Halo 2 reviews are out

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:53 pm

A simulator fits in so much better with a high-res monitor and a full keyboard for you to use. I dont care what people say about consoles, the games that come with them are SHALLOW and will never do justice to what a PC can do (MOD's, the general flexibility, customization, ect). All of you whining about drivers and such on the computers: well if it aint broken, dont fix it! I never have to worry about downloading the latest drivers because I stick with what works. If something doesnt work then I fix it. You know why? Its called a HOBBY. Tweaking? It only takes a little bit of your time. Again, im not one of those people who are anal about FPS, just play the damn game! But if you need to make some adjustments go right ahead.

You people who are satisfied with consoles, more power to you. But dont try to convince me that they are better, because they are not. This argument has been around for a while. I have played consoles and the games that came with them. They stink.
----------------------------------------------------
And here is another thing, everyone complains about graphics and ★■◆●. This shows you where the gaming industry is headed. Since when did games need extracombropulated pixiel shading for the game to be good? Why the FSK do you need 16x anti-aliasing when exploring a 3d world? You want to see pritty scenery? Go outside.

Nerds.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 5:56 pm

Top Wop wrote:Useless drivel

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 6:14 pm

Hmm. I misread that as a monthly charge. Aright, so there really is a sane reason to get a console.

Either way I prefer my PC over any console I've tried.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 6:42 pm

Yeah Mr. P. I do too ... I anxiously await the (2007) release of the PC version ...

Vertigo 99 · Post by **Vertigo 99** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:01 pm

i dont think its ever coming out on PC, newsflash guys.

if it does, itll be a useless piece of crap by then...

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:35 pm

Piss poor marketing by MS for not cashing in on the PC market. Are they afraid their little console box might be a abject failure?

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:40 pm

pc market? what pc market? you're kidding right? all the money in gaming is in the consoles now. microsoft made more money already from halo 2 + live than they have for any of their pc games for years.

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:55 pm

Abject failure, woody?

Team Xbox wrote:Xbox continues to go from strength to strength, with cumulative worldwide shipments of 15.5 million consoles since launch and a worldwide shipment goal of more than 20 million units by the end of June 2005. The groundbreaking Xbox Live service is expected to expand to an excess of 1.5 million members by the end of June 2005, representing 50%+ growth.

Not to mention the 5 million copies of Halo sold, and the $100 million first-day sales of Halo 2.

Tetrad · Post by **Tetrad** » Tue Nov 09, 2004 10:07 pm

woodchip wrote:Piss poor marketing by MS for not cashing in on the PC market. Are they afraid their little console box might be a abject failure?

1) There is no PC market. The console install base is enormous compared to the gamers PCs, even for the number 2 guy Xbox.

2) It's in their best interest financially to release it on Xbox only. Gives people an incentive to own that console, which means more install base for more games, all of which have to pay MS a licensing fee to have their game on that console.

3) "Only on Xbox" is very good marketing, at least from MS's standpoint.

SSX-Thunderbird · Post by **SSX-Thunderbird** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 1:34 am

Also add to the fact that supporting consoles is far cheaper, as there's usually only one official configuration. With PCs, you have to deal with an extreme number of different configurations.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:14 am

Yeah Top Wop, but can you have four of your REAL LIFE friends sit down at the comfortable couch with a bucket load of popcorn, a 12 pack of soda, a bag of chips and play a game all at the same time with graphics comparable to Doom 3 on a PC for under $400? Bet ya can't do that on a PC!!

BTW, this game is awsome!! I love it. I'm still trying to decide if I like it as much as the first though. It is a lot of fun though. I especially love how they improved the Hunters. You actually have to work on them for a while. You can't just pop 'em in the back a couple of times with an MD6 pistol.

It also can be a big pain in the tailpipe to go through and tweak everything on your system in order to get things running. And if don't have the money to upgrade your system every video game, then you can't play them. You constantly have to upgrade your computer every time a new game comes out. With a consol, you get a whole boat load of games and you never have to upgrade.

Trust me TW, they haven't shown the full power of the X-Box until now. It is a lot better than you keep trying to think. You have a very closed mind toward consols and it is kind of sad at times to hear you whine all the time about an X-Box. Either shut up or get one. It's as simple as that.

Sure I love PC games, they will be able to beat out consoles in the long run because they will advance while the X-Box can only go so far. But it is a really good system for what it is and some of us really enjoy it. I don't even look at it as being in the same genre. I get my console and my PC upgrades for opposite purposes. I get my X-Box to play with my real life buddies and I upgrade my PC and buy PC games to see what my system can really do and to play with my on-line buddies.

Also, I prefer contents of a game over it looking pretty. Thus, I prefer Halo 2 over Doom 3. Doom 3 is pretty but I'll bet you can't drive a warthog or fly a Banshee or carry an energy sword.

Another note, I love how when you go into space in this game, there is no sound in space but there is some sound within your suite.

Nitrofox125 · Post by **Nitrofox125** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:31 am

So here's the question though... is the game worth $200? Since I would have to buy an Xbox *and* the game, do you think so?

Also, has anyone seen the guts of an xbox? I think it would be kinda fun to put an xbox in a computer - kinda like a 2-in-1 deal. Controllers plug in in front, back has the video outs and stuff.. would it be as simple as moving the guts, or are the boards too big to fit in a case?

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:37 am

oh hell yeah its worth it. i wish they would have had 3-4 player coop over sys link cause 1v1v1 kinda sucks

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:07 am

I stand corrected.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:45 am

Nitrofox125 wrote:Also, has anyone seen the guts of an xbox? I think it would be kinda fun to put an xbox in a computer - kinda like a 2-in-1 deal. Controllers plug in in front, back has the video outs and stuff.. would it be as simple as moving the guts, or are the boards too big to fit in a case?

I'm not sure if it was on this forum or somewhere else, but someone posted a link to a clip from the show Screensavers showing this guy that had crammed a PC, XBox, GameCube, PS2, NES, and Atari all into a singe case. It was complete with controller ports and separate power switches for each system on the front. Coolest thing I've ever seen.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 11:31 am

Yeah Top Wop, but can you have four of your REAL LIFE friends sit down at the comfortable couch with a bucket load of popcorn, a 12 pack of soda, a bag of chips and play a game all at the same time with graphics comparable to Doom 3 on a PC for under $400? Bet ya can't do that on a PC!!

Bingo.

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 5:02 am

I've played Halo 2...and the verdict?

OVERRATED...

Halo 2 sucks just about as much as Halo did. While it's true that console gaming is getting much closer to PC gaming in complexity and interest (X Box is basically a little PC anyway), the games are quite 'dumbed down' to let the kiddies adopt the novelty more quickly while it lets real PC gamers down. Halo 2 will (unfortunately) stick around longer than Doom 3 did in popularity, but it will surely pale very quickly in comparison to upcoming PC games. Half-Life 2 will bring the PC gaming masses back into the fold- you watch.

Halo 2 sucks.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:34 am

ThunderBunny wrote:Half-Life 2 will bring the PC gaming masses back into the fold- you watch.

you mean the eventual console version of Half-Life 2.

As tet said, more people own an Xbox than people that game on PC.

If you haven't spent 400 dollars for doom3, then you'll have to spend it for Half Life 2.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 9:06 am

Nobody has yet answered how Halo compares to UT2K4.

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:03 am

woodchip wrote:Nobody has yet answered how Halo compares to UT2K4.

On a pure bang-for-the-buck compariason, nothing gets much better than UT2K4.

If you don't have an Xbox, the question is moot.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:41 pm

you cant compare ut2k4 to halo 2. its apples to oranges. one is pc one is console. i've never played 2k4, but grab yourself a keyboard/mouse adapter for the xbox and halo2 is the best game out right now imo.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 1:40 pm

Halo2 has made me realize what a complete letdown Doom3 was.

Hostile · Post by **Hostile** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:08 pm

Wait.....They released Doom3? When did this happen????

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 3:17 pm

kurupt wrote:you cant compare ut2k4 to halo 2. its apples to oranges. one is pc one is console. i've never played 2k4, but grab yourself a keyboard/mouse adapter for the xbox and halo2 is the best game out right now imo.

I'm talking graphics, excitement, repeat playability etc. Platform is meaningless. Also isn't the previous (original) version ported to the P.C.? So one could compare that couldn't you.
Also as to marketing, why was Full Spectrum Warrior made for both P.C. and Xbox? Why limit your game to one platform? I can understand initially offering a game Xbox only but in 6 months I don't think sales of Xbox
is going to take a dive because the game is ported over to the P.C. On the plus side for owning a P.C. the shear variaty and numbers of games outshines the console.

Trackball · Post by **Trackball** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 3:21 pm

Gooberman wrote:Halo2 has made me realize what a complete letdown Doom3 was.

There was no Doom III. It is a new Id franchise called 'Dim'.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:00 pm

halo pc was the only game that i got hooked on since descent came out. i played it nearly every day for a solid year. ive never played ut2k4 other than 2 or 3 games on the demo, but from that experience in my opinion halo blows ut2k4 out of the water.

i prefer a pc game to a console any day of the week, but i'm the minority. xboxes are for technilogically ignorant people, and unfortunately thats the majority, so the xbox market is the only one that matters to most game companies because it yields the best profits.

if halo 2 actually came out on pc i'd never play the xbox again. but it wont happen, because the cost to make the game would outweight the profits, as with all but the very best pc games.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:37 pm

I wouldn't switch to Halo2 PC. Perhaps because I am one of those technically ignorant people

. I can tweak minorly, but I don't enjoy doing it, think of it more as a chore then a hobby, and can never get games to run as well as xbox designers can on the xbox.

You will never on a PC get so many people to use VC like you have in Halo2/xboxlive. I am amazed at how much of a distraction it is to communicate with your teammates/plan/stratigize whenever I go back to PC FPS games in public servers.

You will never have all the features to be able to tell what game your friend is playing, where, and just a click of a button to join him.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:39 pm

kurupt wrote:halo pc was the only game that i got hooked on since descent came out. i played it nearly every day for a solid year. ive never played ut2k4 other than 2 or 3 games on the demo, but from that experience in my opinion halo blows ut2k4 out of the water.

i prefer a pc game to a console any day of the week, but i'm the minority. xboxes are for technilogically ignorant people, and unfortunately thats the majority, so the xbox market is the only one that matters to most game companies because it yields the best profits.

if halo 2 actually came out on pc i'd never play the xbox again. but it wont happen, because the cost to make the game would outweight the profits, as with all but the very best pc games.

NAw.. it wouldn't really be worth it if they don't incorporate Co-Op. >:| Ticks me off still about Halo 1. I've fixin to upgrade my system in a year or less. I'm not going to dump an additional 300 dollars into a console. In light of what you said K, check out how much Doom 3 made and how much reserved sales for HL2 are already tallied. I have no idea, but it wold be interesting to see. Halo 2 made 175 million the first day. o_O

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:39 pm

Gooberman wrote:Halo2 has made me realize what a complete letdown Doom3 was.

Doom 3 = Halo 2 - Cool Weapons - Awesome Multiplayer - Ability to See.

Skyalmian · Post by **Skyalmian** » Thu Nov 11, 2004 10:50 pm

Sadly, they didn't put the gamma at 1.5 by default in Doom 3. It's at 1 by default. Try running Descent 3 with the gamma at 1. You get the same thing -- can't see ★■◆●.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 2:13 am

Well, also comparing PC with consoles is like comparing apples to oranges.

I'm not computer illiterate either considering that my entire life and future revolve around the computer world.

PC Up Sides:

You can upgrade fairly easily when a new game comes out.

You can modify everything to your own needs.

You can use any controler and set up any controler however you want.

You can set graphics and most aspects of a game to your needs.

You can play the toughest competition in the world in gaming and communicate with massive communities if you have broadband.

Most games you can create your own levels and mods for and you can easily access creations by others like you.

PC Downsides:

If your system isn't completely up to date, you have to dish out money to buy a new video card, memory and maybe even a new motherboard.

You have to make sure you have all the correct drivers.

You can have small annoying glitches in animation, sometimes clipping or just the timing can be off. Especially if you tend to run other processes during a game.

If you don't have broadband, you might as well forget about playing most games on-line unless you play old ones that not many people even play any more.

Hackers are much more common.

As you upgrade your system you will find that some of your old games become un-playable.

You can not do split screen so it's not exactly friendly for inviting your friends over to play video games.

Console Upsides:

You can sit on a nice comfy couch with up to 3 of your best buddies on a single consol that you personally know playing a game together while eating popcorn, chips, and drinking soda.

With a system link, you can inexpensivly set up your own lan if you have a second TV and one of your buddies has his or her own X-Box. You can have anywhere from 8-16 players through this.

Glitches are rare if you take care of your console.

They are easy to manage.

You don't have to install the game onto a console in order to play it, causing it to take up massive ammounts of space. This can be overcome by having a large drive though.

You can play any game that was made for that console old and new without a hitch.

You can play on-line with X-Box live.

Most console games have the most options in gameplay in order to make it interesting.

Hackers are rare or nill from what I understand.

Console Downsides:

PC will eventually outrun it in graphics but may or may not in gameplay.

If you don't take care of them, it is expensive to fix or replace.

X-Box live costs a lot of money and you can't even use it without a broadband connect so if you live where I do, you can't even go on-line with it.

Where I stand, is that I enjoy building games and mods more than playing since I have a 56k and it is nearly worthless to play on-line with my connect, so I prefer my X-Box over my PC for playing games but I use my PC to build games and mods.

Beowulf · Post by **Beowulf** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:11 pm

50 bucks a YEAR is not a lot of money, even for a broke ass punk like me.

Thats like $4 and some change a month. considering how many fools dump like 12-15 a month for MMORPGs, thats nothing.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:15 pm

Yup good point Beo. If I had broadband I would dump $50 a month on it. Don't you also get between 6-12 or something like that free when you buy the equipment?

Beowulf · Post by **Beowulf** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 12:59 am

Yeah, the 50 is for a starter kit, which basically means a year service and a headset. The headset is a POS though, everyone's breaks...mine is held together by two layers of electrical tape held together by two layers of duct tape.

SSX-Thunderbird · Post by **SSX-Thunderbird** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 3:39 pm

You can not do split screen so it's not exactly friendly for inviting your friends over to play video games.

The PC can do split screen, but nobody ever does anymore. Some older DOS games had the ability to do split-screen.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 4:28 pm

Yah, the ending blows pretty badly. Other then that great game.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 4:28 pm

D1 has that option for a 3D effect.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:29 pm

For the person that HAS to have a keyboard and mouse for Halo2 check this out>>>>> X

It's a gamespy article, but not too bad.

HEre's another Halo2 review out. Pretty good.
http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/565/5652 ... ?fromint=1