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Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo: Combat Evolved

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Halo, Good-bye (3½ Stars)
Review: It's finally here! And it's... okay. That I think is the best way to describe Halo- several years late, even before Microsoft assimilated Bungie, they had always planned to do a PC version, and had it been released three years ago, it would have been cutting edge. Instead, we get a two year old Xbox cast off retooled by Gearbox Software with oversight by Bungie. Personally, I think they should have put a little more time into Halo than they did, because if this is what Bungie had in mind for what was then a ground breaking title, then I'm afraid it falls short in several areas, not least of which is some of the most amateurish and dull level design I have ever seen. I generally hold FPS games up against the likes of Jedi Knight, Half-Life, and the original Unreal- if it can compare to the quality of design of those games, then it scores big.

Halo's story, in a nutshell, is basically this: humanity is at war with a collection of races known as the Covenant, who are basically religious fanatics and the gods of which have declared humanity unclean and therefore must be exterminated. Naturally, the humans are losing the war so they concoct a plan to engineer super cyborg soldiers to combat Covenant, which they do successfully, but it's a case of too little too late. The last Spartacus II, the Master Chief, a.k.a you, are onboard the human starship Pillar of Autumn, when it engages several Covenant warships while investigating a ring word (I wonder if Niven got any royalties for that.), known as Halo. The ship is damaged and crash lands on the ring, but not before the Master Chief escapes with the Autumn's sexy babe AI core, Cortana. It is soon revealed that the Covenant have discovered that Halo is of course a weapon, but don't quite understand just how powerful it is and what it was originally intended for. Both sides race against time to gain control of the device to use it against the other side.

There is so much in this game that's really darn cool- the overall look and feel of the weapons, characters and vehicles in spot on, as are the exterior vistas and buildings seen through out the experience. Music is top notch, though sometimes it sounds like it came from a cheap Casio keyboard, it is for the most part as good as the main theme. The sound effects lack, especially in how the weapons sound, and especially how the aliens sound- they grunt and roar like cheap cartoon monsters, not the kind of thing you expect to hear from slick looking beasties in colored chrome battle armor wielding plasma guns. Game play is pretty good, though I don't like the fact that you can't double jump, that is jump on to an object then use that momentum to immediately jump again to a higher position. Then there is the vehicles- whether flying or driving, it has to be experienced to be believed, because it's that good. In either the 4WD Warthog or the Ghost hover bike, ground vehicles are a snap to drive and a lot of fun, meaning you concentrate more on the game than figuring out how to steer. The Covenant Banshee, a small attack fighter, is also a cinch to fly, steer and attack with. Plus the enemy AI is superb- Covenant dodge, shoot from cover and attack intelligently.

Now for the bad news. There is no gentle way to say this: Level design sucks. Maybe the bland stainless steel-like interior textures were meant to give everything a high tech look, but there are few elements of contrast and most every wall looks like every other wall. Worse, moving through levels is like a bad case of deja vu- because basically each new room is pretty much like the one you left, the main difference being there aren't any bodies or weapons lying around in the new ones. It appears as though the level designers merely cloned rooms, stuck tunnels between them to link a level together. Further, there aren't a lot of objects in them, either, and everything looks very sterile. There aren't a lot of computer screens, tools, junk or anything else lying around to look it. This doesn't just go for Halo's interiors- the insides of Covenant and human vessels are just as bland, with the same repetitive layout as their counterparts. If places, chambers, rooms, etc. had been decorated with as much care as the ones in Unreal II, I feel it might have made things a little more fun to explore and look at.

What's also weird is that for all the hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of space on the ring world, I never saw one example of fauna larger than insects- no animals, no fish, no birds, nothing. It's like the biosphere gave up after trees and bugs. Exterior vistas are quite large, especially in Banshee missions, and as I said, 2-3 years ago, the graphics would have been ground breaking, but even outside the textures seem kind of plain, though still attractive. Other annoyances is the switching of weapons from one mission to the next. There are a couple of instances where the next mission picks up right after the last one ends, but you no longer have the weapons you finished with- and that makes no sense. This is doubly bad since you can only carry two of them at any given time. I find the shotgun and the Covenant plasma rifle to be the best of the lot, though the latter must be discarded once out of ammo in order to find another, because for some reason you can't reload them. And for all the work Gearbox said they did on this game, would it have been too much to ask for to give us real save game options rather than stinky console check points?

My expectations were high and they were only partially met. There is a lot that's good in Halo- story, music, characters, vehicles and voice acting, but the things that are wrong with it are really wrong. It's a good game and it has a lot of elements that I love, but the uninspired level design, bland textures, dated graphics and silly aliens detract a great deal from what had the potential to be one of the greatest games ever made.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Team killers and absent features ruin the online experience
Review: Halo is a fun game, no doubt. The graphics are pretty, the gameplay is challenging, and the storyline is fantastic. Everyone knows the single-player game is phenomenal; the single-player game in this PC version is identical to the Xbox version.

What this PC version adds to the Halo experience is true online multiplayer. And it's terrible.

Oh, the new weapons (flamethrower, fuel rod cannon) and vehicles (Banshee, various Warthogs) are neat. The maps are okay. It's the lame players that drives Halo multiplay into the ground. At the time of this writing multiplayer Halo is filled with dweebs who enjoy nothing more than killing their own teammates while swearing in all caps.

This is not fun.

Worse, cooperative play through the single-player storyline--easily Halo's best feature--is simply absent. Inexplicably, there is no way to play through the game alongside a pal. Other PC games (Serious Sam, Tom Clancy games) have featured cooperative gameplay. Halo PC supports over a dozen simultaneous players. Halo Xbox had cooperative play. So... why is this feature absent? It makes no sense, and it makes the game much less appealing.

Stay away from this game until a patch implements such standard multiplayer controls as Banning, Voting, and auto-kicking for excessive TKs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Halo, not excellent, but not bad either.
Review: I think many reviewers here have exaggerated the bad points about this game. After completing the game a few times, I decide to write this review.
1. The story is good. The objective for each level doesn't really reveal what to expect in the next level. This keeps me interested. The most boring level comes at the middle of the story when fighting is so repetitive and uninteresting. After that it gets better but I think the first half of the game is the most fun part.
2. The graphic is not that bad as some people said, except in some certain levels that everything looks bland. I would say, 80% of the graphic looks impressive although it can't be compared with the mind-blowing Tron 2.0. My computer is 2 years old (P4 1.8GHz, with 128MB AGP Radeon) and it runs the game fine at the second highest resolution (800x600). When I tried the highest resolution, the game became so lagged that it was impossible to play smoothly. So I'd say you don't need a top notch computer to play this game like some reviewers mentioned.
3. Multiplayer game maps are good but I agree with one of the reviewers that some team killers just spoil everything. Even at this day, these morons are still there spoiling the game. I was so annoyed that I stopped playing the online game.
4. This game is pretty stable. I haven't had one hitch, unlike Tron 2.0 that was plaqued with bugs when it was released.
5. I don't like the savepoint because some savepoints are too far apart and it's annoying that you have to replay what you just did 10 min ago. They should allow players to save wherever we want.
6. The AI is very good. Some of the enemies are dumber than the others but that makes the game more fun. I disagree with a reviewer who said that the game is too hard even in Easy level. I have completed the Normal level a few times and find it challenging but not too difficult. If you think the Easy level is too difficult, wait until you play the Heroic level. I tried it once and found it much more challenging (more enemies, more grenades, and more hunters[big monster that fires a canon]). However, if you play it wisely, you can beat them. Do not just run to them and expect them to stand there waiting to be slaughtered. Also, you feel outgunned because you don't use the right weapon for the right enemy. Some enemies are easily killed by a particular weapon that the others. The distance and the part of body that you shoot at also have an effect on how easily they die. The way to beat AI is to be smarter than them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Who inspired halo?
Review: So, you liked Halo. But, have you ever think what inspired the ring world of Halo? Well, Halo's world was inspired based on a famous Larry Niven sci fi book, "Ring World". If you liked this game I recomend you to read this book, it is the best of the best. I am sure it will blow your mind.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Halo is here for the PC. Now make me care.
Review: Console gamers have been raving about the Xbox version of Halo since its release. Having followed the game since it was announced on the PC around the same time as Black and White (read: several years ago), I expectantly picked it up for the PC when it came out.

Frankly, Halo can't compete with modern PC first-person shooters. Compared to the detailed environments of Half Life, the slick feel of Jedi Outcast, or the incredible story of Deus Ex, Halo just falls flat. The game is very outdated, and it shows. Everything from the *extremely* repetitive level design to the uninspired weapon layout (including a targeting reticule that's the size of a QUARTER) barely compares even with what PC gamers were playing right around when it was released for the Xbox originally.

In short, Halo is what PC gamers have been playing already for years, and what edge it had has been dulled in the time between its Xbox and its PC release.

My advice is to buy something newer for your money. If you're looking for the rich multiplayer that console gamers have been raving about (and PC Halo fails to deliver), pick up Unreal Tournament 2004. You won't regret it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the best
Review: I loved Halo for the pc great levels, and cool new weapons. My favorite level is Boarding Action because you can camp in enemys base and when they come up the ladder... Bang! You can blast enemy to chunks with the fuel rod. My favorite gun I might add. The thing I'm trying to say is that I simply loved the game, and if you like first person shooters. This is a game for you.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as good as on the Xbox
Review: The Xbox version of this game is what made the Xbox. However, the PC version is somewhat bloated and sluggish.

Play the demo before buying.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Steer Clear
Review: To put it plain and simple, Halo is about the worse fps I've played. Normally I love first person shooters but this one didn't even deserve 10 minutes of play time. I started the single player mode and I ended with the single player mode about 30 minutes later. To start out with, the graphics really are lame. Even with all the settings maxed the graphics reminded me of the 1999 Deus Ex wich had bad graphics for it's time. Next, the AI (or lack there of) is really pitiful. It consisted of sometimes running away. That's about it. The person with the bigger and faster gun wins. That happens to always be you. The story leaves something to be desired also. I'm glad I didn't pay money for this pitiful excuse of a game. Get UT 2004 instead for online play and wait for HL 2 for single and multiplay.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: pah
Review: Alright, I understand companies need to make money, but they should not have put halo on PC. Should have stayed on xbox where it belongs. After two years of the game being out, any one who really wanted it would have bought an xbox and played it there. The graphics are not "souped up for pc". They are shakey and choppy because A) the game was ported, and sloppily. Plays infinetly smoother on xbox B) meant to be played with a controller, not a mouse, so it jerks all over the place if you move to quickly.
HALO 2 will be on xbox first, and then the same thing will happen: they will put it on PC to earn some quick cash. That's it. You want halo? Buy an xbox. Blah.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WHY HALO WILL SUCK !!!
Review: When I first bought HALO PC I thought it would be an awesome experience, I had recently purchased quake 3 and stoped playing it because it was full of cheats that would make people better than you and getting in a decent game was impossible!! Halo is the same ! wether because of network connections, ping, or server speed the fact is Halo always gets disconnected ,in my experience only when I'm winning , In my opinion this is a big problem ! I've only played a few games where my AIMING was working properly, GRENADES also work in MYSTERIOUS WAYS in FAVOR of the HOST or CLAN members ! While I've been in the WARTHOG i've must of ran over the same guy 6 times yet the computers don't register (HUH). The shotgun seems to always fire after the enemy has moved from the DEADSPOT which he was in. Not to mention how difficult it is to get a headshot while walking or moving using the SNIPER RIFFLE yet the HOST or CLAN members have no problem taking you out while doing BACKFLIPS ! PISTOL SHOTS are also hard to get but the HOST and CLAN members also seem to have a GODGIVEN GIFT (CHEATS) . there have been few instances where I play a good descent game for a long time ( almost never). HALO SUCKS! BOTTOMLINE! If your interested in HALO or any other PC game I'm affraid your better of getting a CONSOLE and saying your PRAYERS!

THIS IS THE GAME WITH THE MOST COMPLAINS OFF ALL TIME!
YET PEOPLE ALWAYS RUSH OFF TO THE STORE AND GIVE AWAY $50 BUCKS
LIKE IT GROWS ON TREES!! LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE GET SOMETHING ELSE !!!!!!!!!


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