Halo 2: Like old coffee ... simply stale

Microsoft has been controversial, yet successful, in the release of two extremely hyped products: Windows Vista and the Halo franchise (created by Bungie). With the PC version of Halo 2 they're joined at the hip and despite the clear marketing purpose (rather than technology), it still turned out to be strangely successful. Well, I went for it too and frankly regret spending the money despite getting "a deal" at the time.


IN A NUTSHELL

Halo fans please forgive me as I (may) have sinned! It's true, you won't find much endorsement for Halo 2 in this review and yes I am a confessing PC gamer (or at least not a big fan of consoles anyway).

However, once taking the emotional portion out of the delayed release of Halo 2, the fact remains that very little love went into the porting of the XBox hit to the PC. In fact, despite steep system requirements (i.e. Vista), Halo 2 feels exactly like the XBox version: mediocre graphics and lame AI or absent physics. It's a bit like taking the original Halo and releasing it for XBox360 only (unchanged). Of course nobody would except that, but Microsoft/Bungie appear to believe that PC gamers can be served with a cold dish.

In essence, I got this game due to the hype upon release for $40 (or $10 discount) and certainly still feel cheated by at least $15. There are plenty better games out there and November 2007 adds a long list of stronger games with more substance, even when taking Halo's core strength into consideration: Multi Player. (Think of Unreal Tournament III, Gears of War, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Crysis, Timeshift, Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate ...)


DETAILS

Game Play: [***--] Your can leave your brain at the door, as reflexes are what keeps you alive in Halo's universe. Okay there is the story of Master Chief and the Covenant woven through the game, but it's nothing more than the background for an one-against-all scenario where you alone are set out to save the world. There are no secrets to discover and puzzles to solve, simply keep the trigger happy and ammunition replenished.

Graphics: [**---] At the dawn of Vista, one could probably forgive that even the self-proclaimed poster child Halo 2 isn't making any use of the new capabilities offered by DX10. However, the simple fact that it requires Vista makes the lackluster graphics even more so bothersome. Halo 2 is in no way a match for the latest games with DX9 graphics, and even looking back 2 - 3 years the smell of "underperformer" isn't easy to wipe off. While resolution can be set higher than any XBox, low resolution models, textures, and effects really dim the experience. So in essence, Halo 2 is indeed a poster child ... for how not to do it.

Physics: [*----] Halo 2 doesn't support advanced physics hardware. Software physics are relatively simple, and nothing to brag about. It's certainly a result of the low computing power of the xBox, but the developer could have used the time to add at least a smidgen of extras. I am not even asking for the physics based vehicles like Unreal Tournament III or destructible environment.

Controls: [****-] Generally a WASD/Mouse control scheme, Halo 2 plays just fine as a FPS on the PC. Use the mouse to look around, aim and shoot or use any of your inventory things, while the keyboard is on duty for the typical movement and inventory. A gamepad is supported and generally working well within the capabilities. (Aiming with the mouse is still a lot easier.)

Progress: [***--] Same old console limitations with checkpoints as the only way to save progress. While the game's AI is way to simple to make this a major problem, it's still unnecessary.

Sound: [***--] Nothing special, but no major problems either. Voice acting is sterile as usual and doesn't inspire much confidence. Score and effects, on the other hand, are good average and yield a "good" for the genre.

Weapons: [****-] Okay, so double wielding weapons apparently are all the craze, and Halo 2 won't disappoint. Overall there is n't much difference to the original Halo and everything feels a lot like been there done that. That doesn't take away from the fact that weapons are well balanced and overall good implemented.

Artificial Intelligence: [*----] Aggressive and only seemingly adaptive, the AI is extremely streamlined and scripted (just like Halo). Run straight into the covenants and they're putting up quite a respectable fight. Find a back door and you will sometimes have to unload a massive amount of "lead" in order for them to even notice you. Other times you're simply baffled how they knew you would come around that corner (way before they could have seen you as they're seemingly deaf anyway). The little covenant guys are still more cannon fodder and hardly worth a thought. Most enemies approach in a straight manner and are confined to their area. A sense of adaptive behavior is created by the scripted dodge and roll "reactions" when trying to avoid your shots, but they will do that no matter what your actions are.

Extras: [***--] How do you sell a 3-year-old game and force the upgrade to another product of yours in the process? Halo 2 seriously has nothing new to offer -- beyond the vastly popular franchise -- other than mouse/keyboard controls and a map editor. The latter helps the fan to extend life of this game, while some players may never exhaust the existing levels since it's being put on the shelf quickly after arrival.

Multi Player: [****-] Let's face it, multi-player is the single biggest (if not only) reason to even consider this game. It's not so much that it's unique in any way, but the community is large and the maps are fairly big too. There isn't much strategy involved, and fans of a solid "shoot first, ask later" policy certainly are served best. While I personally don't like it much, the popularity of Halo in the multi-player community certainly proves its value to some gamers.


HARDWARE

Load times are relatively long despite relatively simple graphics, but with large environments likely to be the cause. Graphics pauses and stutters are relatively rare, but not eliminated despite my graphics card. Overall gameplay is responsive at 1600x1200 and everything set to maximum. (Granted, Maximum in this case isn't much more than medium or low for other games like Lost Planet.)

Case: Termaltake Tsunami VA3400SNA
Monitor: Viewsonic VP201s
Motherboard: ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Opteron 185 (equiv. to FX60)
Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR400 (C2), 2 GByte
Graphics card: ATI/AMD Radeon HD2900 XT
Sound Card: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi
Physics: BFG Ageia PhysX 128MB
Hard drive: Western Digital Raptor 74G SATA 10k
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
DirectX: 9.2 (DX10 not used)
Video Driver: Catalyst 7.10
Chipset: nVidia nForce 4
Resolution: 1600x1200


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© 2007, theuerkorn