How I saved the world
A Halo adventure starring me (aka Master Chief) and Windows Vista
By Mark H. Walker
Amidst the never-ending list of chores and honey-do lists a man has risen. From the endless grind of yard work, chauffeuring, house repair, and family barbecues a hero has been born. That man, that hero, that magnificent savior's name, is … uh, Mark. But you can call me by the moniker attached to the visage the public sees: Master Chief.
Silliness aside, the Windows Vista-only version of Halo 2 gives rise to such illusions of grandeur. The game's ease of installation, natural controls, and, of course, the enthralling Halo 2 story and humor, combine to make Halo 2 for Windows Vista an unforgettable experience. Let me take you along as I recount my Halo 2 experience; my time as Master Chief.
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| I never did like paying the bay bridge toll. Halo 2 lets me blast through. |
The background
Just in case you've been locked under the sink with Ralphie's brother (you did see A Christmas Story, right?), let me bring you up to Halo speed. The original Halo witnessed the attack of an alliance of aliens, called the Covenant, against humans. The centerpiece of the attack was a huge, solar system-destroying ring called the Halo. Fortunately for Earth, an uber-soldier (actually Marine) called Master Chief thwarted the attack and blew up the ring.
Unfortunately for Earth, that wasn't the end of the aliens. The Covenant is back with a vengeance, along with a new ring called Delta Halo (I don't know what happened to Bravo and Charlie). Not only are the aliens back for another shot at the humans, but splinter factions within the Covenant are fighting each other. It's a bloodbath. That's bad news for planet Earth, but good news for those of us striving to escape the mundane tedium of our everyday life.
The beginning
The Xbox version of Halo 2 has captivated reviewers and players alike since its release in 2004. That immense popularity was no doubt a major consideration when it was picked as one of the first Windows Vista-only games (Shadowrun is another).
As we all know, one advantage that video game consoles have long enjoyed in the PC-versus-console gaming debate is ease of installation. Let's face it, nothing beats popping a DVD into your Xbox 360, easing back into your comfy chair and laying into the bad guys. Halo 2 for Windows Vista, however, comes close to that ease of installation. Loading the game is painless, although not as fast as we all might like. Once installed, you won't need to hunt for it; Windows puts it right in the Games folder. You need only click the Start button, and then choose Games.
When you open the Games folder and select Halo 2, you'll see Windows Experience Index scores on the right side of the folder, indicating the recommended and required ratings for running Halo 2 along with your computer's current rating. As long as your computer's score is higher than what Halo 2 requires (a graphics score of 3.0 or higher and a gaming graphics score of 3.0 or higher), you're good to go. (For more information, see What is the Windows Experience Index?)
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| The Games folder is where you see if your computer will run Halo 2. Don't worry—it probably has Hearts covered. |
Living the Halo 2 life
But the ease of the game's installation isn't what brings me back to Halo 2, it's the way the game sucks me in. I sit at my computer, a hard day of work, parenting, chores, and tedium behind me. A simple double-click of the Halo 2 icon, and reality is yesterday's news. I become Master Chief.
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| Oh no you don't go slinging that light saber stuff at me! |
I can wield one weapon or two, and the list of weapons to wield is stunning. The Marine Corps furnishes its troops (of which Master Chief is one) with a battle rifle, pistols (one in each hand), submachine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and a ton of grenades (of course there is also alien weaponry that you find). My favorite combination of Earth weapons is the battle rifle and a belt of grenades. It's a visceral rush to run amid the orbital platforms, Earth buildings, and alien landscapes, mowing down herds of enemies with three-round bursts, dropping distant snipers with the battle rifle's telescopic site, and bursting hidden enemies with grenades.
Windows Vista makes all this running, mowing, dropping, and bursting more fun than ever. Refinements to the graphics in Halo 2 make the game a smidgen sharper than when it debuted on the Xbox, especially when running at higher screen resolutions (the game supports resolutions up to 1680 × 1050 pixels). But it's not all about celery-crisp visuals.
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| This, as Tom Cruise would say, is a target-rich environment. |
I like gaming on a PC. I enjoy playing first-person shooters, such as Halo 2, with a keyboard and mouse because of the precision they provide. However, not everyone does—many folks love their gamepads. That's why Microsoft requires all Games for Windows-branded games to fully support the Xbox 360 controller. Halo 2 is no exception, so you gamepad guys and gals can play the game with your controller. To even out the advantage a mouse and keyboard have, the gamepad retains a bit of the “snap-to-target” feature found on the Xbox, allowing gamepadders to compete fairly when playing head-to-head against the mouse-and-keyboard set.
Your head against mine
A plasma burst shatters the wall above my head. Ducking, I yell for help through my headset. Ronnie, who usually sacks groceries on his day job, sprays the corner from where the plasma originated, forcing the alien to pull back. I leap from cover, pull a grenade from my belt, and toss it after the retreating alien. BOOM! No more alien. Together, Ronnie and I charge deeper into the alien wilderness.
That's my life on Games for Windows - LIVE, a new Microsoft service built to support Games for Windows and Windows Vista. Halo 2 is the first game to use the service, which resembles Xbox LIVE, and it works very well, thank you. Up to 16 players can bash, brawl, and fight with each other in each match, and Halo 2 includes a cornucopia of game types, from deathmatch to capture the flag, which support both team play and one-man-or-woman-against-the-world play on all 23 maps the game ships with. You'll only fight against other PC gamers, as Halo 2 for Windows Vista doesn't support cross-platform multiplayer gaming against folks playing the Xbox version of Halo 2 (but others, such as Shadowrun, do).
It's easy to create a Games for Windows - LIVE account, as shown below, and Halo 2 comes with one month free on the deluxe Gold version of LIVE. If you're already an Xbox LIVE member, you can log in using your existing account. For more information, see the About LIVE page on the Games for Windows website.
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| This is where you enter a name for your gamer profile. Something that will strike fear into the heart of your opponent. Something like…Player 1? |
The final fight
I'm just a writer. It's a great job, but like everyone else, my life is laced with the tedium of day-to-day chores, responsibilities, and routine. At least…in one of my lives. In the other, I wear a suit of power armor. I blast aliens. I save Earth. I am Master Chief.
About the author
Mark H. Walker has written numerous books and articles on gaming. From The Video Game Almanac to his columns in PC Gamer magazine, if it concerns games, it concerns Mark. He is also the designer of the award-winning Lock 'n Load board game and owns Lock 'n Load Publishing. He lives and works in south-central Virginia.
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