Halo Pc - Collector's edition disc
The halo collector’s edition dvd is a fantastic new dvd from Bungie and Gearbox. When you load up the dvd, you are presented with the menu and the accompanying background, which is quite an iconic image to show how far Bungie has come over the years. It depicts a dead elite, styled with Halo CE (combat evolved) design, with a halo 3 Mark V suited Master chief standing over it. The two contrasting images show what strengths Bungie has gone through from creating the first Halo game to the massive conglomeration of games, books, graphic novels and action figures that exist today.
Anyway, when you load up the disc, you have several options. First, you can install Halo pc, which can then be accessed without the disc, or you can watch the HD trailer for Halo wars, or you even listen to Gamespot’s official review video as well. As an added bonus you get behind the scenes commentary from Bungie and Gearbox staff, about the game.
But anyway, about the game. When you load it up, you see the same menu that was seen in earlier versions of Halo Pc, the one similar to the Xbox menu. When you load up the campaign, the graphics can be equal to the Xbox if you have the proper monitor and graphics card, but I only have a standard monitor and a business Pc so I can’t comment on the brilliance of the graphics. However even on my non-gaming Pc the graphics are certainly tolerable, it doesn’t distract, and that’s the important thing.
The campaign is exactly the same as the Xbox version, so I’m not even going to describe it. If you don’t know what the Halo CE campaign is like, I don’t respect you enough to tell you about it.
Now it’s the multiplayer that makes Halo Pc worthwhile getting.
A) New weapons and maps
B) Online play.
So let’s start with A. New weapons? What could these new weapons be, I hear you ask? Well they’re not exactly new. If you’ve ever seen any of the Halo prototype testing videos, you’ll know what I mean. For example, you get a weapon which is similar but more powerful than the fuel rod cannon. Basically it’s a purple fuel rod cannon with arching green explosive projectiles, but instead of ammo clips, like the one in halo 2, it uses battery power, and therefore lasts quite a while. The only downsides to this weapon are that it overheats, which could be deadly in a firefight, and the person who has this weapon during online play will tend to get a lot of kills very quickly. Then he’ll tend to get sniped, but on a small map that’s quite difficult. The other weapon that’s new is the flamethrower. Both the “new” weapons were considered in the design phases on Halo CE, but in the end cut out. This is off topic a bit, but Halo originally might have been called “Covenant” or “Phase,” and the game might have been 3rd person, and on the Halo ring itself, there might have been dinosaur like creatures inhabiting the ring.
Anyway, the flamethrower is pretty powerful, but it is strange using it in the 1st person, whereas you’ve probably got used to using it 3rd person in Halo 3. The flamethrower is powerful, but the clips are small and the ammo limited. There’s also a slight variation in the vehicles. In the very early plans for Halo CE, they had the normal warthog and the warthog with a rocket launcher attached. Finally, it makes a show in Halo Pc, where the curious thing is that the rocket launcher has a clip of three rockets, rather than the standard two on handheld rocket launchers. This means that you are screwed if anyone gets that warthog.
All this is fantastic new content to attract you to Halo Pc but none of it’s new. Bungie haven’t gone out of their way to provide users with new content, they’ve just included ideas they had for the game in the first place.
Ok, there are also new maps. These are actually worthwhile getting the game for, but once again, they haven’t made much new stuff. Some maps are totally original but one of the maps is basically a portion of the level “the silent cartographer,” with weapons placed on it and some higher areas to reach. Nevertheless, the maps are spectacular, especially the big ones, and the addition of plasma gun turrets is especially welcome. The combination of new weapons, new vehicles and new places to go makes for an utterly new and interesting experience for Halo fans and novices alike.
Finally there is the online play. The original Halo on the Xbox lacked this, and so it’s been brought in on this Pc version. The great thing is that you don’t need the hassle of connecting to Xbox Live, you just need an internet connection to play online for free. And since you’re reading this, you must have one. Now multiplayer online makes Halo Pc fantastic, especially if you have a microphone to talk to your team mates. If you’re an Xbox man or woman by default, try connecting your 360 controller to your Pc and play it that way, it makes for some fantastic gaming. However. The defining factor that the multiplayer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is the lag. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, lag. When I tested the online play, I expected there to be little or no lag as I have quite a good connection. However, when I joined a match, I randomly kept dying, the other players keep disappearing and reappearing elsewhere, the warthogs survived two rocket shots and then splattered me, despite the fact I jumped, and finally I actually sniped a guy on the warthog turret eight times in the head and he didn’t die. I did.
So all in all, if you and everyone else in the match has a good connection, you’re fine, but if you have lag, it can lead to either a hilarious, or an extremely frustrating game.
So to sum up, the Halo Pc campaign is the same as ever, except there’s no lag, which existed in previous Pc versions of Halo Pc. The multiplayer is great, but laggy, and the new weapons are interesting and fun, but not original and the new maps are possibly too familiar. The HD trailer for Halo wars is good, but perhaps unnecessary advertising, the Gamespot review is boring as the speaker is obviously just some ugly guy from the office, not a professional voice over actor, and the behind the scenes chats are quite interesting, if you’re a Halo fan.
So I give this collector’s edition of Halo Pc 8.2 out of 10, as it’s a great game with online play, new features and the extra bits, including some desktop backgrounds, but nothing is entirely new and the multiplayer not smooth enough. Worth a look even if you’ve never played Halo.
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