Review: Halo 2 And The MagicBox XFPS

The original Halo was a seminal moment in console gaming. The intuitive controls and memorable gameplay of Halo's multiplayer component still makes it a gaming favorite when it comes to LAN gaming. The sequel builds on the successes of the original game with new features (such as dual weapons) and Xbox Live integration. Some minor graphical glitches and a somewhat weak plot keep this from being the best game evar, but Halo 2 is an extremely enjoyable console shooting experience. Read on for my impressions of Master Chief's return, and a look at an Xbox Peripheral that allows you to use your keyboard and mouse with Xbox shooters.

• Title: Halo 2
• Developer: Bungie Studios
• Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
• System: Xbox
• Reviewer: Zonk
• Score: 8/10

I have a confession to make. Two months ago, I was one of *those* guys. You know them. The hoity-toity PC people who swill champagne with one hand while manipulating their mouse with the other, saying "A First-Person Shooter without ze mouselook and WASD? I think not, my dear fellow. Fetch me zome more escargot." I'm a big man, though. I can admit when I'm wrong. And Halo 2 has not only proven to me that First-Person Shooters on a console can be fun, they can be handled by those of us who are used to mousing for teh win.

While I had no expectations when I first loaded Halo 2, that wasn't the case for a lot of people. The hype factor was enormous. The success of the first game and its role as a base of support for Xbox sales meant that there were a lot of frothing fans waiting for the second game's release day. A viral marketing campaign spearheaded by the Alternate Reality Game ILoveBees primed gamers for the release with tantalizing portions of the storyline. TechTV showed images of hundreds of screaming fans at the Halo 2 launch party held inside the Time Square Toys R' Us, and ran an entire day of programming based on the game. Was it all worth it? Kinda. If your expectations were centered around the multiplayer portion of the game you have a lot to celebrate, but some of the weaknesses of the first Halo's campaign are back again like a monkey on Bungie's back.

Campaign good news first, though. Bungie has taken everything enjoyable about Halo 2 and polished it until it shone. The speed and pace of the game is very enjoyable, with new game elements and locations being thrown at you as quickly as you can handle them. The AI in the game is a cut above, with enemy troops making intelligent decisions that keep you from getting lulled into a rut. Your companions, just meat filled shields in so many games, are just as on the ball as the enemy. They use tactics and firepower to overcome enemy positions, the distractions and destruction you cause allowing them to get in some good shots of their own. The storytelling is improved over the first game as well, with the campaign splitting off to allow you the opportunity to play as a disgraced Covenant warrior. The new gameplay elements and control scheme are explained in enough detail so that someone who went through the first game, as well as a new player, will have little problem getting into the action. Voice acting during the cinematics is very good, with the characters throughout the game being brought to life by a cast that obviously cared. The cinematics in general did a good job of moving the story of the game forward.

That said, there are some frustrating moments in the campaign as well. Much like Halo 2's contemporary Half-Life 2, the story of this second game feels very much like a waypoint in a larger journey. Unlike Half-Life 2, which gives you at least a modicum of closure, the story of Halo 2 ends very abruptly. Additionally while I applaud the move beyond the human frame of reference in the overall plot, the change in venue muddies the waters somewhat as regards overall cohesive storytelling. On a technical level I witnessed a lot of textures popping into view during cinematics, jarring me from enjoying them as much as I might have otherwise. The AI, which could almost convince you of a human-like mind in a ground battle, has a lot of problems when piloting a vehicle. I found myself crushed to death more than once when trusting the driver's seat to a team-mate. The most frustrating single-player experience for me, however, happened when I accidentally wandered outside of the gamespace as envisioned by the Bungie developers. Some missions were obviously meant to be traversed by a vehicle and were tedious to walk through. Annoyance with NPC drivers led me to ditch a Warthog during one of these levels, only to turn back when I realized I could be walking for quite a while. Unlike the Half-Life 2 vehicle sequences, these mid-mission vehicle changes could have been better tuned.

These frustrations didn't stop me from enjoying the relatively quick single player campaign, though. They also whet my appetite for Halo's true calling: multiplayer. The Xbox Live enabled multiplayer experience in Halo 2 is nothing short of brilliant. After logging in via your Live ID, all you need to do is pick a game type. The game's matching software hooks you into a game with other appropriately skilled players based on your previous multiplayer accomplishments. The actual gameplay has a very different tenor than traditional PC FPS gaming. Where PC gaming can allow for dead-eye marksmanship and long-range dogfighting, console FPS games are down and dirty affairs. The levels are more closed in by necessity and design. Bungie's care to the placement and composition of weapons and level components leads to a frenetic pace. The game kindly provides you with several metrics and your average lifespan is one of them. It's usually very low.

Beyond straight up deathmatch there are a multitude of gameplay options available. Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch allow for collaborative battles, while a type of "football" (using a skull) allows for more traditional team play. You can also create your own games, for local play or online action. There are several specific settings that can be tweaked, allowing for specific weapon choices and available maps. On top of the quality of the gameplay experience, thanks to Bungie's extra consideration your exploits are not transitory. By signing up for a Passport ID and linking it with your Xbox Live ID, you can view your statistics from your multiplayer battles. These stats are made available via a personalized RSS feed, as well, allowing you bragging rights via your web site or aggregator of choice.

Halo 2 may not be the best game made in 2004, but there is no question that Bungie's skill and attention to detail has crafted a worthy successor to the original game, and via the Live service introduced a fantastic substitute for more traditional LAN gaming. If you enjoy action gaming and you own an Xbox, there is simply no excuse for you not to own Halo 2.

• Product Name: MagicBox XFPS
• Developer: Farmer Entertainment
• Score: 6/10

A peripheral for the Xbox console, the XFPS fulfills the "why didn't I think of that" niche for console-based shooters. The small box allows you to plug a PS2 mouse and keyboard in, and then use them in place of a controller.

The device is simple to use, and setup involves taking off the packaging and plugging the peripheral into the controller port. The mouse and keyboard slot into standard PS2 ports on the front of the box. All other controls for the device are via the keyboard. The device directly maps the buttons on the Xbox controller to keyboard buttons and mouse movements. Which buttons on the keyboard the controller buttons map to are chosen by selecting F9, F10, or F11 on the keyboard. Which interface is currently in use is indicated by a light on the Magicbox itself. The "Blue Light" (F9) interface, for example, matches the controller. The X controller button maps to the X keyboard button. The "Red Light" (F11) interface seems more designed to take advantage of the keyboard layout, with the buttons grouped around the WASD keys.

The mapped keys work quite well. The mouse (at least for me) improved my control and accuracy while shooting. I made several shots in multiplayer games that I know I couldn't normally make with the controller. The autoaim that Halo 2 allows combines with the precise cone of movement that a mouse has to give you enhanced accuracy. The "cone of movement" part of that is the most important consideration to make when using the XFPS.

Unfortunately, while the mouse allows for increased accuracy it only allows you that accuracy as long as you don't have to turn. The problem is that mouse sensitivity is quite low, likely because of how the XFPS is mapping the thumbstick movements. In order to turn I found myself whipping the mouse across the mousepad repeatedly. The other players, able to turn with the simple angling of a thumbstick, schooled me. Halo 2 and other console based FPS titles are simply too spastic for the XFPS to be all that useful. PC titles may allow for distant fights, but the up close and personal fighting style required in console FPS games don't allow an XFPS user to move with enough agility to be a skilled player.

In addition to agility issues, actually using the XFPS can be something of a chore. The keyboard/mouse setup essentially demands a wide and flat surface along with an upright seat, not a setup you normally have in front of a television. One of the joys of console FPS gaming is the spontaneity with which you can indulge in quick fragging, and having to drag out a chair and rig specifically for the XFPS seems frustrating. There's also the issue that the XFPS is simply not a peripheral you can use for any other type of game, meaning if you want to switch games relatively often you'll be plugging and unplugging the thing just as frequently.

While the XFPS is a good idea, the lack of mouse sensitivity and necessity of setting up a rig specifically to use the peripheral makes it a device whose potential outstrips its usefulness.

Halo 2 screenshots are from Halo2.com and Bungie.net ©2004 Microsoft Games Studio and Bungie. Magicbox XFPS image is from Magicxfps.com, ©2005 Farmer Entertainment.

Comments

wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for this quick review : The game has been out, what, several MONTHS now ?

Re:wow

[wawannem]

Hey, this is useful to the last three of us that still haven't played it :-)

Re:wow

[MCraigW]

I don't think the keyboard adapter has been around long though.

I play Halo for the PC online, and I do quite well. On the X-Box however, I'm not used to the controller, and my son can kill me before I figure out what button to push.

I think the adapter is a great idea. Too bad it doesn't have the sensitivity of a keyboard and mouse hooked up to a PC.

Re:wow

[geeber]

Not only that but it was also a perfect opportunity for Zonk to let loose with a couple of nicely chosen, offensive stereotypes.

Way to go! Keep up those professional standards that we have come to expect!

Re:wow

[Skater]

I played it briefly a couple weekends ago at a friend's place. All I can say is this:

The controls are "intuitive"? I do not think that word means what Zonk thinks it means!

Surely I'd get better after some practice, but even after 10 or 15 minutes I still didn't feel like I had control of the guy...

Re:wow

[xMonkey]

Correction.

This was written for the only 3 fanb... er people still playing it.

Re:wow

[aichpvee]

The Halo controls are actually very poor, at least if you are used to playing with the left analog stick mapped to free look and the right analog stick to the z-plane movement. In this configuration it is nearly impossible to run and jump or to quickly pick up a weapon or enter a vehicle since you have to take your thumb off of the movement stick to hit any of the buttons. A problem they would not have had if d-pad were able to be mapped to the commands on the A,B,X,Y buttons. Hardly "intuitive" to make an entire control setup unuseable because of something so stupid, though I seem to be about the only one left playing in that configuration.

Re:wow

[snuf23]

Console game controls are heavily adjusted for the gamepad. I think you would really need a seperate "mouse" mode for this to be effective.
I much prefer PC gaming to console for FPS. On the console you need to be able to give up the desire for absolute control. Most games have an auto aim function which allows you to tap the stick to snap it close to an opponent. Takes some getting used to but it works decently.

Old?

[tulmad]

Why are we reviewing a game that's been out since before Thanksgiving?

Re:Old?

[gowen]

Well, because the reviewer is also the person who posted the story. And he filled it with his oh-so-hilarious French Person impersonation.

Fetch an ambulance, my sides have split.

Re:Old?

[Rei]

Because people wanted to know if it was the best game evar, of course. Apparently you don't reed slashdot oftne.

Re:Old?

[iocat]

I beat Halo 2 ages ago and it was still interesting to read.

Re:Old?

[PopeAlien]

You young people move too fast, its always rush rush rush. Why when I was a kid we didn't have these fancy-pants first person games.
We had huge blocky pixels and we liked it.
And a game stayed new for years and it only cost a quarter.

now where did I put my teeth? has anyone seen my wooden teeth?

Re:Old?

[mboverload]

Best game ever? I still cant get over the 70 degree Field of view. I grew up in Tribes with a hacked 120 degree view, all these new games (Halo, Halflife 2, Halo 2) just don't do it for me. You have to continually look around to figure out the surroundings. Considering that humans have a field of view of around 170 degrees, many games seems terribly "looking through a small box".

Re:Old?

[Auckerman]

This isn't a review of Halo, it's a advertisement for the XFPS. Bait and switch.

Re:Old?

[mboverload]

Maybe this is a joke, but I get your gist.

Graphics be damned, I want a good game. I like the old-skool games better because you are not bothered by visuals or low FPS.

Re:Old?

[i.r.id10t]

Even better is old school on fast new hardware. I broke out my original Quake cd last week, and with fuhquake I'm now playing in conditions I wish I had when Quake/QW was the Thing To Play. 1280x1024 in GL at over 100fps on dsl with sub-100 pings.

Re:Old?

[Lord_Dweomer]

' Why are we reviewing a game that's been out since before Thanksgiving?"

Because SOME company (not naming any names) has a good PR department.

Re:Old?

[PhotoBoy]

That and the reviewer uses nearly 50% of the review to pimp the XFPS, which is clearly a rip-off of the SmartJoy FRAG. Paid advertising masquerading as a game review perhaps?

Re:Old?

[swv3752]

Pretty poor ad then. When the review boils down to: Good Idea, Poor implementation

Re:Old?

[zeath]

many games seems terribly "looking through a small box"

That's because you are. Add a second and third monitor and then you'll be able to start pretending otherwise.

Re:Old?

[jarrod.smith]

Whippersnappers - when I was a lad, we didn't have XBox at all. We had a cardboard box AND WE LIKED IT!!

hrmph...

Re:Old?

[jacksonj04]

Half-Life 2's Widescreen solves this quite nicely, at least on my triple 19" TFTs :D

Seriously though, I agree with you. 70 is too small, but unless you have monitors you can curve around you (i.e. 2, ideally 3 or more) then it just causes weird vision when it moves too quickly round the edges as you spin.

Not to say it doesn't have advantages in being able to paste hackers in CS when they think you can't see them.

Re:Old?

[jeremiahbell]

I'm only twenty one years old, but I enjoy the old school games just as much, if not more, than the new games.

My favorite game, peroid, is Defender Stargate. I know a lot of you old fogies played Defender, but the truely hard-core hit Stargate and knew the true addiction came from the zen. If you played it you know what I mean.

Bungie be damned, up with Jarvis.

Re:Old?

[CaptnMArk]

Too bad the review says it sucks compared to a PC.

I was actualy considering buying a console until I found out that games don't support plugging the mouse and keyboard.

Considering that, it's useless for real FPSs

Re:Old?

[787style]

Widescreen support in Halo 2 doesn't even come CLOSE to fixing this. You actually lose screen real estate on widescreen. They cut off the top and bottom part of the screen and enlarge the remainder - you aren't getting a wider view.

I have yet to see a game which supports widescreen actually increase the viewable area.

Re:Old?

[ChaosDiscord]

...it's a advertisement for the XFPS. If this is an advertisement, Slashdot needs further work. When most gaming sites suck up to an advertiser, they say things like "10/10!!!!1!!1one! Perfect in every possible way!" They don't tend to say things like "6/10" (pretty mediocre by most standards) and "...the up close and personal fighting style required in console FPS games don't allow an XFPS user to move with enough agility to be a skilled player."

Re:Old?

[Koiu Lpoi]

And that is why I am replaying things like, Oh, Half-Life. And Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles.

Re:Old?

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's a bait and switch it's a horrible one. He basically says "this device is more or less uselsss for FPS gaming on the Xbox" which is it's whole purpose.

Re:Old?

[yammosk]

The GP said that Half Life 2's Widescreen support solved the problem. HL2's widescreen is infact TRUE widescreen. There is more viewable area than the normal view.

Re:Old?

[Rei]

Could be worse. Have you ever played Magic Carpet? They had many display modes, one of which was a stereogram mode. That is, to say, you have to play the game with your eyes crossed.

After that, having to deal with only a 70 degree FOV doesn't seem that bad. :)

Re:Old?

[barc0001]

Paid advertising masquerading as a game review perhaps?

So saying it's not so great, and has at least one dealbreaker flaw (for me) is pimping? By that standard, pretty much any review must be whoring for products, so we should stop reading reviews completely and just go back to buying shit based on the packaging and hoping it works out for the best.

Re:Old?

[batkiwi]

I'm fairly certain that they designed it for 16x9. I don't know if they cut the top, or expand the edge, to make it 16x9, but either way it looks "better" that way.

Re:Old?

[Ford Prefect]

Vaguely on-topic - in terms of screen resolution independence, Half-Life 2 is pretty nifty. For the HUD numbers and weapon icons, instead of needing different bitmap images of different scales for different screen sizes, it uses a Truetype font.

It's a somewhat ... unexpected solution, but it does make some kind of sense. And it means peculiar new resolutions are fine, and as long as the first-person weapon models work in the aspect ratio being used, things will look just as good. No need to redesign or messily rescale the whole user interface for a new display resolution (as would probably be the case with Halo 2), it's all done with vectors...

Steam\SteamApps\your@email.address\half-life 2\hl2\resource\ - fonts! :-)

Re:Old?

[Chiron Taltos]

I rather doubt it's paid advertising. I base that on the review summation ...

While the XFPS is a good idea, the lack of mouse sensitivity and necessity of setting up a rig specifically to use the peripheral makes it a device whose potential outstrips its usefulness.

Looks to be just an honest review. I don't think there should be an onus on reviews that don't occur at the time of release. Sometimes I find later reviews to be less biased, both for and against, and more informative because they are removed from all the marketing hype.

Re:Old?

[CronoCloud]

See the Playstation 2, oh look it has USB ports. Take keyboard and mouse and plug them in.

However they keyboard is useless for intuitive moment, you're best off using the analog stick for movement and the mouse for aiming.

Thats how I play Half Life and Deus Ex.

Re:Old?

[Enrico Pulatzo]

As much as it bugs me too, look at the freaking character. Huge helmet with big-ass visor. Field of vision should be less than optimal (though I would argue that -100 degrees is WAY too small).

Re:Old?

[gmhowell]

Because this is a review based on a shipping game, not a pre-release?

Because Zonk needed a story, and did this?

Re:Old?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have your wooden teeth. I am carving a miniature chess set out of them. I will use this chess set to teach my pet frog to play, much as I was once taught. In time, my dear frog's intellect will undoubtedly grow without bound. If he can avoid dissection and keep off the sauce, he will surely become the first amphibian Grand Master.

Re:Old?

[dmf415]

The smartjoy cannot program any of the joystick controls on the mouse...
for example, I use right click to go forward, you can't program forward on the mouse.

I had to hard wire my right mouse click to the keyboard. In order to do this successfully, you have to segregate the mouse switch by cutting the traces on the mouse.

Re:Old?

[shoptroll]

Hmmm...

UT2004 defaults to 90 FOV. You can easily change that in the game options without needing to hack anything. And if you grew up on Tribes, I'd suggest giving U2XMP or its WIP port UTXMP (http://www.free-monkey.com) if you're interested.

Re:Old?

[Anonymous Coward]

As a competitive Halo 1 player, I'll tell you all that Halo 2 has lost a serious portion of its competitive elements. The game has far more computer assistance, most apparent in the easy-to-use sniper rifle. A lot of the Halo 1 tournament players have given up Halo all together because Major League Gaming (www.mlgpro.com) has dumped Halo 1 from it's tournament schedule in favor of Halo 2.

What made Halo 1 fun for competitive players, just like Counter-Strike or MvC2, was the depth of gameplay. You could always learn something new. When I started playing Halo 2, I felt like I had already mastered the game within a few days.

Re:Old?

[Anonymous Coward]

I still play Quake 1 frequently. Partly because it runs well on the PCs at work, which lack any kind of 3D acceleration and thus must use software mode, so it's perfect for the spontanious Office Deathmatch. But mainly because it's still a fun game. It has cool weapons, great dark atmosphere, fun "pick up and play" gameplay, and there is an abundance of usermade maps and mods available. Plus there is the reason you mentioned. Sure it's no Half-Life 2; doesn't have super-realstic physics or extra-detailed textures, but who gives a shit? It still has charm and appeal and above all it's fun. There's a reason people still play it ten years later.

dotdotdot

[rylin]

Karma-be-damned, why the FUCK is this on slashdot?

Next up, slashvertisement for the Phantom? For bellybutton-fluff?

Re:dotdotdot

[jolande]

It's always interesting to see another look at a game after all the hype has worn off. So, why not read through this review?

Re:dotdotdot

[Night Goat]

I enjoyed the review as a change of pace from the "Holy SHIT, Halo 2 is the best game ever made!!" type of reviews that every magazine I have read decided to print.

Re:dotdotdot

[Anonymous Coward]

are you incapable of reading anything that some company did?

i guess slashdot should limit itself to ONLY things done by nonprofits, otherwise it will be an advertisement.

you sir, are an idiot.

Re:dotdotdot

[88NoSoup4U88]

Yes, damn those editors !

Why didn't my bellybutton-fluff-hardware get any FP ?! It runs Linux , uh uh ;)

Re:dotdotdot

[TheDefenistrator]

Even as a hardcore FPS gamer, I must admit that Halo 2 is a decent game. I truely liked the origional. Basically, halo trys to be Quake/UT with a halflife meets AvP style storyline.

It fails.

It is a good game, and nothing else. It is no messiah for console gamers. If you want FPS's, buy a damn PC (and a copy of HL2).

hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Halo 2 came out ages ago... this review is a little shamefully late for a "news for nerds" site. I saw a review on CNN months ago...

ads.slashdot.org

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello! I'm a non-paid ad for a product that shiped last year, and a keyboard adapter hiding as news!

Re:ads.slashdot.org

[daemon_mf]

Yup, an ad for a game that came out several months ago and a device that was given a 6/10 score... I sure as hell hope the those companies didn't pay full price for those ads!

I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Dance_Dance_Karnov]

In the realm of console FPSes, Goldeneye(N64) > Everything else. and Halo = Suckage

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[ShyGuy91284]

I wholly agree. Even the controls in Goldeneye were great (I'd love to see their targeting controls reimplemented in another game).

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[GryphonKlaw]

Yes, you speak the truth. Halo and Halo 2 are just bland FPS games, on console or not. The controls are fine for consoles but the game is still boring.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Gherikill]

agreed!

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you tried TimeSplitters 2? It dethrones even Goldeneye in my view.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[FinestLittleSpace]

i follow this too.

Goldeneye was an absolute breakthrough in console fps's. Absolutely incredible game. Perfect dark was also very VERY good but it did lack the certain girttyness and atmosphere that goldeneye oozed.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Jim_Maryland]

I'm glad it's not just me that finds Halo to be a poor game to play. I'll first say that I don't have an Xbox so my exposure is limited on the game. Halo2 just seems to move way to slow compared to other games. I'd much rather play GoldenEye as you mentioned or BattleField 1942/Vietnam over Halo2.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[VoidWraith]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the only reason people still think Goldeneye is good is nostalgia. Yes, it was a breakthrough, but whenever I play it, I get a sore thumb, and the controls are poor. The N64 is NOT a FPS controller, in any way shape or form. Nor is the gamecube. It just doesn't work. In the realm of console FPSes, everything sucks, but Halo has the least suck. There are others that meet a similar level, but the only console that an FPS can be enjoyable on is the Xbox. The controllers of the other two and older consoles are not good for it at all.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[drxray]

What he said. TimeSplitters 2 > TS1 > Goldeneye 64 > not worth it*.

Mind you, unreal champsionship 2 and TS 3 are both out soon.

*haven't played halo 2. Maybe it got better.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[karnal]

Oozing grittyness and atmosphere.

That sounds painful. Kinda like kidneystones.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus, it has the distinction of being the game that Ed plays in Shaun of the Dead.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Anonymous Coward]

*haven't played halo 2. Maybe it got better.

worse, actually. oh so much worse

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[Anonymous Coward]

PS2 has better controllers for FPSes. Those dual triggers are damn useful.
Mind you, Halo doesn't even have alt-fires, so if that's your game then it doesn't matter so much. I'd still like to have fire, grenade, punch and zoom all on the triggers.
Anyway, real FPS gamers use PCs, and unless Xbox 2 comes with keyboard and mouse (and VGA/DVI port so you can plug it into a decent display) that's not going to change.

Re:I've said it before and i'll say it again

[CronoCloud]

Not only is the Dual Shock 2 a great controller thats good for all genre's the PS2 has USB ports so you can plug a keyboard and mouse in.

I prefer a hybrid control of Dual shock in left hand for analog movement, mouse in right hand for aiming.

Woah, jumping the gun a little bit?

[Xaviar21]

I mean jeeze.. These reviews come out so fast, now a days.. How are the reviewers supposed to get a good feel for the game in so short a time?

Re:Woah, jumping the gun a little bit?

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't the worst Slashdot has ever done. They came out with a review of U-571 two years after it was released.

review?

[Fr05t]

Doesn't a review of Halo 2 seem a bit, er no make that very redundant? Seriously who hasn't at the very least seen this game being played? This is like doing a review of packing tape, a new device called a 'mouse', or a chair.

Re:review?

[temojen]

I haven't seen it played. Of course I don't care either. I just came t this thread to read the complaints about it being a blatant advertizement.

Re:review?

[losinggeneration]

I haven't seen it played because Halo su.... I mean.... *cough* I don't get out much.... Yes... nice cover-up to save karma.....

Re:review?

[Alizarin Erythrosin]

Seriously who hasn't at the very least seen this game being played?

Me.

Sensitivity

[Tom7]

Halo 2 has sensitivity settings. Did you try that? (!)

Re:Sensitivity

[datasetgo]

no i didn't, you insensitive clod!

Re:Sensitivity

[The Wooden Badger]

No, I did not try sensitivity settings, you insensitive clod!

Re:Sensitivity

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, good one. Might want to read the other replies first.

Re:Sensitivity

[The Wooden Badger]

I guessI didn't see the other reply. Sorry to waste your time, AC.

That's Easy!

[gphat]

To advertise a gaming peripheral, that's why!

Re:That's Easy!

[Anonymous Coward]

IMHO, The gaming peripheral is too little, too late anyway.

Too little, because it only works with PS2 gear, which is obsolete junk.

Too late, because the X-Box just moved out of my family room in favor of a much more versitile media room computer, complete with Bluetooth keyboard & mouse.

"Memorable Gameplay "

[grimsweep]

No offense to the author, but given how much of the level architecture is repeated in the single player, I think I'd mention it has memorizable gameplay, too...

Re:"Memorable Gameplay "

[Anonymous Coward]

Your joke would be funny if you were talking about the original Halo, but its obvious you haven't even played Halo 2 (either that, or you didn't pay much attention). Halo 2 has very little repeated architecture.

Re:"Memorable Gameplay "

[nutshell42]

Obligatory:

this and this

(Note: the second is from a gamespy.com grudge (poll) but apparently gamespy's scrapped the archive; at least there were only links for the last few grudges and I didn't see a way to access older ones

Monday February 21, @08:10AM ??

[steve6534]

Isn't this one a little late ?

Tune in next week

[CleverNickedName]

For a full review of "Pong" and an exclusive preview of "Pac-Man".

Images with the article...a /. first?

[Rude Turnip]

Hmm, I don't think I've ever seen images accompany an article on Slashdot before. Or maybe I don't read enough of them.

Re:Images with the article...a /. first?

[Anonymous Coward]

It really is the first time I've seen images on /. but I think it's the more expensive version of the advertisment package, the basic package being plain text Slashvertisment to Roland Piquepaille's blog.

Welcome to the world of yesterday...

[MegaManXcalibur]

Ok old news doesn't even begin to cover this. This game has been out for months, and everybody under the sun has already reviewed it.

If you feel so inclinded to review a game please review something new. I know quite a few games that could use a few reviews.

annoying talking robot?

[Karma Sucks]

What happened to that annoying spherical talking robot? Can't remember what he was called. At the end of the Halo credits you see him spinning around, so I guess he survived.

Is he back in Halo 2?

Re:annoying talking robot?

[MegaManXcalibur]

I think his name is Guilty Spark, and yes he is back in Halo 2.

Re:annoying talking robot?

[Blakey Rat]

He has buddies. That's about what I can answer without giving away any plot.

Re:annoying talking robot?

[Anonymous Coward]

What plot?

Review

[SafteyMan]

Well, the Halo2 Review adds nothing we haven't known for months (It came out in the begining of November for crying out loud) but the review of the MagicBox XFPS was good. I was considering purchasing one. I heard it beats a controller for sniping.

Seminal uh?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

The original Halo was a seminal moment in console gaming.

Given that "seminal" has another meaning, I wonder if Zonk means Halo 2 is a game to drop your pants and jerk off about...

Re:Seminal uh?

[Dr. Shim]

That would be Half-Life 2. :)

Why is Halo so popular?

[kerrle]

I'll flat out admit that the game has quite an interesting story - I beat Halo 1 and I've put a few hours into Halo 2.

But revolutionary? Not at all. The controls are pretty much identical to any number of other console FPS's, and the graphics, while certainly decent, aren't as good as any modern PC shooter - or even quite a few other XBox and Gamecube games - even if we're talking about Halo 2.

I'm not saying it's not a good game series, but I do fail to see what it brought to market that hadn't been done before.

All I can figure is that enough people hadn't seen multiplayer in that style on a console, so it felt new.

It is a decent game series - one with a great story - but it doesn't come anywhere near deserving of the acclaim it seems to get. Obviously just my opinion, of course...

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[Have Blue]

Don't forget that Halo 1 was an Xbox launch title. Most of the console FPSes with identical controls and better graphics came out after it did.

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[kerrle]

Plenty came out first - dual analog for FPS has been around since just a little after the PS1 got Dual Shock.

Even before that, you had games like Turok on the N64, which used the analog stick for look, and the four arrow buttons for movement - a very similar result, really. Heck, even the N64 version of Quake was pretty playable - the joystick substituted for mouselook, and the arrow buttons became WASD. Circle-strafing and all worked fine - or at least as well as Halo.

As far as graphics go - well, I just don't agree. There are some snazzy environment mapping effects in Halo 1, sure, but overall, the polycount is very low and some of the effects - like the fog - just don't look very good.

Halo 2 just came out, and it just feels very unpolished graphically - I've seen LOD models jump to higher-quality versions during the middle of cutscenes, when they should have been high-quality the whole time, and there are a variety of other quirks.

RE4 for the Gamecube was released about the same time, looks better, and doesn't have any of these problems (or the load time), even without the benefit of a hard drive to cache to.

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[FinestLittleSpace]

ah bullcrap. theyre all just little attempts to try and replicate 'the goldeneye effect' (note: they cant)

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[Anonymous Coward]

IIRC, RTCW came out around the same time on the PC. It had a much better single player and ALOT better multiplayer than Halo 1.

64 player RTCW > *

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[Scudsucker]

the graphics, while certainly decent, aren't as good as any modern PC shooter

The first Halo game would have been, for its time, if asasdf7*&*&asdf Microsfot hadn't bought out Bungie and changed the game from a Mac/Pc game to an XBox only game. I was showing some PC users the Macworld demo, and one of them said "there's no way that's rendered in real time." There are a lot of Mac gamers who don't hate Microsoft for Windows or for being a monopoly, but for buying Bungie and turning an awsome computer game into a console game. And console FPS's suck due the the controls. And having to use split screen. And the lack of user mods (just about all the new stuff in Halo 2 could have been a user mod of the first game).

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[sixoseven]

Halo2 is popular for several reasons, and I say this as an XBox gamer who has been on XBox Live since the beginning. This is important to know because I've been in hundreds of chats online with gamers who are veterans of Counterstrike and plenty of gamers who play multiple platforms.

1. Halo2 has got some of the largest environments of any FPS, and they are very intricate and well balanced for online play.

2. Spawn killing is practically impossible.

3. There are huge numbers of modes of play, all of which are customizeable.

4. Most of the gamers are more mature, not all, but on average it's a more thoughtful strategic kind of online game than something like Unreal, but not as tediously strategic as Full Spectrum Warrior.

5. It forces you to chose weapons carefully. You can't carry around more than three at any one time.

But what I would say is the bottom line is that it sells. This is the game that has held its own against everything else on the platform: Ghost Recon, DeusEx, 007, XIII, Rainbow Six, Counterstrike, Medal of Honor, StarWars Battlefront...

Halo2 can't be the subjectively best game of all time because not all gamers play on the same platforms. But it is the biggest unit seller for the XBox, bigger than any other. That ain't hay.

But for gamers who play PC, XBox, GC & PS2, it still gets lots of respect. That's saying plenty.

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[jafac]

Revolutionary, yes. . .

had Bungie *not* been bought by Microsoft, and the source code hijacked from Mac OS X over to DirectX/Xbox - the game probably would have hit the stores about a year earlier. And THEN it would have been revolutionary. But as it was, Halo was just a day late and a dollar short.

On the other hand, they just plain dropped the ball on Halo 2. All Bungie did was to re-introduce neat features that had existed in Marathon 2 but somehow didn't make it into Halo. (ie. dual weappon use).

Next up for Halo 3: grenade-hopping, and air-supply for extended underwater or vacuum levels.

Re:Why is Halo so popular?

[Anonymous Coward]

My advice is to try it or stfu. I used to only like computer FPS.. And mostly, I still do. They controls suck on consoles. The halo series on the other hand is brilliantly intuitive.

Controls are fine tuned. Weapon balance is probably the best since counterstrike. The level design is fantastic. There is no better.

The soundtrack isnot only good, but the best there is. Enemies are fun. AI is also (besides humans in vehicles) the best I've seen.

I'm positive vehicles behave better than any other game.

There is no pc game that allow such freedom in multiplayer options either.
So basically, the gameplay is way better than anything the been coffed up one the pc lately.

The dialogue sucks. The story is not that great. It still feels epic compared to any other story. Farcry bored the crap out of me. If you can mention a single computer FPS, besides HL2, with a story that is'nt completely pathetic, I'll eat my shorts.

Graphics is way better than the new boring Doom game or any Unreal game. Better than all the WW2-games. Better than all the tom clancy games.

Games like Vampire: Bloodlines and Half-life2 beats the crap out of halo2's graphics, true. But the artwork is so good. So visually it is just as good as every computer game I've played. And I play them all.

If you like any FPS, you should love the halo series. You will, if you try. I mean, I like some games a lot, but there is a reason I'm fanatic about this one. I bought the box for halo, no regrets. And I don't miss keyboard and mouse a bit. Halo PC doesn't work for me at all. Felt clumsy.

One hopes you'll be a little timelier...

[Anonymous Coward]

...when that Duke Nukem: Forever review becomes due. With the expected lead time, you'll have no excuses for tardiness.

Hmm

[Auckerman]

The main noticable differences between Halo and Halo 2 is dual wield and different maps. Of course the only way I've ever played it (and Halo) is on a lan of xboxes with 10+ people, so the story line has little relevence to me. Too bad you can't dual wield rocket launchers.

Uh...

[Anonymous Coward]

"The original Halo was a seminal moment in console gaming."

Uh, no it wasn't.

Re:Uh...

[Anonymous Coward]

Semenal, maybe, for idiot fanboys.

Funny... Microsoft must be paying for these

[xutopia]

The day Halo 2 lauched (in Quebec) there was a news article on it. They even had interviews with some Quebec developers working in the states on Halo 2. This was the first time I ever heard a video game make the news on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).

Why did Microsoft's game make the news? Usually a game doesn't.

Could the new marketing be information dressed up as important news? The only oustanding thing about Halo 2 is the amount of cash they spent on marketing the game. Otherwise it's an ok game.

Sold out

[draxredd]

i'm out of here, it stinks.

I wish...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish all I had to do in life to make myself feel important was to write video game reviews. By doing so, Zonk clearly opens the door for himself to enter the world of the cultural elite. Although his contribution may seem small and perhaps even insignificant to most of the world's population, I'm sure Zonk worked hard day and night to prepare this thought provoking review of Halo 2. While it may not appear in any of the nation's better magazines, Zonk can console himself that his tome will be read by some of the most faux-educated, pretentious bastards *evar* to grace our planet. Good job Zonk!

Re:I wish...

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Zonk can console himself

Nice pun in an otherwise thoroughly offtopic comment...

Slashdot.

[KanSer]

News for nerds. Stuff that mattered (3 months ago).

Zonk...

[Anonymous Coward]

you are the suck.

Next Up: Super Mario Brothers

[ppp]

Always count on Slashdot for the latest reviews!

Unfortently...

[Bob64]

I believe the reviewer should have seen the teaser e3 gameplay movie or any of the other bungie-released teasers when making the judgement on the game... The released video clips makes me feel that the game in the clips is a completely different game then halo2...

I also believe that the music in Halo2 is alot less fitting as the first Halo...

But hey, the game looks different in everyone's eyes. Interesting to see anothers viewpoint.

When the going gets weird...

[Thud457]

Hunter S Thompson is off the spoke!!!!

Nobody can save you now, beeeotches!

meh

[bersl2]

I still think Halo is for poseurs. And I'll say it without going AC.

And if you want to talk about intuitive controls on a console FPS, you should be talking about Goldeneye. The engineer @ MS who decided that it would be a good idea to make the control sticks push in for buttons should be simultaneously applauded for creativity and beaten over the head with the 2x4 of Enlightenment for stupidity.

Re:meh

[DaveCBio]

You do realize that the PS2 also has push down joysticks? Also, the controller for the N64 was ass, as were the controls for Goldeneye. It's far easier to control any FPS on the Xbox controller S than any of the current console controllers.

Re:meh

[athakur999]

The original PlayStation had push down sticks as well. The only PS1 game I've played that actually used them by default was some Tom Clancy game though.

Re:meh

[Anonymous Coward]

The N64 Controller is second only the Gamecube's. You do realize there weren't analog sticks before that, Sony ripped that off too.

Re:meh

[FinestLittleSpace]

The gods will strike you down for talking badly of goldeneye. Nasty person.

Re:meh

[bersl2]

No, I did not realize that the PS2 also has push down joysticks.

My reasoning behind my complaint is that the default controls in Halo assign crouch and zoom to the press-in buttons, which makes those two things absolutely impossible to control for me. I do not know what control configs are available, as I don't personally posess---nor would I want to posess---an Xbox or Halo. I would periodically play it with friends---I will compromise my principles for occasional socialization---and they thought it was the greatest. thing. evar., in complete ignorance of LAN parties and the great games that established the tradition.

And I will still never truly like playing a full FPS on a console.

And I don't think the N64 controller sucked, nor did the controls for Goldeneye. To each his own, but one should not disrespect the great games that came before it by implying that Halo is somehow revolutionary by its own merits.

Re:meh

[DaveCBio]

So, let me get this straight. You are bitching about a game and a control scheme that you tried a few times and calling it an affront to your "principles"? So, I assume that the moment you picked up the controller and played Goldeneye it was like second nature. No fumbling, looking up when you meant to look down, nothing like that? It took me a couple hours to get proficient with Halo, but after that it felt great. The layout makes sense and is about as close to a KB/mouse set-up as you can get. I played Goldeneye almost constantly over a weekend both single and multiplayer and never felt comfortable with the controls. Tradition is fine and all, but fun is what matters the most. I'm not about to sacrifice a decent control scheme and controller for the sake of nostalgia. Goldeneye was a first and it did an admirable job, but just like the original Doom it doesn't hold up well with time. If you want to stick with your N64 and miss out on the fun of the newer console games go for it.

Re:meh

[floodo1]

halo is not fun compared to pc fps

Best Game

[say__10]

"....from being the best game evar" I agree it is not the best game EVAR also. Not sure what "evar" is but who am I to complain.

Late game reviews by Zonk

[Anonymous Coward]

This is as timely as his Burnout 3 review from a few months back.

Re:Sensitivity !?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Halo 2 has sensitivity settings. Did you try that? (!)

Yes, you can jack the sensitivity up, in which case all your weapons fire bunny slippers and you apologize profusely for disturbing your enemies. After a point you start feeling so guilty that instead of killing them, you try to get them all over to your place to watch "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" while sharing some Doritos and salsa and sing "Ebony and Ivory".

Excuses

[Omniscientist]

If you enjoy action gaming and you own an Xbox, there is simply no excuse for you not to own Halo 2.

Yes there is. It's called debt.

Re:Excuses

[MegaManXcalibur]

If your're going to be in debt might as well do it right and buy every game you can find!

Re:Excuses

[legojenn]

If you enjoy action gaming and you own an Xbox, there is simply no excuse for you not to own Halo 2.

Yes there is. It's called debt.

Maybe some of us don't like killing and shooting and being killed and shooting and getting shot at ad nauseum. Some of us are so much spending time driving cars around in circles and smashing into things, that we have no game time left for Halo....and the expense of HALO is too much for me credit card to bear.

Re:Excuses

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes there is. It's called debt.

Why'd you buy an xbox if you can't afford games for it? And how did you afford the xbox if you can't afford a game?

More Reviews!

[killermookie]

Stay tuned for my reviews of Zork, Space Quest and the highly popular Doom! You can use a keyboard and mouse with it!

Plus, the new multiplayer for Doom! It's amazing!

Re:More Reviews!

[Reignking]

What's a mouse?

What about Quake 3?

[dioscaido]

Did that end up being any good?

Re:What about Quake 3?

[leerpm]

Next on Slashdot. Super Mario Bros. 2 reviewed!

Re:What about Quake 3?

[WoBIX]

Storyline could have used some work.

First there were four frags left, then three, then two...

Fairly predictable. But still, I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats.

Re:Funny... Microsoft must be paying for these

[DaveCBio]

Come on, do you really think CBC is taking kickbacks from MS? It's just that MS did some saturated marketing and news needs filler so when Halo 2 popped up on the radar they decided to mention it.

Recount!

[Argon Sloth]

/me raises his hand. Looks around and counts. 7. 7 people who haven't played Halo 2, Ah-ha-ha-ha *Lightning strikes in background*

huh?

[nothingx]

The hoity-toity PC people who swill champagne with one hand while manipulating their mouse with the other,

So, one hand on the mouse, one hand on the champagne, one hand on the WADS... wait, is it just me, or does it sound like this guy has too many hands?

Re:huh?

[kerrle]

Oh, that's just Zaphod. He's just this guy, you know?

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea, and he didn't tell you where his 4th hand was..... I wont go there :P

Re:Funny... Microsoft must be paying for these

[Anonymous Coward]

They even had interviews with some Quebec developers

Surely you mean Canadian developers...

hoity-toity PC people?

[iamhassi]

"The hoity-toity PC people who swill champagne with one hand while manipulating their mouse with the other, saying "A First-Person Shooter without ze mouselook and WASD? I think not, my dear fellow. Fetch me zome more escargot." "

since they have the original Halo on PC I guess I'm still one of those "hoity-toity" PC people. Sorry, nothing replaces mouse and keyboard, and yes I've played Halo 2 on console and didn't like it without my preciousssssssssss mouse....

Because

[ergo98]

It's the best submission EVAR!

Re:Get a Smartjoy Frag

[Anonymous Coward]

Although i have the smarty joy frag...

sure it works...but the mouse movement seems to be very choppy if you try and adjust the sensitivity...

but other than that it is ok...if you are used to playing a fps on a tv...if you are not like me...it will be a waste of money...since you may have trouble since you don't have the screen right in front of you...

Halo

[fozzmeister]

Was not revolutionary, In terms of looks it was somewhere between Quake1 and 2, In terms of multiplayer it was somewhere around Quake1 with badly balanced weapons.

I haven't played Halo2 yet, but I got bored of Halo1 very quickly, I don't think I will find anything in it that compares even remotely with Doom3, Half Life 2.

This was interesting to me

[eihab]

I'm not a FPS fan myself nor do I play a lot of XboX.

My older brother was here a week ago and he's into FPS. He played Halo 2 with my other brothers and the first thing he said "I wish I had a keyboard and a mouse!" (He played Halo 1 on his PC).

I didn't know there was an extension for XboX to plug in keyboards and mice, I'm sure my older brother would have bought XFPS just to play Halo 2 on the 2 weeks vacation he was here.

I wonder though if Xebian takes advantage of this device. I ran it before on the XboX, but it was extremely painful to use the joystick to control the mouse pointer and to type.

I use my computer for serious work (Yes, that includes posting to Slashdot :P) and I got really excited about Xebian because my younger brothers use the computer for basic web browsing and instant-messaging, and Xebian can satisfy that and get them off my back.

If Xebian uses XFPS, I'll definitely get it!

Re:This was interesting to me

[kerrle]

Making USB-to-XBox adaptors is fairly trivial, either way, and you can also mod an XBox to take USB.

XBox controller ports are really just USB ports with some extra lines to power the rumble.

Re:This was interesting to me

[eihab]

Thanks for the reply :)

I just tend to shy away from things that could damage my hardware, and XboX's are fairly expensive around here.

I did a quick search on Xebian's Wiki, but nothing came up for XFPS or MagicBox. I'm too busy to look elsewhere right now..

Review Pointless, Multiplayer Tips Better

[Space_Soldier]

It would have been better if you wrote a tutorial on how to achieve greatness in multilayer mode. I'm tired of dying every few seconds. Also, about 20% of my bullets reach the target. Yet another review of HALO2, a few months late too, is pointless.

Re:Review Pointless, Multiplayer Tips Better

[MegaManXcalibur]

It would have been better if you wrote a tutorial on how to achieve greatness in multilayer mode.

Thats easy... get the sniper rifle, find a nice hiding spot that offers a good view of the map and let rounds fly.

Perversely Retro

[sixoseven]

The XBox controller is the most advanced gaming controller ever made. I'm talking about the first one, not the japanese style controller two. The 'Duke' controller was made for adults, people with big hands.

For those of us who actually work with keyboards, the idea of sitting and gaming with sections of them is kinda, well.. so 1988. A-10 Warthog Flight Sim anyone? I can understand the new USB joysticks and special gaming keyboards, but to take a controller port and map it to QWERTY - it's positively retro.

You're never going to get the vibration into the keyboard, and for those of us who have mastered the finer points of Halo 2, like knowing how many needles we can take before exploding in a hail of purple rain, we're going to own you like a pocketful of nickels.

As for Half-Life 2. I've thought about it, but I'm looking for the USB adapter that lets me plug my XBox controller into the PC.

Re:Perversely Retro

[X0563511]

Considering I couldn't lift my own weight with my arms after using the "Duke" controller for 20 minutes, and I can type/mouse for 7 hours without sideaffect, I would say there is something seriously wrong with it.

No other pad/joystick/controller has given me such a problem, and I don't exactly have small hands.

This game isnt even that good.

[herbicidal maniac]

really, play VTM:Bloodlines :P

"the best game evar"

[Saiyine]

...the best game evar.

Are you saying seriusly that this game is better than pac-man? Or doom?

This is such a schill...

[raam]

..how does crap like this make it on Slashdot? I thought this was a news site, not a bloody review docket.

Best game Evah?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

It's a first person shooter = While "eye candy" is getting better, how will a first person shooter ever top real games like MOO, Diablo(s), Starcraft(s) or other enduring favorites like X-Com?

And actually, having played Halo - I think a better game for FPS was Clancy's Ghost Recon. At least that took some skill.

Re:Best game Evah?

[sbma44]

I think you may not have played these games enough to really understand. Once you attain the level where you know when each item on a map will respawn, and what every tiny noise means (revealing where your opponent is and what he's doing), the game becomes a significant strategic challenge. Add to that the need for split-second reflexes and the ability to instantly respond to novel situations and you end up with an experience that I and many others think is *far* more compelling than, say, the endless clicking of Diablo.

Re:Best game Evah?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

And if you think that Halo builds that level you're easily impressed.

Want skill based games where you have to concentrate and not just memorize spawners? Try any of the tom clancy terrorist games - instead of running around and aiming at bushes you'll have to actually slow down, think and develop real reflexes.

irregardless, "Best game evah" needs to be a bit more than a FPS. And that's the main point.

Re:Best game Evah?

[sbma44]

Well, I agree that Halo is *massively* overrated. Give me Q1, Q3A or Doom2 any day. Console gaming is so much easier, though...

I disagree that "Best game evah" needs to be more than an FPS. I think that's just a question of taste. I know plenty of people who don't care for them, but for me there really isn't a more enjoyable genre.

Re:Best game Evah?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

I'm polar opposite on that - FPS's take back seat to me and I'd rather load up evil genius, or Stacraft, or Dungeon Keeper.

I still pull out MOO, and MOO 2 all of which to me are better than doom 3.

I do confess I liked half-life.

My main beef with FPS's are when the authors get bored and do the "Jump or Die" bit - it isn't a three dimensional environment, and it doesn't take into effect balance so If I do slip or get knocked off because of a flying skull - I roll my eyes and talk about the developers small penis size for relying on something idiotic to slow the pace of the game.

Re:Best game Evah?

[Reignking]

Great call on MOO2...but perhaps the biggest disappointment ever was MOO3. Three weeks after playing that game I still didn't know what was going on...

Re:Best game Evah?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

You missed the memo - that game which you spoke of is to never be discussed or even acknowledged to exist.

I'll skip the beating I'm supposed to give you, and let you retain your pinkie fingers if you never, ever mention that game again. Not that the game ever existed mind you, I'm just mentioning it in a purely existential non corporal sort of way....

I don't get it

[idlake]

I just don't get the fascination with Halo/Halo 2. Compared to games like HalfLife, Unreal, Quake 1-3, or Doom 1-3, Halo to me seemed like a rather "corporate" effort: the Halos were competently implemented and offered pretty good game play, but ultimately, I didn't find them as entertaining.

I found the single player campaigns in the Halos particularly dull (I didn't even bother finishing the one in Halo 2). Halo and Halo 2 seems at its best in multiplayer mode, where I think it offers a fairly user-friendly multiplayer FPS.

Of course, maybe I could just relate better to Gordon Freeman, nerd that he is, than to whatever the guy in Halo was called. Still, Half Life didn't take itself too seriously and was funny at times, yet also creepy and entertaining, and I didn't find much of that in Halo.

Damn

[lasmith05]

So I was actually kind of excited about the prospect of playing with a keyboard and mouse on the xbox. I generally hate playing FPSs on a console because of it. But according to the review, the adapter isn't that good. :(

Not exactly an advertisement

[Andy Dodd]

The general conclusion of the reviewer was, "nice concept, doesn't work that well in Halo because mouse sensitivity is way too low."

In short, hardcore keyboard-and-mousers like myself will still hate it. I crank my mouse sensitivity WAY up in FPS games.

Re:Not exactly an advertisement

[GeorgeMcBay]

The mouse sensitivity issue isn't really a limitation the XFPS can overcome. Halo 2 for Xbox wasn't meant to have mouse used as a controller at all, so the XFPS is translating mouse movement into joystick movement data, which the code of Halo is going to process just like any other joystick data and at a fixed rate.

While this is unfortunate for people who would like to play Halo 2 with "true" mouse-look,it actually makes things more fair for Xbox Live users and such who would be at a decided disadvantage if they were playing against people who had full-speed mouselook when they were using the default Xbox controller.

Whaaaaat? Best game?

[ajaf]

"Some minor graphical glitches and a somewhat weak plot keep this from being the best game evar"

Monkey Island 1 for PC is the best game ever made.

Re:Whaaaaat? Best game?

[nkh]

How dare you forget Monkey Island 2? They BOTH are the greatest games ever but you can't separate them like this (even if the end of MI2 sucked...)

Spoiler: LeChuck dies at the end!

Re:Whaaaaat? Best game?

[vrai]

Pah - Elite for the Acorn Archimedes is the best version of the greatest game ever made! Though the original Super Mario Kart runs it a close second.

Best Halo 2 review ever...

[Zaphod-AVA]

The best description of Halo2 I've heard is that it's a pretty good single player game of Halo, and it comes with a version of Quake online. Sadly, Halo online would have been better than Quake.

The changes made to the Rocket Launcher, and the complete dominance of the energy sword makes online play much less enjoyable then multiplayer in Halo1, despite being on Xbox live.

Additionally, the legendary skill setting becomes pointlessly frustrating once you reach the section where the enemy has beam rifle sniping weapons.

-Z

Grown man playing video games?

[yarook]

Shouldn't you all like, get a life? btw. I am aware I'm gonna suffer for this post ;-)

Re:Grown man playing video games?

[Anonymous Coward]

You tell us to get a life while posting on Slashdot? How ironic!

Re:Grown man playing video games?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, this is a Linux fan website after all...

I am like a missionary trying to convert them back to reality.

Never heard of Unreal!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooooooooh, what's in the crowd.

Far far way from where you are standing a little boy whispers, "you never heard of unreal tournament GOTY/2003/2004?"

MAN WAKE UP, where did you live the last couple of years, under a f..'n ROCK?????!!!!!!

Call it retro all you want

[Andy Dodd]

It's a known fact that the best way to control an FPS is with mouselook. People who don't use mouselook are called "keyboarders" (even people using gamepads or joysticks) and are usually painfully obvious to mouse users. I remember my freshman year playing QuakeWorld in my dorm against other guys on my hall. One of em' insisted on using his gamepad - even though he repeatedly got owned badly because he turned so damn slowly compared to the mouse users.

This new adapter is kind of cool, but it apparently lacks one of the two main advantages of mouselook - Being able to turn rapidly. I can turn 90 or even 180 degrees with a mouse in a tiny fraction of the time it takes someone using a keyboard or gamepad.

Re:Call it retro all you want

[bucket74]

It's a known fact that the best way to control an FPS is with mouselook. People who don't use mouselook are called "keyboarders" (even people using gamepads or joysticks) and are usually painfully obvious to mouse users. I remember my freshman year playing QuakeWorld in my dorm against other guys on my hall. One of em' insisted on using his gamepad - even though he repeatedly got owned badly because he turned so damn slowly compared to the mouse users.

Don't say that too loudly. If Microsoft hears what an advantage using a keyboard/mouse is they'll start banning XFPS users from xbox live.

Re:Call it retro all you want

[CronoCloud]

sigh

It only "seems" that mouse is best because the games are designed to let you turn that fast with it.

On most console FPS's/TPS's you can adjust the speed of the right analog stick way up if you want.

Re:Call it retro all you want

[sixoseven]

Halo2 has radar. It doesn't need a peek feature.

./ is out of news

[michelcultivo]

Without new news guys? Please post a review of "River Ride" for Atari.

I love it, but it's worse than Quake 1

[sbma44]

Okay, it's got attractive graphics and great networking capabilities. But in many ways, Halo 2 is far behind the times.

The level design varies wildly -- Zanzibar's a work of art, but too many levels feature a single all-important weapon or kill zone, control of which determines the entire game. Architectural features are frequently annoying: it's very easy to get stuck on tiny decorative filligrees while strafing backward in a furious firefight. Spawn points frequently throw the player into useless back corners of the level, and spawns and teleports can result in unpredictable viewing angles so that it becomes difficult to quickly orient one's self. The "destructible environments" are a joke: shoving around barrels does not equal a lifelike simulation. They just get underfoot.

The control configuration is lousy -- why can I not bind my own custom setup in this day and age? Some of us continue to hate Microsoft/Sony's awkward thumbstick button setup, and all too often in an intense firefight I end up zooming in or crouching because I'm holding the controller too tightly. There's also no good reason why varying horizontal and vertical sensitivity isn't offered.

The weapons are frequently small and hard to identify, and the radius in which they can be picked up means you can't see a weapon as you try to pick it up. Find a rocket launcher in a pile of SMGs? Good luck not getting punched to death as you try to sort through the mess. Similarly, allowing unloaded weapons to be dropped and picked up creates a hazard to anyone who's trying to grab a last-second advantage in a firefight.

The multiplayer on XBox Live is great, but I'm pretty sick of the stupid game variants. I appreciate that Bungie is proud of a flexible multiplayer system, and that some people like playing King of the Hill or Oddball or whatever other variants they might like. Not me, though. I like playing Deathmatch, and I enjoy competing seriously for my ranking. So why am I forced to play "Phantom Crazy King" and other ridiculous nonsense? These gametypes have nothing to do with deathmatch. It's like signing up for a bridge tournament and being told the semifinal round will consist of a game of Parcheesi.

Weapon balance in much improved over the first game, but as I mentioned, it's too frequently the case that the first person to get a lucky run with the sword ends up pulling ahead by ten and closing out the game. Finally, the air-vent system on levels like Foundation is abysmal. I realize they're trying not to rip off Q3A/ROTT (although they do anyway -- there are jump pads elsewhere), but the air current effect prevents players from jumping down from some areas.

It's this weird insistence on realism that's the game's biggest problem. Is a one-punch shot in the back realistic? Is the ability to fall infinite distances? To jump over your opponents' head? To teleport? No. Halo is an arcade-style shooter, and that's the way I like it. So why insist on making the dreary, tiny gun models lie on the ground? Why the drab, boring textures (Colossus, anyone?)? Why is there a two-weapon limit?

Everyone plays it, so I will, too -- it's the only real option for an arcade FPS experience on the consoles. I like being able to sit down at a friend-of-a-friend's house and play. I don't want to have to drop hundreds of dollars on new videocards all the damn time, and I don't want to have to convince my friends to learn the mouse and keyboard, then stick with it until they're competitive. Halo is the standard.

But it could easily be better.

Re:I love it, but it's worse than Quake 1

[Anonymous Coward]

You have got to be the pickiest f@#$@@#$ person ever. Whining about weapons being too small and you can't see them when you pick them up? How f*%&$^ hard is it to press the pick-up (X) button when it says so on your screen? Screw investigating the weapon, just pick it up and go out and kill some one, or tons of people.

If you want to play JUST deathmatches, there's a setting called TEAM SLAYER, and then one called SLAYER. go play and level up.

My God. And air vents. Would you rather have those lame-ass ladders to deal with instead?

Come on now. I'll give you that the destructible environments are a joke, and maybe, just maybe the ONE sword per map BS, but there are some levels there are no swords. Then again, if a guy comes at you with a sword just keep running and jumping backwards while capping him in the head.

While Halo 2 probably isn't the BEST FPS of all time, it's pretyt close. Throwing in vehicles that can be hi-jacked, multiple game-types and the ability to cusotmize tons of settings...It's really good.

Re:I love it, but it's worse than Quake 1

[sbma44]

How f*%&$^ hard is it to press the pick-up (X) button when it says so on your screen?

That's the thing -- I run through a pile of weapons and suddenly see, say, the shotgun blue graphic pop up. Ooo! Better get that. So I back up. Hmm. No blue icon. Better look at the ground and find i--POP. Dead. More easily differentiated weapons would make this a lot easier -- I could be ready to hit X when I run over them instead of being surprised at what's at the bottom of that pile of black polygons.

If you want to play JUST deathmatches, there's a setting called TEAM SLAYER, and then one called SLAYER. go play and level up.

I think you're thinking of Rumble Pit; Rumble Pit is NOT the same thing as Slayer. While it's mostly Slayer, right now there are games of Rumble Swords, Rumble Rockets, Oddball and King of the Hill all grouped within this playlist. The Rumble Training playlist includes the execrable Phantom King gametype as well.

I don't think I'm being that unreasonable -- I don't like variants Rumble Swords that much, but I'll play it without complaint. It's basically still Slayer, you're still trying to kill your opponents. But you can't say that about, say, King of the Hill -- the goal is not to be a better Slayer player, it's to hold a position. Frankly, Slayer skills don't even matter that much. Toss a couple grenades, wait for the action to settle down and then try your luck.

I'm not saying people who win King of the Hill aren't skilled, but I'm at least a decent deathmatch player (lvl 10 on the Rumble Pit list right now), and I stink at King. I don't see why I should be forced to play a game I don't like (and penalized, rankings-wise) when it really is a distinct game from the one I paid for.

Re:I love it, but it's worse than Quake 1

[Anonymous Coward]

(coward that replied earlier)
Well, I do see some of your points. I think the weapon thing is a little over-zealous, honestly.
I've only had one instance where there were about twenty different weapons in a hallway on Ivory tower after a large fight for control of the upper balcony, and I wanted the launcher and I had to pick up and toss a couple to get to it. But that's one isntance out of a couple thousand matches I have played.

And I coulda swore there was a regular Slayer. But I'm more for team games, so I could be wrong.

Single player. Fun in some areas, dull in others and the ending was horrible...not to mention we didn't spend the whole time on earth killing aliens like we were all promised and led to believe.

Games = a job

[Anonymous Coward]

Games have become too much of a job: you have to buy the hardware and get proficient then buy the over-priced games and learn them and practise them to get anywhere. Then you have to wait for the next game to come out on your platform.

I wasted soooo much time and money when I was young. Sigh.

Re:Games = a job

[Anonymous Coward]

so what do you spend your time & money on now?

Previews

[MrSeb]

Damn it, I hate previews! They give everything about the game away!

A different perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

I've played Socom II online for some time now, it's a PS2 game for those that don't know. I didn't have an XBox so I had never played Halo. But, last year the hype machine kicked into high gear about Halo 2 and I fell for it.

This past Christmas I bought an XBox and got Halo 2. The graphics of the XBox/Halo2were nicer than the PS2/Socom II, smoother and more detailed. I really expected this as Halo 2 was brand new and the PS2/Socom II combination are now several years old. But the game play of Halo 2 was way below what I expected.

The Halo 2 weapons were typical of the BFG fantasy type, yet they weren't as effective as they appeared they should have been. Plamsa cannons that should have obliterated whatever they hit had little effect.

Then there was the whole vulnerability factor. Halo 2 allowed you to charge into enemy fire taking masive hits one after the other with little or no effect on your life. This doesn't offer much appeal or challenge for me. It's almost like playing with a God cheat. I know some lamers get off on that type of play but, that really doesn't thrill me.

Coming from the PS2, I was also really surprised to find out that Microsoft was charging an arm and a leg for online play with the XBox. Sony has always provided this for free with the Socom games, and many others.

I was really disappointed in Halo 2. In my opinion, the realism and quality of game play, especially online, is far superior with Socom II. It more than makes up for Socom II's lesser graphics. I felt Halo 2 was quite lame and abandoned it in favor of Socom II online. I really don't see what the excitement is over Halo 2, unless these people have never played Socom II.

Re:A different perspective

[Laur]

Then there was the whole vulnerability factor. Halo 2 allowed you to charge into enemy fire taking masive hits one after the other with little or no effect on your life. This doesn't offer much appeal or challenge for me. It's almost like playing with a God cheat. I know some lamers get off on that type of play but, that really doesn't thrill me.

Play on Legendary. You have less life than your marine buddies and the enemies fire much more rapidly and more accurately. I guarantee the "charge into enemy fire" technique will get you killed very fast on this difficulty.

Re:A different perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

"Play on Legendary."

Or how Halo players admit their game sucks.

Unintentionally, of course...

Re:A different perspective

[mooniejohnson]

"Then there was the whole vulnerability factor. Halo 2 allowed you to charge into enemy fire taking masive hits one after the other with little or no effect on your life. This doesn't offer much appeal or challenge for me. It's almost like playing with a God cheat. I know some lamers get off on that type of play but, that really doesn't thrill me..."

Play on Legendary mode, then try and run right into enemy fire. You'll need that God Mode if you think you can still pull it off.

Re:A different perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

Fifty bucks a year for unlimited every game use of XBox Live is not an arm and a leg.

Re:A different perspective

[Anonymous Coward]

Playstation Online is still 100% cheaper... Try again.

Re:A different perspective

[mattACK]

I don't have much love for Halo 2, but Socom 2 is awful. Buying a nic and headset for the ps2 is about the same price as buying a live starter kit anyway.

Since you have an xbox now, get Stranger's Wrath. No multiplayer, but loads of fun and a great story.

Re:A different perspective

[jafac]

Play on Legendary. You have less life than your marine buddies and the enemies fire much more rapidly and more accurately.

bah. Legendary just makes your utterly ineffective weapons even LESS effective.

Re:A different perspective

[AlexMax2742]

Coming from the PS2, I was also really surprised to find out that Microsoft was charging an arm and a leg for online play with the XBox. Sony has always provided this for free with the Socom games, and many others.

You get what you pay for. Online play in 95% of PS2 titles is god awful. Tribes: Aerial Assault was the only reason my PS2 stayed online as long as it did.

Xbox Multiplayer FPS

[MeanMF]

Halo 2 = teh suck
Ghost Recon 2 = teh hotness

Tetris

[shamowfski]

Hey, Anyone want to read my review of Tetris? www.wowireviewedsomethingthatsbeenoutforeverandeve ryonehasalreadyplayed.com

enough with the Goldeneye hagiography

[sbma44]

Please, don't drone on about how great Goldeneye was unless you've really given action FPS's a chance. Everyone fondly remembers their first love, but if you go back to the yearbook you might be surprised at the acne and snaggle-teeth. And frankly, we all thought she was kind of a slut. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you.

Goldeneye was an impressive achievement given the N64's technical limitations, but it was not a very good FPS. The textures were muddy, the weapons and characters tiny, the levels large and repetitive, movement was slow, and the weapons insufficiently differentiated (firing faster/harder was really the extent of the creators' imagination).

But I know tons of people who love this game. Why? It was the first deathmatch they played, and deathmatch in general is really, unbelievably fun. Personally, my friends and I pulled some spare modems together in high school, threw them in the box of the kid with two phone lines and used some obscure software to play 3-way doom2 deathmatch until the wee hours. Man, I could rhapsodize for hours about what a great level Q2DM1 -- I still think it's the apogee of FPS level design (although quake's dm3 and dm4 certainly gave it a run for its money).

But you don't want to hear about that. You point out (rightly) that the graphics are terrible by modern standards, only the rocket launcher and double barreled shotgun were worth carrying, the four player limit was too restrictive, the game was only 2.5D, the green player on dialup games had a noticeable advantage, and anyone who knew the BFG/wall-push sound exploit could make the game really not-fun, really fast.

So please: a little objectivity. I'm glad you love GoldenEye. I'm sure you and your friends got really good at it, attaining levels of mastery you never thought possible as the game SEEMED to reveal layer after layer of unanticipated complexity. I'm sure it occuppied your thoughts and haunted your dreams.

But realistically, it was a bit of a steaming pile compared to the genre's greatest titles.

Re:enough with the Goldeneye hagiography

[zokum]

I've got to disagree with you there when it comes to Doom. First of all, SSG, plasma, rocket and BFG are all worth carrying. The rl is the least useful actually. Chaingun also has it's uses. The game isn't 2.5d, you can't have half a dimension. It's 3d, but the engine just has some limitations on what kind of geometry it can draw. You're also contradicting yourself with regards to BFG. Personally I find Doom to be the best deathmatch experience ever. It was created for lan play, didn't have to restrict itself to internet friendly ways of doing things, like slow player speeds or avoiding dead-on accurate instant weapons firing rapidly. It also didn't have to invent so much new stuff that's really just crap in order to stand out from the crowd. Bionic pulse rifles? Shrink rays? Nope. Just good weapons. The fact that there were over 54 maps for doom released just this week says it all about the degree of perfection.

And for the record, I won a Radeon 9600 XT in a doom 2 tournament _yesterday_.

Re:enough with the Goldeneye hagiography

[sbma44]

Okay, you're preaching to the choir. I love the game and enjoy using all the weapons. A firefight where you have to switch between single and double barrel sg? That's some good gaming.

But it *was* 2.5D. In the Doom engines, two objects can't occupy the same X,Y coordinates even if they have a different Z coordinate. I don't know if zdoom and the other updated engines have fixed this, but originally they just had the illusion of height. Imagining each item/character as a column extending infinitely up and down presents a picture closer to how the game works.

Re:enough with the Goldeneye hagiography

[rho]

You sound like somebody who's never won a 20-kill limit game with proxy mines where 2/3 of your kills were due to spawn-mining.

Or you've never sniped a guy with the damned-to-hell Klobb.

Goldeneye was a very good, well-balanced FPS on an unremarkable console. It was well-designed and executed. What is sad is how so many similar games have come since that seemed to have never learned anything from this game.

Re:enough with the Goldeneye hagiography

[zokum]

No, you're wrong. Two objects CAN occupy the same XY coordinates and have different Z coordinates. The simplest example is shooting rockets that pass over you. For most things, the engine doesn't allow it as it would cause too many problems, how do you kill a cacodemon directly above you etc. But the engine does allow it. Another nice example would be that you can easily jump over a dead body. Doom is definetly 3d.

Go ahead and mod redundant-

[rinks]

but seriously. First Burnout 3, now Halo 2. The game's been out since November. If you're not reviewing this pre-release (or at least during the same month of release), please don't bother. What's the point of these reviews, and why are they front page?

My Magic XFPS Review

[Anonymous Coward]

I was considering purchasing one. I heard it beats a controller for sniping.

Don't waste your money buying one. I will agree that hands down it is the best way to go for sniping and, opposed to what the reviewer has to say, turning and walking movement (hint to reviewer: set your look sensitivity to INSANE). That's where it ends.

I bought one because I too thought the only way to play a FPS was with a mouse and keyboard, and when it comes to sniping and circling around someone while shooting I still think it is, but the Magic XFPS just doesn't cut it with HALO 2.

My gripes include the inability to map your own keys. I hate all three layouts it is preconfigured to. None of them seem to fit, I like when the all the buttons are within close reach, but it seems that the vital buttons are always just out of reach.

Driving a vehcicle is impossible with this thing, it's like the look function gets lost when you get in a Ghost or Warthog.

The peripherial device is jacked up, IT WON'T ALLOW YOU TO USE YOUR HEADSET!!! They seem to have taken the slot design for the bottom slot in the controller as opposed to the top (they are different) and the headset device only fits the top, more oval shaped design. So forget about communicating with your teammates in Multiplayer mode (the only good thing about HALO).

It locks up. The most unforgivable problem is that it locks up frequently. You'll be running along and all of the sudden your guy just walking instead of stoping, then he'll end up bouncing in a wall with no way to regain control of him without unpluging the XFPS and putting in a standard controller.

So the goods are completely out numbered by the disadvantages you may gain. Hell you may end up on maps where there is no sniper rifle or not even get it the whole game. So stick with the controller and skip the XFPS.

Re:My Magic XFPS Review

[Mr2001]

Sounds like the SmartJoy FRAG is better overall than the XFPS. It lets you remap your keys at will, and it works with a headset - there's no hole for the Communicator, just a connector on top that you can stick it in, making an upside down T shape.

It has the same problem with driving, though. You can turn up the "deadzone" setting, which is better in a vehicle (or turret) but worse on foot. It seems a lot more sensitive to vertical motion than horizontal motion when I'm in a turret, but I suspect that's a problem with Halo 2, not the adapter.

Keyboard and Mouse on a console?

[satoshi1]

That's like cheating, no? You practically guaranteed to win with a mouse compared to a joystick. Seriously. If I knew anyone who used one of these, I would seriously kick their ass. It's just not right.

If you really wanna play an FPS on your TV with a keyboard and mouse, check out Quake 3 for the Dreamcast, or hook your computer up to your TV via S-Video.

Re:Keyboard and Mouse on a console?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hook my computer to the XBox Live network. YES PLEASE! How do i do that, ill 0wn y@ @ll.

As for that TV shit, no thanks, i like my 21" highres monitor!

XBOX is for slow people (in the head to).

RGR Wilco,
XBLIVE

Re:Keyboard and Mouse on a console?

[CronoCloud]

Don't forget that some of the PS2's FPS's have keyboard and mouse support.

Re:Keyboard and Mouse on a console?

[satoshi1]

Really? I haven't come across any...

Re:Keyboard and Mouse on a console?

[CronoCloud]

The PS2 ports of Deus Ex and Half-Life do, as do Red Faction and Unreal Tournament. There may be others as well.

Re:Keyboard and Mouse on a console?

[satoshi1]

Cool, that's good to know, actually. But the thing is, do they go online? That may be one of the reasons they allow you to use the keyboard and mouse: it isn't unfair to other players because you can't really use the advantage against them.

Too much competition

[blank]

I want to write something funny about this article too (which I didn't read) but there's too much competition. Can we have a repeat of this article so I can try again?

you're right

[sbma44]

I just don't get the fascination with Halo/Halo 2. Compared to games like HalfLife, Unreal, Quake 1-3, or Doom 1-3, Halo to me seemed like a rather "corporate" effort: the Halos were competently implemented and offered pretty good game play, but ultimately, I didn't find them as entertaining.

I agree completely. But the convenience and universality of Halo makes up for this. I love Q1, Q3A and Doom2 to death, but how many of my friends can I convince to play them? Not that many. There's a learning curve, and hardware requirements (admittedly meager for those games, but many of my friends have Macs), and it's difficult to play them in the same room without going to the trouble of moving hardware.

So I sucked it up, said goodbye to my beloved mouse and WASD keys, subscribed to XBox Live and have been enjoying myself. But it doesn't hurt to complain bitterly about Halo's obvious shortcomings -- too many people are ignorant of the superior games that preceded it. I'd hate to have Halo remain the gold standard for the next generation of console FPS's.

oh! also:

[sbma44]

there's the matter of the variable respawn times. For those of you unaware: every item can respawn in a different amount of time on every map. Bungie did this to let them fine-tune the map's balance, but it removes (or makes less accessible, at least) the very highest level of FPS play: when you get good enough, every sound on a map tells you where the other guy is and what he's doing, and you know where the action is about to be based on when each item is going to respawn. Changing those times from map to map pushes this matter closer to the realm of guesswork, removing a major strategic element from gameplay.

Why Halo was so popular.

[Anonymous Coward]

Halo was so popular because it introduced FPS to the masses. It was a dumbed down game for the mainstream to enjoy. Imagine the first time you played an FPS on the PC.. you know, back in 1756 or whatever. Well most people just discovered games when their friend told them about this new game, called Halo, with "mad grafix"!!11on1e

It wasn't anything new to anyone who has been playing games for years (nothing new in gameplay, graphics, etc. - it was even a step back in some areas of gameplay), which is what leaves some of us so confused.

SmartJoy FRAG

[realmolo]

I just got a keyboard/mouse adapter for my Xbox this past weekend, and I'm pretty disappointed in how well it works with Halo2. And Halo, for that matter.

It's just not smooth enough or fast enough. The mouse movement is jerky. Not jerky enough to be unplayable, but enough to make it a pain in the ass. And, yes, you can't turn fast enough. If you try to "whip" the mouse, like you do in a PC game, you just end up turning *really* slowly.

From what I've read, some games work better with the adapter than others. Supposedly, Unreal Championship works perfectly. But nobody plays that game on the Xbox. Ah well.

I was hoping to show my Halo-loving friends how and FPS is *really* played, but they still kicked my ass. I need to get them playing Unreal Tournament or something on the PC, so I can redeem myself. Besides, Halo and Halo2 are pretty lame FPS games. Good for a console, pretty mediocre in general.

Re:SmartJoy FRAG

[Mr2001]

I just got a keyboard/mouse adapter for my Xbox this past weekend, and I'm pretty disappointed in how well it works with Halo2. And Halo, for that matter.

I must disagree. I have a SmartJoy FRAG too, and after tweaking the key mappings and sensitivity a bit, I'm very pleased with it. It's almost as natural as playing Halo on PC, just a tiny bit slower.

The one problem I have is with operating vehicles and turrets. A sensitivity setting that works fine on foot is way too slow to move a turret, and if I turn up the deadzone to drive or shoot, I have to turn it back down when I'm on foot again. Also, the vertical sensitivity seems much higher than the horizontal sensitivity--again, only in a vehicle or turret--so the movement is never quite normal.

But switching back and forth is easy enough with the FRAG's presets (something that the "MagicBox XFPS" apparently lacks), and a medium deadzone setting works OK for both walking and driving.

Besides, Halo and Halo2 are pretty lame FPS games. Good for a console, pretty mediocre in general.

I used to think that, before I bought the original Halo for PC. When I could really compare it to Quake and UT, instead of struggling to play an FPS on a gamepad, I found it was actually pretty good. It doesn't have the best graphics, sound, weapons, or maps, but it's second best in nearly every aspect. Like the "Greatest Hits" album of first person shooters.

Worst post ever....

[Flaming Death]

just when you think slashdot has hit its lowest.. .. it goes through the floor. worst post.. ever...

Mouse sensitivity?

[Anonymous Coward]

Halo 2 is definately worth more than an 8/10. I would give it a 9.5 or even more. I was considering getting the magicbox xfps thing because I am often playing halo 2. There are settings to bump up the look sensitivity in halo 2, so I don't know why this guy's complaining.

What's the freakin' rush?

[ChaosDiscord]

I see a lot of people whining that the review took too long. Really, what's the freakin' rush? Slashdot could join the "Must Publish First" race other sites do, but frankly, the other sites have years of experience at it. The game is still on store shelves, lots of people haven't purchased it. Games aren't like movies, if you wait a year it will still be available and just as good (or bad). The bargin hunters are still waiting for used copies to show up in resale shops or discounts in a year or two. I'm a reasonably serious gamer (buying a dozen or so games a year, beating most of them), and I don't find a few month lag to be a problem.

If you want your reviews moments after official release, try other review sites, you already know where they are. For those of us who often wait to purchase games we're happy to get good reviews whenever we can.

Halo Toys Plug

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, as long as we're plugging the XFPS, I might as well mention that you can buy the Halo 2 Figures here.

Yes, I do work for RC2 and I have all of the Halo 2 toys on my desk.

Pathetic

[Anonymous Coward]

I use to think Amiga freaks were the most pathetic losers EVER.

And then came the Dreamcast freaks, who without a doubt were the most pathetic losers EVER.

And then came the Xbox lusers and their ONE mediocre shooter.

There is a sad and pathetic desperation to try to portray their dead console as anything but a joke of a system.

Intuitive?

[Anonymous Coward]

The original Halo was a seminal moment in console gaming. The intuitive controls and memorable gameplay of Halo's multiplayer component still makes it a gaming favorite when it comes to LAN gaming.

Intuitive? In what way? I'm not really a gamer (the last game I played at all seriously was Quake), but it seemed to have the most counterintuitive controls of any game I've ever played. (Worse than Goldeneye!)

I was respectable at Quake, and I ruled the mines in Descent, but when somebody threw an Xbox controller at me for Halo, I spent the whole time trying to figure out how to work the damn thing.

It did have pretty graphics, though.

Controls

[xgamer04]

The original Halo was a seminal moment in console gaming. The intuitive controls ...

Bullshit. Obviously someone never played Turok. In 1997.

Xbox Live Halo 2 Review

[Troll'N]

I would have rather had a review on the Online screwups that are going on right now on halo2 xbox live. aside from playing the same busted ass maps over and over again... the game is rampent with glitches and cheats that are being exploited day in and day out. while it is not bungie's fault that the world is full of cheating 10 year olds, it is there fault for not taking steps to ensure that obvious cheats like pressing the standbye button on a cable modem and lagging everybody out are not being programatically stopped (example: when 9 out of 10 are timing out pause the game until the timeout is resolved.) There are many other screwups that i could list but this is the one that pissed me off the most. for a complete listing jump over to bungie.net halo 2 forums and if you dare venture over to halo2sucks.com (they maybe a little biased though).

Intuitive my ass!

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF do you mean by "intuitive controls"? Trying to control a FPS with two joysticks using two thumbs is ridiculously complicated. Gimme a keyboard and my trusted trackball any day.

Best game ever = Kroz

[nuggz]

Kroz was the best game ever.

I don't get this whole FPS thing, the good old 2D games were so much more fun.

No unlimited grenades

[antic]

A difference between Halo 1 and 2 that frustrates me is the interaction with tanks in a map like Blood Gulch/Coagulation.

In Halo 1, we had a custom multiplayer mode called Slaughter that gave everyone infinite grenades and found that it really balanced out the tanks in a free-for-all. Also, it was possible to snipe tank-users.

In Halo 2, it's just too easy to get on a killing spree with a tank. The projectiles of so many weapons just bounce off a tank or wraith. It might be more realistic, but it's not very balanced.

Look at something like the Brute Shot on Coagulation -- what a POS weapon!

And the Spectre! I love Halo 2 multiplayer, but that thing sucks.

Penny Arcade has the answer

[Anonymous Coward]

As usual, Penny-Arcade, has the answer

About the keyboard and mouse...

[Xlipse]

It's basically worthless unless you can adjust the sensitivity.. looks like they saw the niche, but didn't acctually RESEARCH anything before pumping out a sub-par product.. :(

Then again, would it really be FAIR if you could adjust the sensitivity of the mouse/device?

Probably not.

Oh well - back to the PC for me.

Can I use the keyboard ...

[LordNimon]

... to type in text? For instance, can I use it to type in a Gamer Tag, or to enter my information when I want to create a new account? This review (or any other review I've found) doesn't appear to address that issue. My guess is that the answer is no.

about the controls

[Anonymous Coward]

I can say that the dual analog controls emulates quite good the control of the mouse and keyboard. (left stick -> WASD and you have the plus of do diagonal movements) (right stick -> mouse) the triggers helps a lot to the feeling of shooting too

Re:about the controls

[capn13]

I'd be curious what people think about this ... I'm one of the elitist crowd the review mentions ;-) and this is my first xbox game (and Xbox!). I've played Halo on my PC before.... w/o wanting to offend anyone, my impressions so far are that the XBox game is a bit tamer? relaxed? than the PC version? Dunni if this is just my impression due ot not being able to do (or need to do) 180 degree mouse flips.
IMHO the XFPS review was quite handy - I've been eying one of those!
regards,

Good Points, but it wasn't that bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Proximaty mines, Well balanced rockects, grenade launchers, and guns.

And a fair variety of maps. Big open ones. Small enclosed ones (fun with grenade launchers).

Special modes. Golden Gun(one shot one kill), Pistols only, slappers only.

Overall, a well thought-out game that was lot of fun (just not as intense as Quake/Doom/etc.

XBOX , played it one

[Anonymous Coward]

Wel, played XBOX once in a shop, man, too slooow whith that icky sqeeky gamepad. Sony is better with gamepad anyhow. But that doesn't matter, why not a mouse and qwerty control?

Hook my computer to the XBox Live network. YES PLEASE! How do i do that, ill 0wn y@ @ll.

As for that TV shit, no thanks, i like my 21" highres monitor!

XBOX is for slow people (in the head to).

RGR Wilco,
XBsuxors.

Re:XBOX , played it one

[RGR Wilco]

Forgot to log in. RGR Wilco

Hype Machine

[Anonymous Coward]

Halo 2 is a perfect example of what a huge marketing budget (40 mil) can do for a game.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

[TheGax]

You mean that it is actually possible to connect a computer keyboard and mouse to this specialized x86 computer via it's oddly shaped USB ports? No way!

Re:Funny... Microsoft must be paying for these

[xutopia]

well this wasn't just a small mention, it was a lengthy and in depth segment.

nine inch nails

[tepples]

Doesn't a review of Halo 2 seem a bit, er no make that very redundant?

Damn right. I had Halo 2 back in 1989.

awesome

[earlums25]

i know i'm going to lose karma but halo2 in multiplayer online is everything a pc game has only on a console. correct me if wrong because the last pc fps i played was the first unreal, but halo2 online has everything it had and more. also, whether corporate or not, the user base is huge!! you can find any game type at any time and there will always be people to play. i understand it doesn't have the graphics or physics of half live 2 but for a console (i'm a mac guy) it has everything i wanted in this genre

WTF!!!???!

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

What the hell?!
OK guys? How much was slashdot paid for this review exactly, because I simply refuse to believe that such a review (with pictures) would ever have made it past the Slashdot eds without money changing hands.

P.S.
The pictures are BS. The game NEVER looks that good, even with progressive scan?

A better use for moderator points

[rubberband]

I've brought this up once or twice, but why not allow readers to moderate entire articles? I have 5 mod points at the moment. Instead of distributing them around various articles, I could "bank" them, and withdraw them at a later time. Maybe 50 saved up points would allow a group of users to moderate pointless, redundant, waste of space artices like this one into digital oblivion.

Slashdot needs to be more current than 2 page reviews of a long-since released game.

Here here!

[oldwolf13]

Now that should have been posted as a review instead. Points out everything I've thought about Halo 2, from someone who obviously plays it, but is not a fanboy.

I am done playing with it, the ending sucked, yes... and I hated jumping between covenant/chief-guy... but it still kept me mildly entertained for a week or so.

Halo 1 wasn't an xbox launch title

[Anonymous Coward]

It came out months after the Xbox came out.

It was supposed to be a launch title, but it slipped.

I agree the Halo 1 had great graphics for its time, but it didn't pioneer anything in controls. Goldeneye created these controls for consoles (if you don't count Marathon for Apple's Pippin).

In fact, if you had played Marathon 2 or Infinity (Bungie's previous games), you found Halo 1 didn't break any ground but graphics. Marathon 2/Infinity had everything Halo 1 did except graphics and vehicles.

Hmmm...

[brkello]

I love the people on here complaining how this is unpaid advertisement...where are you guys when they have Slashdot does a book review? How is this any different? Because it has to do with gaming it is a shameless plug...but hey, review books all you want..that is TOTALLY different.

Re:wow - yeah, wow

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Haven't played it.

2. Don't have XBox.

3. Won't purchase an XBox.

4. So, won't ever play Halo2.

5. I have three currently top of the line computers at home I can and do play games on. So, why would I go to the expense of purchasing a computer (XBox) that I can only play XBox games on, that I would have to purchase XBox games for?

6. Lastly, but most importantly, I hate first person shooters. They are, to me, the most boring and unimaginative games evah made.

Weak...but typical

[wobedraggled]

Let's put some more attention on Halo2 so more suckers can be duped into buying this pile of crap.

Halo2 is the most overhyped/overrated game in the history of gaming. It's got a lame ass story, gfx glitches and dumb as a brick A.I.

It pisses me off that MS is where they are in the Videogame market, as the whole market is slowly going down the crapper.

Every media outlet slams Nintendo. For what?!?! putting out a good product? Not going online when a total of 15% max of gamers actually use it? I'm sorry if this seems like a rant, but I'm just sick of the way the market is led by the casual gamer straight into the toilet.

I'm glad I got to game in the glory days and feel sorry for future gamers, unless a BIG change comes around.

Farmer screwed up so much when copying SmartJoy

[ACTRAiSER]

This is really strange that the author didnt mention the much superior SmartJoy FRAG by Lik-Sang.com which was released months ago. It is programmable and has tons of features to make the mouse/keyboard combination really work. The XFPS is nothing but a ripoff, three preprogrammed settings, none works really satisfying. Better check out the IGN Review of this crap published like a month ago. They compare it to the SmartJoy FRAG as well. -act

Read the XFPS review

[Andy Dodd]

Because it maps mouse movements into controller movement, you get only half of the advantages of mouselook with the XFPS.

Advantage 1: More accurate aiming. You DO apparently get this
Advantage 2: Faster turning. You DON'T with the XFPS apparently.

Worst. Impression. Ever.

[StikyPad]

A First-Person Shooter without ze mouselook and WASD? I think not, my dear fellow. Fetch me zome more escargot.

Congratulations on mixing accents and phrases while at the same time retaining absolutely zero consistancy with your phonetic letter replacement scheme.

Zork III

[popo]

If anyone enjoyed the first two Zorks, I'd like to recommend the third installment in the trilogy. It doesn't have the extensive maps of the first two games, but the text descriptions are far more lush and many key questions about the history of the Great Underground Empire are finally answered.

Also, if you're sporting the Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) on your PC, descriptive text, dialogue text and user entered text are all color coded for ease of use!

What will they think of next?

Re:Zork III

[WWWWolf]

Also, if you're sporting the Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) on your PC, descriptive text, dialogue text and user entered text are all color coded for ease of use!

Errrrrm... I'd say bunk. Zork III was a Z-machine version 3 file, and color support didn't come until version 5 (ref: Z-machine specs.

Besides, C64 version of Zork III, to my recollection, only had monochrome text and PC version (just tried on frotz) didn't do any of the text attributes (apart of reverse on status line).

I know, I missed the point. Intentionally. =)

leet.slashdot.org

[MustardMan]

With all the misspellings, grammar mistakes, and general idiotic tone of this review, this looked more like a posting on a kiddie xbox fanboy forum than a slashvertisement. I can accept the occasional "evar". I can even tolerate the fact that it comes from the department of using the word extremely in an extremely redundant fashion department. But a review that contains the ever-so-insightful rhetorical answer "kinda"? That's just absurd. This thing sounds like it was written by a fourteen year old, months too late, and has tacked on a similarly crappy review of a similarly crappy product. I want some of whatever the editors have been smoking lately.

P.S. For those who are going to attack some typo or obscure grammatical error in this post - piss off. I'm not talking about an occasional mistake, I'm talking about constant and obvious blunders.

Since you're wondering...

[roesti]

I'm guessing you don't read Xbox forums...

You ARE a nerd

[SanityInAnarchy]

The reason I like the Halos is testosterone. Master Chief is just so much bigger of a charachter than some scientist who doesn't talk and has a crowbar. Want to teach a n00b some manners? Three ways: crowbar to the head (not in hl2dm, so can't even do it), knife in the belly (counter-strike), or bash to the back of the head from an eight-foot-tall guy with a 1000 pound suit of armor.

There is a reason that CS players say w00t and Halo players say BOOYAH

Re:You ARE a nerd

[Anonymous Coward]

"There is a reason that CS players say w00t and Halo players say BOOYAH"

So what you're saying is that CS players are so nerdy they can actually pronounce leetspeak and Halo players are frat-boys who pretend to be "urban" (unless there's an actual black person in the room).

I'm a UT2004 player. Do me, do me!

Brief Opinion

[Undefined Parameter]

I was disappointed with Halo 2's story, the first time through. I felt it needed to be longer and deeper than it was. After playing through a few times, though, my opinion of the story is simply that it ended too soon; I'll leave it up to Bungie to explain or not explain why that was.

My seasoned opinion of the Halo series as a whole is that, like college, what you get out of it depends on how much you put into it. If you only once play through each of the Halo's story modes, and on the Easy difficulty setting, you may not be much impressed, especially if you were expecting the Shakespeare of first-person shooters. The way some people buy into every ounce of hype for a product, I can understand the disappointment with and anger at the Halo series.

On the other hand, if you play through Halo a few times, preferably on Legendary difficulty and with a friend in co-op. mode, and then Halo 2 on Heroic a few times, you have a basis for beginning to understand and appreciate the story a bit more. Add in the ILB story (which turned out not to be canon) and the books, and one can really start to appreciate the Halo story. For a final touch, look into the Halo story speculation and witness things being discussed that you may not have noticed.

As for multiplayer... well, it's good in both. I have had my complaints in each, but the quality of the experience usually boils down to who (or whom) you play with, as I believe it should. Take some time to learn the maps and weapons, and judge not by appearances, and the things which cause complaint are often quickly forgotten in the heat of battle.

Carnage Heureux,

UP

PC is better

[kaffiene]

Halo was much better on the PC than XBOX

Re:Sensitivity !?!

[Blakey Rat]

I turned that on by accident once. I had to sit through Arbiter singing kumbaya for five minutes before I figured out what happened. But at least Bungie motion-captured all the hand movements that go with the song...

Hey, they stole my idea!

[fuzza]

...the XFPS fulfills the "why didn't I think of that" niche for console-based shooters.

But I did. Honest. My final-semester TAFE Elect.Eng. project was to build pretty much the same thing (but keyboard only, mouse was too hard) for an N64 controller.

It was based on a PIC16C84 doing the interpretation of the keyboard scan codes, from memory. Unfortunately I never got it working, but it is all constructed and programmed... (and yes, I did pass the unit anyway, fortunately)

The screen shots look awesome!

[GeneralCern]

Too bad the game didn't look that good on my non-HD TV. Has anyone played it in HD/1080i/best graphics mode? Does it really look as good as those screen shots, or are those heavily retouched/marketing BS?

Re:The screen shots look awesome!

[hunterx11]

It runs in 480p, but not 1080i. The Xbox just doesn't have the horsepower for it. The graphics really are as good as the screenshots, though at the cost of occasional pop-up.

Multiplayer is where it's at.

[telyio]

Halo and Halo 2 are really crappy in terms of their single player mode. The only time I've ever played Halo was for its multiplayer gameplay.

Halo fans don't know any better

[lordperditor]

I have probably played most FPS games on both PC and Consoles and as much as many refuse to see it, Halo wasn't actually that great, if it was the first FPS I played I may have got excited like so many console FPS noobs did. But I have been playing games for 25 years and it didn't do anything new or for that matter anything better than what was already out there. *shakes head* I just don't see why so many XBox dudes seem to think it was the bees knees, in the whole FPS scheme of things it was a slightly above average effort with plenty of room for improvement, it is a shame they screwed up the great opportunity that Halo 2 could have been.

Re:wow - yeah, wow

[yerfatma]

Way to take a stand and stick it to the man. Be sure to keep us updated on other popular things you don't like so we can confirm you are cooler than the average bear.

Yup, I know

[Andy Dodd]

Which is why I don't play console FPS games.

I HATE the controls, and there isn't anything short of direct keyboard/mouse support that can change that.

MASTER CHIEF

[Anonymous Coward]

whatever the guy in Halo was called... Indeed.

I liked that one game with the yellow circle with the bow, whatever her name was.

Google... So... Difficult! Must type SOMETHING! KAHHNNNNN!

As opposed to the memorable characters in Quake. Or Doom. Or Unreal...

Or memorable like any other character in HL 2, like the chick, or the guy-in-THE-suit-THAT-talks-fun-NY.

XFPS Is Great

[Anonymous Coward]

I got my MagicBox XFPS last Friday all I can say is it rocks! I just got it and plugged it in and worked with all my keyboard/mouse. Most games (including Halo2) have an option to edit look sensitivity I put mine to a level '7' and now its smooth as butter!

Zonk and gaming

[bonch]

You know, my last article submission was edited by Zonk to go to an IGN article instead of a British newspaper. What's the connection between Zonk and the gaming companies?

Coming up next week...

[Fitzghon]

...we will be reviewing FIRE!
Fire offers thousands of hours of fun for you and your family! And it is cheap: only two sticks of roughly equal size and dimensions are needed!
Don't even get me started on the cooperative play!

Fitzghon

Mouse/Keyboard adapters for Xbox

[Zluz]

(first post to Slashdot, so apologies if i screw this up).

i feel obligated to say something here.

regarding these adapters for the xbox; the (first) thing that kills them on a console (that only has sticks) is that the maximum turn is limited. this is that the console believes the controller has sticks, which have a limited range. so, if you want to turn, the fastest you can turn is 'all the way'. this is unlike a mouse, which does not have this same restriction.

this makes it very frustrating for PC FPS games to make the transition to console using mouse+keyboard. its not a sensitivity issue.

in terms of halo, another significant factor knocks out the mouse+keyboard adapter for use on the xbox, is that the stick is simply much more natural for controlling vehicles. it makes sense to easily pull back on the stick to pull up the nose of the banshee or push left to turn the scorpion. it is very clumsy to do the same by repeatedly sweeping a mouse across a mousepad (further complicated by the maximum speed problem mentioned before).

if there is a sensitivity issue, it has to do with the dead-zones in the x and y axes in the stick. the gimbals in these controllers are not perfect; theres a little play on both x and y. in other words, you can move it very very slightly in different directions w/o it springing back. this is more apparent in cheaper controllers. some stick designs are very good at eliminating this (gimbals in R/C transmitters), but i have not seen a console controller that did not have play. so, games (or the hardware, but in the xbox, its the software) must compensate for this. this means that adapters must allow for a dead-zone, also. the result is a mouse control that not only has a maximum limit, but also has a minimum limit.

since ive gone on this far, ill go ahead and also note that stowing the controller means you also lack the vibration feedback that the game assumes all players feel. using a keyboard to move also means your movement is not analog (push a button to walk, not a variable stick).

i bought a mouse+keyboard adapter for my xbox, hooked up a wireless mouse and keyboard and programmed my familiar PC FPS keys. in some cases, the interface works well. but, id never try multiplayer with that handicap.

the adapter i used was a SmartJoy FRAG

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=166&prod ucts_id=5438&

it does a good job at what it was designed to do. im not trying to sell the thing; visit the site if youre interseted.

much of this is just my limited understanding of things work. please correct me if im wrong.

Re:Mouse/Keyboard adapters for Xbox

[Anonymous Coward]

I got an XFPS and it works the best , SmartJoy FRAG was terrible didn't work with my set up it has compatibility issues and the pre-sets dont come as advertised. I would like to know if the reviewer edited the sensitivity in the game , seems like he didn't!

Re:Mouse/Keyboard adapters for Xbox

[Zluz]

I am curious, then; in what way is XFPS superior in any respect?
You note that SmartJoy FRAG pre-sets did not work (I have not found this to be the case), but then just use one of the (12?) user-programmable key-set slots to do whatever you want. (is the XFPS user programmable?)
"Compatibility issues"? Should I take this to mean that it did not work with your PS/2 mouse or keyboard? I have not yet found such a problem. (They use the same connector; could you have had them switched?)

I would be very interested to know if any keyboard+mouse adapter for the xbox addresses any of the factors mentioned in the grandparent post that would seem to prevent such a configuration from working effectively.
It is conceivable that there might be a way to eliminate the mix/max threshold for stick input, but only if MS had intended to leave open the option of releasing their own such device at some point.

thoughts?

Stop it already!!!!! Halo sucked [not troll/flame]

[tod_miller]

The intuitive controls and memorable gameplay of Halo's multiplayer

What the fuck? no, quake 2 pwns halo. Yes it does.

Just because xbox owners were desperate to validate thier purchase, stop humping the leg of a fairly wishywashy fps.

And why are you saying PC gamers have fucking tosserish frog accents?

I shit through your letterbox, fiend.

OK I lied about it not being a troll/flame, but seriously, you xbox owners, how can you say halo was the bag of mixed sex juices from googles top ten female searches?

I PLAYED HALO and gave it a damn chance... it was more like felching rabbit jism out of goatse.

OK, this post contained a goatse ref., time for the troll modifier! :-) seriously halo sucks.