For a game that on the Xbox received almost unanimous praise, Gearbox's PC port seems to inspire reactions ranging from ambivalence to adulation, with some deeply divided opinions in between. In some cases, those opinions are divided even within the same review.

Take the review by Gamers Europe. They gave the Xbox version of Halo a 9.5, and it rates in the top 5 FPS games there. The PC version? An 8. They describe it as a "pretty poor" port, mostly because it is exactly the same as the original. Uhh... wasn't that the idea? That aside, they miss co-op, but like the new flexibility in setting up multiplayer game modes.

The review is full of negative language like that, while at the same time they call Halo "the best FPS out there" and "almost flawless". For some reason, the reviewer seems to assume that all the customers for PC Halo already have Xbox Halo, and that since this is basically the same game, it's somehow not as good.

This review seems to underscore a thread that runs through a lot of such reviews. It seems that many reviewers expected that the game would be enhanced or extended, instead of just ported to the PC for those who don't have Xboxes. Which seems odd, since it was hardly a secret for the past two years that this is exactly what a port would be. And given that Internet multiplayer was added, that two new weapons were added, that one vehicle was added, that six new maps were added, and that if you have the right video card, you can see Halo at resolutions the Xbox can't generate-- I don't know, that seems like plenty to me, and if they manage to patch in network co-op, it'll be perfect.