After only three thousand years of waiting between the game's console release, PC gamers can now expect to see Halo 2 soon. We're not sure who hasn't played this one yet, but there's got to be some folks out there. Either way, we're pretty curious to see how the game runs on newer systems and if it really can stand up to the passage of time considering the other awesome shooter titles for the PC. As with the console game, players will get a stunted campaign that serves as a bridge between Halo 1 and 3 along with a robust multiplayer system. Unfortunately PC players get jacked when it comes to co-op mode. While it won't be the big hullabaloo that it was on Xbox, the release will undoubtedly be big for the PC as well.
apparently (my word of the week i think) this sucks donkey balls on the PC. The pace hasn't been jacked up to compensate for the fact that mouse and keyboard are quicker than joypad....it's essentially a straight port from the Xbox that pales into comparison against most contemporary PC shooters...apparently.
I’ll need to save up some $ to play this one. Bigger/Better Graphics card and another stick of ram should do the trick. My computer runs slow playing games on Vista , but the graphics do look allot better. Not sure about bots.
There was an article on this at IGN awhile back , they had a chance to try it out on the PC and said they liked playing this one. Some new features included in the PC package made the game very playable. If I find the article again I’ll post it up.
We had the opportunity to play through a level to get a feel for the gamepad and keyboard control schemes. Not surprisingly, the gamepad controls are exactly the same as they were on the Xbox. The mouse and keyboard offered a pleasant alternative that seemed to work very naturally. Since we weren't able to play head to head using both control schemes, we're not sure whether or not the developers need to balance the effectiveness of the two inputs relative to each other.
The PC version will recreate the entire Halo 2 experience complete with the post-release multiplayer map packs. Unfortunately, there's really no new content to talk about within the game. In fact, the well-loved cooperative mode has been removed altogether. All the levels, weapons and enemies you'll encounter here are exactly the same as they were in the Xbox version of the game. And while it might be a stretch for those who finished the console version to want to pick up the PC version, there are a few ways Microsoft is hoping to use Vista to sweeten the deal.
First, the game looks quite a bit better. We saw it running in 720p and the details looked impressive. The geometry is much improved over the console version and shows crisper and more detailed models. While many of the textures remain unchanged, there have been a few obvious improvements here and there. It's nothing that's going to send Unreal, Crysis or Half-Life 2 running for cover, but it's a definite improvement over the visuals of the console version.
Halo 2 will also be the very first title to ship with the new Games for Windows Live functionality. Your gamer profile here will share all the information contained in your regular Xbox Live account so there won't be any need to rebuild your friends list, reputation or achievements. Voice over IP functionality has been built into the foundation of the game, so PC gamers won't have to mess about with third party software in order to communicate. The game will support text chat for gamers who are still living in 1983.
The PC version of Halo 2 will also feature an entirely new range of achievements you can acquire through online and solo play. (These will not be retroactively added to the console version.) To reward players who have already finished the console game, Jo promised that the team was adding some really tough achievements that are sure to score players some serious bragging rights. Some of your own achievements will even be based on the achievements of players that you're competing. Taking out a player who's earned a Mega Kill, for instance, may net you a very specific reward.
Gamers who pick up the PC version will be able make use of a full-featured editor to create their own maps for multiplayer. The whole range of textures from the game will be available so you can skin your levels so they'll look just like the levels the designers built. Depending on the map size, these maps can be transferred to other players during multiplayer in about 10 to 15 seconds.
As with the port of the original Halo for PC, there will be no cross-platform options for multiplayer. Jo says that the team would have been too limited in what they could add to this port if they focused too much on getting the different platforms to work together. Player numbers are going to be kept down to the same levels as well because the maps are already balanced for those numbers. Gamers hoping to see Tribes-sized 32 on 32 matches are going to have to wait a little longer. The good news is that, with little left to do but polish the current build, we shouldn't have to wait too long to get our hands on the final version.
Like this game is that big of a deal for the PC now.
I can't see how they can give a game a 9.8 after acknowledging
A) the long delay since its Xbox release
B) the lack of new content to compensate
C) the REMOVAL of a major MP mode (with Halo 1 also had done to it)
D) the NECESSITY of using Vista to play.
I think that was a 9.8 for the X-Box version. I just thought I’d throw that in there to make it look good. Sry. I had fun playing the first one , so , I’m looking forward to it. I Might be setting myself up for a big disappointment? We’ll see…. I’ll still need a better Graphics card tho before I get this one.
Any donors out there?? A G-Force with about 500mb would be nice.
I don't see how it can get a 9.8 when you consider that Gears of War is also allegedly coming to the PC...under similar restrictions with regard to Vista no doubt, but aeons further forwards in terms of game design. TBH though, the next shooter i'm going to be buying for the PC (with the exception of Planetside 2, if SOE ever decide to make the damn thing) is going to be Quake Wars: Enemy Territory...that looks like a good game....or Crysis, but by all accounts that's so next-gen that it'll require a substantial rebuild/new system to run it on!
Planetside 2 huh?
i guess i should go check out the planetside site.
i doubt im in the position to do the pay to play thing at the moment though...
i am looking forward to the guildwars eye of the north release. and GW2 in 2008. im hoping they added the jumping thing simply for tach's sake hehe
this is a game I may have gotten, but Vista only, sorry but that allow makes me bitter enough not to ever buy it. thats ust a way to force people to vista, so I an't going to it just for the one game.
I guess because some games don't support Windows 2000 we should not play them. Why stop there, where's the Windows 95 support? Or Windows 3.11 support?
Multiplayer Pong this friday anyone?
(Just making the point that this is going to happen sooner than later; this may be a little sooner than anyone wants/thinks is necessary, but....)
I understand it will happen. but really how many people jumped at vista, well its been out what 2 months. Why make a game that very few windows customers can actual use at the point in time. Sure some halo people will move to vista just because, but thats it.
Now as for win 2000, well thats 7 years old now, fine , and still majority of games work on that system. Fine ones now are being released that don't support it, but the majority of games do. 7 years and still games support it, I think thats dam good. But its old now, Win XP is still the MAJOr user base of microsoft, yet they make a game they can't use on there main system. Its like making a BRAND new state of the art game, but only putting it on MAC. guess what, you an't going to sell well.
but really, if you are looking for a objective based type game BF2 is actually pretty good and fun if you add the Project Reality mod. and it is cheap right now, easy to just play for 15 minutes to all day.
arma is pretty good, but takes a bit more effort to get into and stick with a session, and a LOT more dedication to play as a team (we do not have anywhere near that discipline).
The thing is , is that Vista supports DirectX 10.-- XP Wont. If you want to see graphics in high quality AND play the latest games. , then you’ll need to fork up the $$$$ and suck it up. It’s Vista now gents. That’s all there is to it. So don’t be left behind.
That's only thing that sux is , having to get Vista, AND , upgrading your computer to handle the work load that Vista does to it. I know my latest computer runs a bit slow on Vista ( when it comes to playing games) But the graphics quality is looking sweet. And I mean there is a difference. There Is! So suck it up. There are lots of P.C. games ( beside this one) coming out ( that require DX-10 ) and are in the making. Which requires Vista. Are you catching my drift yet? I know it blows but every one needs to chip in to make this transit happen. Otherwise you'll be left behind playing yesterdays games .
Talk to Hudson about Setting up a friendly Vista if you haven’t already. He can make it look like XP in disguise.
man I an't going any ware near vista tell atleast service pack 1. There are still loads of incomparability issues, and I keep hearing other issues coming up all the time. Again you make a point for me, direct X 10, the only cards for that now are the 8000 series of nvidia cards, and relay how many people are running those yet. Probabley less then are running vista even correct. You atch this game for another year will not have hugs sales because they are limiting the possible group of people who can use it.
You can tell me to suck it up, and just get vista and a new pc, but its NEVER that simple. I am a computer geek, thats my job and hobby, and I can tell you that jumping to Vista now is not the best thing. Its like jumping into the first year of a brand new moddel car, you never do it, let some other sucker do it and find the buggs so that in next years production run things are fixed. Never understood why people can't figure this out, its BRAND new and full of bugs. Why jump to somthing that still can't run the software I need. Great it may let me buy a game, but big deal
ITs very simple and clear, no one else has even come close to releasing a game that vista can run only, only Microsoft. ITs just a method of forcing people to Vista now to increase sales, its really that simple. I will not be sucked into such a obvious ploy to sell more operating systems. Especially since I keep hearing people are working on gettig DirectX 10 to work on windows XP. Vista only is again a marketing ploy, say what you will about incompatibilities, but I guarantee you that they could make it work without that much issue. Yes we will all go vista, but I am not being a Beta tester for Microsoft crap software, call me when it works mostly right.
There were two programs I had that didn't work. Both have received upgrades and work now. One was Diskeeper, and one was an odd no rate sub anything piece of software I don't use anymore now that my printer/scanner works under Linux.
Most of the 'incompatibility' issues are a crock. People keep saying Adobe Photoshop is not on MS's compatibility list. Well, I use it, and it works fine, and many other people have reported the same. Adobe just hasn't payed for their MS sticker of approval. I've run everything under the sun in terms of operating systems (you'd be hard pressed to name one on x86, sparc, or ppc architectures that I haven't at least had a short go with at some version or another) and none of them have ever been perfect. Not even close. No matter how many versions and patches in they were. Making the arguement that SP1 is going to fix all that is crazy talk. XP is two SP's in and they still have their fair share of problems with that...
How much of a computer geek can you be, if you aren't even willing to try something knew., anyway :-P
You're right, it wasn't quite that easy last November when I installed. I had to find drivers for both my wireless and soundcard... Stability is fine, performance is fine, only thing that annoys me is long start up time... Yes there are 'quirks'. But there were 'quirks' when people started using XP and they were all pissy. They got over it, and now they consider it usual behaviour. It's a new OS and it is bounc to behave differently.
Look, I'm not the hugest MS fan, but the fallacious (did I spell that right Grifter, I haven't used that word since I learned it from your crazy professor at BSC; it was like his favorite word) arguments and endless bashings the world gives them are insane.
I would far rather see the game industry move over to Mac OS X than continue using Windows, but Jobs will never put a graphics card in most of the unupgradeable Mac's that's worth a flying frak, so that will never happen.
And I never want to see average joe user trying to get nvidia or ati drivers installed on the 47 linux distros so he can play Halo 2 PC Linux Edition. Imagine Joe user trying to compile the drivers to work with his particular kernel. Ya frikkan right. There'd be disgruntled shooters on every street corner.
Microsoft has it's game together in some areas. That's why things like gaming are happening on their platform and not others...
Now, I know not everyone can afford, or wants to upgrade now because it is oncovenient at this time, and so on. And that's fine. Don't upgrade now. Wait. Whatever. I realize that I have been fortunate that I have had access to one MSDN account or another since I have worked in the computer industry and that has allowed me to use virtually ever MS OS free for purposes of testing. No everyone has that. I am not advocating everyone run to the store and buy it this minute. But the total BS about it being incompatibile with the universe, and unstable, and running slower than snails in molasses during winter, etc. are just that. BS. Just say, I don't want to upgrade now. I don't have the money and/or life is too busy to deal with it...
Last edited by Hudson on 19 Apr 2007, 09:15, edited 4 times in total.
"And I never want to see average joe user trying to get nvidia or ati drivers installed on the 47 linux distros so he can play Halo 2 PC Linux Edition. Imagine Joe user trying to compile the drivers to work with his particular kernel. Ya frikkan right. There'd be disgruntled shooters on every street corner. "
actually it is relatively easy...with nvidia you run a command and their script handles the rest. but linux is just daunting to most folks anyway.
I had fun playing the first one , so , I’m looking forward to it. I Might be setting myself up for a big disappointment? We’ll see…. I’ll still need a better Graphics card tho before I get this one. 
