistol takes 3 shots to kill if you aim at the head (2 to drop shields and 1 to finish the job). And unlike some other games I pick up about once a year and then put down again (see, Pac Man Championship Edition DX), I have also not gotten a lick better at this game in the intervening period.

But still, connecting to the game felt as fluid as connecting to the people I was playing it with, which again, is saying something.

Ben Kuchera, writer for the Penny Arcade Report, said something to the effect that “the games you play between the ages of 8 and 15 are the ones that matter.” This statement rings true with me on so many levels. I can’t imagine forming the connection I have to Halo with a game that was released today (I am writing this on the release date of Far Cry 3, so we will see if that statement holds). It is something about your outlook on the world during those years that make virtual simulations of it all that more meaningful. And of course, the statement holds true for the people you befriend during those years. They are referred to as formative years for a reason, and I am happy for any chance to revisit them.

p.s. You can actually buy that stained glass Master Chief at the top, click on the image to go to the relevant etsy page.