[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/halopc/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Pretzel and I am proud to say that I am in love with Halo. I can remember my first experience playing Halo… it feels like it was just yesterday. Ah, staying up till wee hours of the morning with some Jack in the Box tacos and jumbo jacks sitting next to me. Yes, my life has never been the same since those times. The SB Crew was there in full effect that night, wasted and kicking major ass online. Of course, everything since then, is pretty much history. Needless to say, a few months after I got an Xbox with Halo I thought to myself “this is the game to end all games”. When I first heard that Microsoft was making Halo for the PC, I was in total shock. I was thinking to myself that they would destroy Halo’s thunder on the Xbox and the entire Halo experience. I read reviews, articles with the makers, and related columns about the upcoming Halo for PC. The anticipation to play Halo on my PC began to grow as the date neared. Without a doubt, this was a game I had to get. Let me just tell you straight up that getting Halo PC is one of the best purchases of all time.
[heading]Owned![/heading]
Yes, playing Halo online is so freaking intense it’s not even funny. The level of intensity has risen like a mofo!! The six new maps are much bigger, but much more fun to maneuver during battle. CTF battles become more of a challenge, and spawn camping is very rare on these new maps and sniping whores are rarely encountered due to the massive carnage. You just don’t have time to snipe! Why you ask? Well first off, battles are always conducted in multiple places, and trust me there is more than one battle happening too. Secondly, the maps are way too big! What really rules about the new maps are the bases. The bases are much bigger and much more accessible. This means that standing guard can be a pain some times if you don’t have enough teammates. Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Huge maps are a pain to maneuver in”, not if your driving one of two new vehicles! Yes that’s right two new vehicles! A sports edition Warthog that is complete with a mounted rocket launcher. Let me just add, this Warthog is completely tricked out with sweet racing stripes and matching interior. Another method of causing mass destruction and getting around in style is flying in an all new Covenant Banshee. That’s right Master Chief has gone aerial on you freaking noobs!! If you noobs don’t know what a Banshee is then I suggest you get with the freaking program. Everyone has been waiting to get in these bad boys in multiplayer mode. Of course you can still find your classic machine gun mounted Warthog, Ghost and a Scorpion tank. Trust me these vehicles are still great to get in and cause chaos.
[heading]Intense[/heading]
Two new weapons are added to your arsenal of mass destruction. The new weapons include the long rumored stylish flame thrower and the Covenant Fuel Rod Gun (AKA Alien Rocket Launcher). You are also given the option to install Covenant stationary gunner positions in the multiplayer maps. These come in handy if you encounter Banshee whores. These are great additions to an already kick butt arsenal of shotguns, rocket launchers, sniping pistols, machine guns, and tons of Covenant weapons. Take your pick of which weapon either way you are going to get OWNED!!
[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/halopc/ss03_thumb.jpg[/floatright][heading]Rolling with the Punches[/heading]
It was a huge adjustment for me to go from a joystick to mouse and keyboard. The great thing is you can customize your command buttons o your preference. It took me quite some time to get use to the controls because they are pretty frustrating at times. Reaction times are little slower and battle tactics are much more rusty, but in time you adapt and grow much more quickly with the gameplay. I must say that playing a FPS on a PC has become much more appealing to me than it has on console. Moving on…
[heading]Scenic Route[/heading]
The graphics are very well detailed in this version of the game. Gearbox did a great job porting this game over to the PC. The colors and the scenery of the levels are very crisp and clean with great depth. There were a lot rough spots that have been smoothed out, such as boundaries that are hard to move over are now much easier to get over. Bullets hitting the ground pick up dirt along with the vehicles, and weapons draw smoke. Some parts of these new levels cause massive clipping when turning sharp corners in the Warthog and some pixilation is formed in the water when looked at from a distance. Hopefully, these are isolated occurrences and not typical of everyone’s experience. Vehicles are much more detailed and you can see the small imperfections and age of the vehicles. I love the look of these new Warthogs by the way. I just can’t get over how awesome the sport edition looks. Unlike the Warthog, the Covenant Banshee has its ups and downs. When operating a Covenant Banshee you can only go so high above ground. Mind you, you are pretty high up there, but it seems that you cannot go above a certain altitude which sucks. It does have a great way of attacking those on the ground, but it doesn’t make up for the reload times of its rockets. Same goes for the Scorpions’ and Warthogs’ reload times. They take so freaking long to reload its unbelievable.
[heading]Same ‘Ol Master Chief[/heading]
[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/halopc/ss06_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]Yes that’s right folks no major improvements or additions to the campaign mode of the game. Besides the graphics looking much better I have noticed a small improvement in the games AI. Enemies seem to be reacting much quicker. If you decide to fire upon a squad of grunts they will just run, find some cover, and start a base of fire in your direction. Other than spotting that small improvement, I really have not seen any major additions or improvements to Halo that would make want to play the campaign over the multiplayer.
Overall, I really enjoy Halo and the transfer they made to the PC. I have heard many negative comments and very little positive comments about the port. I, for one, give Halo PC two thumbs up for a job well done and staying true to the experience. If you love FPS on PC then I suggest getting Halo PC solely for its multiplayer. The campaign mode on Halo is no different from its Xbox version, so don’t bother, but the multiplayer mode is fantastic with all kinds of intense CTF and Death match action. I suggest all you freaking noobs out there to get online and try this one out.
