Rating: 
Summary: Good game, but there are better games for the PC
Review: Yes, you are all thinking it. How could someone give one of the "greatest games ever made" 4 out of 5 stars? Actually I would have liked to give it 3.5 but 4 is close enough. Here are just a few of my opinions:
---Single Player---
The gameplay is great, and the AI is smart which is saying a lot because not many games have good AI. The story is pretty good and it'l keep you interested. Graphics are quite nice although maybe not the best these days. Unfortunately, much of the sound could be better and some of the aliens just look lame and not quite fearsome or even dangerous for that matter. Voice acting isn't terrible but I've heard better...everyone sounds too happy like they are having all sorts of fun as their buddies get blown to bits, with the exception of the occasional one liners from fellow soldiers, which I always thought were a bit unnecessary. The objective voice seemed a bit out of place to me. The music is pretty good and it doesn't sound bad at all, but it seemed a bit to calm to me at times. For example, while storming a beach with about 10 other comrades the the music sounded like something out of Riverdance. The combat was intense, the music was not. Finally, on many PC's it runs extremely slow. I have a decent computer that runs most games at hight resolutions just fine but for Halo's single player I had to bring the graphics down to 640x480 and add the special command line to a shortcut as listed in the previous review. People say this is going to be fixed, and that it shouldn't bring down the score, but this glitch has only happened with Halo and NOT any other that I have ever played. So, in summary I'd give the single player alone four stars. It's quite fun but it might not be for everyone and there are a few glitches that will need to be resolved.---Multiplayer---
If you like the vehicles and open terrain of Battlefield 1942 but you want faster paced gameplay in a futuristic universe like in the Unreal Tournament series, then you'll probably love the Halo multiplayer. For me, it was fun for a while but there just aren't enought vehicles and the gameplay modes seem a bit uninspired. On top of that I experienced some staggering connection problems on most servers. If you can find a fast server with a lot of people in it you will get the most out of multiplay, else it turns into a frustrating lagfest. I like the vehicles but I don't think there is much variety. Fortunately, the glitch that plagues most people's single player games doesn't seem to affect multiplayer. That's what I have found anyway. I'd give multiplayer alone three stars. ---Summary---
Halo was probably the best game ever...when it first came out. It is still quite good now, but it never really hooked me. On top of that it was supposed to come out for the PC first, but now that it has been re-worked for the PC it would seem that the X-Box version might be better. Yep, if you have an X-Box and a PC, and for some reason you have not bought Halo yet with all its hype and dedicated fans, stick with the X-Box version. Multiplay is fun but with many games already doing similar things to what is done in the Halo multiplayer, I don't think it's worth coughing up an extra 45+ bucks for. ---What I reccomend instead---
Battlefield 1942 - Has tons of vehicles, a unique style of gamepley, and nice graphics. Plenty of fast servers out there for this game, and 2 expansion packs that really do add great extra content to it. It's a WWII game of course, so maybe it isn't for everyone but it's still the best multiplayer game out there in my opinion. The gameplay can be slow at times (especially if you have to run accross the environments on foot), so if you want an intense faced paced game you might want to hold off on this one. There is a good multiplayer demo out for this one. Call of Duty - Ok, everything is amazing about this game. It's a lot like Halo, maybe less vehicles to control but the intensity, sound, voice acting, graphics, and everything is top notch. It's single player is like playing throught a movie and your buddies AI is probably some of the best I've seen yet, even better then Halo's. It's also a WWII game, but even if you don't like that setting you will love the gameplay of this game. If you don't believe me, download the demo for yourself. Unreal Tournament 2004 - Take Unreal Tournament 2003 and add vehicles (including aircraft) and new gameplay modes (Assault and Onslaught), and you've got what will probably be a great game (this game wasn't out yet when this review was written, so you might want to wait until official reviews come out for it :D). This game might have the most appeal to Halo fans. It promises fast paced gameplay and things to drive/fly in a futuristic universe. Will probably be the best alternative to Halo's multiplay. You can try the Unreal Tournament 2003 demo (no vehicles in this one) but you might have to wait for a UT2004 demo.
Rating:
Summary: Good game, but there are better games for the PC...
Review: Yes, you are all thinking it. How could someone give one of the "greatest games ever made" 4 out of 5 stars? Actually I would have liked to give it 3.5, but 4 is close enough. Here are just a few of my opinions:
---Single Player---
The gameplay is great, and the AI is smart which is saying a lot because not many games have good AI. The story is pretty good and it'l keep you interested. Graphics are quite nice although maybe not the best these days. Unfortunately, much of the sound could be better and some of the aliens just look lame and not quite fearsome or even dangerous for that matter. Voice acting isn't terrible but I've heard better...everyone sounds too happy like they are having all sorts of fun as their buddies get blown to bits, with the exception of the occasional one liners from fellow soldiers, which I always thought were a bit unnecessary. The objective voice seemed a bit out of place to me. The music is pretty good and it doesn't sound bad at all, but it seemed a bit to calm to me at times. For example, while storming a beach with about 10 other comrades the the music sounded like something out of Riverdance. The combat was intense, the music was not. Finally, on many PC's it runs extremely slow. I have a decent computer that runs most games at hight resolutions just fine but for Halo's single player I had to bring the graphics down to 640x480 and add the special command line to a shortcut as listed in the previous review. People say this is going to be fixed, and that it shouldn't bring down the score, but this glitch has only happened with Halo and NOT any other that I have ever played. So, in summary I'd give the single player alone four stars. It's quite fun but it might not be for everyone and there are a few glitches that will need to be resolved. ---Multiplayer---
If you like the vehicles and open terrain of Battlefield 1942 but you want faster paced gameplay in a futuristic universe like in the Unreal Tournament series, then you'll probably love the Halo multiplayer. For me, it was fun for a while but there just aren't enought vehicles and the gameplay modes seem a bit uninspired. On top of that I experienced some staggering connection problems on most servers. If you can find a fast server with a lot of people in it you will get the most out of multiplay, else it turns into a frustrating lagfest. I like the vehicles but I don't think there is much variety. Fortunately, the glitch that plagues most people's single player games doesn't seem to affect multiplayer. That's what I have found anyway. I'd give multiplayer alone three stars. ---Summary---
Halo was probably the best game ever...when it first came out. It is still quite good now, but it never really hooked me. On top of that it was supposed to come out for the PC first, but now that it has been re-worked for the PC it would seem that the X-Box version might be better. Yep, if you have an X-Box and a PC, and for some reason you have not bought Halo yet with all its hype and dedicated fans, stick with the X-Box version. Multiplay is fun but with many games already doing similar things to what is done in the Halo multiplayer, I don't think it's worth coughing up an extra 45+ bucks for. ---What I reccomend instead---
Battlefield 1942 - Has tons of vehicles, a unique style of gamepley, and nice graphics. Plenty of fast servers out there for this game, and 2 expansion packs that really do add great extra content to it. It's a WWII game of course, so maybe it isn't for everyone but it's still the best multiplayer game out there in my opinion. The gameplay can be slow at times (especially if you have to run accross the environments on foot), so if you want an intense faced paced game you might want to hold off on this one. There is a good multiplayer demo out for this one. Call of Duty - Ok, everything is amazing about this game. It's a lot like Halo, maybe less vehicles to control but the intensity, sound, voice acting, graphics, and everything is top notch. It's single player is like playing throught a movie and your buddies AI is probably some of the best I've seen yet, even better then Halo's. It's also a WWII game, but even if you don't like that setting you will love the gameplay of this game. If you don't believe me, download the demo for yourself. Unreal Tournament 2004 - Take Unreal Tournament 2003 and add vehicles (including aircraft) and new gameplay modes (Assault and Onslaught), and you've got what will probably be a great game (this game wasn't out yet when this review was written, so you might want to wait until official reviews come out for it :D). This game might have the most appeal to Halo fans. It promises fast paced gameplay and things to drive/fly in a futuristic universe. Will probably be the best alternative to Halo's multiplay. You can try the Unreal Tournament 2003 demo (no vehicles in this one) but you might have to wait for a UT2004 demo.
Rating: 
Summary: This is the evolution of Combat
Review: Halo: Combat Evolved is a brilliant game made by Bungie. It was originally supposed to come out for PC, but Microsoft bought Bungie and they made it for the X-Box. Well, now, thanks to Gearbox, us PC gamers are finally going to experience what was Game of the Year two years ago. First, I will address the performance issue that most people seem to worry about. Yes, Halo is not really optimized for PC, but even in the lower settings it still looks great. So just experiment with the video settings until you get a satisfying performance. GAMEPLAY- Halo is perhaps the most fun I have ever had playing an FPS. The enemy AI is excellent; enemies rush for cover, use team tactics, and jump away from grenades. The friendly marines AI is solid too. The actually help you and not just blindly shoot everywhere, as in some other games. The sci-fi story is well written and keeps you wondering what will happen next. GRAPHICS- This game looks amazing. Extensive use of shaders and bumpmapping is seen, and it really works. Textures are hyper-detailed (even upclose) and the enemies are nicely detailed. Weapon models look realistic and the Master Chief (you) is what a cyborg super soldier should look like. SOUND- Voice acting is excellent, for the most part. The music is what shines here. Most PC games do not have good music but Halo is an excepion. The weapon sound effects are top-notch. So does this game have any flaws? Unfortunatley, yes. Some levels (especially Assault on the Control Room) are Very repetive in design. This means that there are some areas that look exactly the SAME. The good part is, you will have so much fun slaying the Covenant that it is not so bad as it sounds. If you are still unsure, you can always download the demo at www.microsoft.com. Halo, if not the best game this year out for the PC, is one of the best. If only all game developers were as talented as those at Bungie. I recommend this game fully and no FPS fan should be without it.
Rating: 
Summary: Required Hardware
Review: I read a lot of these reviews talking about how unplayable the game was on their "awesome" systems. I think there is definitely a problem with the NVIDIA FX cards and this game. I had no problems with it on my system, which is far from state-of-the-art: P4 2.4B, 512MB DDR266, GeForce4Ti 4400. I had the resolution at 1152x864 (make sure to turn off AA and AF since Halo's engine does not use these, they will only slow it down.) Some of the textures on large objects on fast moving scenes could be better. With all effects turned on and at their highest levels, I got about 35 fps in most scenes, dropping to 18 fps during heavy action. Far from ideal , but playable. At 1024x768 with all effects on, but not on highest settings, I got up to 73 fps, but around 60 fps most of the time, with it dropping to about 50 fps during heavy action. Again, that is pretty darn playable if you ask me. It didn't look as good UT2003, but I don't know if it would even if I had a 256MB Radeon 9800. The problem is really just with how the FX cards implement DirectX 9 (I think.) There is another review recommending using the -use11 option. This turns the pixel shaders back to shaders 1.1 (DirectX 8.0 I think) whereas default is 2.0 (DirectX 9.) This is another sign that NVidia is having problems with its dx9 implementation, and turning a problem spot off, really helps a lot. Maybe because I'm not using a dx9 card, I get decent performance? As for the game, I have only had it for two days but it seems like a solid FPS with a better than average story behind it. I have not played the XBox version, so I don't know if that makes me or less likely to like it.
Rating:
Summary: It's True!
Review: Ever wondered if the rumors are true: Halo is the best game ever? It is! Well, maybe not the best game, but still in the top 10! Why does it appeal to people more than the last SciFi Shooter? We may never know, but extraordinary A.I. (In how many games do your allies retaliate when you attack them?), crisp graphics, original story (Sort of), and everything else you could want! The only flaw: The lagtime. When playing an online game with even 4 or 5 people, the game laggs a little. After 10 people join the game, it's hell. The game will freeze, then you'll just be dead, then ressurected, then frozen, then dead. Solution: Limit your multiplayer games to 5 people. It's that easy. Otherwise, BUY THIS GAME.
Rating:
Summary: get the demo
Review: Get the Demo off of FilePlanet first to see if it runs on your comp. i am running it great on a:
1.7celeron
gforce4 mx440 (64mb)
384mb RAM it ran choppy at first but if you go into the graphics settings in the game and set it to (novsync) it will run awsome!!! this game is well worth the money and i would give it 10 stars if i could, dont be fooled by bad reviews...this game rocks...if you dont believe me get the demo first and see for yourself!!!
Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth the money
Review: I bought the game today and have been playing it for 7 hours non-stop. Here are the cons and pros: Pros: -Multiplayer is awesome. Battles are huge, it's really easy to find servers with lots of people in them. -New weapons and vehicles add more variety to the already intense multiplayer mode. -New maps are breath-taking. -The graphics on a PC are much superior to those on X-box, so if you got a high-end PC, you can enjoy every little detail the game has to offer. Cons: -It seemed to me that they kind of rushed it. Somethings FEEL incomplete. -Multiplayer still has no music. I mean, the game is not based on stealth and listening for footsteps (like counterstrike and others) so I think some background music would be nice. -There doesn't seem to be any control over distruptive players. People kill their teammates for fun, or even to get into vehicles that don't spawn that often (like the banshee). -You need a fast connection for multiplayer. I have DSL, and I sometimes get lag, which sucks because you cannot play this game with any kind of lag. I guess the size of data packages in multiplayer is too big for so many people and this ends up in your falling off cliffs when not moving or being run over by vehicles that weren't there a second ago. -If you're a returning player from x-box, then you'll definitely feel the lack of the force-feedback controllers. Especially when I first started playing it, I couldn't tell if I was being hit or not since mice or keyboards don't shake when you get hit, so I died quite a lot, even in single player. But you get used to it, I guess. Over time. Overall- I think a few patches can make this game a hit. It's still good though. I give it an 8.5 out of 10, and definitely worth the 39.99 Amazon.com price.
Rating:
Summary: Hated ATI at first, but now it all seems worth it
Review: Okay, get ready to be impressed. I downloaded the demo of this bad boy, not expecting to be able to play at all. My system? 847 MHz Pentium III
348 MB of RAM
ATI RADEON 7500 (yap, that's right, 7500) 64MB
Windows XP
10 Gig Hard Drive and it plays wonderfully on HIGH settings for 640 x 480. Only a few stutters here and there but great load times (seamless). After reading all those reviews about how people couldn't get it to play on their smokin' systems, now they have been outdone by a person with a laughable gaming system. ATI all the way, baby!
Rating:
Summary: Dude.... This game is awesome
Review: I have no idea what the critics are smoking, but this is truly the best PC game i have ever played. The Graphics are intense, multiplayer mode is great, and there are new and better vehicles and multiplayer levels than the Xbox version. If I were you, i would get this game immediately, but make sure you have the correct hardware to run this game.
Rating:
Summary: It's a great game, but needs a BEEFY system to run smoothly!
Review: I love Halo. Ever since it was released on hte X-box, I couldn't get enough of it. The graphics are supurb, the story is worth wind, and the 1st person action is unmatched in some areas. Now that it is on the PC, it comes with what every Halo fan wanted... ONLINE PLAY! I love being able to snipe peopel and run them down with the Warthog! Also, to but an attack pattern to work and totally out flank an opposing team is sweet! Also, the untouched first person mission campaign is worth the 40 bucks alone. My only gripe... IT RUNS SO SLOWLY ON A SYSTEM WITH A WEAK GRAPHICS CARD! When I first booted it up, I was running a 3 gig Pentium 4 with a Geforce FX 5200. Sure it's not the best graphics card, but it runs games like No One Lives Forever 2 on it like there is no tomorrow. In fact, Unreal Tournament 2003 runs like a beast on it at 1280 X 720! Come on! How fast of a graphics card do ya need to play this game? Even though I didn't want to do it, I just upgraded my graphics card to an ATI Radeon 9800. Is it over kill? Maybe, but because games like Half Life 2 and Doom 3 are coming down the pipeline, I was gunna have to do it eventaully. Sufficed to say, I just spent $400 on that puppy, and that may be pushing it for some people's bank accounts. My advice, pick up a Radeon 9600 or an Nvidia FX 5600 for those who don't have as much money to burn. With all that, this is an expensive investment. Trust me, Halo is worth it. It ranks up there with all time great games like Half Life, Perfect Dark, No One Lives Forever 2, and Goldeneye.
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