RPS Feature Punch it
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
WHAT. How have we gone so long without mentioning Halo in ‘Have You Played’? Maybe because it’s such an obvious choice, a monster of both profit and influence. Every shooter since has something to owe Halo, for better or worse. Microsoft’s console expedition certainly has something to owe it, not that we care. Read the rest of this entry »
We learned last year that Installation 01 [official site], a multiplayer-only fan remake of the early Halo games, was in the works, when they announced that they were aiming for a Halo 3 style of play. They’ve also been following Microsoft’s own legal rules for fan projects, said the team behind it, in the hope they’d avoid the SHUT IT DOWN message these projects often get from cross-looking men in suits. Well, it looks like their careful tip-toeing around those rules paid off, at least for now. They’ve been told by 343 Industries that the fan game is “not under imminent legal threat” so long as they keep abiding by those rules.
Read the rest of this entry »
RPS Feature The Worthiest Reticules Of All Time
So often the bleeding edge of games tech, yet so often fundamentally the same underneath: there’s a reason we can’t get enough of pretend shooting pretend people in their pretend faces. It is a pure test of skill and reflex, a game about movement at least as much as it is about violence, and done right it is absolutely delightful. And hey, sometimes you get a decent gimmick or story thrown into the mix.
These are our favourite 50 first-person shooters on PC, from 1993-2017. Your favourite is at number 51.
A group of Halo fans are creating a free multiplayer-only tribute and say they are following all of Microsoft’s legal rules for doing so. The game, called Installation 01 [official site], will combine parts from each game in the series but focuses on the classic style of multiplayer. “Halo 3 is what we’re aiming for,” said one of the developers when asked how it will ‘feel’ to play. You can see some footage of the game in action here, as well as commentary from the developers about how much love they are putting into it.
RPS Feature The Worthiest Reticules Of All Time
Gathering together the best shooters is no easy task, but if you’re looking for a new PC FPS to play, look no further.
Your favourite game is at number 51.
Halo may be cock of the walk on Xbox but though the first two games were ported to PC, the series never really took off round our way. The ports were wonky and, well, the idea of an enjoyable first-person shooter was less of a novelty on PC. Still, the first Halo has spawned a small but devoted fanbase on PC who were less than thrilled that its online multiplayer was facing the chop in the GameSpy server shutdown. Third-party tool GameRanger stepped in with a stopgap, but now creators Bungie have released an official patch ditching GameSpy.
It seems someone at Bungie was itching for an excuse to patch Halo, as that’s not all it changes.
Everyone, buckle up. It’s time to feel old. Here’s some history for you: Halo: Combat Evolved for PC has been up and running for nearly 11 years. Also, I had totally forgotten that it was handled by none other than Borderlands creator Gearbox back when they almost exclusively developed ports of games like Half-Life and, er, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3. THESE ARE ALL TRUTHS, incontrovertible building blocks of the life you snooze your way through, blissfully unaware. Halo, however, was all set to get a halo of its own, courtesy of GameSpy’s impending closure. Fortunately, an Australia-based service called GameRanger has stepped in to save its online multiplayer at the last second.
GameSpy, a relic from times long before the modern Internet – or indeed, games and spies – existed is closing down. This on its own is not surprising as the multiplayer service is, by modern standards, buggy and kind of a joke, but it leaves a startling number of games with their e-wings clipped and their online-heaving hams strung in its wake. How many, you ask? Well, Reddit’s /r/Games board compiled a massive list, and the results aren’t pretty.
How’s about this for after-sales support. Gearbox have just patched Halo: Combat Evolved. Yes, the first one. The 1.08 patch for the five year old game removes the need for a CD to be in the drive when you play (a tacit nod to freedom?) and fixes some bugs for online play.
Shack spotted the fix added to their own Fileshack, which will become required for online play from tomorrow. Anyone out there still playing?
