Conclusion

Promises

Now we come to the very thorny issue of co-op mode. They say they’re trying, but don’t count on it. Maybe if community outrage is loud enough and sales are bad enough they’ll patch it in - maybe. The ironic thing is that co-op wasn’t really a big deal for Halo on the Xbox – at least initially. Of course what was a great game when played by yourself turned into a classic when played with a friend, but people originally bought it for singleplayer.

Down and out

In Halo hills

Shielded bastard

On the PC, where competition is much stiffer in the FPS market, Halo’s co-op mode could have been what set it apart from the competition. It’s been ages since a multiplayer co-operative title was released that still retained the story of the singleplayer game, and the market is clearly hungry for that.

On the bright side, the new multiplayer levels in Halo are amazing. While Capture the Flag might not have the attention-grabbing value on the PC that it does on Xbox, Halo’s multiplayer game remains very solid. Like so many Blizzard products, it’s not the flashiness of what it does that grabs you, but the solid design of the game. Halo strikes a fantastic balance between realistic shooters like Counter-Strike and action shooters like Quake III, and has vehicles thrown in to boot. It may not be the perfect competitive game but it’s remarkably fun. Of course, the new flamethrower and fuel rod cannon (think: Tribes mortar) will be exclusive to multiplayer. Our biggest concern for multiplayer would be the sniper rifle, which is more dangerous by several orders of magnitude thanks to mouse controls.

And they're all dead

They're on the ground and unloading

GRENADE SPAMMER!

So is Halo going to be worthy of this reaction or this retraction? If it had co-op, the answer would be obvious. Since it doesn’t… that’s up to what you’re looking for. (Hey, a little editorial pressure on the publisher to get co-op implemented isn’t necessarily a bad thing! -ed.)

Does Jakub want co-op bad enough yet? Holy crap, down boy, down! But what do you think? Is Halo without co-op just not Halo anymore? Or will its clean design and solid execution let us forgive all? Sound Off! in the news comments and let the world know!