It’s hard for me to talk about Halo without getting nostalgic. When I first saw Halo on the XBOX, I knew I had to buy it. Wow… 2001… that seems so long ago. The combat, the action, the graphics… it was the best I had ever experianced on a console system. Keep in mind, I’m a veteran of Bungie’s Marathon. It’s what Halo was before it was Halo. For two straight years I played that popular Macintosh shooter, but I only played Halo on the XBOX for about two weeks.
What? How did that happen?
I got caught up in the hype. It wasn’t so much the game, but the hardware that really impressed me. Halo was a great game to show off the power of the XBOX. I’d run around, shoot some aliens, drive the tank, and then I’d go back to my PC games. At first I thought I had grown out of first-person shooter games, but now I can see through the hype.
Halo gives me a headache!
One of the reasons why I played Halo for such a short time was because the game would make me feel sick. After an hour or two, I simply couldn’t play the game anymore. The repetitive level design made me feel like a mouse in a skinner box. Instead of searching for cheese, I’d be looking for ammo or the elusive path to the next level. It’s a shooter… why were they so cheap with the ammo?!
But it’s better on the PC right?
Somehow I got caught up with the nostalgia. I keep trying to relive that multiplayer experience I found on the Macintosh – eight years ago! (Not everyone gets a chance to turn a desktop publishing lab into a death-match arena.) I figured since my computer is five times more expensive than my XBOX, it should play better on the PC… right?! I plunked down $50 to find out. It was something of an impulse buy.
Considering two years passed, I expected better.
My computer specs are easily double the required specs. Unfortunately, the quality was not really better than the XBOX. It looked just about the same. The higher resolution settings didn’t make a stunning improvement.. and I still got that dizzy feeling.
My Specs: CPU-1500 MHz P4 RAM-512 MB, Video-GeForce 4 T1 4200 64 DDR
Required Specs: CPU-733 MHz, RAM-128 MB RAM, Video-32MB/3D T&L
Halo is basically a port. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you do not own the XBOX, but you have an interest in Halo, the PC version is an excellent opportunity for you. For those of you that have played Halo to death on the XBOX, you’ll seriously have to consider if this game is worth the money for you… especially considering one major flaw…
Where’s the cooperative mode?