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Halo

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6.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 40 critic reviews
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Based on 124 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Microsoft

Developer: Gearbox Software

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter, Action

Players: 16

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: September 30, 2003

Summary

In a desperate attempt to keep a conquering alien race called the Covenant from finding Earth, you--a cybernteically enhanced soldier representing the peak of human military evolution--and a ragtag group of Marines flee to a distant uncharted system where you unexpectedly stumble across Halo, an enormous alien artifact in orbit between a gas giant and its moon. Your objective: Uncover Halo's horrible secret, and destroy mankind's nemesis - the Covenant. [Microsoft]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central GameSpot Guide GameSpy Multiplayer Strategies IGN Insider Guide

Also On The Web: Firing Squad Preview GameSpot Preview GameSpy Preview IGN Hands-On IGN Preview Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Play Magazine

Watching the game run at 1600X1200 left me speechless. Textures are incredibly rich; the lighting is to die for... On the flipside, however, in order to really enjoy Halo, you need a hardcore gaming rig to see any kind of smooth framerate. [Nov 2003, p.95]

Next Level Gaming

A decent storyline, lots of NPC interaction, and graphics that you have to see to believe. Anyway, if you are even remotely a fan of FPS games, this is an absolute must have, and one hell of a ride.

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GameSpy

I've enjoyed playing Halo on the PC far more than I ever did on the Xbox, and the inclusion of Internet multiplayer with new levels and modes is a huge addition...When everything's clicking, it's the closest I've seen a shooter come to providing perfect combat

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GameZone

The Xbox is all about high resolution graphics. The PC version outdoes the original with better graphics with hardly any loading time. The models are fairly good but the enormous amount of activity that occurs on-screen makes the graphics that much better.

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Gamezilla!

On a powerful rig, however, the PC version of Halo outdoes the Xbox’s visuals, though the differences are subtle. Simply put, it looks stunning at 1600x1200 with full effects on.

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Game Revolution

There are still countless hours of fun to be had with Halo. If you couldn't stomach the control pad and the lack of online support (or Xbox itself) really turned you away from the Xbox version, then this Halo is sure to please.

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Gaming Nexus

The big questions are if the game can hold up against the cheaters and what cool mods will be created once Gearbox released the development kit.

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Adrenaline Vault

It doesn’t set any new standards, but it’s great fun in both the single- and multiplayer sides of the house.

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PC Format

When it’s good, it’s exceptional, but when it’s bad it’s just OK. Witness the multiplayer, which, while it isn’t as social as Halo’s first incarnation, is brilliantly handled.

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GameSpot

Surprisingly taxing even on very fast PCs with tons of RAM and the latest video cards. Halo for the PC also loses the original version's much-vaunted cooperative play mode. But in spite of all that, and in spite of the very high standards for first-person shooters on the PC, Halo is still an incredible action game. It's a true classic.

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Edge Magazine

To have been worth the wait for PC gamers it would have needed to considerably improve on the Xbox original. Put simply, it doesn't. [Dec 2003, p.109]

PC Arena

I've played the game 7 times over alone on the Microsoft console and I still find the experience on the PC to be every bit as captivating as I remembered it to be.

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Eurogamer

I'm going to cheat, and simply provide a score for the multiplayer element of the game...and bearing in mind that this game probably won't run shockingly well without major tweaking, because it's one of the most demanding games in terms of system specs that we've ever seen.

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Yahoo! Games

The most impressive difference between the Xbox and PC versions is that you can play online with up to 15 other players and, with the increased resolution, sniping is much more accurate and fun.

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PC Gameworld

A great, great game. The story's compelling, the music is outstanding, and the control is excellent.

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Game Chronicles

The staggering system requirements are a point of concern, though, and I feel I can't give the title a universal stamp of approval without a word of caution. But if you've got the hardware, it's an electrifying experience you can't pass up.

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Game Informer

Just a fantastic console game that is late to the PC party. [Dec 2003, p.178]

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Gamer's Pulse

With an incredible, engrossing campaign, Halo could stand on its own; fortunately, the addition of Internet multiplayer sweetened with two new vehicles, two new weapons, and six new maps makes the PC version even more worthwhile. Unfortunately, performance issues plague the game, preventing easy play through the game’s campaign due to poor framerates.

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AtomicGamer

Halo PC is a fairly functional port of an excellent game. The lack of co-op and the sluggish frame rate are the big disappointments, but the solo campaign is a must-play for any respectable FPS fan.

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ActionTrip

Even with all its minor and more significant shortcomings HALO is still one of the most enjoyable FPS games I've ever played. The single-player is immersive, well-told and at times simply brilliant. With a powerful enough rig, all PC shooter fans will definitely want to own this game.

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PC Gamer

It's the outdoor areas - roughly 25 percent of the game's 20-plus hours of playtime - that host the kind of epic confrontations that you'll tell your buddies about. [Holiday 2003, p.98]

Game Over Online

Halo is the first game I can ever recall wishing was shorter than it was. The final level is one of the great nail-biters in FPS-dom, but you’ve got to slog through some levels that are nothing short of unbelievable in their repetition to get to it.

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Armchair Empire

Halo for the PC is everything that PC gamers want in a first person shooter, but a bit of a failure to those Xbox gamers waiting for the multiplayer.

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IGN

When evaluated against the standards of the current PC shooter catalog, Halo seems to fall short in just a few key areas: repetitive levels, steep performance requirements and a lingering console balance.

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Computer Games Magazine

It delivers an excellent single-player game with some caveats, and a blah multiplayer experience that lacks the best feature from the Xbox version. [Dec 2003, p.92]

1UP

The only compelling reason for Halo fans to buy this version is for multiplayer, which is so much better than playing split-screen on your television. Otherwise, it's the same old space opera.

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Cheat Code Central

Simply put, Halo doesn't seem to know what it needs to run smoothly. The original ran at a scant 480 X 640 resolution to suit your TV. Even with a monster video card in your PC, 512MB of RAM and a 2400+GHz going for it, higher resolutions will give you stutter, slowdown and sometimes blow you right out of the game.

GMR Magazine

The only compelling reason for Halo fans to buy this version is for multiplayer, which is so much better than playing split-screen on your television. Otherwise, it's the same old space opera. [Dec 2003, p.80]

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Gamer's Hell

But being a console port of two year old dated game, the graphics aren't as pretty as they can be nowadays. Some of the textures look bleak, and the models would really be better off with a higher polygon count.

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Total Video Games

Any downsides or real negatives? None, apart from the need for a powerful PC to possibly experience the game in even more quality. If goaded to pick up any concerns it would have been for slightly more variety in the layout of the levels, with a touch more ingenuity.

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Cincinnati Enquirer

Does have one noticeable omission. In the Xbox title, gamers can choose to play the campaign mode alongside another player. This isn't an online option on the Windows version, which is disappointing because it would be fun to run through the story mode cooperatively with a friend.

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FiringSquad

The brightest point about all this, is that if Microsoft wants to spend the money, all of these problems can be patched away. A better chat interface is easy – even color-coding messages would help tremendously. Co-op is a long-term project but not impossible.

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GamePro

Crippling frame rate problems tarnish an otherwise engaging single-player experience. Ultimately, the addictive online multiplayer is the main attraction; without it, there’s not much to see here.

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G4 TV

Even though it lacks the cooperative multiplayer feature, Halo: Combat Evolved retains the sharp graphics, heated action, and vehicle-based exploration that made the original such an awesome game.

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Gamers Europe

In terms of a port, this is pretty poor. A two year old game and what advancements do we get? A high PC requirement and a few new weapons. Hardly worth it if you’ve already played the Xbox original.

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Computer Gaming World

The multiplayer and mechanics of combat are finely tuned, but aren't enough to lift Halo past its dated single-player, lack of graphical upgrades, and only competent performance. [Dec 2003, p.124]

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Gaming Age

The control with mouse and keyboard is far superior to the clunky Xbox controller, and Gearbox is already rolling out patches to deal with the framerate issues. As an experience, Halo is something to behold - on the right system, you can pull this game out and slap around your Xbox-owning friends with higher resolutions and better controls. As a game, however, it starts strong and fizzles like a wet firework towards the end.

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Maxim Online

It’s all so much like the Xbox version, in fact, that you might wonder why the hell you spent money on it a second time.

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GameNow

Co-op mode didn't make the cut. This was one feature that kept the repetitive level design from showing its ugly face - between those great, open terrain stages are lots of boring back-and-forth mazes.

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GameReviewer

To put it simply, the game is horribly slow. The framerate is so devastating, that at a point during the second level, playing the game becomes literally impossible...One of the biggest disappointments in my gaming career.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.4 (out of 10) based on 124 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alex A gave it a3:
So I'm playing this game now, in 2009, because I had luck to get a bargain Halo 2 - and so I also got Halo on Ebay, so I can start the story at the beginning. Well, the game got out in 2003 - and it doesn't show. If I'd play this in 2003, I might have been mildly entertained, but just mildly. I can't understand the fauvorable reviews. The game is just stupid, boring, repetitive, unintuitive, whatever negative you can imagine. Halo was released a year or two after the likes of Max Payne, Deus Ex, Mafia, Star Trek Voyager, Medal of Honor, same year as Max Payne 2, Unreal II... It's just no competition. Halo is comparable with shitty, stupid games such as James Bond Nightfire (funny the PC versions are both from the same company Gearbox). Gore is also quite comparable in unintuitiveness. I don't know about multiplayer, but the single player campaign is a thing to avoid. What happened to Bungie anyway?

inferno your mom gave it a10:
An amazing game ESPECIALLY with the Custom Edition of the game allowing completely custom maps, weapons, vehicles and what nots.

Janne J. gave it a1:
The game is so boring that i sold it for my friend and never finished it. Nothing happens in the game. i don`t know what other people see in shooting some midgets (or elfs). The only plus that i gave was for the "halo" that looked fine in the outside areas.

Lutar gave it a5:
Average game. Nice graphics, really good plot. However, all the time you are in the same environment and shooting the same enemies which makes the game a bit boring after some time. Plot is the strongest aspect of this game.

Marmoo gave it an8:
Having completed Halo on Xbox many years ago i was happy when my bro bought me this last week, i have not tried the story game as i have done that, i was more interested in the online multiplayer. I can say i have no probs running it and it runs smooth on a dated cpu now (2.94ghz celeron, 2 gig ram, 160g hd and ATI 256mb graphics), i was impressed with the speed of online game but am struggling with the pace of it lol. playing with keyboard and mouse is a bit cumbersome so looking to but a controller - on the whole - very happy with product - cant understand why people have rated this game so low, especially those who cant get it to run - how can you rate he actual quality of the game without playing it- what a bunch of noobs lol.

Anonyomous Anonyomous gave it a7:
Pretty good game from time to time, not really that good for playing the whole day. But a really bad part about this is that it does NOT have anti-cheat protection, it has a little but not any protection against aim bots.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This is the best game I've ever played. Great graphics and it runs on my cp like a charm. All you ppl who say it doesn't even run are probably not even trying! I must admit though Halo 2 and 3 may be better this game is still very well. The only problem is that sometimes you are going backwards thorugh the lvs. But at least theres different enimeds.

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