Review:
Halo: Combat Evolved (Mac version)
Reviewer: Cliff Hollis
Edited by: Mike Dixon (6/11/04)
Mac publisher: MacSoft ($49.99 est. retail price)

“All right people, what are you waiting for, breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the corps. A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal is a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune. Every formation a parade. I love the corps!” says Sergeant Apone from the movie, Aliens played by Al Matthews. This quote ran through my head as I played this game.

Both machines (Power Mac G5 1.6 GHz/PowerBook G41 GHz) ran very well. The PowerBook had trouble in heavy firefights with lag time. It was always a momentary snag and game play would resume without much trouble. I could run the resolution to maximum and increase all the video and sound settings to high on the G5 without any noticeable trouble. Both machines fell into the minimum hardware requirements but more is always best! I played a few rounds with multiplayer using a wireless connection and the lag time was very noticeable. Wired LAN is recommended.

I had never played this game and was quite excited about giving it a try. After playing I had mixed feelings about the game. The story line is very compelling and you drawn into a well-done science fiction story. The game combines several familiar elements from other movies and books. Aliens has been mentioned and if you have read the book Starship Troopers you see some inspirations for other plot elements. This did not take away from game play but added to it in a knowing way. It was sort of like an inside joke. There was even a glancing reference to the PC game, Half-Life in one of the villains. To say more would give away too much of the game.

Some things you look for in a first-person shooter are here of course. Heavy weapons lots of enemies and objectives to follow. There are some new things with vehicles adding the third-person perspective and the addition of a built-in computer voice and personality for guidance and insight right in your space suit. The vehicles were a fun touch and I did some joyriding to get a feel for the maps. You can also fly in a small craft and I admit I was a sucker for this touch. I flew more than needed just for fun. Interacting with fellow marines was fun. Most of the time these fellows were here for cannon fodder but were also helpful.

The range of weapons available for both humans and aliens is wide and varied. Some are powerful and others are only a nuisance. The "power ups" were placed in logical places where they make sense not just scattered around. This made the game feel more like a movie and enhanced its play. The artificial intelligence in this game seemed to be adequate. The villains were not so dumb as seen in other games I have played. This is always a good thing for game play but bad for my health.

There are things that are not so great. You can’t save the game when you want to, so you have to get to checkpoints for the auto save to kick in. This was very frustrating and time consuming if you don’t make the checkpoints and replay certain parts over and over. There are also no cheat codes for this game. The objectives for the level didn’t always seem clear and this made for some confusion during missions. A better heads-up display would also have helped. Navigation was difficult at times because there was no compass points to see nor map overlay to follow. At times, a computer added direction to follow. The maps could also be confusing and I found myself wandering around aimlessly looking for an exit after finishing an objective. These things took away some of the fun.

There seemed to be a slight bug with the sound synchronization in this game. It wasn't enough to hinder game play but just enough to confuse things. A teammate or your computer might say something you need to know after the fact or you could hear something that has already happened. I don’t know if this was a QuickTime problem or a game glitch. The version of QuickTime that ships with Panther has been sighted as a problem in the game No One Lives Forever 2 and is unplayable in Panther. Fortunately, this is not the case here. An update was available but that was to provide Mac and PC multi-play compatibility.

I was a little disappointed after so much hype of this game. The story was one of the best to come along in a while. The game played well with interesting elements and some frustration. Overall, if you enjoy science fiction and third person shooters you should enjoy this game. If you want a simple third person shooter game this may not be it. Make sure you have enough horsepower in your Mac before considering a purchase of this game.