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First Person Shooters (Games) XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

Halo 2 Multiplayer Modes Playtested, Recounted 92

Posted by simoniker from the warthog-jump-for-joy dept.
Thanks to The Next Level for its two-part hands-on impressions of Halo 2's multiplayer modes, as shown at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles last week, including many videos of the action, and discussing "the changes to the heads up display", also noting gleefully: "Is carrying two guns worth sacrificing your ability to throw grenades? In a word: Hell Yeah!", before finally concluding of the Xbox title, due out this November: "It was by far the most fun and intense playing experience I had with any game at this year's E3."
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Halo 2 Multiplayer Modes Playtested, Recounted More

Halo 2 Multiplayer Modes Playtested, Recounted

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  • XBox controller for PC (Score:5, Interesting)

    by protektor ( 63514 ) on Sunday May 16, 2004 @10:34PM (#9170540)
    Interesting note that I read about one of the E3 annoucements is that supposedly Microsoft is going to be releasing a version of the XBox controller for the PC. So it should mean that you can play Halo and Halo 2 more like what they are on the XBox if you so choose.

    • Re:XBox controller for PC (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Yorrike ( 322502 ) on Sunday May 16, 2004 @10:43PM (#9170569) Journal
      Why would any self respecting gamer choose to use an Xbox controller over the perfect, tried and true mouse/keyboard combo when playing a FPS?
      • Maybe a Gamer that doesn't beleive the KB/Mouse setup is as Pefect as you'd like to think. a Controller has Analogue Controls instead of the on/off keys that Keyboards have, maybe you don't want to Run Everywhere, espessially when sneaking up on someone. the Controller also has the Advantage of having every button you need within quick reach instead of having to search the Keyboard everytime.

        theres more reasons, but i'm too lazy to list anymore

        • Theres something called a shift key, in a lot of games it makes you walk, inversly in older games it makes you run. The analogue on a xbox controller does about the same and requires a little more skill to get right.
        • a Controller has Analogue Controls instead of the on/off keys that Keyboards have, maybe you don't want to Run Everywhere

          That is also my complaint with using a keyboard for gaming. And for quite some time I wouldn't even use a kb/mouse setup because of it. However, the mouse gives you so much more control than an analog stick, that it's not even funny (maybe not for all things, but most definately for aiming in FPSs).
      • >Why would any self respecting gamer choose to use an Xbox controller...

        <hat=tin_foil>
        Choose?? No, no choice. Microsoft will disable the keyboard and mouse compatibility in the next XP patch.
        </hat>
    • Next up: Mini-ATI in a Gigantic X-Box Controller?

    • Re:XBox controller for PC (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Sunday May 16, 2004 @10:56PM (#9170616) Homepage
      I haven't heard that, but you can buy adaptors. Since the controllers are just USB with one more wire (which is unimportant, power for rumble I think) with a little modification you can plug 'em into PCs. Drivers are available on-line.

      Now what I would REALLY like to see would be a mosue/keyboard for the X-Box that is supported in games. I don't care about MS's "it's not a PC" thing, the BEST WAY to play FPSes is a keyboard and mouse. All the keys can also be put to good use in simulation games (of which there are few on consoles due to lack of buttons). Think of it. We could have something like Flight Sim, Mech 2, X-Wing, or one of the many other great games that just uses more buttons that a controller provides.

      Come on MS, a keyboard and mouse will only HELP things.

    • The only thing they can do for PC to make Halo 2 like what it is on the XBox is to include cooperative play, which in my opinion, was the best thing Halo had going for it.
    • I'm not sure about that, but I remember reading that with their XNA announcement they said that in the future consoles and pcs would have the same controllers. Now if that means an xbox controller or a nextgeneration controller, or even if that was a seperate announcement, I don't know.
    • I picked up Quake3 Arena for the Dreamcast, while visually and game play is the same, not using a mouse for a FPS is a horrible.

      FPS's games on a console have to have enough of an fun factor to override the controller problems. Most multiplayer games dont need the reflex skills that are needed in FPS games, this is where a mouse/keyboard shine.

      Just include PS2/USB ports on consoles, and support keyboards/mice. Its 2004, and most consoles are connected to the Internet anyways.

  • Quoth the FA (Score:5, Funny)

    by IshanCaspian ( 625325 ) on Sunday May 16, 2004 @11:01PM (#9170638) Homepage
    > In a word: Hell Yeah!"

    That's two words, genius.

    That just goes to show ya, there are three kinds of people in this world...those who can count, and those who can't.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday May 16, 2004 @11:41PM (#9170790)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:One Word: Hype (Score:3, Insightful)

      by M3wThr33 ( 310489 )
      You aren't cynical, you are clear headed. Halo is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It was told to be good so that's what people thought. You play Halo because you play it with your friends.

      Your friends make it the experience you remember, not the game. It brought in new players and made an impact in that fashion, but to most pc gamers, they've played it all before.

      In the end it's a game featuring a nameless, faceless robot saving the world from aliens. The multiplayer is a networked/splitscreen deathmatch/ctf
      • Rather than doing something right, they did the opposite, they didn't do anything terribly wrong

        Rather than do something right? please...

        ok, I'm not a big PC gamer (I have a mac)... I've played some quake3, UT and old school marathon games in college... I firmly believe that halo is the best game ever... wanna know why? you have to look at the big picture...

        this was the first time I ever played a FPS with a good story... you don't have to read anything to follow the story either... (here is whe
        • this was the first time I ever played a FPS with a good story

          Never played Deus Ex or Half Life, have you?

          • Most Halo players never have. Hence the reason it's rated so highly.

            Anyone care telling me why Halo 2 is so desired? Is it doing anything so revolutionary? All I hear is that people want it for the sake of the first one.
          • I played half life for a little while a few times (I have played counterstrike). Never played Deus Ex. I've never owned a PC, only macs.

            have you ever played a first person shooter on your nice big tv with your buddies right next to you while sitting on your couch?
            • have you ever played a first person shooter on your nice big tv with your buddies right next to you while sitting on your couch?

              I've never felt the need to buy a huge screen that operates at less than VGA resolution.

              • I've never felt the need to buy a huge screen that operates at less than VGA resolution.
                Well jeez then, get one that does do VGA resolution.
                • HDTVs generally cost more than an (already outrageously expensive) 23" Cinema Display, and have nowhere near the resolution or utility.
                  • HDTVs generally cost more than an (already outrageously expensive) 23" Cinema Display, and have nowhere near the resolution or utility.

                    A. A 'PC games = best' type of person probably shouldn't whine that some kind of console gaming requirement is too expensive. A thousand dollars for a decent HDTV doesn't seem too crazy to me compared to how much money you save just by going the console route. No PC upgrades in five years more than compensates for a measly thousand dollars.

                    B. I don't watch much televisio
                    • A 'PC games = best' type of person probably shouldn't whine that some kind of console gaming requirement is too expensive. A thousand dollars for a decent HDTV doesn't seem too crazy to me compared to how much money you save just by going the console route.

                      I already own a computer and a nice monitor, for non-gaming purposes. I don't have any other reason to own a console and HDTV, so their costs are extra, while my PC costs are already paid (except possibly the vid card, but that's still cheaper than conso

    • Re:One Word: Hype (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You're right in most respects. The single player version of Halo was nothing special, but it was a gigantic leap in terms of the length and level size of a first person shooter on a console.

      But I loved the multiplayer. It was the first time anyone cared about vehicles and made them managable. Sure, tribes had done this, but it was too massive a scale to be any fun. I could watch someone grab my flag and have a getaway driver bring him back to his base, while I shoot with a rocket launcher and watch the who
    • "We've all heard the gripes about the gargantuan XBox controller, the Playstation's lack of a hard drive, the Gamecube's kiddy appeal.."

      one question: where the hell have you been? the xbox has the s-controller now, which is a perfectly usable size and i'd have to say beats out the dual shock in usability... the playstation now has a hard drive, comes bundled with the final fantasy online game.. and gamecube is getting a bunch of more mature-ish titles. mmm, Adult Link.
      • The dual shock always felt better then even the s controller. The game cube controller had a similiar form to it. The xbox controller were all rather unweildy.
    • Just my $.02, but I got an XBox when it launched (not usually one to play console games, especially when they are brand new, but I was working on a project out of town and, hence, living in a hotel for about 9 months. I didn't have a decent laptop at the time, and didn't need one. $300 was a good deal for a gaming system, DVD player, and music jukebox, compared to a laptop). Anyways, Halo was one of the couple games I grabbed when I got my XBox, and while compared to the standard PC FPS of the time, it wasn

    • In Defense: Halo as FPS democracy (Score:5, Insightful)

      by superultra ( 670002 ) on Monday May 17, 2004 @01:20AM (#9171141) Homepage
      The proliferation of Halo has little to do with PR people. I was an assistant manager at EB when the Xbox launched and continued to be until last summer. At the EB I was working at, Microsoft was too busy pushing Munch and Oddworld to really recognize Halo. It took a good 6 months until Microsoft really realized, "Dear God, we're still in the console game because of Bungie."

      There are two related reasons why Halo has done so First, the co-op experience is great - you can breeze through Halo in a day with a friend, and then there is everything that happens in between. You start experimenting with jumps in the caverns, or messing around with the warthog. You're really just playing together, in a very sandbox-y kind of way. That rarely happened in PC games because anyone you really played with were miles away, or if you took the pain to get together you didn't want to waste it "playing."

      Secondly, the ease in setting up multiplayer far exceeds the ease in setting up a PC lan. The xbox is a heavy beast, but a featherweight compared to the pain in the ass that is lugging around a midtower, a keyboard, a mouse, cables from here to kingdom come, and a monitor. About 10-20 of us used to have a LAN party every month. That is, until Halo came along. The 1-2 hours minimum in copying patches, maps, installing CDs you forgot or didn't have - suddenly became 10-20 minutes tops, and was just plugging things in. It was so much easier to bring friends too, because all you needed was a controller - not an entire PC. And, the Halo you played was exactly the same Halo someone played at there house. No one had an advantage because of a faster PC.

      As you demonstrated, Halo's greatness is often lost on PC players, whom you refer to as "die hard gamers." It's greatness is difficult for PC people to understand, people who've gone to LAN parties for the last 8 years and can, in fact, get the setup down to 30 minutes or less. The feat of 16 players playing the same game at the same time is as difficult to comprehend for PC people who are used to 64+ people, but for video games it was a revolution. Sure, in comparison to PC FPS's, Halo is good. Not great, not bad, but good. Solid. However, as a console FPS, it is the seminal console FPS of all time. The controls are a dream for a console FPS, the graphics were amazing at the time, but more than that it was a pick up and play FPS. A friend who had played video games on his own but never an FPS could hold his own after an hour of playing. I'm not sure you could say that about most virgins to PC FPSs. What you saw of Halo wasn't really Halo. Halo is a bunch of friends in the same house or apartment, drinking beers or soda, cursing at each other from the other room, then taking as much time to recap, retell, and laugh at the stories made during the round that it took to actually play the round. That's Halo. It is a socially viral experience that has little to do with its single player.

      What are PC FPS's? They are they elite, the bourgeoisie of video games. They are the ones in the high castle on the high hill. This form is shared in attitude by the people who play them exclusively. Go read some of the comments above on mouses and fps; the belief among PC FPS players is that the video game experience is a diluted, impure one. They're wrong.

      What is Halo? Halo is the embodiment of concepts once held so dearly as PC-indiginous, Halo is the democratized FPS for the video gaming mainstream masses. This democratization, this bringing the FPS to the people, was an artform that Bungie pulled off brilliantly. You can say that Halo is average as an FPS, "inoffensive," "nothing new," or "special." That's fine. What you can't say though, is that Halo is not great. If you doubt the impact of Halo on video gaming, you just don't get it , quite objectively, quite plain and simple. You're being too PC-elite to accept that a game can be great, can be really good, can be amazing without you t
      • I totally have to agree on the marketing of Halo... It was totally word of mouth and fan boys spreading it, not really Microsoft churning out stuff for it.

        I finally picked up an xbox, Halo LE, really for Halo 2.

        Why?

        Because Bungie is one of my favorite companies, I have been following there games since pathways into darkness, and I have not been let down. There is also a depth and complexity to a lot of their stories (cortana letters for Halo, and the Enkido letters made by a fan for Halo 2).

        Halo.Bungie.
      • Halo is ok, but to call it great is a stretch. You mentioned Goldeneye, now that is a great game. The only advantages Halo has is 16 players instead of 4, that two joysticks are more intuitive than the one, and Halo has fun vehicles to play with. I suppose if you like pretty graphics you can call that another plus, but I prefer gameplay.

        But for a game subtitled Combat Evolved, where is the evolutuion? Goldeneye had more weapons to choose from. Perfect Dark had guided missiles, guns that worked like auto tu

      • Re:In Defense: Halo as FPS democracy (Score:5, Insightful)

        by nicky_d ( 92174 ) on Monday May 17, 2004 @03:11AM (#9171457) Homepage
        This is an excellent comment, but I would add that many people, myself included, believe that the single player element of Halo is also well worth defending, and certainly more than average. I've been playing FPS titles since Doom, usually with a focus on single player and same-room multiplayer, and Halo is hands down among the three best titles I've played. This is because every aspect of it - as with Goldeneye, for example - is well thought-out and implemented. The vehicles integrate perfectly into the game, every weapon has its place, the dual-weapon system imposes a new layer of strategy, the AI - regardless of its actual 'intelligence' - works wonderfully, the checkpoint system is flawless - the end of a battle really feels like an achievement - and the levels are splendid, regardless of the oft-criticised (misunderstood, IMO) repetition in the latter half of the game.

        I play it single-player to this day and it continues to impress me. In fact, the single aspect of it I don't care for is the fact that the Hunters are relegated to a simple nuisance once you know their weak spot. Every other enemy remains a threat throughout the game - the grunts are fodder but can easily strip your shield in one shot, the jackals can mess you up if you have the wrong kind of weapons (and bring out the beauty of the melee attack, and even the swarming flood have an edge - you can swat them off or ignore them most of the time, but in a low-shield situation they become your #1 threat.

        But two caveats: Halo MUST be played on Legendary for it to really shine. This is absolutely vital, and I'm sure I'dve tired of it some time ago if Legendary wasn't an option. And secondly, I haven't played it on a PC, so I don't know how that version would appear to people. I play a fair amount of mouse/key PC FPS titles, but Halo - again, like Goldeneye - seems made for its host console's controller. I know it was originally Mac/PC bound, but it's clear that Bungie took as much care integrating the controller as they did tuning the AI and touching up the textures. Every console has these rare (sometimes Rare, arf) titles that are bound to it irrevocably; I think Halo holds that position with the Xbox.

        I should add that I'm not particularly enamoured of the Xbox - I prefer the more eclectic games library of the PS2 - but Halo, in my opinion, is a brilliant example of what a game can be and why I still play games, at my age, when I ought to be out fishing or whittling 'round back.
      • The other thing to consider is that everything just fit together so well in halo. I played it well after it had come out, so it really didn't look all that good. But something about the music, sound effects, weapons, level design, and monsters flying through the air screaming really hooked me. My first fps was wolf 3d so i've been around the block in terms of control scemes. I got used to halo's no problem with the controler and it works good enough for me.

        Halo is just a well put together game all around.
      • Yes, no doubt Halo has many good things going for it, as does its sequel. However, I really don't understand people who get excited about features like dual-wielding weapons. Is it really that cool? I vaguely remember doing it in UT, maybe it was a mod for UT. Didn't seem special then, doesn't seem special now. But even then, it's not a matter of whether or not this feature is original, it's just not a feature that is interesting or exciting. Similar to partially destroyable environments and completel

    • Re:One Word: Hype (Score:3, Interesting)

      by nathanh ( 1214 )

      We tried it out and decided it was, at best, inoffensive. The controls were fine, the graphics were fine, the multiplayer was fine... but it was nothing new, nothing special.

      Amen. I was incredibly disappointed with Halo. The graphics were OK, though not spectacular. But I'd been led to believe it was the second coming of Christ, as far as games went. The hype around Halo had gone to unprecedented heights. Because it was an Xbox exclusive (I refuse to have a Windows PC just for games) I was almost temp

    • If you want to buy the hype, go here [feisar.de]
    • The controls were fine, the graphics were fine, the multiplayer was fine... but it was nothing new, nothing special.

      By that logic, Counter-Strike is 'fine', the graphics fine, and the multiplayer is fine so its 'nothing new, nothing special.' Same with Half-Life, other than the storytelling it was nothing special. We've seenen it all before, the WASD keys+mouse setup was becoming standard, graphics were nothing groundbreaking, and the only improvement to multiplayer was an easy to use server finding system

      • Huh?

        Half-Life brought us many new things that came together to make an excellent game:

        1. EXCELLENT AI for the time.
        I remember getting freaked when the marine squads actually managed to cooperate to encircle me and attack me from unexpected places. This was such a change from your typical Quake, where enemies either come straight for you, or romp around in pseudo-random fashion.

        2. Skeletal Animation.
        There's just nothing like natural movements for your models.

        3. Immersive sound.
        HL was one of the first ga
        • Uh, CS was just a revision of the Action Quake series for Half-life. Any 'advances' it had were stuff I had already been doing in Quake2 (via Action Quake 2) for a couple years. If Halo wasn't innovative (the original argument), than Counterstrike is even less so.
    • I can understand harping on Halo. I still see advertizments for it today, even if Microsoft didn't figure out initially that they should marktet it, so yes it does get overhyped. I do have higher hopes for Halo 2, though; Halo was a very rushed game, and that is evident (reposting):

      Ign.com -

      "there are a couple of gripes --> "

      " (I) had a problem with repeating the levels again near the end of the game. The fact that the last three levels of the game are partial or full rehashes of earlier sections o

    • One Word: Co-op (Score:4, Insightful)

      by *weasel ( 174362 ) on Monday May 17, 2004 @07:37AM (#9172269)
      If I couldn't have played the Halo campaign co-op, I'd probably label it as just 'darn good'. It had solid controls, clear and concise mechanics, good story, few load times, expansive areas, good voice acting, good AI, some fun-as-hell vehicles, and even a sense of humor.

      In a time when its contemporaries were trying to resell us ever-longer loadtimes, polys for the sake of polys and deathmatch for the sake of deathmatch - bungie delivered a solid game. Honestly, let me know if any other FPS in 2001 delivered half as well over as many areas - because I'd love to play them.

      Without co-op, it's a well polished FPS, and admittedly not deserving of the 'great' accolades that are heaped upon it. It's much like Half-life in that respect. Hell, there's a few parts of the campaign I'd call downright 'poorly thought-out', or even 'amatuerish'. But throw in a friend and jack up the difficulty, and I get over even those spots in a hurry.

      Co-op makes the game great. Too many game developers and publishers seem to ignore the fact that gaming originally was, and is again becoming, primarily a social activity.

      good game + social element == great game

      In the opinions of many gamers: If Halo2 isn't 'different' from Halo -- that'd be the greatest accomplishment Bungie could hope for.
    • Heh...I understand what you mean. I avoided Halo for a while for that exact reason - I figured it was overhyped, and what have you. However, I gave it a shot when my roommate picked up a copy for the PC, and while it's not the second coming of Jesus that some fanboys tend to make it out to be, it's a very solid game, and I can honestly say that it was one of the more solid and enjoyable FPSes I've played in a long time. The single player campaign is a lot of fun, and throws you for some interesting loops at
    • Hmm.. for not trying to be a troll or flamebait, I think you should check your information at least once before posting.

      First of all, your comment waters down to: "Have you ever done bungie jumping? (pun intended) Oh yes its great! I havent done it but I have heard is great!" Bungie jumping the thing everyone has heard is great!
      And yes that comment is as pointless as it sounds. Just a thought here: what about if you ask the people who have done bungie jumping? or better yet why dont you try it youself?
    • Heh... I avoided Halo for over a year. My launch games were Project Gotham and DOA3. I didn't think Halo was going to be anything special so I didn't feel it was worth spending $50 on.

      Then Best Buy had a $30 sale on it and I figured, why not? So I got it and was not dissapointed in the least. I enjoyed the SP experience more than I enjoyed the Half-Life experience (probably because of Half-Life's jumping puzzle ending). Is it the best thing since sliced Cacodaemons? Not really, but it's still one of

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