Halo: Combat Evolved for Macintosh

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This article is about the port of Halo: Combat Evolved for Macintosh. For the Windows PC port, see Halo: Combat Evolved (PC port).

Halo: Combat Evolved for Macintosh
Developer(s):	Developed by Bungie Studios Extra maps, weapons and vehicles by Gearbox Software Ported to Mac by Westlake Interactive
Publisher(s):	Microsoft Game Studios Destineer Studios/MacSoft
Engine:	Blam engine
Platform(s):	Macintosh
Release date(s):	December 14, 2003
Genre(s):	First-person shooter
Mode(s):	Campaign, multiplayer
Rating(s):	ESRB: Mature (M) for Blood, Gore, and Violence PEGI: 16+ (Europe only)

Halo: Combat Evolved for Macintosh is a port of Halo: Combat Evolved for Apple Macintosh computers. It features all of the additional weapons, vehicles and maps included in the Windows PC port of Halo: Combat Evolved. It released on December 14, 2003, 2 years after the XBOX release.

System requirements

Minimum CPU: Macintosh computer with 800 MHz G4/G5 or faster processor Operating system: Mac OS X 10.2.8 or higher RAM: 256MB RAM GPU: 32MB Video Card (GeForce 2MX/ATI 7500 or better) HDD: 1.4GB hard disk space

Recommended CPU: 1GHz G4/G5 or faster processor Operating system: Mac OS X 10.3 or higher RAM: 512MB RAM GPU: 64MB Video Card (GeForce 4ti-ATI 9000 or better) HDD: 1.4GB hard disk space

Note: Halo will run normally on Intel-based Macs. However, due to having to run in the Rosetta PPC emulator, there is an impact on performance.

Differences from Xbox version

After being ported by Westlake Interactive, Halo for Macintosh had many differences and quirks. These included:

• Co-op Campaign was removed, due to requiring "extensive re-coding" to port.
• The sniper rifle's zoom was reduced from 10x to 8x.

Bugs and graphical issues

• Bump maps, (which gives textures a sense of depth and relief) often ignored ambient light and would only respond to direct light from something like the player's flashlight or a plasma pistol burn.
• Overall enviroment lighting was broken in many places compared to the original game.
• Jackal Point defense gauntlets did not have the "rippling" effect and did not change color between ranks.
• Due to shader adjustments, textures such as the Master Chief's armor and the Pelican's hull appear slightly different.
• Many assets had a lowered resolution.

Gameplay and other differences

• It was reported by many players that the enemy and friendly AI were significantly less smart.
• The PC/PowerPC port was known to feature improved control with smaller deadzones, an improvement on the original game.
• Two new guns were added in the ported game, the SMG and the M7057 flamethrower.
• The PC port of the game additionally added two new vehicles, the Banshee and the M12A Rocket Warthog. These were later added into Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Trivia

• Halo was originally for the Mac, until Microsoft's acquisition of Bungie, which prompted the Xbox, and later, PC version. The game was intended for use on PowerPC Macs, and will crash if used on a newer Intel Mac. Bungie and MacSoft have since released a patch allowing for universal use of the game.
• With macOS Catalina and newer releases, 32-bit apps like Combat Evolved are no longer supported.