Halo impressive, but lacks golden touch

Although originally designed as a PC game after Microsoft's acquisition of developer Bungie, Halo was rerouted towards Xbox. Despite unnerving nearly all PC gamers, Halo met critical and popular acclaim, easily becoming the best launch title for the new console, and is arguably still the best game available for Xbox. Now, nearly two years later, PC fans can finally get a chance to savor what Microsoft stole away from them.\nA first-person shooter set in the future, Halo conveys an action-packed story and features and exciting gameplay that compels players to continue playing. The keyboard and mouse control configuration undoubtedly improves on the Xbox control scheme, and the game easily translates to the PC. The PC version features improved multiplayer with additional vehicles and higher resolution graphics than on the Xbox (if you have a higher end PC of course). While the Halo engine remains visually impressive, particularly in its textures, it does show its age and comes on the brink of a slew of impressive new PC releases, such as Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. Additionally, sorely missing is the great cooperative feature of the Xbox version which allowed gamers to team up and take on the impressive AI in the single player campaign.