How odd that one of the worst software companies in the world, Microsoft, who can't develop a decent operating system to date (Vista!) could actually be a part of the incredibly brilliant production of Halo2. I actually enjoyed this amazing work of art, an A in every catagory from the getgo. If there was ever a standard that all game developers should strive for, its this game. How about a novel idea, fire the morons at the microsoft operating system development area and let the Halo crew write the next operating system! Now thats crew ready to take off!

This game was great for Xbox and I still think it's great for the PC.

Installation - this game may not install well on some machines. If you do have trouble installing it, Microsoft Customer Service are a great help. I, personally, had some trouble and the issue was resolved in around forty minutes (considering my PC is basically trash).

Sound - great music and great quality.

Graphics - here's where this game gets a little crappy. If you don't have a good machine, the graphics will be choppy. The cut scenes seem to stay awesome, but game play slows down enormously.

Controls - I really recommend buying a controller to play this game. I find the keyboard controls a little difficult to use. It also gives you a quicker reaction time.

Single Player (Career Mode) - great story and very exciting. It's a little short, but if you take the time to beat it on all the difficulty levels, you'll keep yourself busy for a long time.

Multilayer - this version of the game supports local LAN play and online play with up to sixteen (16) players. It's really fun but you need at least a broadband connection for tolerable lag. I would also suggest signing up for a gold account because it gives you more options and a better connection.

Overall, I recommend buying this game for the PC if you don't have a Xbox or Xbox 360. Try to find it used, as it's price for new is, in my opinion, too steep. It's a great game if you don't mind some minor lag.

I bought Halo 2 for the PC excited about trying it on my brand-new Vista machine. I have had it for over a year now and have yet to be able to actually play the game all the way through.
I went through the agony of having to create a Live account, and then having the game not "see" the account (but not let me log in because I'm "already logged in"). I experienced the unfun joys of having Halo 2 randomly tell me my savegame file is corrupted and I have to start again. I had updates crash the game, my license key invalidate itself, and after unanswered support e-mails, it took me multiple calls and over 3 hours on the phone to get someone to fix the problem. They had to do this by removing my license key, issuing me a new one, and telling me I'd lose all my "achievements" and account info. That wasn't a great loss, since the program would regularly log me into Live, then say, "You are not logged into Live. You will not be able to have any Achievements. Sorry about that." A lot of the messages I get in Halo 2 say, "Sorry about that." Sorry, indeed.

By the time I actually got the game to work (with shuddering framerate and random dropouts in sound), I was just angry. Angry at all the "Sorry" messages, angry at the hassle I have to click through just to load a saved game, and angry at the constant savegame level resets. I see new Microsoft Games for Windows titles, and I feel I'd be stupid to put risk putting myself through that again.

I bought both halo 1 and 2 the day it came out. I have to say, its pretty disappointing. I mean, halo 1 was GREAT! Good story line, multiplayer mode, good controlls and etc. But on the other hand, halo 2 is just a waste of money. The grphic is pretty much the same as halo 1 (microsoft didn't even try to improve the quality of the graphics after 2 long years). Its no comparison to games like Bioshock, Crysis, Call of duty 4, and etc. The only reason that they made this game is to attract Vista buyers. You can't even host a multiplayer game on halo 2 without buying their "golden accout". And i was foolish enough to buy it, and it didn't do crap. The only reason that i gave it a 3 for fun, is because of that you can have 2 weapons instead of 1. And the instant kill sword is pretty fun to use. Otherwise, everything else is a 1. SO DON'T BUY THIS GAME. I WOULDN'T HAVE BOUGHT IT IF I HAD KNOWN HOW BAD THIS GAME REALLY IS.

PRO:
*INSTANT KILL SWORD
*CAN USE TWO WEAPONS AT THE SAME TIME

CON:
*EVERYTHING ELSE

I received Halo 2 and wound not work on my Vista Home system..
Tried to install it twice and gave up!!!

PEOPLE WHO AREA HAVING PROBLEMS RUNNING THE GAME
IM SORRY BUT YOUR COMPUTER SUCKS NOT THE GAME.

I HAVE PLAYED EVERY GOOD GAME THAT IS OUT THERE

AND THIS FIND THE PLACE WAY AT THE TOP

GREAT STORYLINE AWESOME GAME PLAY

EXCELLENCE OVER ALL

GRAPHICS 8.5 / 10

Like most console ports, this game sucks. How can you even compare crappy console games like this to FEAR, Crysys, and Half-life?

The graphics look like 1999, and the game play is much the same.

People who play console game must have incredibly low expectations if this type of game can sell millions of copies.

I wasted 4 hours trying to get this game to install on my computer. I would put in the disc, click on install and the window would go away and nothing would happen. I even checked and updated all my drivers and still nothing.

My computer is a top of the line Dell XPS system that more than meets the system requirements. There is no reason this game shouldn't work.

Chances are you've heard that Vista comes in two flavors, 32 bit and 64 bit. The vast majority of consumers use 32 bit Vista, while early adopters like to run 64 bit because it has a few advantages over 32 bit. If you are like most consumers, you have the 32 bit version of Vista, so this review does not apply.

I installed this game on my new Vista x64 rig and was looking forward to some great Halo 2 online multiplayer, just like when I used to play four-way split screen on Xbox with friends. You can't play split screen on this, but I presumed the advantage of aiming with keyboard and mouse would make up for it. When I started to play the game (after the long installation/update process), I noticed the game was not rendering correctly. Despite a solid frame rate of 75, the entire Halo world was not rendering smooth enough to enjoy playing in it. On some maps the walls look like they're popping out of place. On every single map you have problems looking around and getting your crosshairs to move where you want them. I have adjusted numerous mouse settings but nothing works.

If you have 32 bit Vista go ahead and buy this, the graphics look better than Xbox from what I can see on this setup. But, if you have 64 bit Vista expect poor performance overall as Microsoft was probably too busy to bother writing decent 64 bit code for this game. To be fair, there are lots of games advertised for Vista that don't run quite right on 64 bit. Still, this is the only one I've played that is advertised solely for Vista that has a severe problem.

Well, where to begin...the story is short, i beat it in 2 days, the HUD is simplified for the console kiddies, the is no HEALTH, you have your shields then 4 or 5 hits then your dead, and the worst thing of all, online play is NOT FREE! The best thing about Halo 1 is that you could go online all the time and fight it out...but now with PAY multi player? Its sad to see this game sink so low...The graphics are alright at best, nothing to exciting...considering this is a game for windows VISTA i expected DirectX 10 but nope, its Dx9...i wish wal-mart had a return period on games if you weren't satisfied, I'd take it back in a heartbeat...AVOID THIS GAME! The two-prong storyline is good, but that can't make up for the downfalls...

the interface was much easier than the first version and the special effects are great well worth the price

Halo 2 This s/w can only be used with Windows Vista and I do not have windows vista, I have Windows XP. Thus I waisted my money on a product I can not use.

this game is really fun even my friend loves it and he has an x box 360 with live, but i do warn you better have a fast computer

Same exact game as for Xbox. Using the Xbox 360 wireless controller and receiver for my computer. Controls and graphics are the same. No Complaints. Arrived swiftly and promptly.

I really love the Halo game, but haven't played it yet, because it isn't loading on my PC. Starting to get upset. Is there supposed to be more than one disc with this? If I get this thing running I may change this review, but until then... not happening. Or an exchange or refund.

The PC adaptation of 2004's phenomenally successful Xbox game, "Halo 2 for Windows Vista" comes 3 years later, right before the release of Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. Despite this gap and apparent poor planning on the part of Microsoft's release department, does Halo 2 for Vista stand up even with the test of time?

The first difference comes with the transition from the uniform, high-end console to the more variable PC, with regards to graphics and computing power. While even at "high" settings I did not notice a marked improvement from the Xbox's graphics (though opinions tend to differ on this point), Halo 2 still commands a hefty "5.0 Recommended" rating on Vista's new gaming rating system. To put that in perspective, my current system is a "5.3", and newer games like Company of Heroes, World in Conflict, and Command and Conquer 3 top off at "4.1 Recommended". Apart from its variability with regards to graphic quality, Halo 2's only other new technical feature is the option for a widescreen Heads Up Display (instead of the stretched-out one used in the Xbox version).

Halo 2's connectivity to Xbox Live is the other major new system added in the PC transition, and this is simultaneously well-done and irritating. It is well-done because, like a console, the live system integrates itself almost seamlessly into the game and adds features such as online play, unlockable achievements (the first "Games for Windows" title to feature them), and friend lists. However, there is also a step back from Halo 1 for the PC; while Halo 1 had free, no-strings-attached online multiplayer, Halo 2 requires at least a silver account to play even the single player game. Thus, as with Valve's "Steam" software for Half Life 2, one must be online in order to play the game. However, unlike Steam, one need only log on to make an account and then transfer the account to one's computer; after the first time, there is no requirement for online connectivity for single player. The free account also allows access to Halo 2's online play, though many of the features (including matchmaking services and private rooms) are reserved for people with paid "Gold Accounts". Finally, Halo 2 for Vista features 2 new official maps for multiplayer, as well as a map editor. However, said editor is mostly intended for hardcore designers, not casual fans. Despite this, it is a fairly welcome addition and allows for a community effort in creating new and exciting arenas.

Overall, this game is done reasonably well by itself. However, when counting in its status as a ported version of a 3-year-old game, and adding the further frustrations of "Live" play and its unusually high requirements, I would not recommend this game to anyone who has already played it. This game is a last resort, meant exclusively for people who only have a PC, and who have not played Halo 2 prior. I rate it a 3/5.

Way better than console version. Awesome graphics with very smooth gameplay. Need to have a very stong system for optimal performance. Must have if a Halo fan.

Activation? ACTIVATION??
C'mon.... I paid you my money, so now I should be able to install/uninstall as I need to. Take a lesson from Valves Steam... with them I dont feel like I'm being punished.
I played the 1st couple minutes that MS allows you with out activation and decided it wasnt worth it.
Uninstall, goodbye!

Halo 2 was originally released in 2004 and the gameplay itself holds up really well. However, the game does show its age especially in the graphics. For those who jumped into the Halo franchise on 3, like me, and are looking to see the origins you wont be disappointed by the game, but you'll probably be frustrated by the many differences.

First, I'd like to make a note about system requirements. This game does require Window's Vista, but this isn't a review of Windows Vista. If you don't have Windows Vista you can't play this game! As for system requirements, this game runs really well on my Pentium D system with 2GBs of RAM. I only have a 7600GS 256MB video card. Of course I'm restricted to the lowest resolution (800x600) to get the performance I need, but on my old 19" CRT Monitor that is just fine.

The single player campaign is very fun on Halo 2. One thing to note is that there is no 2 player co-op like there was on the console. Otherwise the experience is largely the same. Halo 2 has a pretty punishing difficulty especially on the harder modes. One thing that is particularly frustrating though is the level design. There are holes in the floors and ledges that you can just walk off of resulting in an instant death. Even with these problems, the game manages to squeeze in a lot of fun. The story is pretty involving on this game and adds to the motivation. The classic Halo formula works here too. Although, with the harder difficulties you'll find you'll have to be much more tactical instead of just running and gunning. However, should you win you'll feel like you've really accomplished something.

The multiplayer component is pretty good too. Halo 2 PC uses the Games for Windows Live service. Which means you'll have to sign up for a windows live account (hotmail) if you don't have one. You can play online for free, but some options are left out (there are Gold exclusive games, but not many people play them). If you already have an Xbox Live account, like I do, then you can use that and still talk to your friends from Xbox Live. The game uses a lobby system opposed to the Matchmaking system of the console version. It works well and makes it easy to pick the specific game type you want; deathmatch (slayer), team deathmatch, capture the flag, king of the hill, oddball. There are still plenty of people playing as of the witting of this review, but not as many as on the console version. The game has plenty of maps built in and also includes a map maker so there is more than enough content. The game supports voice chat, but you can still chat with the keyboard. Multiplayer is very fun and is one of the things that sold the game so well originally. Its still good, but there are some better newer options out there now.

With the delayed release of the PC version of this game, it might have just missed its core audience. Compared to most game released today it could definitely use a graphical update. The surprising thing is how well everything else holds together. The campaign and multiplayer are still great. If you're curious about the Halo Franchise this is good place to get an introduction, and if you're a fan of Sci-Fi shooters at all, I'm sure you'll find something to enjoy in this game.

I purchased Halo 2 because I liked the first Halo and wanted to see how the story goes in the second game. Halo 2's story line is good, just like the original Halo's. However, Halo 2 has some serious problems.

The game runs choppy on my custom built PC even with all of the latest software and driver updates. It does not make any difference if I set the graphics to low or high (I ran the game at 1280x1024), it is still choppy. Here are my PC's specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Dual Core) 4800+ 2.5GHz
2GB of DDR2 Ram
nVidia 8600GT Super-clocked Edition with 256MB of GDDR3 Ram
500GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card
Clean install of Windows Vista Home Premium

The game has pretty bad graphics compared to modern PC games (Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Battlefield 2142, World in Conflict, etc.) and it still runs choppy. I just cannot understand how a game that came out in 2004 can run choppy on a PC that I built in September of this year, while Call of Duty 4 runs smooth even with max settings. The only possible explanation is that Microsoft did a terrible job porting this from the Xbox to the PC.

Another problem is that I can hear clicking and popping noises when I play. It does not matter if I use my headphones (Bose) or my desktop speakers, it still pops and clicks. This does not happen on any game other than Halo 2 so the problem must lie with the game and not my computer.

The game also crashed on me several times, causing me to have to replay levels.

Unless you can find it for under $20 (It is not worth $50), I would recommend avoiding this game unless you really want to find out how the story goes or you have a $10,000 gaming PC.

First of all its really old, 2004 old. No upgrades that are noticeable.
Instead of playing master chief the main character u play an alien in half the missions, U would think this was good except that they both play exactly the same way.

It feels like u are still playing Halo 1 with this one.

The Game's end is probably the crapiest I have ever seen. So stupid u will be puking ur guts out.

Lastly there are not many new guns, the multiplayer is so-so, and the console is like a leftover of the XBOX. At some point u feel that its like Microsoft is doing u a favour by letting u play their game by paying them.

DONT BUY THIS. IT IS TERRIBLE. A WASTE. A DIGITAL TRAVESTY.
SAVE YOURSELF. ITS TOO LATE FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME!!

Same as the X Box version, only runs on Vista however. As usual, several start up screens to wade through. Game play, both on-line and local, is smooth and fluid on a modern computer with a good video adapter. Possible to use a gamepad or mouse/keyboard.

Halo 2 extends the storry of Halo, and adds many new exciting new story elements. The multiplayer is very good indeed, and I never tire of laying some hurt on my closest friends and strangers. Plays very well on Vista.

Well to start I am a huge Halo universe fan and love Halo combat Evolved for PC. I waited the extremley long and unecessery time for Halo2 to be finally released for PC the game platform this game is really meant for.
Well first off the dropping of Gamespot was real bad on microsoft games/Bungies part it was easy to find a match and play. Now we have Live I signed up and well when I did the name I picked was free so cool I figured thats it away we go...WRONG everytime I try and log on to live to play Halo2 online it tells me the name that I picked and it approved during the enrollment is taken...Yeah by me but it will not let me use it! WTF??? comeon Microsoft fix this with a patch.
Now on to the game Gameplay in several areas is ridculosly hard even on the easy setting. When I get a game I play through on easy to get the story then go back on the normal setting. A prime example is the levela "Let the buyer beware" Very very trickey to progress through the area to the next chapter. Even worse is Tatarus at the end Give me a break any heavy weapon you have won't otuch this guy but a NPC's weak assualt rifle drops the shield???? and while your weapons are useless until about 60 seconds into the level his hammer yes a hammer for godsake is a kill hit even if it misses and slams the deck next to you.
The end of the game is totally lame very very weak and disapointing.
Another flaw you have no way of commanding NPC's in vital situations and they will get you killed by drivng right up to enemy tanks instead of staying out of it's range and letting you pick them off with the Warthogs cannons.
I can only hope Halo3 addresses these flaws and that Microsoft doesn't wait two years before releasing it to PC. There should have been a simultanious release for both Xbox and Pc for all of the Halo games. I mean the kids with consoules have what two years to hack and cheat the game by the time a PC gamer gets it and we get sniped because of this. Come on Level the field and release for both at the same time! I guarntee your slaes would nearly double!
Finally a noter about Vista I have a brand new machine to run Halo2 while it has everything Microsoft says it should have Halo2 says I don't the big thing being I run a Athlon64X2 4 GHz processor and Halo2 misreads it typical Intel bias. AMD has had dual core processors for nearly a decade now and Intel just came out with them last year.

Okay, but not worth it for the single player campaign
I don't play online, but I enjoyed Halo for what it was, as short as it was and really wanted to see where it was going. The answer, nowhere, really.
Halo 2 is more of a re-hash than a sequel. The computer voice admits it at the end "yeah, sounds familiar, I know" she says telling you how you are going to once again blow up the enemy by overloading something. Yea! Great?
What Halo 2 does do is offer some tighter controls (the vehicle improvements are vast if not perfect) though you drive and aim with the same movement, so you are always flying or driving towards your target, but you feel at least some control as you kamikaze! What I really hate is the zoom - aim feature, because if you take a hit it un-zooms and you have to zoom back, it's very annoying if you play like me and try to take out as many bad-guys as possible before moving in.
There's some issues with the dual-play feature as well, you are both Master Chief and some alien called Arbiter whom Master Chief defeated in the first Halo. The problem with Arbiter is that he plays just like Master Chief, so you don't care that it's different, his stats are purple, MC's are Blue! The issue is I keep forgetting who to shoot at and keep killing Arbiter's allies out of habit. Since he fights just like MC, why play as him at all?
The cut scenes are rendered to cinematic levels, but the actual graphics range from slick to badly pixilated and blurry. Too often I felt claustrophobic and ended up having no idea which way was up, or out.
As for the Campaign, I have no idea what online play is like, but if you don't play online borrow, do not buy this game for $50.00. This game will take a maximum of 8hrs for a novice player. You never go back more than a few minutes when you die, which is great, but that there are no puzzles, no searching, no tactics to work out here, just point, shoot, collect, move! The game forces you in each direction, you never have anywhere to go but where you have to. There are no extra areas to explore, no secrets to find, no hidden treasures or mysteries.
The end, once again, is uneventful. Worse, it's a cliffhanger! I felt like the game barely began and it was over and unresolved. What a massive disappointment.
I have to wait for H3 to come out on PC because I am not buying an Xbox360. Oh, well. If they combine the three games into one, it might be worth $50.00.
As to technical issues, I had none. I'm running a HP PV9000 custom laptop. Vista Ultimate 64, 2gig ram, 100 & 150gig sata hard drives, 2gig ready boost SD card, with a AMD 64 Turion x2 @1.8ghz. I had to use 1280 X 768 resolution because the full 1680 X 1050 my screen uses made the mouse move too slow. The game ran fine at all settings to max but the mouse movement was too slow even at level 10 speed, lowering the resolution made no difference in how the game looked, none, so it didn't matter at all.

Others are right, you will be playing an out-dated game, if you're not already manipulated into buying Microsoft's X-box to keep up with Halo then you must buy Vista to play Halo 2. Otherwise nobody really needs Vista that I can see, unless they force it on the market (and MS will).

I did a dual boot system with XP, because Vista won't run all my software or hardware yet, mainly to see what Halo 2 would be. Make two partitions for dual boot or use two drives, and wait until Vista is compatible with all it left behind, to fully switch to that OS.

As to the game, it was somewhat disappointing by comparison to Halo 1. Very artistic graphics are an improvement, but seems to have been the priority, along with many more weapons. But they're stuck in half sized campaigns that aren't so distinctive. I got lost in circles a lot, looking for the next segway, because cloned graphics made entrances and exits look much the same. Still, finished the whole game on the first day I loaded it. Definitely not like Halo 1 there. Not such an epic adventure as Halo 1, with the ending pretty much saying buy Halo 3, to get any real ending.

There are good new features that made some sense. But some came with annoying key location changes if you played Halo 1 a lot. You also spend half the game playing as an Elite, not just the M.C. It reveals a lot more of the story line, which is not such a good thing if you really think about it. Best not to.

Really disappointed in some of the audio. MOST of all I miss the grunts amusing chatter and voicing, funny enough to overlook aliens speaking English even to each other. I imagine doing that particular voice was difficult, so they apparently did them with a pitch shifter to create the grunt high pitch, and they sound synthetic and characterless as a result. Over all, this really wasn't worth waiting years for IMO.

The PC version of Halo 2 was released about 2 and a half years after the Xbox version and it shows. Halo 2 for the Xbox was a decent single player sequel but it was such a huge hit because of it's online play. Waiting almost 3 years to release a PC version caused Halo 2 to be outdated as soon as it was released.

I almost couldn't even finish playing Halo 2. I couldn't get past the terrible graphics after playing other games that are older but were way better. Half Life 2 is a year old and F.E.A.R. is two years old and both are WAY better games graphically. I'm not even sure why M$/Bungie bothered making a PC version.

If this game had been released 3 years ago when the Xbox version was released it would have been great. Instead, it was an outdated game even before it came out and it looks like M$ just released it to help push Vista. If you really love the Halo series just buy this used when it's about $10. That's about all this game is worth now.

M$ (Big Brother) are pulling every trick they can to get us to buy Windows VISTA. HALO 2 is a prime example. You want to play the game? GET VISTA!!! Not likely! With so many people going back to XP from VISTA, this game is doomed from the off. Just take a few minutes to read the disastrous reviews for VISTA (all versions and upgrades), and you'll see just how bad the situation is. People are now actually demanding XP before buying new PC's and Laptops, so bad is the reputation of VISTA, and it's growing. Remember Windows ME? VISTA is 4x worse!

What a disaster! I've been looking forward to this game for quite a while now, and if the graphics are anything to go by, nothing much has improved. If M$ want to alienate their loyal users, they sure are going the right way about it.

If you're thinking of getting VISTA to run this, do yourself a favour and buy a console instead. It will cost you less in most cases, and you'll still have a PC that works properly.

.

From all the negative reviews I've heard, I was hesitant on picking this title up. I never played the original Xbox version as I still have not gotten used to first person shooters using a control pad; I still prefer a mouse and keyboard. It installed without a problem and plays flawlessly. I do have a rather high end system, running a Pentium D 3.0GHz, two ATI x1800 cards in Crossfire mode, and Vista x64. The mouse and keyboard controls work almost the same as the original Halo version for the PC; there are some differences for dual-wielding of weapons as expected. On-screen hints tell you which keyboard keys to hit in order to pick up weapons or perform actions as did the original Halo for PC so it's not a direct console port just showing the handheld controller buttons as I may have feared. However, my two biggest complaints are:

1. The graphics are slightly worse than the original Halo for PC. They look a little more "cartoonish" and the colors are somewhat washed out in places. I'm not sure if it's meant to be this way, or something with my video card drivers is causing this. But overall a step down in realistic quality from the original Halo for PC.

2. Screen resolution selection only has a few fixed modes to choose from. Again, the original Halo for PC allowed me to choose most any video mode my card would support, including several 16:10 widescreen modes. Halo 2 supports just a handful of standard modes, such as 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and the only widescreen mode I have access to is a 16:9 resolution of 1280 x 720. On my 19" widescreen monitor which supports a 16:10 resolution of 1440 x 900, this "blows up" the picture to fill the screen, causing some pixelation, and also leaves me with a "letterboxed" view, with black bars above and below the visible playing field.

Overall, it's not a bad effort. I wouldn't recommend it if you have an Xbox console to play the original version, but if all you have access to is a PC, or you still haven't gotten used to handheld controllers like myself and prefer the mouse and keyboard, it's worth taking a look at.

Complain all you want, XP users, but the wheels are rolling, and at some point, you're gonna have to get with the program, so to speak.

Halo 2 works spectacularly, right out of the box. Literally. You can start playing as soon as you pop the disc into the tray, which is quite awesome and I hope all games start following suit in the future. The graphic tweaking allows you to get a sharper and more impressive visual treat than you could ever get on the Xbox... just be prepared to have the CPU and Memory to back it up. Getting the full graphical treatment takes a beast of a computer, but the benefits are worth it. PC gamers finally get to taste what Xbox gamers have been playing the past two years, and if you've got the computer specs to flesh it out, it's more than worth it.

For the record, to adress two issues brought up in previous reviews: My PC's rating is 2.5, due to my Gaming Graphics being a bit outdated, but since the CPU's rating was 4.7, the hard disk being 5.7 and the RAM scoring 4.5, apparently the computer's satisfactory enough. I get 30FPS+ at all times running in 1024x768 with a few of the details dumbed down, and it's quite enjoyable.

For those unable to log into Live after creating an account, try creating another account after it "downloads your profile" and restarts the game, but INSTEAD of creating another account, just go back into the game and input your information from the existing account. It will properly attatch your LIVE account into your local profile and you can start playing online and earning achievements.

well the games graphics were superior as expected compared to xbox but it had no backwards compatability with xbox not even system link which is what i bought the game for

With AMD dual processor 6000, 2 nvidia 640 mb video cards, 4 gb memory.
The game will not run. Keep getting message "Halo 2 has stopped working."
Can't find patch or help any where from Microsoft. Don't waste your money on this game

played it on xbox and from what it looks to me its pretty much the same halo 2 only with updated graphics, online play isnt all that, just a bunch of people paying cash to play against other competitors from different parts of the country, to me the best mode in any first person shooter game is adventure mode or campaign whatever they call it these days, it goes with the story.

This game was only released to promote Vista. Microsoft needs to get back to its roots, and gain customer's loyalty. Microsoft could of made the game much better if they only they tried. I would not recommend buying this game. The game (F.E.A.R.) has much better artificial intelligence with an overall better game engine. Please support the game companies that support gamers with high quality titles.

I absolutely love this game. I played on the XBOX and was impressed, but being a pc gamer was a hinderance to my success in the game. I love playing Halo 2 on the PC. I have a 1.8 Ghz processor on a laptop I play it with and it works like no other game I own. Great job Bungie and Microsoft. Can't wait for Halo 3 for the PC as well.