# Halo PC first impression **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102 "2003-10-02T12:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/21 "2003-10-02T19:40:14Z")
I haven’t played on PC but even though I played through it 4-5 times (I’ve never played any other game more than once), Id still have to say it’s one of the most overrated games of all time. The best design decision was to only allow 2 weapons. The worst design decision were those monotonous endless repeating levels. Still can’t compare to the inventiveness of Half-Life. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/22 "2003-10-02T19:49:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, the introduction of The Flood totally changes the gameplay dynamics from fun, tactical skirmishing to a mindless shootout. Mindless? If you go in against the Flood “mindlessly”, you’re gonna get killed. “Lotsa shooting” does not equal “mindless”. The Flood require you to use different tactics and ammo conservation… you can’t be caught reloading when one of them appears right next to you. It’s also best to use concussion grenades against the Flood. > [@](#): > > None of the guns I’ve come across seem suited to dealing with this ‘Flood’ everyone is talking about. When you encounter the Flood, you start finding the Shotgun, the best gun in the entire game. It beats the shit outta the Flood. > [@](#): > > The damn assault rifle’s 60-round magazine empties out just when you need it most! Then you’re using it wrong. You should be able to kill an Elite with 40 bullets. Try bursting instead of just holding down the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/23 "2003-10-02T20:12:00Z")
I can’t say why, but the repetitive level design worked for me. Normally, it would have pissed me off, but in this game, it made sense. Building something like Halo would require a lot of modular construction. Plus, there were plenty of unique levels that made it clear that the repetitiveness was a deliberate design choice, not a way of half-assing the game design. I seldom got lost: the lighted arrows on the floor usually kept me moving in the right direction, and if I came into a room filled with corpses, that was usually pretty good evidence that I’d already been there. The Flood levels were great. Especially the level where you’re following the little blue glowy thing that wants you to activate the Halo’s defence systems. I loved running backwards, firing madly into the oncoming horde, praying that you don’t run out of ammo or back into another horde of flood before you get to the next elevator. Some of the most intense game play I’ve ever experienced. Mind you, that’s all from the X-Box version of the game. Haven’t seen the PC version, so I don’t know if whats been changed. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/24 "2003-10-02T22:46:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nangleator \* > \*\*None of the guns I’ve come across seem suited to dealing with this ‘Flood’ everyone is talking about. I’m picturing the original Doom when the walls come down and lots of mindless demons come snarling at you in a big rush. That requires a lot of bullets and please don’t make me reload. > > The damn assault rifle’s 60-round magazine empties out just when you need it most! > > Perhaps the tri-barrel machine gun on the ATV thing would be perfect, but I imagine you don’t get that opportunity often. \*\* The assault rifle is the worst gun in the game - I only used it when there was nothing else. Shotgun is the best for the flood followed by the pistol. Just allow the flying pod thingies to hit your suit, unless you risk actual health dmg. For elites I think the best gun that can be found throughout the game is easily the plasma pistol. One charge to take down the shield, one more to kill it. Same with Jackals except they take about three. The MVP award goes to the Marine pistol. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/25 "2003-10-02T23:42:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > Mindless? If you go in against the Flood “mindlessly”, you’re gonna get killed. “Lotsa shooting” does not equal “mindless”. The Flood require you to use different tactics and ammo conservation… you can’t be caught reloading when one of them appears right next to you. It’s also best to use concussion grenades against the Flood. > > When you encounter the Flood, you start finding the Shotgun, the best gun in the entire game. It beats the shit outta the Flood. Mostly agreed. The little popcorn guys die explosively, so a single burst from the assault rifle will take out an entire cluster quite effectively. The shotgun takes out the big guys with a single shot. The trick was switching between shotgun and rifle fast enough. Also, the popcorn poppers die explosively as well and do damage to other units nearby. I did get annoyed with the reuse of rooms. I haven’t tried the multiplayer yet. That’s supposed to be the icing on the cake. Multiplayer with Warthog/Scorpion/Banshee sounds pretty nice. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/26 "2003-10-03T00:13:58Z")
Oh, and **Miller** was that one big whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/27 "2003-10-03T02:34:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by emarkp \* > That would be a pretty stable position (around a Lagrangian point, the tidal forces attract objects to the point). If the plane of orbit of the moon is the same as the plane of the planet’s orbit, it would provide shadow–how frequently would depend on the details of the orbit. I didn’t think of wobble for night. Giving a wobble to the ring could provide a regular day/night cycle. Oh, and I found something interesting. Putting something in orbit around a Lagrangian point is called…a [**halo** orbit](http://www.angelfire.com/on2/daviddarling/haloorbit.htm). Cute, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/28 "2003-10-03T02:39:45Z")
Don’t waste bullets on the little popping Flood. Just whack 'em. Wait for them to jump, then bash them with your weapon. The shotgun is fine for this, but the fastest weapon-bash, sad to say, is probably the assault rifle. The pistol’s animation takes too long for it to be an effective weapon against the Floodlings. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/29 "2003-10-03T02:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nangleator \* > **None of the guns I’ve come across seem suited to dealing with this ‘Flood’ everyone is talking about.** For Flood battling, I use the Shotgun (as already mentioned, it kills Flood dead) for crowd control and large, individual targets, and the Plasma Rifle for my second weapon. It allows for long-range sniping if required, as well as rapid-fire spraying. As long as you don’t lay on the trigger, you don’t have to worry about over-heating, and you can usually find more PRs frequently enough for the fact that you can’t reload/recharge them to be an issue. And, of course, lots of grenades. Frag, mostly, since those are dropped by some Flood. As for reloading, you should always reload when you aren’t in combat. “Clipping” (running out of ammo at an inopportune moment) is how newbies die in deathmatch. And in the campaign, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/30 "2003-10-03T05:25:56Z")
Hey, you guys want to think about using the **Spoiler** tag? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/31 "2003-10-03T12:13:16Z")
First impressions, nice graphics, intuitive controls, pretty solid FPS but extremely over-rated. People talked about this game like it was the second coming. It’s not but it is a good way to spend some time. Multi-player is a blast. It’s no TFC but it’ll grow on you. The only other thing that disappoints is the way it runs. Now, I don’t have a screaming supercomputer but it is pretty decent (Athalon XP 2600+; 512MB RAM; Geforce 4 4600ti) and Halo doesn’t run all that great. Even at 800 X 600 there are some slow downs, especially when the game has to access the CD. For a game that was originally on a much slower system and for it being two years old you would think it would run a hell of a lot better. ---
**Author:** ![Nangleator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e19adc/32.png) [@Nangleator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nangleator)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/32 "2003-10-03T12:46:05Z")
After spending another hour at the game, I can already tell the repetitive level design is going to be annoying. I got finished with the Covenant ship I had to go aboard. Lots of identical corridors, lots of locked doors, very little sense of wonder while exploring. I got to the hot LZ on the beach, which was a friggin’ BLAST! I successfully flanked enemies pinned down by marines, used shields to hide behind when reloading, tossed grenades to great effect, and was right at the jeep’s door when it landed. Yeah! I have new respect for the pistol and the plasma pistol. If it wasn’t for the internet, I’d have never experimented with the pistol, except out of desperation. Who knew they’d design the ‘weakest’ weapon such that it’s deadly? I easily found the next place to go, but got bogged down in replaying it because getting inside was so damn expensive every time. Then, new wifey came into the room and went to bed, so I couldn’t play anymore. Halo, that is. Priorities. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102/33 "2003-10-03T14:02:28Z")
I have only played Halo on the XBox, and I would agree that the level design is pretty repetitive, but that fact is made up for by the enemy AI. Each time you play they react slightly differently. Sure, they may be in the same places to start, but they will attack differently, move around differently, etc. The depth of the AI, the graphics (for a two+ year old game), the gameplay and intuitiveness of the controllers, plus of course the multi-player modes (I am sorry to all you PC Halo-ites for not having Co-op mode, it is a shame they dropped that.) all make for a really fun game. Halo on PC is not the second coming, Halo 2 in April will be 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halo-pc-first-impression/205102.md?page=1)