Replaying Halo CE

[zapionics<alt>]

I was just replaying Halo and have re-discovered the great AI in this game. It really is very satisfying; challenging, smart and fun. In fact its the fun factor that is pulling me in again. All the little one liners and funny behaviour of the aliens is a hoot.

I dont think I'll replay all the way through... but I might go and pickup Halo 2 as I never did play that game when it finally came out for PC.

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

I was just replaying Halo and have re-discovered the great AI in this game. It really is very satisfying; challenging, smart and fun. In fact its the fun factor that is pulling me in again. All the little one liners and funny behaviour of the aliens is a hoot.

I dont think I'll replay all the way through... but I might go and pickup Halo 2 as I never did play that game when it finally came out for PC.

I played it a couple of times, maybe its time for more time, I never did play Halo 2, if I find it cheap enough I might give it a try!

[Sir Skully]

Yeah I never did play Halo, might be an oldie but goodie.
That I need to give a try out......

[zapionics<alt>]

I managed to find a cheap copy of Halo2 down at my local shopping center.

Encountered a few issues so far; first up the Windows Live account thing... I hate it... have to be "logged in" even if you are playing SP...
needs to "activate" over the web...

next the keyboard assignments screen is a real PiTA. You have to clear an assignment before you can use that key... but no mention anywhere of how to clear it...nothing in the printed manual or in-game

"Dual Wield" is a real PiTA as well... i hate it... solution is simply not to use it. The problem is that when dual wielding you need two fire button assignments, one for the "left" weapon and another for the "right"... very annoying with keyboard and mouse... probably works great with a console pad... you also need separate buttons to pick up for left and right...

Finally, and the worst issue since I cannot resolve it; the game supports 16:10 widescreen in my native resolution 1680x1050, but the FOV seems to be too tight... and no way to change it. Feels like I'm zoomed in all the time and its horrible... if anyone knows of a hack please let me know...

Otherwise the game is fun so far... actually I'm a little confused... the Ringworld is destroyed so what is the significance of the title "Halo" now anyway? and some of the cutscenes seem to go on for a bit too long... like they love themselves or something, I just want to get to the action!

I'll play for a bit longer and see how I like it...

[zapionics<alt>]

I'm sad to have to report that the game is unplayable for me and so I cant recommend it.

Firstly I experience excessive crackling and muffled audio, especially in speech, which means I cannot understand what is being said (including the dialog to move the story along).
I've tried everything to resolve and cannot. Searching the web found many people with the issue but no solutions.

I tried using subtitles as a mitigation, but they dont always show up! Seems to be random as to what is subtitled.

Secondly, the music plays too loudly, especially in outside levels. There is no separate control for it and it gets very annoying after a while.

Other problem is that the FOV feels like its around 70 when it needs to be at least 90. Once again no fix on the web. Playable, but annoying. Tried windowed mode but no improvement.

Its really too bad because the actual gameplay seemed to be excellent, with very fast paced action. The game seems to have moved into an urban warefare kind of style which feels interesting.

I'm really disappointed about this!

[fvbounty]

Well that's terrible, Halo played great never had a problem, you think MS could make it right there good at patches...LOL

[zapionics<alt>]

I have a solution for the FOV issue! (I dont like to give up)

This hack over here works, I've tested it and its excellent, view feels normal again

Regards the crackling sound issue; I've discovered that if I disable the "Soundblaster enhancements" in the Sound applet in control panel the crackling stops ... until the next reboot... when I have to do the procedure over again by unchecking and then checking the disable option.

This seems to work for an hour or so when playing the game and then the crackle comes back and so I have to do the process again and all is well until the next time, etc. Probably some condition in a level change in Halo2 triggers the problem again somehow.

I dont want to blame Creative for this since the card (X-Fi Titanium) has been delivering excellent sound in all my other games and apps since installation, but this fix does seem to work. Found the suggestion over here

Still havent found any way to disable music... its compiled I assume... but there may be a switch... I'll keep looking.

Anyhow the game is now quite playable with these fixes, so I progress! I'm currently hunting down the Covenant on a freeway in a tank and its addictive fun!

The game feels much like Halo CE... AI is excellent... but I do miss that Ringworld... it seemed more exotic somehow with that incredible arch overhead.

Graphics are good, definetly old by todays standard, missing soft water effects, detailed textures, but because its in that neon style it seems fresh. Reminds me of Left 4 Dead actually...

[zapionics<alt>]

Halo 2 is mindless fun, I'm enjoying the challenge of the AI, its very good, but I'm really missing NPC character development... there isnt any... they do progress the characters and story via cut scenes but after some of the more recent sandbox RPG's we've been playing it feels really shallow.

The game has some diverse environments, but unfortunately due to the limited object detail they're all a little bland and bare by todays standard. It kinda makes up for it with some set pieces... ie: tank battles, air battles and so on... so it doesnt become tedious ever... maintains the fun factor and challenge constantly...

Some twists in the story keep the interest up... I was also amazed at the zombified enemies! I mentioned Left 4 Dead earlier and I meant Dead Space seriously if we had a cutting weapon in the game it would be the same game... except that Halo 2 offers a lot more variety in combat style... that was the biggest issue with Dead Space, it was the same thing over and over, slicing and dicing... (although it was addictive)...
I'm still playing and have just landed on the second world... that was also a surprise and answers some of my earlier questions!

Speaking of which, the Ringworld as described in Nivens novel has got huge scope for game developers! That world is so rich in life, detail and variety... and space... that you could develop a long franchise of games around exploring it... Something along the lines of a cross between STALKER and Oblivion... omg that would be fun... with strange enemy factions... and so much space to explore... the Ringworld is mind numbingly immense in scope...
From wiki:

The "Ringworld" is an artificial ring about one million miles wide and approximately the diameter of Earth's orbit (which makes it about 600 million miles in circumference), encircling a Sol-type star. It rotates, providing an artificial gravity that is 99.2% as strong as Earth's gravity through the action of centrifugal force. Ringworld has a habitable flat inner surface equivalent in area to approximately three million Earth-sized planets. The majority of the surface is land interspersed with shallow, freshwater seas. On opposite sides of the ring are two large deep saltwater oceans, placed in counterbalance to one another. One of the large oceans, known as the "Great Ocean", contains one-to-one maps of all of the inhabited worlds of known space. The "Other Ocean" has many maps of a single world: the Pak Homeworld. Walls 1,000 miles tall along the edges retain the atmosphere. The Ringworld could be regarded as a thin, rotating slice of a Dyson sphere, with which it shares a number of characteristics. Niven himself thinks of the Ringworld as "an intermediate step between Dyson spheres and planets."[3]

Halo 2 is not really about the Ringworld of the novel which only provides a backdrop for the story and combat that goes on. And thats what this game is essentially all about; a lot of combat with fun vehicles and weapons and funny enemies who always make me laugh.

I've noticed there is a large number of dialog responses by the NPC's and that adds to the fun. Sometimes they say something that makes me crack up laughing, although theres no time to stop and think about it, too much action going on. The humour is very tounge in cheek as in Halo CE and it would be a mistake to think that they ever took themselves seriously when developing it, its just meant to be silly fun and nothing deeper than that...the enemy NPC models are very funny looking and behave in very silly ways ... although, as I said, the combat AI is very satisfying and challenging. I shouldnt leave the impression that the enemies are not scary, because at times they are with very sophisticated attacks and the suicide attack of an enraged enemy is always scary!

They could probably have had a lot more fun with the human military/marine classes, as there is probably a lot of cliched fun to be had there... I like some of the one liners they make when fighting along side... there is also some swearing in the game but it doesnt happen very often ... I heard the F word for example. I get the impression there are many many responses and its just random which ones get played and its just luck which ones you hear

The only other thing I've noticed is that there has been a lot of effort spent in making the AI behaviour of the NPC's realistic, which is in stark contrast to their funny looks and dialog. The motion is excellent, such as walking and running and ducking and dodging, its looks great and fluid. If they accidently get in your way or shoot at you they will say things like "sorry, my bad" or "that was my fault".
When something happens like driving a vehicle at speed and it becomes airborne they will shout and woot realistically, which all adds to the feeling of fun... but I found you cannot become attached to any NPC as they just come and go and tend to look all the same after a while.

So having resolved the big technical issues, I think the game is a lot of fun and challenging gameplay here and worth playing if you havent already and if you liked the first game, Halo CE.

[johnrr6]

I hated Halo 2....

Mindless and started out a little fun----but got boring as sin....

Buggy as sin as well---had a terrible time installing it even though it had the "Game for Windows" official moniker.....

And It played horribly with PC controls (at least for me)-----wanted you to play it with a stupid xbox controller!!

NO Charactor development as you stated....weak plot-----nothing to grab you......And the Master Chief charactor COULD be sooooo interesting if MS would just give it some attention......

I was so angry at the game by the end that it is the ONLY game I have ever gone back to my local GameStop store and asked for my money back....

I'm a good customer and since I had NEVER asked before----they said sure.

I just was expecting so much more.....

Halo 1 was fine----actually pretty good!------Halo 2 ranks up there with Deus Ex 2 and Soldier of Fortune 3.....

Total dissapointment....

even FarCry2 was far---far better....and I didn't like that game much at all....

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

I hated Halo 2....
Mindless and started out a little fun----but got boring as sin....
...
even FarCry2 was far---far better....and I didn't like that game much at all....

FarCry2? ... gee... you really hated this game eh? I think Halo2 is a lot more fun than FarCry2! Actually I didnt have any fun with FarCry2...
but yeah, its a mindless shooter... but with fun one liners and really good combat AI...

It does run the risk at every corner of becoming boring ... but I think its saved by a variety of set piece action levels... like the tank sequences, aircraft and a mix of both outdoor and indoor levels. The switch in the middle where you change characters was also a change of pace.

If it wasnt for the excellent combat AI and humour then yeah, I'm sure I'd be bored and have uninstalled it ages ago.
I think Halo CE was just as good as this game and probably even better due to its superior plot.

But the game does have a variety of game play...plenty of sniping levels, as well as hand to hand (with a blade) with lots of automatic weapon fights in between, vehicles, aircraft and blue blooded smart enemy AI.

As I said, if you ignore the controller setup for the dual wield and set the controls the way you're used to then I think it feels pretty much like any other PC shooter.

Apart from my initial problems, the game has played smoothly and without any issues. (I did have two BSOD's early on tho... but its behaved nicely for ages now). Seriously tho, if I'd had to play it with the original FOV then I would have given up in frustration... just too tight and ugly.

But you know, I liked Serious Sam too, so what do I know? I guess opinion will be pretty much polarized due to the stylised game play, with ppl either liking Halo2 or hating it.

[johnrr6]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

But you know, I liked Serious Sam too, so what do I know? I guess opinion will be pretty much polarized due to the stylised game play, with ppl either liking Halo2 or hating it.

Funny!----I liked Serious Sam too!!

but some of those levels were just IMPOSSIBLE!

Talk about burning up ammo on ENDLESS supplies of bad guys......

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

Funny!----I liked Serious Sam too!!

but some of those levels were just IMPOSSIBLE!

Talk about burning up ammo on ENDLESS supplies of bad guys......

Yea Serious Sam series was a kick in the butt, lots of bad guys like you said and never enough ammo...lol...I always had sweaty hands after a round of SS.....

[zapionics<alt>]

oh great, you reminded me, now theres another game I'll have to replay! ... Awesome weapons with gigantic enemies... bowling balls, bull things... lasers, grenades, rockets...it was FUN... but I hated those screaming dudes with their explosive hands...

Halo2 is really getting better as I go along... the vehicles are fun and the sword lunge attack at the zombified enemies is satisfying...

But the only problem is that I'm now getting swarmed by the flood... very annoying game dynamic... kinda no skill involved, just hit and hope... or run blindly until you find the exit!