'Halo' for PC is great gaming

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 27, 2003 by James Derk Scripps Howard News Service

Frequent readers of this space have to know that I spend what little spare time I have often engaged in online gaming, often "Unreal Tournament" or "Return to Castle Wolfenstein."

You also may remember that I gave my copy of the acclaimed "Halo" for Xbox away after I consistently got nauseated and ill while playing it on my television. I guess I would not make a very good soldier.

Now "Halo: Combat Evolved" has been released for Windows, and gamers around the world can rejoice. (Just keep a barf bag handy.)

Basically a direct port of the Xbox title, "Halo" for Windows is a stunning achievement in gaming. The video is simply stunning; there's no other word for it, really.

"Halo," if you are not familiar with the game, is a first-person shooter with the normal settings (team, capture the flag, etc.). The only thing missing is the original version's cooperative setting, but who needs to cooperate when you are holding a flamethrower anyway?

Among the things that set "Halo" apart is the ability to drive various vehicles during the mission, a truly astonishing feat in the gaming world. The first time you try it really is amazing.

That said, I think the controls for the entire game are a tad confusing. I wonder why game companies don't just agree on standard keyboard controls for movement? Anyway, plan on having a cheat sheet nearby or spend a lot of time remapping keyboard commands. Controls for this game are set for keyboard and mouse, so forget the joystick or game pad.

As a single-player game, there is not a lot changed from the Xbox title. You are given a series of missions and maps and expected to reap all kinds of mayhem to accomplish them.

What sets the game apart (and worth the 50 bucks) is the online multiplayer mode. Teaming up with folks from all over the world, forming teams and stomping over each other makes for a pretty appealing hour or two.

Capture the Flag appears to be the most popular choice judging from the list of servers out there. Playing online does not cost any extra. However, the trick remains finding a server with a low enough "ping" to allow smooth game play.

The downside of "Halo," if there is one, is that it takes a very, very good computer to run it. Microsoft says it will run on a 733 mHz processor with 128 megs of RAM, but I doubt you will have a good time.

I would suggest a gigahertz processor with 512 megs of RAM as a good box. In terms of video card, shoot for 64 megs of video memory as a minimum, with the more the merrier. (In other words, don't buy this game if you have a $299 PC.)

To use the online connection, make sure you have a high-speed connection such as DSL or cable-modem.

You can download a demo version of the game for free to test your system and get a feel for the game. It's about 134 megs in size, and you can get it from www.microsoft.com/games.

WEEKLY WEB WONDER: A great resource for gaming stuff is Blues News, at www.bluesnews.com.

James Derk is new media editor for The Evansville Courier & Press. His e-mail address is jderk@evansville.net.