Halo

THE GOOD:
- Variety of Weapons and Vehicles
- Styles of Gameplay
- Variety of Maps
- Decent Graphics
- Simple Controls
- Addictive

THE BAD:
- Slow Movement
- Lag
- Cheapness of certain Weapons/Vehicles
- Lack in variety of sound

SUMMARY:
At school there is little games you can play, considering you need to install them and they'll likely be wiped. Something small and easy to use, Halo Multiplayer Pack, came into my possession.

Halo over LAN is a two-fold concept. Unless you've got some decent computers with you, you're going to experience some lag and depending on the level of lag it can go from short delays to just dieing as you spawn.

Playing with friends is, however, quite fun. Given the choice you can create many different games just with the one map allowing for a variety of events. Being able to control such things as weapons, vehicles and special conditions gives a large amount of flexibility.

The drawback to friends over LAN themselves is the quantity. The more players in a game, more often than not the better it becomes. Having only a few friends playing can limit what you do together such as maps. Face it, who wants to play Sidewinder with only four people? On the other side of things, too many players means option for a large map otherwise no one will get anywhere except across the room filled with bullets.

Another thing is the venue. Unless you've got a place like a school, community hall, a big garage (etc) then you'll be hard pressed finding a place for all the computers. You can take turns, but remember that it limits the number of players.

Online with strangers presents a different side to things. Upon accessing the internet you may refresh the list to see all the current servers. You can make your own, but like with the LAN it'll really hinder you if you're not using a top notch computer. Choosing servers, you really need to try and see if you can see where the server is made. For example I live in Australia, so if I see something like "Aussie Server" then I know it won't lag me like a Spanish server would. Another thing to look out for is official servers, which you'll be able to tell apart from the rest with a little tower icon in the list next to their name. These are the best to choose, even more so than same country servers, for they run really smoothly and they're set up to offer the most enjoyed styles of playing. Online does present you with less flexibility though, as Blood Gulch really is the popular standard and you'll be very hard pressed to find a decent server on an alternate map.

The two standard styles of online gameplay are Slayer and Capture the Flag (CTF for short). Both carry their own pros and cons, factoring in the options that have been applied.

Slayer is an outright slaughter fest, no two ways about it. The aim of the game is simply to have a higher kill tally than anything else. This can be played on an individual basis or on teams. Teams makes it a whole lot more fun, as dieing every time you spawn becomes very, very tedious. In teams it's a lot more enjoyable, not having to look back every two seconds and trying to find the ultimate hiding place.

CTF has become a personal favourite of mine. This can only be done in teams, but this doesn't stop you going on your own person hunting mission. In fact, that's what makes CTF so interesting.

Despite lacking a communication function (which really gets on your nerves in terms of trying to coordinate an attack with this version) you can form some degree of understanding with the people you haven't met. It's not uncommon to see a Warthog rush in the heat of battle, it's partly down to luck and partly down to a mutual understanding.

On the other side of things, you're free to roam about and not give a care in the world towards "that flag". This can be beneficial to the team with you picking off everything as they rush in for the flag. Similarly, if some people didn't opt to hang around the base more, you'd probably lose very quickly.

This isn't forgetting what this style of gameplay revolves around, which is of course the flag. Once you come into contact with that flag, you'd better start running. You do have the option to drop the flag and use your weapons, though you need to keep in mind the flag will return to it's base after a period of time. If an an enemy touches the flag when it's no longer in touch with you or your team, it's automatically transported back to base. Don't forget, however, that the flag is actually quite a decent weapon. If you're up close, use the weapon melee option. Flags can deal quite a bit of damage when whacking someone over the head, it makes sense. To complete the goal, you need to take the flag back to base and run it over your flag. If you flag isn't at base, you're stuck holding the flag until it is (meaning it's impossible to achieve a draw). Total points any one team can make are three, then the game ends.

Playing Halo online almost forces you to come up with strategies which, over time, become habitual. For example on Blood Gulch I quickly learned that if you're on Blue Team, rushing the base for the flag becomes a cinch. You can go through the left hand side mountain, pick up a Flamethrower and Over Shield, then run as fast as you can shooting with your pistol to get to the base. Once in you can simply flame everything, jump in their Warthog and say adios amigo!

Weapon types are important to consider when playing Halo, especially combinations as you can hold two at any one time (but not two of the same kind). For Slayer you'll quickly find that a Pistol/Sniper Rifle combo becomes essential rather than simply clever. With other things, like CTF, it's all up to personal preference but still takes intelligent consideration. You don't want to be rushing a filled base with a Plasma Pistol and Assault Rifle after all. Things to consider include bullet minimum/maximum, accuracy, fire rate, fire power and the accessibility to more ammo (excluding weapons that use projectiles other than bullets, such as the Fuel Rod). Again, this becomes instinct, as you don't have a lot of time to contemplate what you're going to do and let's face it you're probably going to drop dead in a couple of minutes anyway.

Vehicles are another very important factor, though you'll find online that a lot of people dislike them. In fact, nearly all the servers you join will either have just Warthogs or no vehicles at all. Some people prefer to add all the vehicles in, though you'll quickly be dubbed a noob if you just sit back in your Scorpion or fly around in your sky high Banshee. You're still vulnerable in your own way, but I agree that it takes away from personal enjoyment. Another option is respawn time. You can set it so that vehicles, if not in use, disappear after a certain amount of time back to their original positions. Alternatively, you can also set them so that they just stay where they are when not in use which halts such things as Warthog rushing as it's harder to acquire the necessary vehicles.

So taking all this into account, how does Halo Multiplayer stack up? It's an addictive game, where you find your own preference in gaming style. You may shed a tear, you may stand up and shout about how awesome you are and how everyone else just sucks. The more you play, the more you enjoy it. Which is a good thing really, it'd be a big downfall if a multiplayer pack was lacking in replay value! On a personal basis, playing it online is a lot more fun than with friends. It just depends on if you have a little time or lots of time. Overall, I'm going to give the game a 4.2 out of 5. It's a really fun and enjoyable multiplayer game, but some elements drag it down behind more fluent games like the Call of Duty series or the Counter Strike series.