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"Halo Demo Out"

Just seen that MS released a Halo Multiplayer and single player demo which might be useful for anyone who thinks their system could have difficulties with the game. You get the Silent Cartographer level which is pretty decent.

Seeing as I'm an avid fan of the Xbox version and it's one of the few FPS games I've been really into I decided to try it.

My system is;
P4 HT 2.8GHZ
1024 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 128MB
Soundblaster Live 5.1 Digital

Set it to (what I believed was a conservative setting) just 1024/768 with max settings, no vsync....and boy did it chug along.

Sure, it's slightly nicer to look at but the smoothness just isn't there. The controls don't seem suited to the keyboard/mouse combination.

Also I notice that the water on the level is just like the Xbox version, nothing effects it and it has no effect on the game or player (I actually drove the Warthog into the ocean until it disappeared and left if for a few minutes). On Xbox this was done because of graphics limitations and time (or lack thereof) but I'd expected it to be sorted out by now.

Performance may be increased by the usual patches/update every driver I have e.t.c. but I won't be buying the retail version after playing the demo - rather have slightly worse graphics but smooth play and easy controls than a nicer looking jerky game.

I'd recommend Gigex (http://www.gigex.com/pc/?source=00001) to get it from as it can survive disconnects (for those on dial up) and seems fast for broadband.

Belldandy wrote:
> You select 30FPS or No Vsync . With 30FPS there is no graphics
> tearing (WOW considering it runs at 60FPS on the Xbox) but it runs
> higher with Vsync turned off, though that can supposedly result in
> graphics tearing effects depending on your system. I ran without
> Vsync and received no tearing at all.

no tearing here either. why? because my system barely scrapes 30fps.

sPiKeCaSt wrote:
> Halo on Xbox never ran at 60fps, it ran at 30fps and even the Xbox
> one stutters from time to time, just a poorly optimised game if you
> ask me, i've got it on the PC too and my system is pretty decent and
> it struggles sometimes.

I was sure I read it did, anyway after some time spent on google I've found out. The frame rate in Halo varies in places, the average is above 30, the lowest 30, and only some sections does it peak at 60. Also read that HDTV users (mostly americans then) get better picture quality also.

I've never seen evidence of slow down though, and I've completed it many times :)

I don't see how the PC games inadequacies can be blamed on optimisation - it started as a PC game! ( I remember the first preview agggggeesss ago in PCGamer and that magazine's general amusement when it was pulled to be a Microsoft console game) - and the developer has had over 2 years to work on it, most developers don't take 2 years to design a game from scratch and do it, let alone a port. I blame laziness.

I might get it for the PC after all. Oh, and there's bery little slowdown, even on multiplayer with 15 others.

Just played it on multiplayer - hilarious. FIrst game I had this annoying teammate that kept shooting his team, but the second game was with one other person - fantastic. Banshee chasing Warthogs, Banshee on Banshee fights, races - great fun.

It is turning out to be a pretty average port. The Xbox version is fantastic in single and multiplayer, but the PC multiplayer is missing any of the tenseness that made it great on the Xbox. Shame.

Belldandy wrote:
> UrkiE-UK wrote:
> i also heard from one of my older mates that they LOCKED halo to 30
> f/ps.
>
> i should imagine this'll be patched soon enough.
>
> No they haven't, I saw this on the demo.
>
> You select 30FPS or No Vsync . With 30FPS there is no graphics
> tearing (WOW considering it runs at 60FPS on the Xbox) but it runs
> higher with Vsync turned off, though that can supposedly result in
> graphics tearing effects depending on your system. I ran without
> Vsync and received no tearing at all.

Halo on Xbox never ran at 60fps, it ran at 30fps and even the Xbox one stutters from time to time, just a poorly optimised game if you ask me, i've got it on the PC too and my system is pretty decent and it struggles sometimes.

I never actually found any server that lagged when I went on multiplayer, a fun addition though, if a little on the small side. I would have liked the servers to have had 32 player limits since some of the maps just cry out for more players, but that said it works just as well with 16.

Multiplayer is tons of fun! It's quite a hard balance to make though, as a fast, dedicated server is hard to find, and it's true what my mate says - broadband on halo feels like 33k. The way it behaves is that it shoots, but a hit takes a slight moment to register, and if the lag is bad enough, you'll warp and teleport like mad. it's still tons of fun when a server is actually fast. Driving a warthog around with full crew is fun, but i think the banshee's need to be destructible, instead of the player exploding out of it like a pop gun. this is because if one team gets both, they have a huge upper hand, and spawn-killing galore methinks...

Cool, prefer it on a console though.

Downloading the demo now, verdict to follow.