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PC Game Review :: Halo PC

 
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Everon Reply with quote
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Joined: 16 May 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 11:05 am    Post subject: PC Game Review :: Halo PC
 
Halo PC
Produced by Bungie
Availability: Already on shelves!

Introduction:
While Halo is an older game, I figured I'd play it and write a review, as it came with my sound card.

Computer Specs (Everon):

  • Processor: AMD XP2700+ cooled with Thermaltake Volcano 11+
  • Memory: 1gb Kingston PC3200
  • Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-Deluxe
  • Sound Card: Audigy2 ZS Gamer
  • Power Supply: Antec 400 Watts "SL400"
  • Primary Monitor: Dell 17" CRT
  • Speakers: Gateway Speakers
  • Video Card: 64mb Geforce 4 TI4200
  • Hard Drive 1: Western Digital 30gb 8mb Cache
  • CD-RW: 52x24x52x
  • Operating System: Windows XP Professional w/SP1


I never really cared for Halo all that much. The Xbox controllers are to big (and if you know me, im pretty small myself, and that just makes things worse) and who can play an FPS game with just a controller? Yet I played it and would get continuously pummeled against any good players. I would try to look up, but look down instead. Try to aim, but the damn joysticks would make me miss. Seriously, FPS+console is a bad combination. The game was good, while the controls were bad. When I got it for PC, I figured I would play it and decide if it was the game I didnt like, or just the Xbox.

As it turns out, to no surprise, the game was good, just not for Xbox. Using a mouse/keyboard made the game MUCH more enjoyable. I could actually aim the guns and kill stuff. The graphics were also pretty good and the cinematics were great. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself seemed a bit sluggish at times. It could have been lag, but its wasn't the usually choppy stuff bouncing around lag; it was more of just slowing down of the game when I shot with a lot of bad guys around. In addition, it was rather inconsistent. Laggy sometimes, but not at other times. It took me probably about 10-12 hours to beat the campaign and I only died maybe 15-20 times on the normal difficulty.

Having triumphed over the covenant and the flood, I decided to seek a different challenge, in the form of online play. I jumped into a game on the map "Blood Gulch." It's the popular map with all the vehicles. I found many more vehicles in the online version then in the Xbox version. Each team had 6. My computer seemed to have no trouble at all keeping up in online play. I dont recall experiencing any lag. Overall it was a good experience, although I really hate nubs who dont get the premise of CTF.

Screenshots:

Quote:
A sniper rifle and cloaking field. Can it get any better?



Quote:
Capture the flag can get pretty intense.



Quote:
Halo PC offers a wide arrange of vehicles available for you to drive.



Quote:
However, when driving the vehicles, you do become a larger target.?



Quote:
Online gaming pits you against other live opponents. This makes for a different game every time.


Conclusion:
All in all, I had a much better experience with the PC version of Halo. If you liked the game, but hate FPS games on Consoles, this is for you. Plus, you can play multiplayer anytime you want without Xbox live, or without having a LAN and hooking up 3-4 boxes.

Rating on a scale of 1 (absolutely awful) to 10 (jaw-dropping)

Gameplay: 8/10
- Was a fun game to play, however I docked a few points due to the players online (too many newbs).

Graphics 8/10
- Good details/textures, however it did lag/slowdown a few times during gameplay.

Sound 9/10
- Voices were very good, however most of the time I was shooting, not listening.

Replay Value 9/10
- Playing Campaign mode over and over could get fairly boring. The online play resolves this and allows for a different game every time.

Overall 8.5/10

All pictures copyright of Bungie.net.
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Keyser Soza Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 11:57 am    Post subject:
 
o man.. Halo
gotta love it
i love getting in the little dune buggy and "drive by shooting people"
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Nightwatchman Reply with quote
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Joined: 05 May 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 1:29 pm    Post subject:
 
ive played counterstrike wayyyyyyy to much and when i finally got around to Halo online at the PC i was like ha no problem, what i didnt factor in was the fact that people dont die as easily, so i had to tap into the unreal tournament skills, but that didnt really help either as you can only carry a primary weapon and a secondary weapon. I did okay, but i still like the game, solid review everon!
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Ryan Reply with quote
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Joined: 07 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:45 am    Post subject:
 
i hate it when people are like "oh, halo for xbox is way better than for ps"
Ahem...

First of all the only thing even worth protecting halo over is the multiplayer, without it this game would have flopped.

1) Wayyy higher resolutions for PS
2)No more of those inferior analog sticks
3)A lot more options and vehicles to choose from.
4) no giant controller to deal with.

The pc is sooo much easier with aiming with the mouse and taking advantage of the higher resolutions for a farther draw so you can actually SEE people half-way, scratch that, all the way across big maps. When i play halo for the xbox im always like "i cant see you guys!" and their like "thats because you suck!" so i say "no its because your tv is probably at like 300x300 resolution!" and their like "whatever that is!"

who is the newb now!?!??!

~owned~
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Impact Reply with quote
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Joined: 01 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:49 am    Post subject:
 
lol
you added ~owned~...
lol
i love it.
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Keyser Soza Reply with quote
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Joined: 19 Jun 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:52 am    Post subject:
 
yea i dont like the Xbox controller and the console itself
mostly all id do with it would be like buy an Xbox then like install Linux on it and use it as a small computer
(thatll show those microsoft bastards Twisted Evil )
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Impact Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 11:03 am    Post subject:
 
hmmm, didn't know you could put Linux on an XBox...
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Ryan Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 12:13 pm    Post subject:
 
you can do anything if your a genious and spend a lot of time heavily heavily modding, but otherwise... no Rolling Eyes Wink
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Keyser Soza Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:01 pm    Post subject:
 
my bros friend andy found out how to
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Nightwatchman Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:46 pm    Post subject:
 
they sell a chip to do that at various places online
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Keyser Soza Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 3:46 pm    Post subject:
 
yea! show them microsoft bastards!
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Everon Reply with quote
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Joined: 16 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:49 pm    Post subject:
 
lol, you didnt know that you could put linux on the xbrick? where have you been? thats old news... i *think* some website or something like that actually had a competition with a prize for the first person to do it... but that was a long time ago
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phorrest Reply with quote
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 12:54 pm    Post subject:
 
Your optoions are:
A. Hot swap the hard drive a special way to unlock it.
B. Get a mod chip and use the stock hard drive.
C. Get a mod chip and install a bigger hard drive.

I got mine modded with a 120 gig about six months ago and the stuff you can do with it is awesome. The port of SCUMMVM is the best thing ever.
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Keyser Soza Reply with quote
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Joined: 19 Jun 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 1:03 pm    Post subject:
 
my bros friend andy used a mod chip
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Haggs Reply with quote
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Joined: 05 May 2004
Posts: 2723
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 1:21 pm    Post subject:
 
phorrest wrote:
Your optoions are:
A. Hot swap the hard drive a special way to unlock it.
B. Get a mod chip and use the stock hard drive.
C. Get a mod chip and install a bigger hard drive.

I got mine modded with a 120 gig about six months ago and the stuff you can do with it is awesome. The port of SCUMMVM is the best thing ever.


Considering Microsoft loses money on the purchase of the console itself, this is quite the deal. I almost did this myself a while back, but who knows, I might sometime soon if the price drops yet again Rolling Eyes. I'm sure phorrest can help anyone find the chip and the HDD if they're interested.
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phorrest Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 1:25 pm    Post subject:
 
www.xbox-scene.com
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Haggs Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 2:16 pm    Post subject:
 
Thank you phorrest, Mastar of the Intarweb!
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Haggs Reply with quote
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:55 pm    Post subject:
 
copy paste then shrink it down in MSPaint or equivalent
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kompakt Reply with quote
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Joined: 17 Jun 2004
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Location: Eden Prairie, MN

PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:19 pm    Post subject:
 
whoa, i didnt know there was a review on this

yea, recently played the PC version, it was better than i thought it would be, a lot better, although the physics in that game are so bad its hilarious.
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