Halo 2

Well, its finally here. To put it bluntly, it isn't as good as everyone hoped.

The Original Halo was a great game for 2001. It still stands up today, but it definitely hasn't aged well. Recently, playing Halo over again, I noticed that the Graphics aren't very good, the Enemy AI is weak, Players can get through most of the game by just running away and the Multiplayer seems thrown together. In fact the few things that make Halo stand out are almost standard for First Person Shooters today. Vehicles and Co-Op. I'm pretty sure Halo was the first game my brother and I played the entire Campaign mode Together, and for that, It's still great. What made Halo fun was the time you spent with your Friends playing Co-Op or Multiplayer. Halo 2 has kept these elements, but it seems, they forgot everything else.

Let me just say this before I continue, Halo is better then Halo 2. Yes, its true, after all the Hype, Pre-Orders, Game Coverage and TV Specials...if you played Halo, you might as well just go back to it, Halo 2 isn't as good. Campaign mode is a Joke, Multiplayer is nearly identical and Graphical Glitches plague the entire game. But, thats not to say that Halo 2 isn't fun. Halo 2 has its Moments, its just that none of them are outstanding like the original Halo.

I have a lot of complaints about Halo 2. The main one being the Campaign Mode. Ok, it's Short, so was Halo's, but Halo 2 has absolutely no memorable Levels. I think overall their are 10 Levels listed after you beat it, but the first "Level" is actually an opening Movie and Level 2 is the "Suit Fitting". Ok, Two "Levels" wasted on 5 Minute sequences. After the first level the game doesn't get much cooler, I think the only part I liked was the level where you have to Jump on to a huge Covenant Walker. Everything else seemed like I played it before.

Their are also tons use completely useless Additions and Changes from Halo. Firstly the choice of Weaponry is much bigger, but, None of them seem like they were really needed. In fact, I think more then half of them will be removed from Halo 3. (When ever that might come out.) Almost all the new Weapons are just Alien versions of the already existing Human Guns. Alien Sniper Rifle, Alien Rocket Launcher...you get it. Also, a lot of the weapons have been underpowered. The Grenades just suck now. No more laughing as you toss a Grenade into a group of chumps as you watch 6 of them Fly Screaming through the air. Nope. Now you get to throw a grenade and hope it kills more then 2 Guys. I mean, Bungie...ITS A GRENADE! Their meant for taking out groups of people, not 2.

The Vehicles have been butchered too, The Ghost is all but worthless now. It's slow, it can't Turn and It's barely floating off the ground. Their are also only Two types of Warthog now (Not 4, like Bungie told us a year Ago.) And the change is only in the Gun. They also added a Brake to the Warthog. Yes, a Brake. When the new addition to a Vehicle in the SEQUEL to the best Selling Xbox Game of all time is something that is on all Cars, you know someone isn't doing their Job.

Halo 2 is missing so much that made the first game great. Their is no sense of wonder when your playing the storyline like on the first one. When the Flood showed up on the original Halo, it was great, It was cool to see these Freakish Space Zombies coming at you from all around. But when they show up AGAIN in Halo 2, It was like 'This Again?'. I mean, come on Bungie, surprise us with the story, and I don't mean surprise as in Ridiculous "Cliff Hanger" ending after 6 Hours of Gameplay.

Where Halo 2 works is the same Area it worked before, Co-Op. Legendary mode is harder this time, but for the wrong reason. On Halo, it actually made the Enemy AI better, but on Halo 2 it just gives you less Health and the Enemies guns are more Powerful. Pretty cheap. Co-Op is also ruined on Legendary, now if Player one bites it, thats it. Both players have to restart from a check point. Yeah, thats a lot of fun there, fellas.

Overall, Halo 2 is very dissipointing, there is no way it's 9.9 or anything like other sites are saying. They even gave the Halo 2 Map Pack a friggin' 9.1. Yeah, a disc you put into the Xbox one time, watch a bar fill up, then displays the phrase 'Download Complete' is better then 90% of Video Games. I don't understand why people can't just say what they truly think of this game, everyone claims the Storyline is 'terrible', but then the game gets a 9.6.

GAME ENHANCEMENT TIP: The Multiplayer boasts a healthy set of Options, tweak the game to your liking. But you already knew that.

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