Forums | MacLife

Yeah, there has been so much discussion over there during the past week that it''s not worth the trouble to post any of it in here.

Have it, love it, runs very good on my G5. Do I need to say more?

Sweet! What I needed to know.

If you're curious what it should look like at present, barring, say, FSAA-enabling render patches, try

http://macaddict.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.p … ;start=225

...near the bottom

Now here's everything in order:

http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga
http://homepage.mac.com/twistedguy/.Pub … shot00.tga

And...the FedEx folks just arrived with my copy...so I'm off to do that.

TG is hosting some of my screens on his iDisk. 9800 Pro, 1024x768, 3MB apiece. Shots from first level to near end, including cutscenes but few if any real spoilers.

Of course, now you can use these links... original page has explanation, future plans/ possibilities etc.

I finished it yesterday and I must say that this game is truely the most action paced ever. The only moments you get to rest a bit is when a cutscene plays.

The end is a bit clich

multiplay rocks! i'm impressed how i've yet to experience any kind of lag or performance issues due to the hardware, it's all related to my net speed (or rather, my lack thereof) even though i don't meet the min. system specs (733 digital audio).

one slight detractor is the frequency of TK'ers... i don't understand what people find so amusing about that. guess they're either really bored (i have fun with my friends that way ) or can't get any kills on people that are shooting back. but overall, multi rules, and any game now-a-days that doesn't have engrossing multiplay won't last very long.

santa has spoken, let it be so.

Halo with lag feels like UT with lag. You run around, and then suddenly pop back to a previous location. You run off a ledge, start to fall, then pop back on top. You push the fire button and your gun fires a third of a second later making it impossible to aim at moving targets and actually hit them, that sort of thing. Luckily, lag is generally not too bad. You start noticing the lag with 10 or more players, but below that it usually feels like a LAN to me. Unfortunately there's no way to show ping while playing. The multiplayer nature of Halo hasn't changed much since the Xbox version - I think they really need to add more PC online game features in a future patch.

Speaking of Xbox-like features, the method of saving games really annoys me. I'm sure that checkpoint autosaves are great for console games, but I'd like to have a bit more control with when and where I save my games.

All in all, I really enjoyed the game. The ending was a bit weak I thought, and the story was a tad cliche. It's not an RPG though, so the story was great for an FPS. It had a Marathon-like feel to it.
<rant>
Some of the levels were INCREDIBLY monotonous. Throughout the library levels you traverse the exact same series of corridors about 30 times. As soon as you finish one section, you head into another section that looks exactly the same with enemies coming at you in the same fasion, over and over and over. The trouble I had was that its so dark and the layout is so complex, symmetrical, and repetitive that I kept getting turned and running back through parts of the map that I had already cleared, or had trouble finding where I needed to go, unable to progress, all the while being attacked by hoardes of suicide enemies. I literally began to laugh out loud, thinking "is this ever going to end?!" It took me three sittings to get through it, and I was so irritated by the end that I had to go back and play some earlier levels to remember why I was playing the game to begin with. The Flood took a lot of the fun out of it for me. There was no longer any strategy like with fighting the covenant, you just had to backpedal and unload all of your ammo at things running at your face, for hours and hours on end.
</rant>

But I loved the game. It's a great FPS. It's lacking in a few big ways, but nothing that can't be overcome.

Halo with lag feels like UT with lag. You run around, and then suddenly pop back to a previous location. You run off a ledge, start to fall, then pop back on top. You push the fire button and your gun fires a third of a second later making it impossible to aim at moving targets and actually hit them, that sort of thing. Luckily, lag is generally not too bad. You start noticing the lag with 10 or more players,

or if you live in alaska and your ping is always 650 or above

yeah, so it makes me a really good player after awhile. but when I play without lag I suck, becuae im missing because im aiming way ahead of them.

<rant>
Some of the levels were INCREDIBLY monotonous. Throughout the library levels you traverse the exact same series of corridors about 30 times. As soon as you finish one section, you head into another section that looks exactly the same with enemies coming at you in the same fasion, over and over and over. The trouble I had was that its so dark and the layout is so complex, symmetrical, and repetitive that I kept getting turned and running back through parts of the map that I had already cleared, or had trouble finding where I needed to go, unable to progress, all the while being attacked by hoardes of suicide enemies. I literally began to laugh out loud, thinking "is this ever going to end?!" It took me three sittings to get through it, and I was so irritated by the end that I had to go back and play some earlier levels to remember why I was playing the game to begin with. The Flood took a lot of the fun out of it for me. There was no longer any strategy like with fighting the covenant, you just had to backpedal and unload all of your ammo at things running at your face, for hours and hours on end.
</rant>

Well put and exactly why I'll never play the single player all the way again. Untill The Flood showed up you had to plan you attack and be smart about it. You could also clear out your enemy then take some time to look around. The Flood shows up and it becomes unload your ammo, die, do it again. That and the ending makes one believe that they ran out of time and ideas and it was the short route to getting it out the door.

Au contraire; altho reuse of levels and such might well have been a time- saving measure, the way they're [re]used is quite good and grows on one. I've played thru some of the rooms many times, and decided that what initially seemed repetitive actually offers, via variability, Grunty speech and so forth, much replay value. Tacking something the same way gets variable results, and doing so varying one's own play style, weaponry, approach (stealth, frontal assault, charge and retreat etc.) is a joy- at least for some. And altho time was apparently saved versus all new maps, the backtracking as done- alternate music, goals, night settings, 3-way battles with the Flood (up to 4-way in  The Maw, with GS's Sentinels)... I haven't seen anything quite like it; and few scenes exhilarate like grabbing a Banshee, only to find yourself in a furball vs. multiple Cov Banshees to orchestral backing. (Yes, I just replayed this Sunday, and wondered how I forgot).

Managing The Flood is also anything but mindless. At higher difficulties, it's nearly impossible to do without top framerates, blind luck and many replays with the 'backpedal and empty gun' approach- if you've played thru once, perhaps a look at Bungie's Legendary Walkthrough is in order- try Evil Otto's chapter on The Library (a level which is, tho still not my favorite, much better to play now that the hectic pace is manageable- and btw, the graphics at top settings are sublime in places, with full use made of those shader-driven, FP-accurate [96-128 bit internal] colors on things like the 'clocks').

I'll try to get some new screens up soon, perhaps with some Library shots in the batch- and to anyone who thinks planning will suffice for the earlier levels, I recommend L3, 'The Truth and Reconciliation,' on Legendary- you'll find it takes all that and more to get thru.

(Mr. Binary, The Library isn't unmanageably dark, tho it is subtly lit. Unless there's a problem there on the lower rendering pathway[s][and even if], turning up brightness/ and or gamma should do the trick if you find it so on your system).

Hopefully I'll get my copy today *crosses fingers*.

The first time I played the Library, I had no idea it was that big.  I tried to outrun the Flood and keep up with the Monitor.  I soon found out that was impossible.  My tactic is to use the breeder things to kill others.  They get ready to pop and I toss a grenade on him.  I also just go in circles and take out a few at a time.

I wish someone would make a hacking program for the Mac version so I could up the damage on weapons.  I think it would be fun to go through the game once with just the pistol that did massive damage.  Or to be able to use a Banshee in the Library.

Check out these videos of Halo hacks at HaloMods.com.

In Assault, I get the Banshee on the top walkway and fly over to the platform on the right then snipe everyone, then open the big door on the platform and them snipe them from the walkway.  Much faster than going to the other end of the walkway and going back inside just to get back down to ground level.  And much more fun.

Single player is slightly repetitive. Needs a map on the HUD, or at least one to pull up on your own. Least something that gives better direction at times.

Why do the aliens sound like Bobs? Its funny at first but then you wonder why they sound so stupid.

Only handle 2 guns at once is a downside. It works in Recon but in a fast action game like Halo, needs maybe 3-4.

Warthog handles like poo, needs controls to be more keyboard bound instead of 50/50 with mouse.

AI is excellent tho. Course Bungie always was good with AI creating.

Overall, its good and not as intensive on requirements as AVP2 is. But it could be better.