By Docktor Worm

positive
great sound and graphics
captures the feel of Halo

negative
too short
gameplay is weak


It's Halo, without the annoyance of that overrated 3rd dimension! Don't get too excited though, it's not as great as it sounds. The game leaves you off before the first Halo, on the planet Reach, fighting the endless hordes of the Covenant, all in their 2d glory! 
The game looks just like a Halo game should, with a crisp, almost anime-ish feel to the game and some nifty effects like solar flares too. The sound is almost as good, with almost all of the sounds coming straight out of the Halo games. It's all there, the music, the familiar beeping when your shields are down, the angry roars of an elite stuck by a plasma grenade. The game captures all the aspects of Halo very well, save for the fun. It's great that it's so much like Halo, but that's also what's wrong with it. Doberman made very few noticeable adaptations in the game to make Halo into a side scroller, making it exactly like Halo in 2D. Losing the 3rd dimension made Halo lose almost everything that made it worth playing in the first place. Halo Zero would have been a much better game, had it more elements found in sidescrollers, rather than first person shooters. 
The story isn't exactly Halo caliber, it consists of you going form place to place killing things for a reason that isn't very well established. Plus, you fight the same 4 enemies the entire game, and they're pretty similar. And where are the Flood? Missing in action! That blows indeed!
From the very first level, all you have to do to win is either to meticulously kill every enemy, then hide and wait for your sheilds to recharge, or run straight through the levels, jumping over the enemies without firing a shot. Since the enemies are virtually gone when they leave the screen, and for the fact that you only need to kill about 5 enemies in the entire game, it's quite possible to bunny hop through all the levels, without fighting anyone.
On the other hand, if you decide to play the game, you'll find the game repetitive after the first few minutes. The only way to kill all the enemies is to run in, shooting ahead until your shields run out, hide until they recharge, then rinse, lather, and repeat
The enemies only walk forward, and cover most of the screen, so it's near impossible to miss. Plus, the covenant only shoot in the middle of the screen and since you can't jump very high, it's almost impossible to dodge more than a couple shots. And if you hide behind a box or get above or below the Covenant, they can't hurt you.
All the weapons you loved in Halo are here, but they all feel like the same gun with a different skin slapped on it.
You'll find yourself running through the mindless first levels to get to something better that might be hidden in the end. Well, that hidden fun you're looking for is nowhere to be found. Almost every level of the game plays just like the last. Then you make it to the craptacular Warthog levels designed to brake up the game play. Basically they consist of holding down the right arrow key and watching the Covenant sit around as you roll past them. Furthermore, the game can easily be beaten in less then 30 minutes. There is multiplayer, but it seems like Metal Slug if it were a deathmatch game. Nothing worth seeing there. 
It's a shame that a potentially good idea for a game with such great graphics could turn out so mediocre. It feels like there's a great game hidden in Halo Zero that's trying to get out.
I would only recommend this game to a die hard Halo fan, or someone who like me, wants every freeware game in the world just to own them. Otherwise, pass this game up and get Codename Gordon, a good example of an FPS made into a side scroller, not a budget version of Halo. RATING 2.5

System requirements: 
a 1ghz processor
256mb of RAM
22mb free disc space

website: http://www.halozero.new.fr/

animated violence, suitable for 8+


A 1ghz Processor