Review: Halo 2 - 19/03/2008 by Michael
First Person Shooter
Halo 2 following up from the greatness of Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 was launched with the biggest marketing blitz of probably any game, ever. There were billboards and posters everywhere you looked, so after a few weeks of seeing the chief everytime you left the house, gamers were a bit excited. So after the release how was everyone feeling. Well before we get to that, I actually got my hands on a 'preview' Frech language version 2 weeks before the public release (I'm sure you were part of the beta program - Ed). So there I sat for 2 straight days finishing the game to the sounds of the cheering of silly french marines, without really having a clue about what was really going on. But I did not really care, I still got on forums and posted the ending to everyone who would listen. Funny how no one believed me about the end, but thats not surprising as the ending sucked and no one wanted it to be real.
Yes its true, the giant cliffhanger ending almost ruined the game for many people. The designers fell into the trap of making a game in a trilogy, but forgetting that every game must stand on its own two feet despite what goes before it or comes after it. But lets not focus on the bad things in life, lets talk about the goodness. Halo 2 upgraded the appearance, sound and gameplay of the first. First of all is the fact that you play half the game as the arbiter. On the whole nothing changes much when you are the arbiter apart from the fact you have a temporary cloaking device like the predator instead of the master chief's torch (the s is for suck). The Arbiter is cool, and has a wicked voice, but Halo is about the Chief and most people were just waiting to get back to him when they played the Arbiter. No disrespect intended to the Arbiter fans.
While playing as either character there are a few upgrades. The first is dual weilding weapons. Now you get to use any 2 single handed weapons whilst sacrificing the use of grenades. This gives great close range firepower and lets you make up cool weapon combos, none greater than the dual needler which makes everyone run from the pink mist of death. Another fantastic improvement was the ability to board vehicles and eject the driver, plant grenades or bash it to pieces. This felt like a natural way to play as just like when on foot you work your way into close combat with the enemy, then finish them with a tonking, now you get to do the same with vehicles. Is Nice.
But it is multiplayer that really got the kiddies jumping. With the xbox live enabled gameplay, Halo 2 online broke new ground. Now you just joined a game in the category you liked, whether that be strategy or slayer, and started killing. Of course very quickly clans and teams arose and a new form of social gaming took place. It was fast paced and straight forward, so as long as you could use the controls in single player you could learn the ropes on multiplayer without getting pwned constantly for the first 2 weeks. It was like having all your friends around to play Halo without the effort of having your friends round. Wicked fun and yet another step towards never having to leave the house.
So despite a story with a few problems (oh yeah and the jackal snipers on legendary, world of lame), Halo 2 is really really fun. Some of the outdoor battles like those on quarantine zone still impress for their scale and amount of combatants, infantary and vehicles. And multiplayer is the best of its type and time. Go save the world again.