Halo Review

Though some may think that the graphics are HALO's biggest trump, it's in fact the incredible AI, gameplay pace, and the piercing soundtrack and sound effects that make it tower above the lot. I remember we were all initially disappointed after loading up the game for the first time and seeing the game models. I'm talking about the regular human models without the fancy suits that look like they came straight out of a Half-Life mod. I believe the game has generated a tad more hype for its visuals than it actually deserves. Later on though, players will be greeted with some incredible outdoor scenery, which will probably take your breath away, as well as some high-quality Covenant models. The vehicles and craft also look superb and the particle effects are even better than in Max Payne - and to anyone who has seen the particle effects in Max Payne, that should say A LOT. However, it's the incredible AI and the absorbing sound effects that tip the scale in HALO's favor.

Don't worry, I won't hurt you...

Fasten your belts, people! We're going down!

The main thing about the visuals is not to be deceived by the clever Xbox disguise. Make no mistake that HALO was made for the PC, and I hope all of us hard-core PC players will get to see HALO on higher resolutions. This game deserves to be seen on a 21" monitor in 1600x1200, which brings me to one of the game's more significant drawbacks - the TV resolutions! For an average gamer with 20-20 vision, having to squint, so that he/she could spot an enemy from a far is hardly the best way to enjoy a FPS game. Never mind the fact that HALO would look infinitely more appealing on higher resolutions, but this drawback also takes away from the gameplay, as it makes the game a tad harder than it was originally intended to be. What's more, I don't even have to tell you how hard it can be to aim in a FPS with the goddamn gamepad. I guess gamepads are fun for playing racing games, but imagine having to play Quake II Rail Arena with this peace of... Umm... you can guess what the score would be against someone playing with the mouse / keyboard combo. And while we're at it, how hard would it be to hook up a mouse and a keyboard to a mini-PC rig? OK, start the Xbox mantra now, kids - it is a console, it is a console, it is a console... I mean, if someone keeps saying you were a monkey would you eventually believe him and start hanging off a branch doing the oop, oop, eep, eep routine?

Although cosmetic and having simply to do with the fact that we're dealing with "a console system", these aforementioned drawbacks can ruin the gameplay to a certain degree, and, ehm, we'd have none of that if HALO was released on the PC, as it was originally planned. About the only real weakness of HALO when it comes to the quality of game design is Bungie's total disregard for character depth and the aforementioned low model poly count. The hero is faceless and without any emotions, which may take away from our efforts to relate to the game world on a deeper level.

I should say a thing or two about the HALO weapons and its multiplayer potential - the arsenal consists of a great combination of nuts and bolts and beam weapons, and their properties have been done in such a way that they present a nice balance between things like recoil (this of course doesn't apply to beam weapons), and knowing how far one can take this "weapon realism" concept in a game like HALO.

The epic single-player game is complemented by a role-based, cooperative multiplayer team game. Three players might take the roles of driver, shotgun and rear gunner of a light, fast all-terrain vehicle, roaring and bouncing over uneven ground, ducking under a hail of fire from alien aircraft screaming overhead. That should give you a good enough idea of the kind of multiplayer potential this game holds, though we only got to play it in the split-screen coop mode, which can get a bit confusing at times.

I said it at the beginning of this review, and I'll say it again. You can put me in a barrel with a bunch of angry Siamese cats and roll me down the hill till my skin turns blue, but I do feel the need to drop a few points off HALO simply because MS ruined some of the fun by making it an Xbox title. Why do us game journalists have to play dumb and pretend as if we're reviewing a console game when we're not. We're reviewing a PC game that comes with a mini-PC that doesn't have any keyboard / mouse support and cannot be hooked up to a monitor. Not to mention it's broadband only. Why should I part with $300-400 when I could've just played this game on my PC? Those are just some of the questions PC gamers will have to answer when deciding if they should buy HALO/Xbox or not. Remember, stories of the PC version are floating about, but nothing concrete yet. So, should you wait?