ardcore PC gamers like to rag on Halo for being an FPS-lite: a game that hardly innovates and lacks the complexity of PC titles like Far Cry or the Battlefield series. Console-centric players often hold the Halo series up as the pinnacle of first-person action gaming. While both viewpoints are valid, Halo 2’s objective qualities lie somewhere in between these two extremes.

Halo 2’s greatest strength – its incorporation of some modicum of tactical thought into fast-paced, guns-blazing action – shines through on PC just as well as it did on Xbox. Certain tasks, like sniping and nailing Hunters’ weak spots, are noticeably easier with mouse-and-keyboard control. Others, like piloting airborne Banshees, are markedly worse. Overall it’s a wash, with player preference ultimately dictating which scheme suits him or her better. Even though Halo 2 was clearly designed to take into account the foibles of playing on a standard-def display with an Xbox controller, the platform switch doesn’t really tarnish the experience – unlike in PC-to-console ports like Quake 4 or Half-Life 2.

Outside of the addition of a few bonus maps and a level editor as token concessions to the PC crowd, is the same as ever. The small-scale, intimate conflicts at the heart of Halo’s competitive play are still compelling. Finding and joining a session is relatively painless, and the rampant idiocy that pervades Halo 2 on Xbox Live was less of an issue in our time online.

As gorgeous as Halo 2 was in 2004, advancements in technology have predictably left the game’s visuals in the dust. Better anti-aliasing and the higher resolution of PC displays help to some extent, but Crysis this is not. Of course, tiny texture depth and low polygon counts don’t mean much when you’ve got two Ultras and a handful of Jackals flinging plasma at you, but discerning gamers will easily notice the difference between Halo 2’s graphics and the quality of the visuals in a modern PC game.

Halo 2 on Vista is a solid port that brings the Master Chief’s heroism to more gamers, and that’s indisputably a good thing. If it’s additional content or a new experience you’re looking for, though, this direct translation to Windows Vista will feel like $50 wasted.