Halo 2 Review
System: XBOX
Grade: B
Offline: B-
Online: A-
By: ShadowJin
Where to begin? I suppose we can start with what I expected after Halo and the horrible delay in Halo 2’s release. Halo left you, the player, feeling accomplished and that even though there was more to the story, you were satisfied with what you got. The multiplayer spawned a new breed of gamer and probably, well, was the reason the XBOX took off like it did. Halo sold the XBOX – plain and simple. Should Halo 2 be able to sell the system for longer until XBOX 2 hits? I’m saddened to say that it probably won’t. Team Bungie put out an awesome game, but after playing through it, I feel more like I played some unfinished work than an actual full game.
The single player game comes with tons of extras and even some things that are noticeably different from the first game. These extras however, aren’t really noticeable by the casual gamer and although the single player feels much different, it also oozes the same mediocrity that I found in Halo.
The levels do get an upgrade and for the most part are nothing like the first game in the series. A veteran of the first game will recognize the structures on the Delta Halo since the terrain is very much the same as the Halo from the first game (I’m not sure it ever got a designation.) The newer level designs that shine are the stages that take place out of Halo’s initial setup. Most notably, the Outskirts, which is set in New Mombasa (relative to the actual city of Mombasa.) This new “city fight” style of play is great and mixes traditional Halo with a new twist. Sadly though, these levels are the only ones fought on Earth, making me wonder, why boast so much about the fight coming to earth if it just leaves without any sort of dramatic happenings? Stages seen in the E3 demos are just not in the game, at least not to my knowledge. Totaling about thirteen playable stages (yes, Bungie boasted 15, but two of these are PURE cinematic), the game definitely has a wide variety of ground to cover and it almost never gets boring terrain wise.
New Gameplay: I think this is one place I felt could have been better. Yes, tons of new features were added, but at the same time, some of my favorites were removed. Dual wielding weapons at first seems swell, and while it’s very useful in multiplayer, it sometimes got on my nerves in the single player. A lot of the weapons seem toned down to me, including the pistol. Most of you remember the Master Chief being hellaciously evil with the pistol in the first game – that’s not the case now. It’s merely nothing more than a pop-gun that doesn’t do that much damage and should always be excused for a larger weapon. The only combo it’s really useful in is a plasma pistol + pistol combo – where the plasma can take down shields with one shot, and the hard hit of the pistol can rip through flesh with minimal hits. Other than that, it’s a dud. The needler got an upgrade slightly, but it’s still not that great – this saddens me quite a bit since my favorite weapon was the needler in the first game. Dual needlers is nothing more than a guy who throws popcorn at someone in a packed theatre. The sword is awesome, nuff said. The missile launcher now comes with full lock-on ability…which is very nasty – and yes, it still retains its one hit CC kill technique via the edge of the pods. While dual wielding serves an ok purpose (ala long range fighting), I personally feel much safer with a medium sized weapon and a grenade in one hand. Nothing can compete with the plasma grenade – nothing.
Vehicles…hmmmmm. I remember seeing wicked pictures of snow-tread warthogs, atvs, human fighters, etc. This stuff was left on the cutting room floor. However, there are plenty of decent vehicles in the game and I’m happy with the number. There are a few things that sadden me about the vehicles though. In single-player, the Banshee has fuel rod missiles, in multi-player, it doesn’t. This renders the Banshee basically useless in multi-payer, unless of course you want to fly around taking fire and dying like a slow moving slug under a pile of salt. My next gripe is with the Scorpion tank. Oh I remember days of yore when your buddy could drive the tank and you could sit oh so happily on the side picking off enemies….well, no longer. In fact, the computer controlled AI allies can ride on the tank and almost seem to mock you for not being able to do so. Lastly, the Wraith tank boasts front mounted lasers when the computer uses it, but being the lowly Master Chief, you can’t work these and thus, take on heavy fire like there is no tomorrow while your attention is divided between two opponents. One added feature about vehicles is that you can now carjack Grand Theft Auto style. This is highly entertaining and is the ultimate move the be “owned” by. Of course, in single-player, if you get kicked out of a Wraith, you can kiss your life goodbye since those front lasers will have a bead on your head like Michael Jackson on a little boy’s ass (yes, I went there – but it’s just that bad.)
The graphics got a nice overhaul in Halo 2 which I’m glad to see, but to do this, Bungie took advantage of low-res to high-res model changes – ie: anything in your direct line of sight is hi-res, and anything else not is in low-res. The cutscenes are in real time just like the first game, but thanks to the low-res to high-res methods, you almost always get a flawed cutscene where a character starts out as a garbled mess of a polygon monster only to be filled in with detail a second or two later. Come on Bungie, you could have done better than that….seriously. That’s not the only so-called “glitch” in the game code. Rag-doll physics were applied to models so that when they die or fall down stairs, they look lifelike. Neato yes, but again, the code wasn’t cleaned up properly and we get occasional bodies making random turn-overs on the battlefield. The funniest thing I’ve seen was a grunt that got stuck in a perpetual loop of falling off a small ledge onto the ground next to him. He’d do a 360 falling roll, pause, repeat. Stuff like this shouldn’t be happening. If I create another body on the battlefield, it shouldn’t move less given god’s graces. It’s dead, lifeless, unable to move on its own, etc etc. I rest my case.
The music is wonderful as before and doesn’t depart from the previous game’s ost. It fits perfectly and I wasn’t ever unhappy with it in the least.
Multi-player is wonderful and with the addition of XBOX Live support, you can now battle people across the country or even across the planet. Bungie even took the extra time to create the ability to run and manage a clan online for you and your ass-kicking buddies. Nicely though, everyone suffers from the same misgivings as you so the game play is still very balanced, much like the original Halo’s multi-player. Plenty of maps make comebacks (including Blood Gulch and The Creek.) After playing a few rounds though (as little as 5-6) you’ll become somewhat disappointed in the number of maps available for multi-player and require more. Luckily, I suppose, you can unlock one extra map by beating the game once on any difficulty. I’m excited beyond words…really.
Hidden throughout the single-player game are numerous skulls that create different attributes for the player – such as the “blind” skull which makes you loose any view of yourself, including your HUD. These skulls are in hard to find places and some can only be accessed on the Legendary skill level. A little quirky, but a nice addition.
In conclusion, Halo 2 brings a lot to the table, but after playing it enough to make my hands bleed from countless hours of friend on friend combat, I can’t help but feel let down. Lots of stuff was added, but tons was taken out or never made it past the cutting room. My biggest gripe of all was the sheer lack of a conclusion to the single-player. It fact, it doesn’t conclude. There really is no ending as sad as it may seem, and that royally pissed me off. It’s like playing an RPG and beating the final boss and the words “Thanks for Playing” come up. Yes, it generates that kind of anger. The game will supposedly have tons of downloadable content, but that translates into “buy XBOX live” if you have broadband access, and for those who only have dial-up, “Microsoft Hates You – Have a Nice Day.”