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Almost too little, too late

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 35 / 53
Date: May 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Halo 2 is considered to be one of the best games ever made for Microsoft's original XBox, and became a smash hit back in 2004. Now, after numerous delays, Halo 2 has finally made it to the PC for Windows Vista, and it's nearly identical to Bungie's original game. However, this is both good and bad, and if you've never played Halo 2 before, playing it now may make you wonder what all the fuss was about. First off, Halo 2 on the XBox is what helped make XBox Live what it is today thanks to it's fantastic multiplayer options. Halo 2 for Vista shines in this department, offering great multiplayer variety and a welcome map editor to allow players to get creative with the battlegrounds. The 23 included maps are a smash as well. The single player mode was the console version's biggest flaw, and not much has changed in the translation to Vista. The single player campaign is incredibly short and concludes on a hair pulling cliffhanger and features a storyline that, looking back on it now, is rather lackluster. Not to mention that the visuals, while still good, have been outshined by more modern PC shooters to come out in recent memory as well. The game also features support for the XBox 360 controller as well as the standard mouse and keyboard, which can lead to some unbalanced moments of advantage in multiplayer as well. All the flaws aside though, Halo 2 for Vista is a more than solid shooter for the PC that manages to deliver most of the goods that it did so notably three years ago on the original XBox. However, if you've played at great length any recent shooters like Stalker or Half-Life 2: Episode One, you may be left wondering what all the fuss over Halo 2 was about in the first place.

Wow Amazing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 16
Date: May 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Hands down, i dont know what the hell the other reviewer was thinking when he wrote that review, but this is no doubt one of the best pc gmaes ever made. And it came out for windows vista!!!!!! yahhhhhh! this version looks 1100000000 times better than the xbox halo 2 and the multiplayer kills the xbox live version. the story line is amazing, a little short but who cares? and the multiplayer blew me away. millions of hours of the coolest new maps! buy this game!!!!!!

Halo 2!!!! Finaly on the PC!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: May 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have never played the Xbox versoin of the game but I love the PC version. I've heard alot of complants about the story, campain and Graphics for Halo 2. Well first of sure the graphics aren't that great (i'd give it about 7/10) but who cares? sure i love it when a game has great graphics but the gamesplay is what really matters. The story is even better then the first one. I love the Arbiter addtion - it gave the story more dept. It was sometimes confusing but at the end I got it, and What and END!!!! a total clifhagner! cant wait for halo 3. as for how long the campain is, well I think it is fairly long probley a little bit shorter then the first but still pretty long. the sound is amazing! Great weapon sound effects, fantastic music - both during gameplay and the movies. and the flood effects...well it makes you kinda creeped out..very well done. the gameplay is great!! four more differn types of covernate to fight, more vhecles, alot more weapons (mabey double) dual weilding is totaly awsome and I love high-jacking vehicles. I toataly reccomend this game! one down side is that it requires vista...but oh well..play it on Xbox or just wait...Again, Halo 2 PC is a very good games!!

Halo 2

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 11
Date: May 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For me it is just the same old halo 2 only graphics slightly improved not worth the price.

THE SAME

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 17
Date: June 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Its the same exact game just better graphics. EXACTLY THE SAME AS XBOX VERSION JSUT BETTER GRAPHICS!!!

Just go for it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 9
Date: June 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you have the computer capabilities to play Halo 2 for PC, I'd highly recommend giving it a spin. Give it a while and get used to it and you'll find out that it is a spectacular addition to your collection of computer games!

Vista only, but no DX10!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 22 / 33
Date: June 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Against better judgment, I bought Halo 2 for Vista and a few days later I am still disappointment, despite the fact that screen shots already gave it away that this is not DX10. In fact, even for DX9 it's a relatively poor effort. Environments look bland and textures are very low resolution. As much as this may be the "best" for a massive online multiplayer, but it's disappointing nevertheless.

Enemy AI is plain dumb and you often have to literally run into them to get noticed. Overall it's very scripted: Pick the "right" path and it feels responsive; take an alternative route and you're virtually invisible. The story is relatively lame, though I didn't expect much, but my memory of Halo may be fading since I am starting to believe Halo 2 is even less interesting. To extend the pain, cut scenes are numerous and often long enough to make you wonder if you're already watching the final. Multiplayer gets all the hype, but I am old-fashioned and prefer to have at least the illusion of a purpose. The user interface is terrible (straight conversion from XBox?), and not very comfortable to use (nor intutive) with mouse and keyboard.

The hype around the Halo merchandise will carry this title enough to make sales figures decent, but I sure wish I could have my money back. Halo may be great for multiplayers that crave instant and intense action without the burden of actual plot, but the singleplayer experience is hardly average and --considering the requirements-- certainly underwhelming.

So here I am with Vista, Opteron 185 cpu and HD2900XT graphics card, but feel cheated since I don't care about the "Live" service and was hoping to get something out of my "investment". I mean, I have the stage set for DX10, and here is a game that requires Vista and it doesn't even use it.

I would totally be okay with giving Halo 2 only one star, but in recognition of the multiplayer component (that some people seem to love), I gave it two stars. Generous, I know. ;-)

HALO 2 for Vista...A Real Review by Someone Who Has Actually Played the Vista Version!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 15
Date: June 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

By my title, you may wonder what I mean by that? Well I'll tell you. I've been reading other people's reviews on Amazon about this game and I have no idea what they're talking about! It makes me wonder if they know what they're talking about? The game they describe is different from the one I played! (Makes me wonder if some of these reviewers have only played the Xbox version & decided to write a review under the PC version) For one, the graphics are way better than the first one, of course you'd expect that. Then someone complained that the AI sucked?! I can hardly take a few steps without a bunch of enemies jumping out of no where and killing me! Sometimes I gotta play certain parts at least 10 times before I can finally beat it and proceed!

I've been waiting for Halo 2 to come out for PC for a long time. I'm not a console gamer, I'm a PC gamer. The last console I've ever owned was the Super Nintendo!
*(A little side note here. I don't really get the point of buying the gaming consoles. They do put some pretty sweet games out on them, but what with having to upgrade to the next gen. console every few years and the consoles get more & more like computers all the time, it's cheaper and easier to just upgrade your PC. Besides, the PC has the best graphics anyway! I know they say that the Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 has better graphics than any computer system currently out, but better tech keeps coming out all the time and will soon surpass them both!)*
Anyway, I only played Halo 2 once, breifly, at a friends house on his Xbox when it first came out. I've been waiting for the PC version ever since. Finally I noticed online that they just got it in-stock at Best Buy on Friday (6/1) so I bought a copy immediately and went and picked it up. After just playing the single-player campaign thus far, here's what really stands out in Pros & Cons or one or the other.

*DUAL-WEILD WEAPONS*
-Pros: Finally, you get to use the other hand for something other than gripping your weapon! You get more firepower to take down your enemies quicker. If one of the weapons runs out of ammo or overheats, you got another to continue firing to kill the bad guy and prevent yourself from getting killed!
-Cons: Only certain weapons you can dual-weild, that's bad! While in dual-weilding, you can't throw a grenade! If you need to, you have to drop one of the weapons (switching to single weapon) then chunk your grenade. You should be able to at least holster it, not have to drop it.

*GRAPHICS/SOUND SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS*
-Pros: Much better than the first and comperable to other games out there now. Improved clarity, textures, effects, etc. Characters and enviroments are more detailed. The sounds are also cleaner than the first Halo. System Req.'s aren't that bad, pretty lax actually compared to other game's requirements out there. Anybody that's a computer gamer, but still hasn't upgraded their computer for at least a year should be able to play this game with no problem.
-Cons: Being that you have to have Vista to play it, and Vista is known for introducing DirectX 10, I was hoping this would use it, but it doesn't. Since I don't have a DirectX 10 graphics card yet anyway, no big loss. There are games with better graphics than this one that are at least a year old.

*GAMEPLAY*
-Pros: Many more weapons and vehicles to choose from! The physics of the game are also more real with the enviroment being effected by actions, like vehicles taking damage and blowing up, etc.
-Cons: The controls stink! It takes some practice to get use to their keyboard and mouse configuration. What's that you ask? Can't I customize it? Sure, they have a section for that! Unfortunately, it's next to impossible to change the key's actions without some warning popping up saying you can't do that! Since numerous keys are assigned to do multiple actions, (Ex.: Right-Mouse click is for throwing grenade, fire right hand weapon, and vehicle brakes/acceleration) you can't change what the key does without first deleteing that key from every other action it's assigned to! I could slap the person that programmed that part! No peripheral vision, especially with dual-weild in use! With the weapons taking up half the screen, you can't see where the enemies are firing from until after they kill you! Controls are also not sensitive enough. (Mouse)

*USER INTERFACE/ACTIVATION*
-Pros: None, except you don't need to have the DVD in the drive to play!
-Cons: Microsoft keeps getting more and more paranoid which makes using their software more of a pain in the @$!. The game acts like Vista in that you have to have a Product Key (expected) AND you have to Activate it online! Now that's rediculous! I recently upgraded some hardware in my system, which resulted in me having to rebuild Vista. When I went to activate it, it came back saying that my Product key has already been used! Well, DUH! Don't they figure that people will have to rebuild Vista like in my situation or if their hard drive crashes and need to activate it again online?! I had to end up calling them up and speaking to a customer tech. to activate it again! Will it be the same way for Halo 2 if you have to uninstall/reinstall it for whatever reason? Rediculous!

Overall, it's a fun game, but has its problems. Is it worth $49.99? Not really. If your patient, I'd wait till it goes down to $39.99 or can find it somewhere that cheap. If you just can't wait, (like me) go ahead and get it! Game on!

Halo 2 Vista - Concept great, execution lousy

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love the game, I just wish I could play more with it. As of June 1st week, the implementation of laptop Nvidia graphics drivers, Halo 2 issues, and Vista problems have combined to form an unplayable game. Unless and until there are some fixes from any and all involved parties this game is a waste of time. In the 20 min utes or so before crashing or slowing down, the game looks gorgeous. The textures, for the most part, have been updated to match the best that computer monitors have to offer, and the ability to zoom in and actually see details clearly is wonderful. Here is to hoping a 50$ investment does not go in vain.

Oh the Live service is useless in its current incarnation. First of all the service is iffy at best, constantly losing connection, and complaining about the difference between local and Live save versions, as well as offering for money capabilities PC games have had for years for free. I intend to save my money and play on dedicated server games only.

A huge let down

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: June 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

My wife originally ordered two copies of Halo 2 from Amazon for me and my son for fathers day. However, while at Walmart I decided to get a copy of the game instead of that power washer I've been wanting. :) I got home and we (my son and I) started to install the game. First there is not option for custom install. You can only play the game while installing. I don't really care for this as I like to install my games to one folder, not all over my hard drive. So okay, we waited a little, while it was doing it's thing. I tried signing up for live using my account and had a hard time getting it to log me in... or even finding the place to log into live. The buttons on screen for navigating the menus are the A,B,X,Y buttons you'll find on the XBox controller. Not very good if you ask me. I like PC games and steer away from consoles. This game definately has a console feel to it. So we move on.... Videos are good, graphics are pretty good... game play.. well it feels like a console. The aiming system has too much compensation built in. Here's the short story, I was let down as this game feels like a console game and the menus are hard to navigate. Bungie and M$ didn't do much in the way of making this a fun game for the PC. Rather just made the console game play on the PC. I will be returning my two copies already in shipping to Amazon for a refund and I'll stick to playing the original Halo.

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