Saturday, July 26, 2008
What can I say about Halo and Halo 2 that hasn't been said before? Well, I'll say it anyway, knocking the gaming community on it's ear, the Halo series is a perfect example of solid game making. A sci-fi plot that introduces characters and situations in an almost movie-style way. Villains that are as vile and despicable that nothing other than their entire disintegration will suffice. A hero who, while remaining faceless, is more well developed than most characters in the medium. A long, flowing, gaming experience filled with cliff hangers, fantastic imagery, powerful weapons, exciting scenarios and well, everything that you would want in an action-adventure game.
So Microsoft has decided to release Halo 2 on the PC. Not surprising, the original got ported over to the PC and sold as well as could be expected. I mean let's face it, the Halo franchise is about as big as gaming gets. Anytime you sell systems just to play a single game, then you are in a league all your own. Well, I need to tell you something, in order to play this bad boy, you are going to need a couple of things, namely Windows Vista and a really smoking hot PC. If you have not upgraded to Vista yet then you will not be able to play this. It is a kind of a low-down way for Microsoft to get users out there to upgrade to Vista, but in all actuality, pretty soon most PC games will be Vista only so, curse all you want, the wheels are still rolling forward.
When you first pop this disc into your duo-core powered PC something kind of surprising happens, you can play almost immediately. Yes, just like a console the game powers up and as quickly as watching the credits of the developers you can start playing. No, the game doesn't play entirely from the disc; due to the design of Vista and having duo-core processing pumping through your PC, you can begin playing as the game is loaded onto your PC. Microsoft is calling this "tray and play". Sure, you can opt to load the game up and then play like so many of us are used to, but that's not really embracing the newness of it all. Plus, if you choose to get the Microsoft Xbox controller, the headphones will work as well and you can be playing just as if you were on your console. It's crazy I tell ya, crazy!
Additionally, (and very limited reviewing was done on the subject due to my only getting a review build of the game) the game allows you to tie-in to an Xbox live-like interface. A familiar looking setup that makes the game easy to navigate and optimize for online play. And using your Live account you can play against others in the online universe. Not that playing online against others is new, but the setup truly points us in new directions. I couldn't help but think of the possibilities of playing against people who were on their consoles at home while I was on my PC. Hmmmmm.
Again, the story of Halo isn't anything new, and unless you have not had an opportunity to play one of the greatest games of all time, I will refrain from writting about some of the plot twists and surprises that are in store for you. I will, however, tell you that the upgraded look of the game really is quite amazing. The game has had a good once over and textures look smoother, the lighting seems sharper the game has a real hi-res look to it that was not possible on the console version of the game. My TV is kick butt, but the visuals were only limited to what the original Xbox could pump out and now, two and half years later, the game looks that much cleaner and brilliant. Kudos to MS and their new in-house development unit, "Hired Gun," for making this possible.
The PC version also includes a new map editor and expanded multiplayer experience. You can play the game co-op from start to finish or you can go mano a mano in one of the multiplayer maps that the game comes with, including two new maps appropriately titled, "District" and "Uplift." Sadly there was not as much online gaming available as GameZone was given a reviewers build copy of the game, so online play was limited. The game is scheduled to be released May 8th.
I can't say that the sound was improved because as much better the game looks visually; I don't think they could have gotten a sharper sounding accompaniment to go with the game. And given that I run a 7.1 home theater for my console and just a standard surround setup on my PC, anything they may have improved on only made up for the lack of speakers I have on my PC. Either way, the sound is still fabulous with the strong voice work of Cortana and the Master Chief, and I will say this here and now, if they ever do make a Halo movie, they need to keep the voice of the Master Chief and have some big actor/stuntman never take off the helmet. I've said it, there it is.
This new addition also has a really clever map editor that allows players to easily create some multiplayer maps and then get 'em out there on the Web. As anyone who has been online gaming will tell ya, sometimes the best maps are made by the fans. Think you got what it takes? Then prove it. I keep waiting for someone to build maps that mimic the baseball stadiums around the country, looks like I'll be the one who does it.
Download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/102877176/AZ92_H2.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102877191/AZ92_H2.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102878544/AZ92_H2.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102878244/AZ92_H2.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102878812/AZ92_H2.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102879149/AZ92_H2.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102883275/AZ92_H2.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102884421/AZ92_H2.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102882909/AZ92_H2.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102883864/AZ92_H2.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102882886/AZ92_H2.part11.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102884201/AZ92_H2.part12.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102883363/AZ92_H2.part13.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898300/AZ92_H2.part14.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898504/AZ92_H2.part15.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898401/AZ92_H2.part16.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898454/AZ92_H2.part17.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898506/AZ92_H2.part18.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898080/AZ92_H2.part19.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102898604/AZ92_H2.part20.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102903062/AZ92_H2.part21.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102903028/AZ92_H2.part22.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102903003/AZ92_H2.part23.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102902992/AZ92_H2.part24.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102902895/AZ92_H2.part25.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/102902622/AZ92_H2.part26.rar
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