It is a true statement when I say that Halo for Mac is indeed BETTER than Halo for the PC or Xbox, and this is why:

-Halo for Mac has BETTER GRAPHICS. The code has recently been rewritten for Mac, and offers things like Advanced Pixel Shaders, Detailed Objects, and even Model Reflections. FSAA is also offered for the Mac version of Halo... all things that PC owners are just now seeing in Halo 3 for Vista. Impress your friends. Laugh at their PCs.

-Halo for PC is old. Bug fixes were implemented in patches, but the game was never actually IMPROVED like the Mac version.

-Make sure that you install all updates up to 2.0.2 after purchasing the retail box.

-Tons of people still play multiplayer in this version. Halo 2 and 3 are Vista only. Who wants to have Vista?? HA!

Anyway, as long as you download all of the updates for the game, you will be very pleased. On top of all the graphics mumbo jumbo.. it's also overall a good game! ^_^

My (9yr old) son and I both enjoy this game very much, and come back to play the more enjoyable levels from time to time.

The decision to include CREEPY(!), zombie-like aliens put my son off the game; "Papa, could you get past this level for me?". I know, it's a "mature" game; but he enjoys many other "mature" games, all the way through.

Anyhoo, beautiful graphics, great sense of immediacy (we both lean and duck in our chairs, trying to avoid getting hit), and high replay value.

I'm running Halo Combat Evolved with the 2.0.2 patch applied on a Mac Mini Core Solo 1.5 GHz with 1 GB of RAM and OS X 10.4.9. Halo runs quite well on this Mac, better than I expected. For the busiest scenes, I've had to turn off all of the graphics fanciness, but I don't really miss the effects since the game is quite involving.

Single-player mode is really fun, and there is a long enough plotline to keep you busy for many hours. The story itself is good, and reminds me quite a bit of Bungie's earlier Pathways Into Darkness and Marathon series (so much so that I hope Bungie finds a way to clearly tie the excellent Marathon elements into Halo later on). I particularly enjoy one of Bungie's ongoing themes, the proxy battle between the intelligent computers, one of which appears to be on your side and sane, and the other with an unclear but usually hostile agenda, both of which manipulate your character towards their own ends.

Multiplayer mode is fun, but is nothing new as it is similar in most ways to the many other multiplayer FPS's, and for an older gamer like me, is mostly a good way to get killed in quick and humiliating ways by 12-year-old trash talkers.

My only complaint, and it is a serious one, is that Halo likes to crash fairly often, usually right after a cutscene or a savepoint. This can be worked around by starting the current level over, but that can take quite a while if you're close to the end of the level when Halo bombs out.

I hope that Bungie and Microsoft bring Halo 2 and 3 to the Mac, and make the user-generated maps more compatible with the Windows and XBox versions of Halo.

Overall, an excellent game, and a worthwhile buy for Mac owners looking for some fun.

This game is most likely the best FPS I have ever played. I highly reccomend it to anyone that is interested.

This game has been out on the market for a while now (almost 5 years since it's copyright) for xbox and PC, and now mac. Even with the sequel already released and the third on the way, this game will be a favorite to go back to. It is not hard to see how this game has acquired the following it has--fast gameplay, intriguing storyline, and a flow from level to level that keeps you at your screen a little longer than you said you'd be just so you can see what comes next. A great video-game experience.