User Rating: 6.9 | Halo: Combat Evolved PC
I have played Halo through on the Xbox and I couldn't wait for it to come to PC. But I would not recommend anyone who has played this on Xbox to purchase it for PC unless you absolutely must experience it. If you are looking for multiplay in Halo, just wait a couple of months for Halo 2 which will have online play. The game is just better on the Xbox. But don't confuse this statement into equating that Halo is better BECAUSE of the Xbox, as some fanboys would like to think. It runs better on the Xbox because Microsoft made it happen this way. Obviously Microsoft does not want this game to run well on anything but the Xbox. Frame rate is absolutely atrocious for a game that should run as well as any game using a Quake III era engine (yes, I know, Halo does NOT use the Quake III engine). With a machine that runs Unreal 2 at a fairly steady 60 fps in high resolution with details maxed, there is absolutely no reason Halo should crawl down to 12-15fps on my PC when there are more than four Covenant on screen. This occurs even with the fps of Halo capped at 30 (which is recommended), no AA, etc and a resolution of 1024x768. Inexcusable. The mouse and keyboard control is the highlight of Halo on PC. Playing on Legendary is actually a significant but enjoyable challenge because it is wonderful to witness Covenant AI while not being completely handicapped by the analog stick control found on the Xbox(which leads to nothing but aggravation). Some of the fire-fights with the Elites are quite remarkable, lengthy, and filled with strategy tactics. Unfotunately the Halo experience on Halo is hampered by horrible performance. Even on high end hardware (AMD 2700XP+, 1Gb 2700DDR, ATI 9700 Pro). Don't get me wrong. I love Halo. It would be worth about $20.00 in its current state. I don't know what took so long to bring this game back to PC. Microsoft has repeatedly claimed that the Xbox and PC games are easy to port to each other, yet it took so very, very long to get this game back to PC, and apparently, they didn't spend any time making this game perform. I have had no performance issue's with Xbox ports that have better graphics than Halo (examples: Splinter Cell and Enclave) I feel Microsoft is to blame for this, not Gearbox IMHO. Shame on you Microsoft for putting your Xbox strategy before gaming enthusiasm. 
