Rate Halo on Mac vs. Halo on Xbox

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
To this point in my life, Halo is still my favorite video game.



I'm not a big gamer, but was thinking of getting Halo for my Mac. It would just be so darn convenient to be able to play it on my Mac in the bedroom.



I have a 17-inch widescreen flat panel iMac with a 1 gig processor and 1 gig of RAM.



I have not played Halo on PC.



I have been kind of confused (okay, I'm easily confused) by all of the comments I have read so far from you regarding Halo on the Mac.



Assuming I give Halo on Xbox a 10 out of 10, how do you think I would rate Halo on my Mac if I were to get it? Would I experience "jaggies" and other annoyances? Is using the keyboard and mouse controls fairly enjoyable or frustrating? Some of you had said something about the fact that they should put an update or patch out there. Should a person wait for an updated release of the game, of will that likely never come?



Thanks for all of your input!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    It mainly depends on one thing, actually. Your expectations. If you're expecting 100+ FPS performance, you're going to be somewhat disappointed.



    On my Dual-1.25 Ghz G4, Halo runs reasonably well but performance isn't nearly as good as UT2k3; with that game, I can crank up all of the performance settings and my Mac doesn't even flinch, even with a lowly Radeon 9000. On the other hand, I need to drastically scale back Halo to make it run comfortably. But I don't mind at all.



    Take that as you will. My advice is that if you don't mind the fact that you may not be able to play Halo with all of the graphical goodies turned up to the maximum, you should go and get it. You'll be glad you did.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    What about controls? It seems to me that going from the XBox controller to a keyboard and mouse would REALLY suck.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    I'll take HALO on my Powerbook ANYWAY.



    1: It's portable (duh) and I can play it damn well anywhere.

    2: I don't notice the difference between 50fps and 150 fps when it comes to games (mainly because I work in 24 fps 90% of my life) so this means squat to me.

    3: With a mouse, I am 100x better than with that forsaken game controller piece of crap.

    4: Graphics look much better than they ever did on an XBox.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    Thanks for your input so far!



    I probably wouldn't notice the difference in fps anyway, but just out of curiousity....About how many fps does the Xbox show and how many would my iMac show?



    Thanks!



  • Reply 5 of 13
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I'm genuinely curious about controls between the two systems. I know how the XBox controls work, but what's the setup for a PC? How do the keys, mouse, etc. work together? What's the standard mapping for these controls? Finally, can you hook up an XBox or XBox-like controller to the Mac and use it that way?
  • Reply 6 of 13
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by filmmaker2002

    I'll take HALO on my Powerbook ANYWAY.



    1: It's portable (duh) and I can play it damn well anywhere.

    2: I don't notice the difference between 50fps and 150 fps when it comes to games (mainly because I work in 24 fps 90% of my life) so this means squat to me.

    3: With a mouse, I am 100x better than with that forsaken game controller piece of crap.

    4: Graphics look much better than they ever did on an XBox.




    Funny, I would say XBox would own against having it on a computer any day, for much the same reasons you give.



    1: Okay, you win with this one. However, carrying a PowerBook, the CD, a mouse, and a power adapter so you can play "on the road" isn't that portable. You still have to find a place to plunk yourself down. Main problem with the XBox is you need to have a TV to connect it to. Then again, everyone has a TV so that shouldn't be a big problem unless you want to play in a coffee shop or something.



    2: I can't really tell the difference above 60 fps either, however, Halo runs far under 60 fps. More like 20-30. 30 fps is acceptable, and 20 fps is pretty darn slow. This depends on your hardware of course, but to get 50 fps I'd expect you would need a monster of a PowerBook.



    3: With a mouse, I can't "feel" the game the way I can with the controller. With the controller, all the buttons are right there, and you can do many more things at once. Also, since it has rumble motors built in, you can feel when you're being attacked. I used to swear by mouse + keyboard for FPS games, but now I love ones that use controllers because the mouse + kbd setup seems too distant and detached.



    4: Unless you have the absolute best graphics card on the market, which supports 100% of the graphical features that Halo PC/Mac uses, the PC/Mac version is pretty damn ugly. If you do run it at high enough settings to make it even approach the level of visual quality in the XBox version, you'll be down to 10 fps or lower in no time.



    I guess the bottom line is - if you have the most advanced and powerful gaming system money can buy, get the Mac version. If not, buy a $180 XBox and use that. In order to match the XBox in performance and visual quality, you have to spend way more than the price of an XBox, even if you also throw in the price of a TV and the game.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by filmmaker2002

    I'll take HALO on my Powerbook ANYWAY.



    1: It's portable (duh) and I can play it damn well anywhere.

    2: I don't notice the difference between 50fps and 150 fps when it comes to games (mainly because I work in 24 fps 90% of my life) so this means squat to me.

    3: With a mouse, I am 100x better than with that forsaken game controller piece of crap.

    4: Graphics look much better than they ever did on an XBox.




    1. Well, yeah, but your battery life will be 2 hours.

    2. Neither do I.

    3. Hear, hear! But driving the warthog was way easier on the Xbox.

    4. No, they don't unless you have a GPU that can render with perpixel rendering and specular effects on.



    That's my single warning about Halo: Unless you have an Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 or an upper-end ATI card, you won't be able to see Halo as it was on the Xbox. Details include, but are not limited to:



    1. Truly reflective glass that looks good

    2. The Active Camo's Convolution Shader effect.

    3. The Master Chief's reflective visor

    4. The glimmers of waves on a far off sea. This is BEAUTIFUL! Off in the distance, you see these little reflections of light that truly add realism and beauty to the game.

    5. Bumpmapped textures that have internal shadows when lit with a flashlight. This looks REALLY cool.

    6. Ice and snow that looks glossy and glazed.

    7. Effects like zoom blurs and lens flares



    The list goes on, but the point is this: Halo isn't Halo without perpixel rendering.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    "Halo isn't Halo without perpixel rendering."



    Harumph. Wish it was a little more about gameplay than about pixels, but I'm in the minority these days.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mrmister

    "Halo isn't Halo without perpixel rendering."



    Harumph. Wish it was a little more about gameplay than about pixels, but I'm in the minority these days.




    That wasn't my point: I meant "Halo PC isn't Halo Xbox without perpixel rendering"
  • Reply 10 of 13
    I play HALO on my 1.25GHz 17inch iMac with nVidia 5200 graphics. It is pretty good with high settings except in some rooms (read: shuttle bays) where it starts crying when about 40 mobs come after you and start firing. The keyboard / mouse controls are Ok, you get used to them after a while. I play the game with the 1.03 patch.



    On a note: Call me a old crank, but even with easy settings, the violence in the game is just ridiculous. Going after Captain Keys in the convenant battle cruiser is just plain yucky. The best (worst?) part was sitting in the gun turret for a good one or two minutes of RL time and mowing down at least 40 - 50 mobs in the shuttle bay. I am tempted to go back to dungeons and dragons type of games, lol. Add nausea and a headache after a few hours too.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    moogsmoogs Posts: 4,296member
    Any prayer of running it smoothly on a Dual G5 with Radeon 9600 and most (not all because I never use all -- for any game) options turned up?
  • Reply 12 of 13
    knappaknappa Posts: 106member
    One thing the Mac or PC version will never be able to equal in my opinion: Bringing 4 XBox's, 3 TV's and one beamer + surround HiFi-set. And having a full-on war with sixteen people. There probably is a network play integrated, but it won't be the same as playing with 3 friends on one TV screen. I know it sounds ridiculous, but having to play alone on a screen at a computer is something I probably wouldn't adapt to with Halo.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    chychchych Posts: 860member
    I've tried Halo on a Dual G5/2 with R9600...



    Runs great with only vertex shaders and little to none anti-aliasing. Slows down quite a bit when pixel shaders are turned on (which makes the game look a LOT better), particularly on large outdoor areas (no AA).



    Kind of disappointing really.



    IMO Xbox graphics are better at the expense of keyboard/mouse controls. And NO coop on PC version, really ruined it for me.
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