Multiplayer
Because Halo was released before Xbox Live, online multiplayer games were not officially supported.[29] The game instead uses local Ethernet or "System-link" that supports a maximum of sixteen players. This setup was revolutionary for a console game, but was often deemed impractical by critics.[21][20] Because Halo lacks artificially intelligent game bots, LAN parties are needed to reach the game's sixteen-player limit.[16] In addition to five customizable competitive multiplayer modes, two players may co-operatively play through the game's campaign.[16] Halo's multiplayer components were generally well-received by critics.[30][11][18]
Although the Xbox version of Halo lacks official support for online multiplayer play, XBConnect and GameSpy's Xbox Connect packet tunnelling software provide unofficial means around this limitation.[12] The PC port of Halo supports online matches involving up to sixteen players and includes multiplayer maps not in the original Xbox release.[31] However, co-operative play was removed because it would have required large amounts of recoding to implement.[32] On March 15, 2004, Gearbox Software released Halo: Custom Edition for the PC, thus enabling players to use custom-made maps and game modifications.[33]
