For Xbox 360 on the Xbox 360, a GameFAQs message board topic titled 'Is it worth playing the Halo games just for single player?' Top 10 First Person Shooter Games With Best History: Top 10: Ghost Recon AW 2 (2007) Top 9: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2009) Top 8: Bioshock Infinite. After teasing fans for over a year and then giving them a short but sweet look at the game’s multiplayer.
Even though Halo 2 shipped for the original Xbox in 2004, Microsoft sees plenty of potential in the upcoming PC version to spur its new Games for Windows initiative. Halo 2, after all, was the biggest-selling Xbox game ever made, and it remains incredibly popular on Xbox Live even today. The PC version is being developed by Hired Gun, an internal Microsoft studio working in cooperation with Bungie, and executive producer Jo Clowes was on hand at Microsoft's showcase event at the Game Developers Conference to give us our first hands-on time with the single-player portion of the game. Considering the sheer popularity of Halo 2, Microsoft and Hired Gun haven't tinkered at all with the gameplay. The single-player and multiplayer content in the PC version are taken directly from the Xbox game, and it will also feature all the various downloadable map packs that were released afterward. The major difference is that it will look a lot nicer on the PC thanks to the vastly improved resolution and some higher-resolution textures.
We had a chance to see it for ourselves by playing the Delta Halo level, and the visuals were so sharp that you could read the fine print on the Master Chief's rocket launcher. The gameplay was pure Halo, as we shot, rifle butted, and plasma grenaded the alien horde that faced us. The control scheme has been tuned and balanced for the mouse and keyboard, though you can also plug in an Xbox 360 controller to your PC, and the two are integrated so seamlessly that you can start playing with the mouse and keyboard and then pick up the gamepad midlevel. Interestingly enough, Clowes told us that the developers have been a bit surprised to see some players use both the mouse and gamepad at the same time, using the analog stick on the gamepad to move and the mouse to aim and shoot. The system requirements for Halo 2 are a bit high considering the Xbox version ran on 2001-era hardware, though you've got to factor in the higher graphical resolutions and OS overhead in the PC version.
However, they're fairly modest for a Windows Vista machine. You'll need a 2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a decent DirectX 9 video card. The game will not use DirectX 10, so you won't need the latest video card to play it. However, you will most definitely need Windows Vista, because Halo 2 will only run on Windows Vista PCs. According to Clowes, that's because the game takes advantage of many Vista-only features, such as rapid install. When you first insert the Halo 2 disc into your PC, you won't have to install the game like you traditionally would a PC game.
Instead, like a console game, Halo 2 will begin to load up and you can play immediately while it installs in the background. The PC version will also have support for Games for Windows Live, the PC version of the popular Xbox Live online service that allows for matchmaking, friend tracking, gamerscore, and much more. If you're currently an Xbox Live gold member, then you needn't worry about signing up or paying for a separate service, because we're told that the Xbox Live membership is universal with your Games for Windows Live membership. And if you don't have Xbox Live, signing up for Games for Windows Live will also set up your Xbox Live account. The two are basically one and the same. There will be two levels of Games for Windows Live, silver and gold.
Silver is the free, limited service, while gold is the full subscription service. Clowes said that you will not need to be a gold member to play Halo 2 multiplayer, and that players can set up open dedicated servers that anyone can play on, just like dedicated servers for other PC shooters. However, Halo 2 for the PC will be the first game to let players set up dedicated Live servers. One advantage of this system is that players can use the official map editor that ships with Halo 2 to easily create and share maps. The map editor is the major-and pretty much only-new feature to appear in the PC version, and it's based on the level editor that Bungie used to create the game.
Using the map editor, you can create custom levels and even unique gameplay modes. Clowes showed us a huge soccer stadium that she built, with a giant metal ball that served as a 'flag.' The goal for each team is to 'score' by moving the ball into the opposing goal, but the trick is that the ball is so large it can only be moved by being nudged by vehicles. Toss in weapons such as the rocket launcher, and you essentially have combat soccer. And the cool feature is that once you're done, players can automatically download your map when they connect to the server.
The PC version of Halo 2 will be the first Halo game to ship with achievement points, which are used to build up your gamer score by performing certain feats. That may not sound like much to PC gamers, but trust us when we say that building up achievement points can be addictive. Alas, Clowes wouldn't get into specifics regarding Halo 2's achievements, as they're usually one of the last things to get finalized. As its, Halo 2 is on track for release sometime before the halfway point of the year.
Halo
Microsoft’s next big exclusive on the Xbox One and Windows is, which debuts on February 21. I’ve gotten an early look at the game, and here are some of my impressions. I’m gradually getting accustomed to playing on a console, as real-time strategy games are truly best played on a PC with a keyboard and mouse. Microsoft is serious about making this game work on the console and expanding the market for RTS titles, and so it enlisted developer The Creative Assembly to build Halo Wars 2.
The Creative Assembly, owned by Sega, has made Total War RTS games on the PC for years, but this Xbox One title required the developer to rethink the gameplay and controls. “We wanted to bring Halo back into the RTS space, and we wanted to make an RTS for everyone,” said David Nicholson, the executive producer for Halo Wars 2 at Creative Assembly, in an.
“We wanted to get Halo fans interested in an RTS, and we wanted to expose RTS fans to the fantastic story behind Halo.”. Image Credit: Microsoft The question, Nicholson said, was how to make the game more accessible but also keep the depth that leads to long gameplay. The original Halo Wars, which came out in 2009, had a good control scheme on a controller. You could press the right bumper to select local units or those that are within your field of view.
If you hold the bumper down, you can select all of your units on the map. That was easy enough. But that game had a fairly limited field of view and you couldn’t get that many units on the screen at once. With Halo Wars 2, the maps are much more expansive and you can get 80 soldiers on the screen. Of course, some of those units are a part of groups, so you can’t actually control all 80 units at once, as you can in typical PC RTS games.
In the video below, you’ll see that I only have seven groups under control, but it notes there are 31 soldiers in those groups. So naturally, some compromises had to be made to make the console game more accessible and easier to control. Still, The Creative Assembly added some nice touches, like shortcuts on the D-pad, which are customizable. You can add units to the D-pad directional controls and easily switch to them.
That takes a lot of brain cycles to remember, but it could be worth it for the time it saves in a pitched battle. Image Credit: Microsoft One of the things that I like about this title is that it has an original Halo universe story.
At the start of the game, crew members of the UNSC capital ship Spirit of Fire awake decades after they were declared lost. They are above an ancient Forerunner haven known as the Ark. The captain and his crew have to face off against the Banished, a faction led by an unbeatable Brute warrior named Atriox. You have to develop your troops and your own leaders to take on Atriox’s forces, who seem to be everywhere at once. The first mission includes a tutorial that teaches you how to play. I had to get used to moving around the screen without clicking on a mini map with a mouse. But I managed to get around fast enough.
It helps to be able to select all of the available local units with a single button push (by hitting the right bumper once). Then you can move the cursor to a spot and hit X to either move the units there or make them attack that position. The single player campaign throws enemies at you piecemeal as you explore the area around you. Rather than just start a giant battle, you have to complete missions with limited numbers of forces at first.
I played the mission One Three Zero below, where a single Spartan super soldier has to liberate a bunch of prisoners. The campaign’s missions are concentrated and intense.
When you get into a close combat situation, you have to make sure you outgun the enemy. But you can also invoke your leader’s powers, getting help from the commander up in the UNSC capital ship. You can use some of your resources to issue commands that can have a huge tactical effect.
Halo 5 Single Player Gamefaqs
For instance, you can heal all of the troops in a particular area for a short time. That could give them enough stamina to overcome industry forces or break into a fort.
You can also rain down missiles or disrupt the enemy’s electronic communications. I found I had to keep a close eye on resources while I did this, though, because it can use a lot of your available resources when you invoke the leader powers. For the most part, I played fast enough to keep ahead of the enemy.
My usual strategy was to mix a lot of troops together in a big group and send them at the opposing forces. It isn’t easy to tell which soldiers are in a pack that you have selected, but the user interface shows you how many you have of each type in a battle group. I used this user interface to tell me how many units I had to train of various types. The battle chatter is dramatic and also useful.
“Oh sure, shell me from a distance,” yells one UNSC soldier. That’s a tip that you’re being shelled by artillery that is out of range of your guns, and you should do something about it.
343 Industries
The soldiers also shout at you, “I’m under fire from ground troops.” Again, that’s a useful cue that you have to take action. One crucial test I haven’t tried yet with this game. I can beat the single-player A.I., even though it has given me a hard time, like in the mission dubbed The Cartographer. Can’t simulate playing against another human. Can I beat someone in unsupervised multiplayer? I’ll find out soon enough. Overall, I’m enjoying myself and the story.
I was pleasantly surprised that I had to play The Cartographer mission more than once to actually succeed. I’m anxious to get further in the campaign.