Halo 2 Vista: Reviewed

[Zeph]

It's been a good while since Halo 2 for Vista has hit retail shelves. Since then, the staff here has been working on something special. I cant quite talk about that yet but it, and another outside event, did get me started on an actual review of the game. In an ever-changing template, I present H2vista.net's first review.

http://www.h2ek.com/resources/review/

[Con]

Very nice; clear, concise and simple. It doesn't elaborate on much, but it's a simple review for now unless you want to add more details on certain issues.

[Mr Buckshot]

You forgot to add the fact that for a game with such dated graphics, it's too demanding. By rights, a game with such old visuals should be running with over 100 fps on a Geforce Go 7900 GS (your laptop card). Other demanding system hogs like FEAR have impressive technical features to show off in return for being so demanding, but Halo 2 has nothing.

In addition, the omission of a co-op mode limits the value. Even if it were impossible to put it online or on LAN, you could always plug in two gamepads and play in split screen (this has worked with N64/PSX emulators and some old PC games from the '90s).

[Con]

You forgot to add the fact that for a game with such dated graphics, it's too demanding. By rights, a game with such old visuals should be running with over 100 fps on a Geforce Go 7900 GS (your laptop card). Other demanding system hogs like FEAR have impressive technical features to show off in return for being so demanding, but Halo 2 has nothing.

In addition, the omission of a co-op mode limits the value. Even if it were impossible to put it online or on LAN, you could always plug in two gamepads and play in split screen (this has worked with N64/PSX emulators and some old PC games from the '90s).
yeah, seriously... and what's all this talk about controller equality and how simple of a port it is, and they don't even have co-op support.

[Ralex123]

Wow, it seems pretty bad from what I have heard so far. I have heard alot of reviews saying it is "below expectations". I thought it would be better too.

[Zeph]

I thought that at first, but look at it this way. Halo 1 for the PC pretty much began to run fully at any resolution with the equivalent of a 9700/9800. Halo 1 didn't push the original Xbox as Halo 2 did. Halo 2 pushed so hard it was negatively affected visually. With the port to Vista, we'd have to assume that since Hired Gun did not optimize the game in the sense Gearbox did by allowing different levels of visual detail, the 9700/9800 equivalents are the absolute minimum needed. The Hired Gun team did the exact opposite of Gearbox and added more detail to content (check the BR scope), and up-rez'd textures in most places needed. Keep in mind that Aero needs to run in the background.

Also, remember just what a 6100 and an X700 would do for Halo PC. The X700 preformed only slightly better than the 9800 and the 6100 is lowly enough to be found integrated into many motherboards. I think its interesting these two would even be listed together. More appropriate minimum requirements would be a 6600 and X700 or 6100 and X300 with a more logical choice on the former.

As for co-op, it's a port to the personal computer. Can you name another first person shooter on the PC that has non-networked co-op? Expecting co-operative use of a single computer and rewriting the game to facilitate network co-operative play are outrageous demands in my opinion, and thus were left out completely.

These other demanding system hogs you speak of were developed on the leading edge of technology. How you begin to compare a title making full use of programmable shaders to a fixed function console game is beyond me.

[bleach]

+REP

[Pooky]

You forgot to add the fact that for a game with such dated graphics, it's too demanding. By rights, a game with such old visuals should be running with over 100 fps on a Geforce Go 7900 GS (your laptop card). Other demanding system hogs like FEAR have impressive technical features to show off in return for being so demanding, but Halo 2 has nothing.

In addition, the omission of a co-op mode limits the value. Even if it were impossible to put it online or on LAN, you could always plug in two gamepads and play in split screen (this has worked with N64/PSX emulators and some old PC games from the '90s).

Yeah, that's what I don't get. If this was FEAR, I would say split screen is unreasonable. But with hardware orders of magnitude more powerful than the Xbox, there's no reason why it wouldn't work. It's even been done with old PC games that pushed the hardware of their day to the limits.

[someone]

Great review! The only thing that you should add are the details about some issues. Other than that, it's ok:)

And +rep for your work:D

[AAA]

nice review, but I'd rather wait.

[thehoodedsmack]

I read a part saying that some parts of the editing kit were left out to keep people from unfairly getting achievements. Quite frankly, I'd rather shoot a custom weapon than get every achievement twenty times over.

[TeeKup]

Nice review, still will be a while before I'm able to get the game though.

[Syuusuke]

Custom characters, weapons, and vehicles are not allowed to be created or edited as it is possible for exploitation of the achievement system.
The part about the achievements is bull, custom weapons or no, there's always a way to get achievements easily, a simple invite a bunch of friends and get the damn doublekill/triple/killtacular achievement...They should know that.


A near exact replica of its console sibling, Halo 2 Vista’s multiplayer can be quick and simple. ...cheating kept me from having a good time in the few games I played.
What type of "cheating" is there you mentioned, Zeph?

[Mr Buckshot]

Well, as a matter of fact, you don't even need an aimbot to get an advantage in H2V's multiplayer. If you own a USB version of the X360 gamepad, just plug it in, and the interface becomes that of what an Xbox interface would be (i.e. it'll say Hold X to swap instead of Hold E to swap). Additionally, auto-aim is enabled if you use the X360 controller.

With auto-aim, your reticule will magnetize itself to nearby foes and track on them when they move. This means that gamepad users have an unfair advantage in multiplayer, especially in close-range battles.

That was probably the cheating Zeph mentioned.


I thought that at first, but look at it this way. Halo 1 for the PC pretty much began to run fully at any resolution with the equivalent of a 9700/9800. Halo 1 didn't push the original Xbox as Halo 2 did. Halo 2 pushed so hard it was negatively affected visually. With the port to Vista, we'd have to assume that since Hired Gun did not optimize the game in the sense Gearbox did by allowing different levels of visual detail, the 9700/9800 equivalents are the absolute minimum needed. The Hired Gun team did the exact opposite of Gearbox and added more detail to content (check the BR scope), and up-rez'd textures in most places needed. Keep in mind that Aero needs to run in the background.

Also, remember just what a 6100 and an X700 would do for Halo PC. The X700 preformed only slightly better than the 9800 and the 6100 is lowly enough to be found integrated into many motherboards. I think its interesting these two would even be listed together. More appropriate minimum requirements would be a 6600 and X700 or 6100 and X300 with a more logical choice on the former.

As for co-op, it's a port to the personal computer. Can you name another first person shooter on the PC that has non-networked co-op? Expecting co-operative use of a single computer and rewriting the game to facilitate network co-operative play are outrageous demands in my opinion, and thus were left out completely.

These other demanding system hogs you speak of were developed on the leading edge of technology. How you begin to compare a title making full use of programmable shaders to a fixed function console game is beyond me.

There are console-to-PC ports that actually take advantage of modern hardware. The first Splinter Cell was a fine example - the image was sharper and the game actually utilized SM2.0. Later Splinter Cells are now released on PCs/consoles at around the same time, but the first splinter cell for PC was a port.

The Grand Theft Auto games had few visual improvements, but they were far less demanding that H2V is right now. Currently, H2V is visually not much better than H2X if you tune up the settings to the max. Yet, going to these settings can cause a lot of lag and may not even be possible on some mid-range video cards. GTA games for PC had the same disadvantage - they didn't look much better than their console brethren on high settings, but at least they were not technically demanding, and you didn't need an insane video card to go to those settings AND not lag.

In addition, H2V was announced in February 2006 - there was more than enough time to at least let the game take advantage of DX9c, if a DX10 makeover would take too long.

However, I agree with you on the co-op part. Besides, Halo's co-op isn't that great - you just have a carbon copy of Master Chief or the Arbiter running around. It's fun but it can make parts of the campaign too easy, even on Legendary.

Here's the only positive thing to say about H2V's technical performance:
at low settings, it won't look like washed out crap since it'll look just as good as the Xbox version, which looked pretty good in 2004.

I'm serious, there's no excuse for H2V to be so demanding. If visual improvements can't be made, then fine, leave it at that, but at least let us run the game on maximum possible settings on a wider range of computers, because that's where it belongs. Far Cry running on a Radeon 9600 and 512 MB of RAM looks superior to H2V running on a Geforce 7900 GS with 2 GB RAM.

[Terry]

You didn't mention that the achievements were complete crap and much to easy to get. Medals =/= achievements.

[p0lar_bear]

As for co-op, it's a port to the personal computer. Can you name another first person shooter on the PC that has non-networked co-op?

Probably not, but since Halo 2 Vista has so many OTHER features that attempt to turn your PC into an XBox, I'm surprised single-machine co-op was left out.

And, even if it's not TRULY PC, multiplayer matches in Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are fun when i have friends over.

[Teroh]

Well, as a matter of fact, you don't even need an aimbot to get an advantage in H2V's multiplayer. If you own a USB version of the X360 gamepad, just plug it in, and the interface becomes that of what an Xbox interface would be (i.e. it'll say Hold X to swap instead of Hold E to swap). Additionally, auto-aim is enabled if you use the X360 controller.

With auto-aim, your reticule will magnetize itself to nearby foes and track on them when they move. This means that gamepad users have an unfair advantage in multiplayer, especially in close-range battles.

That was probably the cheating Zeph mentioned.
You are so incredibly wrong its not even funny. Do you even have the game? Have you played it with a controller? If you had on both accounts, you'd know what complete bullshit just spewed out of your mouth. I play SP and MP with BOTH plugged in, and when I use the mouse (Mainly as a foot soldier) I get no magnetism. When I am on foot (Sometimes) or on a vehicle (Always) I use the controller. I do get magnetism at that point. I can switch back and forth every 10 seconds and I will get it with the controller, and not with the mouse. I distinctly remember this in a no shields, human weapons elongation game. I used the controller a bit, then I went to the mouse, then I went back. I'd actually say the magnetism is perfect, as I have about the same skill level as I do using a keyboard. Try not to assume, thanks.

Magnetism for a controller is necessary for the game to actually be fun (with a controller). I remember playing PDZ on the xbox 360, and it had little magnetism, if none. I couldn't stand trying to move like I had a mouse in that game, because a controller moves so differently.

[Mr Buckshot]

Well, when the battles are ranged, the magnetism isn't that much of an advantage since it won't auto-target the head, which is the vital point. In that case, skill levels are more even.

At close range, when you're going melee or getting an up-close shotgun blast, the autoaim does make a hell lotta difference.

See, autoaim for gamepads is necessary to have fun, but if the reticule tracks the target for too long, the difficulty is removed. Other games with autoaim simply magnetize the reticule to the enemy but if the enemy is pretty agile, the autoaim won't stay for long, so the short amount of time in which the lock-on is initiated is all you have to blast away.

I agree, no autoaim on a stick = not fun (try playing splinter cell pandora tmr on xbox - I couldn't even finish the 4th level because the lack of autoaim made the firefights especially hard)

[Roostervier]

Well, when the battles are ranged, the magnetism isn't that much of an advantage since it won't auto-target the head, which is the vital point. In that case, skill levels are more even.

At close range, when you're going melee or getting an up-close shotgun blast, the autoaim does make a hell lotta difference.

See, autoaim for gamepads is necessary to have fun, but if the reticule tracks the target for too long, the difficulty is removed. Other games with autoaim simply magnetize the reticule to the enemy but if the enemy is pretty agile, the autoaim won't stay for long, so the short amount of time in which the lock-on is initiated is all you have to blast away.

I agree, no autoaim on a stick = not fun (try playing splinter cell pandora tmr on xbox - I couldn't even finish the 4th level because the lack of autoaim made the firefights especially hard)
Close range snipers on beaver creek + controller = easy headshots. Teroh, he's right, it helps alot(in CQB and snipers). I still prefer km to controller, but I have to say controller wasn't hard at all.

[Teroh]

Close range snipers on beaver creek + controller = easy headshots. Teroh, he's right, it helps alot(in CQB and snipers). I still prefer km to controller, but I have to say controller wasn't hard at all.
I say they're perfectly balanced. Know what else is an easy headshot? Moving a mouse to someone's head. :XD:
I have to say I get more headshots with a mouse, but I can sit on my nice comfy bed with a controller, so I am more relaxed with a controller. I'm standing by what I said, they're really about the same skill-wise.

[Pooky]

However, I agree with you on the co-op part. Besides, Halo's co-op isn't that great - you just have a carbon copy of Master Chief or the Arbiter running around. It's fun but it can make parts of the campaign too easy, even on Legendary.

I always thought second player should have been the arbiter on the chief's levels, and vice versa, to make it more interesting. =\

[Varmint260]

And then have 2nd player on a Chief level running like hell from the Marines who yell GET UP SO I CAN KILL YOU AGAIN! And have the Chief on Arbiter's levels running from Covenant that are allied with the Arbiter 'cause they see THE DEMON! OH NOES!

Yeah, I can't see that working. On the Chief's levels, you'd have to play as Sgt Johnson and on the Arbiter's levels you'd have to play as a Grunt. Oh yeah!

[Roostervier]

I say they're perfectly balanced. Know what else is an easy headshot? Moving a mouse to someone's head. :XD:
I have to say I get more headshots with a mouse, but I can sit on my nice comfy bed with a controller, so I am more relaxed with a controller. I'm standing by what I said, they're really about the same skill-wise.
I agree, but I need only to move my controller's analog stick maybe once and it locks on for me :\. Only at close distances though, it's fine at farther ones.

[Mr Buckshot]

Well, the autoaim is balanced at long-range fights - it snaps on to the body, not the head, so if you're using a battle rifle at long range, the mouse user has an advantage.

However, take the fight up close and personal, and the autoaim snaps the reticule to the target faster than the mouse can do so - in this case, getting a shotgun blast or a melee attack in your opponent's face is faaaarrrrr easier with the controller.

So, Zeph's review is missing that, along with my rant about the lack of graphical upgrades or the fact that the game is so demanding for nothing...other console-to-PC ports have proven that H2V has no excuses.

[Pooky]

And then have 2nd player on a Chief level running like hell from the Marines who yell GET UP SO I CAN KILL YOU AGAIN! And have the Chief on Arbiter's levels running from Covenant that are allied with the Arbiter 'cause they see THE DEMON! OH NOES!

Yeah, I can't see that working. On the Chief's levels, you'd have to play as Sgt Johnson and on the Arbiter's levels you'd have to play as a Grunt. Oh yeah!

Except for the part where you would be on the team "player" as both the arbiter and chief. <_<

[Zeph]

sorry for a late reply, but RL worries had me out of commission.


I read a part saying that some parts of the editing kit were left out to keep people from unfairly getting achievements. Quite frankly, I'd rather shoot a custom weapon than get every achievement twenty times over.
same here


The part about the achievements is bull, custom weapons or no, there's always a way to get achievements easily, a simple invite a bunch of friends and get the damn doublekill/triple/killtacular achievement...They should know that.
It's just as easy to do on the 360. So by logic, your belief is bull.


What type of "cheating" is there you mentioned, Zeph?
Button combos being macro'd, auto-aim with mice, etc. It's not fun.


You didn't mention that the achievements were complete crap and much to easy to get. Medals =/= achievements.
Saying they're crap specifically would be terribly opinionated. I did say what kind they were and gave an example. In this case medals=achievements; mostly.


You are so incredibly wrong its not even funny.......
I bet you haven't tried taping down your d-pad on your controller so it's always in use while you play with your mouse and keyboard, have you?


So, Zeph's review is missing that, along with my rant about the lack of graphical upgrades or the fact that the game is so demanding for nothing...other console-to-PC ports have proven that H2V has no excuses.
The review isn't missing anything except for specific detail. If it had spefic detail, it wouldn't be a review.

and lol, no one has talked about the easter egg.