Gameplay

Multiplayer

There is no co-op. Gearbox may not have had the full two years to put it in, but Microsoft and Bungie did. It’s their fault that it didn’t make it into the game and quite frankly, it’s a huge mistake. The PC market is starving for any co-op experience, never mind one as impressive as Halo’s.

Multiplayer is basically nothing but a faithful translation of Halo’s multiplayer, with a few new levels and two new weapons. The Xbox’s auto-aim has been disabled for both single- and multiplayer, thus compensating for the extra aim that a mouse gives for all but one weapon – the sniper rifle. The sniper rifle is abusive. It dominates outdoor matches. Pop your head out into the open at your own risk, and don’t expect things to improve as the community matures. As people become more adept with it, as the old-school Quake II players with their insane rail skills join the fray, it’ll be a massacre of Counter-Strike proportions back when the AWP was known as the AWM.

Aww yeah I got your candy right there

TRIPLE KILL

Puff puff

It’s unbelievable that somewhere along the way, no one thought of toning down this powerful weapon that’s become completely imbalanced with the addition of mouse control. The only limitation to its power on maps like Blood Gulch is that the weapon doesn’t spawn nearly fast enough. It takes at most 2 hits to kill an opponent, or 1 to the head. As there is absolutely no reason to miss, a competent player should get at least 5-6 kills before he runs out of ammo or is fragged in return. This can quickly end a flag run for the enemy team, or precipitate one of your own.

Far more serious than weapon balance is Halo’s complete and utter lack of moderation. Playing on a team damage server and have a teamkiller? Too bad, you’re stuck with him. You certainly can’t vote him off. He won’t be booted off automatically, he’ll just keep on going and going until he’s bored or the server empties.

That Gearbox and Bungie seemingly put no thought into this is perhaps a sign of their utter contempt for the gamers who are willing to buy the game based on the name. The PC community is rife with morons who do nothing but abuse and exploit games without adequate griefer protection. How at least Gearbox, well aware of this from their Half-Life expansion days, didn’t decide to take some proactive measures defies logic.

I love this map

Banshee time

Hovering away

The multiplayer interface is similarly awful. The text chat window is just white text, you get little feedback on who you killed or who killed you as all that information scrolls by in the same window as the chat. It’s nearly impossible to co-ordinate a team even if your fellow members are willing. The fuel rod cannon and flamethrower are interesting and useful additions, but hardly make up for the issues that trouble multiplayer.