Like millions of players around the world I am a huge Halo fan and even though I have the Xbox version I think that the PC version of Halo is one of the best PC games out there.

To run Halo on your PC you need a steady machine with a decent graphics card and a good amount of RAM and HDD space. A lot of people have the basic requirements to run Halo on their PC’s and laptops but I highly recommend that you play it on your laptop. Why? You can play it while you’re in school, work and anywhere where you take your laptop.

Halo for the PC is basically Halo for the Xbox with toned downed graphics. The only thing that separates the Xbox version from the PC version is the online play. Not to mention that it’s free!

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Story:

You are an elite warrior fighting an alien force in vehicle and foot based combat across a wildly imaginative and unearthly environment - an ancient alien artifact known as Halo. This giant living ring you now find yourself on is populated with strange creatures, exotic vegetation, twisting underground lairs, huge mountain chains, and countless angry aliens bent on your destruction. Snipe alien infantry, pilot vehicles, destroy installations and rescue your comrades as you strengthen your arsenal with superior alien weapons and vehicles and fight to uncover Halo’s secrets and save the human race.




The first thing anyone has to do when booting up Halo is change the configuration. While it does this automatically it is best if you customize it yourself so that you can get the best performance out of your system without any lag which can ruin the game-play. To do that you must tone down the; shadows, visual effects and the sound to a reasonable performance.

Halo features a good amount of weapons which of course range from; pistols, snipers, machine guns, assault rifles, and alien weapons like plasma rifles, needlers, plasma gun etc.

Halo is based in the future, however besides the alien weapons the pistol, shotgun and sniper rifles look like some of the weapons from our time.

As well as weapons there are also armored vehicles like tanks and a futuristic Hum-V called the Warthog. You can also pilot alien vehicles which offers more variety.

Halo features 12 levels and 4 difficulty levels each offering a certain challenge. While nothing new is gained if played in the highest difficulty level, it does offer a sense of completion once the Legendary difficulty is completed. The AI is smarter and bullets give out more damage than the easy and normal difficulty levels, there are less health packs around the map, the covenant has better armor which makes them harder to kill, etc.

There are constant Checkpoints and when you die you will be reverted back to the last checkpoint. There are certain bugs in the game that you have to watch out for. For example if you die while the game is saving sometimes you will constantly keep on dying over and over again. Of the many times that I have played the game it only happened twice. The best way to break the bug is to select another level or start the level from the beginning.

The game is played like any other first person shooter one hand on the key’s the other on the mouse. However it is best played if you buy a controller for the PC which makes things easier to play. If you are too cheap to spend over $50 on a good controller you can buy an adaptor that will turn your Xbox controller or PS2 controller to USB. The adaptor costs less than $12 and you can use it on other games that support controllers.

Depending on the Graphics Card the graphics in Halo are less superior than the Xbox version of the game with constant Lag. The environment and characters look pixilated. It’s not that bad if you’re running it on a laptop?and if you have the latest computer with the latest graphics + sound card but having all that can cost up to $2000. That’s more than a down payment for a car!
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Just like the original Halo the music is an instant classic. The sound effects are great even while downsizing the bit rate of the sound for best performance. It is followed by complete silence when nothing is happening but that can all change when you’re fighting the covenant, especially the Hunters. Then it all goes back to complete silence when they are all defeated.

Halo is a long game with different challenges. With 12 levels and 4 different difficulty settings it can be an amazing experience. Not to mention the online play that it offers for free. If you get bored of playing the same levels you can always download the Custom Edition that will allow you to play online with custom maps and weapons. Playing Halo online is worth the entire game itself. Not to mention that you can take it anywhere with a laptop.

Closing comments:

Halo for the PC is a couple of years old but it is still a great game. I play it and love it more than the Xbox version. Halo itself is a game to pick up without having the need to pick up an Xbox or Xbox 360. The game has an SRP of $19.99 or you can maybe pick it up for less at your local game shop. Halo 2 is about to debut for the PC and Halo 3 will probably make an appearance sometime in 2009 or 2010. Hopefully by then Vista will be stable enough to play games with but until then stick with XP pro to Play PC games.

Game Play: Easy to learn and get into all the action. Play it on your laptop while on your break from class. 8/10

Graphics: Pixilated characters and environments, only runs at 30 FPS. Even on a high end PC there is little difference in the visuals of the game. 6/10

Sound: Classic Halo soundtrack and sound effects, great sound even on low bit rate sound. 9/10

Controls: Adapts well to the keyboard and mouse, you can adjust the sensitivity to your liking or buy an adapter to turn you PS2/Xbox/ Gamecube controller to a USB port. You can also use wireless controls to lessen the pain of all those cables. 10/10

Life Span: 12 levels with multiplayer and Custom Edition available can add more fun to the game play.10/10








NightHawk - Console-Central Network