Halo Preview

Halo's development has been a long adventure. Nearly two years have passed since Halo's debut on the Xbox, and in that time, the game has sold more than three million copies. Microsoft, Bungie, and Gearbox are now finally putting the finishing touches on a PC version of Halo. Yesterday we were invited to try out a beta version of Halo for the PC and play a series of capture-the-flag games with representatives from Bungie and Gearbox.

Before we jumped into the multiplayer festivities, Randy Pitchford, president of Gearbox Software, gave us a brief look at some of the single-player levels and an overview of what has changed in the single-player campaign. To put it briefly: not much. Fortunately, we did notice that the menu screens can all be navigated using a mouse with a visible cursor onscreen. This may seem like a very minor point, but many console-to-PC ports lack this simple, yet very convenient, interface feature. It's nice to see the development team giving even small details the proper attention.

Within the game, it's apparent that the missions play out the same as they do on the Xbox, including level design, objectives, and the number of enemies you'll face. Not even the damage you deal out or take has been tweaked. After watching Pitchford play through a couple of the more recognizable levels, like the Silent Cartographer, we were hard-pressed to detect any appreciable differences from the Xbox version, aside from the mouse and keyboard interface and the removal of aiming assistance. Surprisingly, Halo appears to retain much of its challenge despite the transition from the Xbox's dual analog controller to the mouse and keyboard. As Pitchford put it, "Legendary [difficulty] will still kick your ass."

There are, however, very noticeable improvements in Halo's graphics, particularly in the character and vehicle models. The resolution can be turned all the way up to 1600x1200, and the game's textures look much sharper and more defined than they ever did on the Xbox. Pitchford was quick to point out that the graphics have been overhauled to take advantage of DirectX 9.0 features. Specifically, the game's shaders have all been rewritten to conform to pixel shader 2.0 standards. Zooming in close to a grunt, we noted specular-mapping and bump-mapping effects on the grunt's gold-colored armor, giving it a glistening sheen over a very granular surface. Similar effects can be seen on the plating of many vehicles, such as the scorpion tank and the ghost.

Despite the efforts at improving the graphics to take advantage of the latest in PC technology, the team over at Gearbox has been equally careful to make sure the game runs well on lower-end video equipment. Pitchford noted that the development crew has been testing the game on a variety of configurations, down to the level of the GeForce2 MX card, which is much less powerful than the graphics processor found in the Xbox.

All of the PC version's new content is in the multiplayer. Halo for the PC will include two new weapons not found in the Xbox multiplayer modes: the fuel rod cannon and the flamethrower. Players familiar with the Xbox version's single-player campaign will remember the massive covenant hunters armed with the powerful fuel rod cannon. In the PC version, this fearsome gun is available for use in multiplayer action. They fire a long, arcing shot of green plasma, which explodes forcefully on impact, packing enough punch to flip a warthog. The other new weapon is the flamethrower, which we were able to use briefly. Strictly a close-quarters weapon, the flamethrower is most useful against enemies on foot.

You'll also be able to use three new vehicles in the multiplayer modes of Halo for the PC. The new vehicles include the banshee (the covenant's flying fighter), a rocket-equipped warthog jeep, and the covenant gun turret. The high-flying banshee is particularly effective against other vehicles, as its ability to dodge and attack from any angle make ground vehicles seem like sitting ducks. The rocket warthog is similar to its cousin, the regular warthog, only instead of having a minigun turret, the rocket warthog sports a rocket launcher in the back, capable of firing off three rockets before it needs to be reloaded. The reload time is lengthy, so if you can make it miss three times, you'll be at a huge advantage against it. The final "vehicle" is the covenant gun turret. As in the single-player game, the gun turrets have a high rate of fire, making them effective for base defense, particularly against vehicles like the banshee.

New Maps In Action

Rounding out the list of content changes are six brand-new multiplayer maps. One of the advantages the development team was able to leverage was being able to observe how Xbox Halo players were using the original maps and what their preferences were. Clearly, Halo distinguishes itself with its vehicles and vehicle physics, so the level designers kept vehicle usage at the forefront of their minds when designing the new maps. Sniping was also one of the key facets of Xbox multiplayer action, so you can expect to see many places for snipers to set up shop in the new maps, as well as plenty of areas for infantry to find cover to hide from snipers.

One of the new maps we got to see (but not play) is called Ice Fields. As the name suggests, the environment is an arctic one, with two primary levels to the playing field. The upper level is connected by a single bridge, while the lower levels consist of somewhat narrow corridors. While the icy patches on the ground make it difficult enough to effectively drive a warthog through the corridors, you'll also find quite an array of boulders along the lower passages to make vehicle navigation even trickier. It will take a very good warthog driver indeed to manage the areas of zero-traction ice and dodge the boulders at the same time during a flag run.

The two maps we did play were called Timberlands and Death Island. The former consists of a forested area with multiple hills and ridges, as well as several pathways from one side to the other. Small, two-level bases are located on opposite sides of the map, with flags on the lower level of each base. A small stream runs from one base to the other, marking a straight-shot path between the bases. You can choose to take a center route to go from one side to the other, but in doing so you miss out on many attractive weapons and other pickups available from the perimeter of the map. Rocket warthogs, ghosts, and scorpion tanks are plentiful on the level, but the narrow pathways and rolling terrain also give a good advantage to crafty infantry armed with rocket launchers or fuel rod cannons. We were given quite a rude welcome to the level when one of the Microsoft representatives immediately drove a scorpion tank to the front of our base, parked it near the spawn point, and repeatedly took us down as we respawned. Since there weren't any heavy weapons available in the base, it took a concerted team effort to get rid of the invader.

The other map, Death Island, consists of two bases built into sheer cliff walls on opposite sides of an island. It's possible to teleport to the top of your base and find a banshee spawn point, or you can go to the lower level of the base and find several warthogs, which you can use to drive around the perimeter of the island to the enemy base. If you take the time to navigate into the canyons in the center of the island, you'll find an area with some useful items, such as a shotgun and active camouflage. In our play testing, the most excitement on this level came from using the banshees to strafe enemy infantry and dogfight against one another.

In addition to the enhanced graphics and the additional weapons, vehicles, and maps, Gearbox has added some other features to help round out the multiplayer component. A new feature that lets you tweak the multiplayer game types will allow you to easily adjust game parameters, such as which weapons and vehicles are available in levels, how much health everyone starts with, and so on, using an easy-to-understand menu system. Gearbox also plans to release editing tools that will let creative players create new maps and significantly modify the game.

Overall it seems that Gearbox has taken a conservative approach in porting Halo to the PC. The studio hasn't tried to fix anything that wasn't broken in the original Halo, and as the popularity of the game attests, there wasn't much to fix in the first place. And the multiplayer additions should help the game break into the crowded PC first-person shooter market and win a following online. PC gamers who have waited so long for Halo won't have much longer to wait, with the game slated for release late this summer. In the meantime, check out our interview with Gearbox's Randy Pitchford.