Halo: Fireteam Raven is a Rail Shooter set in the Halo universe.
Plot-wise, the game takes place concurrently with the first entry in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved. The players control the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of Fireteam Raven as the Pillar of Autumn arrives at Halo, and must fight to survive against both the Covenant and the Flood.
The coin-op arcade game was officially released
on August 11, 2018 in the US, chiefly to Dave & Busters restaurants.
Tropes in this game:
- Adaptation Distillation:
- In Halo: The Flood, the battle around the Autumn happens at night, with the humans trying to gather as many supplies as possible from the ship so that they can attempt to resist them. Here, it takes place during the day, and almost immediately after the ship crashes, at that, with the Marines attempting to force off the Covenant so that they don't acquire any sensitive data form the ship.
- As with the above, the Battle of Alpha Base happens at night, while here, it happens during the day. There's also a lack of Spec Ops Elites, but this could be excused due to them not wanting to be noticed.
- The final level is this in spades - the novel stated that all remaining humans on the ring were attacking the Truth and Reconciliation in order to secure a way off planet. Here a sizeable portion of those forces launch a ground assault on the Autumn's crash site to buy some time for the Master Chief to destroy its engines and, with it, Halo. Perhaps Wellsley convinced Silva that a distraction was needed to ensure the ring would explode?
- Adaptation Expansion: While most of the game covers events that have already been explained in detail, either in the original game or its novelization, the last two missions fall into this - first, Raven has to take shelter in a forerunner structure after their Falcon crashes, while the last mission has Raven and some of the surviving marines attacking the Covenant at the Autumn's crash site so that the Chief can have a straight shot at destroying the ship.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Drones and a Scarab appear in this game, even though neither appeared until Halo 2. However, both were present on Reach during Halo: Reach, so this isn't completely unlikely.
- Similarly, a Lich appears in Mission 3, Alpha Base, even though it wasn't introduced until Halo 4. The lore, however, states that it was active prior to this time, but was rarely documented, so again, this isn't surprising.
- Falcons and Space Banshees show up in game, which were first introduced in Halo: Reach. Given that the Autumn and the Covenant fleet pursuing it both just got off Reach, this is completely forgivable.
- Finally, Flood Tank Forms appear in this game, when they first appeared in Halo 3. This is a little harder to swallow than the above, though, as Flood Pure Forms only show up once a Gravemind forms, something that never happened with the Flood in Combat Evolved (the form that Keyes is absorbed into is explicitly called a Proto-Gravemind). It was later claimed on Halo Waypoint that the Pure Forms were in cold storage on the ring.
- Adaptational Heroism: In Halo: The Flood Major Silva was a bit of a Jerkass who was at odds with the Master Chief and nearly doomed mankind by trying to steal a Flood-infected battlecruiser to escape Halo. In this game he's a straightforward, competent commanding officer, possibly because he's commanding his own troops and not butting heads with the Chief.
- Adapted Out: Sentinels make no appearance in the game. This is actually consistent with Halo: The Flood, where sentinels never interact with any UNSC forces except for John-117.
- All There in the Manual: Each member of Raven has their own name, birthplace, and role, but in order to know these, you have to read some text on the shooter console or a post on Halo Waypoint, which isn't exactly obvious to players.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- When using heavy weapons, such as mounted turrets and the Rocket Launcher, you will never run out of ammo, so you don't need to reload. Good thing, too, because the enemies you fight during those segments need quite a few shots to take down.
- You do not need to constantly pick up new plasma weapons whenever they run out of shots. Instead, you can reload them just like projectile ones.
- Badass Normal: You play as a four man squad of ODSTs fighting your way across the Halo ring.
- Big Damn Heroes: Sometimes you're the one doing the heroics, sometimes others do it for you. Notably, the Master Chief himself pops in at one point to save Raven from a Flood Pure Form, taking it down effortlessly and making your job much easier before rushing off to continue his own mission.
- Bolivian Army Ending: After destroying the scarab, Raven is thrown to the ground, surrounded by flood, gearing up for a Last Stand… and then the ''Autumn'' explodes, destroying Halo, along with Raven and the Flood.
- Canon Immigrant:
- Major Antonio Silva, who had only appeared in the novel Halo: The Flood, finally appears in the flesh, and acts as Raven's commander. However, he only appears for a few missions.
- From the same novel, Wellsley, Silva's Artificial Intelligence, also appears, and acts as Raven's version of Cortana.
- After being
Dummied Out of Halo 2, Flood Juggernauts finally appear in the game, debuting in the level Raven Down.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Each member of Fireteam Raven has their own coloured target reticle that matches their customized ODST armour; blue for Ethan Graves, orange for Marcus Hudson, green for Victor Ramos, and purple for Ava Lang.
- Continuity Nod: Several scenes are lifted directly from Combat Evolved
- The first mission has the Master Chief throwing a marine into a life pod, just as he did in the original game. Here, he also takes down an Elite with a shotgun just before boarding the pod.
- While not in the original game, the first mission where the Flood are encountered is in a frozen canyon (the mission is literally called Ice Canyon) and is clearly meant to be the area around Halo's control room, suggesting the encounter takes place around the time of Two Betrayals.
- Finally, the Banshee the Master Chief uses to board the Autumn is seen during the final mission, Last Stand.
- Cool vs. Awesome: At the climax of the mission Raven Down you see a pair of Hunters take on a pair of Flood Juggernauts. The Flood wins.
- Enemy Civil War: The Flood and Covenant do not like each other, and will often fight each other in addition to the players. Players wishing to win the Body-Count Competition will probably want to exploit the times where these happen to get as many kills as possible.
- Final Boss: A scarab fulfills this role in the final mission. Granted, it doesn't actually damage you, but the core acts as a Damage-Sponge Boss, and simply reaching said core will involve fighting a small army of Covenant and Flood.
- Foregone Conclusion: In the mission selection screen, no less. The last mission of the game is entitled Last Stand, hinting that Raven will not make it off Halo. Sure enough, they don't.
- Additionally, anyone who's familiar with Halo Lore will know that only a few marines made it off Halo, with the majority dying on the Truth and Reconciliation. This is not where Raven dies, though.
- Giant Mook: The Flood Juggernauts and Pure Forms, who will put up quite a fight before being brought down. Except for the one the Master Chief spends all of five seconds taking down.
- Hero of Another Story: The Master Chief himself pops in briefly at a few points during the campaign, presumably while experiencing the events of Halo: Combat Evolved including the escape from the Pillar of Autumn, the assault on Halo's Control Room, and the destruction of the Autumn at the end of the game.
- Lower-Deck Episode: The events of the original game are explored once more, this time from the perspective of the soldiers who fought alongside the Master Chief rather than the Chief himself. As such, one only gets to see bits and pieces of the Chief's story, while still also being affected by it.
- Mêlée à Trois: Most of the missions in the second half of the game feature giant battles between the UNSC, the Covenant, and the Flood.
- Mythology Gag:
- Just like in the original game, the assault rifle has a magazine size of sixty bullets.
- The Master Chief never speaks to the players, likely a reference to his Heroic Mime character during gameplay in Halo: Combat Evolved.
- The area where Raven's Falcon crashes in Raven Down resembles the multiplayer map Valhalla from Halo 3.
