At the Microsoft booth in Central Hall, a slew of games are available, from Rail Simulator to Luxor 2, every taste is accounted for. Okay, that was uncalled for. There was Halo 2, which, as you recall, is exclusive to the Windows Vista operating system. Despite being a port of a two year old game, it still drew plenty of curious gamers.

I waited about fifteen minutes for my chance to compete in a few rounds of Halo 2 multiplayer. The game was straight up deathmatch on the map Sanctuary from the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack. The option to play with the Xbox 360 controller or mouse and keyboard were both available, so I opted for the latter to see how my Halo skills held up sans controller.

Visually, the game looks unimpressive. The models, textures and level architecture don't smack of a 2007 PC first-person shooter release. The game's frame rate was surprisingly shaky, but controls were solid. Despite my preference for mouse and keyboard controls, it felt a little strange to play the game this way.

Gameplay-wise, it's the same Halo 2 multiplayer gamers have logged millions of hours with on Xbox Live, just in higher resolution. After playing Shadowrun, another Vista only Windows game, the Halo 2 gameplay feels very meat and potatoes. Just a bit too straightforward for me at this point. I think I'll be passing on this port, but those of you who haven't tired yet of the Xbox version should at least take a look. Michael McWhertor

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