Halo 2 for the PC feels like a relic by now but you should give it a go if you want to enjoy one of the best FPS ever.
The Good:
- Good game presentation
- Strong and addictive Multiplayer
- Gameplay is solid and fun
- Good and well balanced weapons
- Driving the various vehicles is a lot of fun
- Great game physics powered by the Havoc engine
- Wielding dual guns and energy swords is awesome
- Good enemy AI and game difficulty
- Comes with 23 maps + map editor + one new game mod
- Great sound effects and original soundtrack
The Bad:
- You will need Windows Vista or 7 to run it
- The controls are rather optimized for a gamepad then the mouse + keyboard
- Some textures are blurry
- Story kinda lacks compared to the first Halo
- It was ported late to the PC, three years after the Xbox version
- You will need gold membership to host dedicated servers
- Using a gamepad in MP gives you an advantage over t+m controls
- The ending leaves you with a cliffhanger
Story 7/10
The story takes place after the events of the first Halo game, humanity is still at war with the alien race called "The Covenant" after the first Halo orbital ring was destroyed by Master Chief, a half human, half cyborg soldier and last survivor of the Spartan project. The war between the federation and the covenant continues in Halo 2 and we are introduced to Arbiter the general who commanded the covenant army in the first game and who is a playable key-character in Halo 2. Overall the story is not as good as it was in the first game but it's a nice addition end will keep you interested at certain points.
Gameplay 9/10
Absolute fantastic gameplay ! This is actually where the whole halo series shines. Halo 2 is a FPS (first person shooter) at its core but it also offers vehicle driving and stealth elements not to mention the addictive and popular online multiplayer community.
Gunplay is strong and the weapons and grenades are very well balanced. Gameplay wise Halo 2 continues the huge success of its predecessor, you have to run and gun the covenant in the most actionloaded scenarios.
Graphics 8/10
Well the graphics on the PC seem a little bit better than the 3 years old Xbox original, not to mention you can play it in HD (high definition) resolution but Bungie didn't bother too much to improve all the graphics from scratch but this game is really not about graphics and hasn't aged very good in this department. Some people say Halo 2 has worse graphics than Halo 1 I have to disagree at this point as some maps and especially the model animations on the covenant are very well made.
Sound 9/10
Awesomeeeee !! This is the word for Halo 2's soundtrack. It has all the fine tunes which made the first Halo game an epic orchestra and some old tracks like the Halo Mijolnir theme are now remixed to a fast paced track . This game comes with its own created original soundtrack and also features tunes from Breaking Benjamin and Incubus. Overall the music and sound effects are brilliant and do fit this game like a glove. The real only negative thing I have to point out is the voice acting, even thou its made by some Hollywood stars it kinda sounds weird and annoying especially when the Covenant try to speak English, its more funny then accurate.
My Review
Now onto my Review of Halo 2 for the PC. Before I talk about the game itself I want to make clear that, this game is obviously a port of the original Halo 2 which was released in 2004 for the Xbox console. The transition from console to the PC comes pretty late but it seems that Microsoft decided to release it to the PC after all, the only truly downside is that you will need Windows Vista or Windows 7 in order to run this game on your PC. I really hate how Microsoft blatantly tried to boost their Windows Vista sales by making Halo 2 a Vista exclusive game back on its release date in 2007.
So if you are running either a Win Vista or Win 7 operation system, you could give this game a go. The system requirements aren't that high for most of the modern mainstream PC's and the addition of adding a USB gamepad should help even console gamers to enjoy this title on their PCs.
As stated Halo 2 is a port and you will notice this soon after you install the game to your hard drive as the button animations resemble the ones from a Xbox 360 gamepad, this game is fully compatible with a Xbox 360 Gamepad for Windows so if you own one of these goodies just plug it into your USB port and you are good to go with Halo 2. For people who want to play this game with their keyboard and mouse, a nasty surprise awaits. The controls feel kinda sluggish by using the mouse and you should really adjust your mouse sensitivity over the menu in order to get the most accurate mouse aim, another rather weird fact is that people who use Xbox gamepads in multiplayer matches get auto-aim function and have a slightly better advantage over the ones using the keyboard and mouse controls.
This game is one of the first titles labeled as "Games for Windows LIVE" which means you have to create a account (Gamertag similar to XBL) online in order to unlock achievements or play multi player matches.
Its easy to install and comes with a 30 days Windows Gold membership trial coupon, you don't desperately need gold membership to play online thou but you will need it when you want to host a dedicated server or play on gold servers.
This whole gold membership thing is another negative aspect because gold membership requires you to pay a monthly fee and this is ridiculous regarding the fact that other FPS games are completely free of charge for online multiplayer.
What can I say about the game itself. Well I will focus on the single player campaign in this review as the multiplayer experience is self explanatory. The campaign is divided into 15 chapters and can be accessed on four difficulties easy, normal, hard and legendary. Its not a long game but the game difficulty is well laid out and some of the levels are truly exciting and packed with action loaded gunfights.
As in the previous game your main hero is Master Chief also known as Spartan 117.
Things start desperately again as covenant assault troops try to hi-jack the orbital station Cairo, where Master Chief is currently assigned to. Later in the game you will also have the opportunity to gain control over one of the covenants elites himself named "The Arbiter". The Arbiter is basically the elite general from the first Halo game which is branded as a traitor by the covenant high council and becomes later on their undercover operative called the Arbiter.
Playing as an elite in Halo 2 was a cool and slick move as well as adding a lot of new weapons including the awesome elites light sword and stealth camouflage. The health system from the previous game was removed and all you have now is a regenerative, stronger shield system for Master Chief, once the shield is down you will die in 2-3 hits so better try to hide behind cover while the shield gets replenished.
Same thing applies to the Arbiter as well the only cool thing about him thou is that you can enter active camouflage and become invisible for a short time period, allowing you to go stealthy through some levels of the game as you play as the Arbiter.
The weapons are also very varied this time around and every weapon has its own key power and usage. Halos very strong pistol from the first game was removed however and replaced by a much weaker magnum pistol without zoom-option. The assault rife is also gone and replaced through the much lighter semi-auto scoped battle rifle. Truly one of the best and most fun features in Halo 2 is the ability to dual-wield weapons and equip covenant and human weapons at the same time. As stated a lot of new weapons including the battle rifle, carbine, jackal sniper and energy sword make their first time appearance in Halo 2 and these are all awesome weapons with destructive power when used in the right situation. The grenades are also worth all their praise as you can stick covenant troops with plasma grenades watching them go into agony and explode. Overall Halo 2's gunplay and grenade usage is very well laid out and builds on Halo 1's fantastic gameplay formula. Vehicles are fun to use and this time around, thanks to the havoc engine, every vehicle can be damaged and destroyed by gunfire or grenade impacts. You will come across a large variety of human and covenant vehicles and these can be also hi-jacked to gain control over them.
The campaigns story mostly revolves around Master Chief and the Arbiter, back to back as they fight off the Flood and Brute forces leading them to the conclusion that there is more to the meaning of the Halo orbital ring as it was expected. I personally liked the story even thou it felt pretty dull at some points and has no truly climatic ending but on the other hand Halo 2's concept is strategic running and gunning and at this aspect this game truly shines.
Weather you hate or love the single player campaign there is nothing to hate about the multi player, Halo 2 has to offer. Being a PC game you have a very fast access to the servers where matches are held, all you have to do is hitting the matchmaking button and in 10-15 second you are thrown into instant action. Halo 2 for the PC offers 23 multiplayer maps and a map editor which lets you create your own map.
So multiplayer is way better on the PC version as it was back in the Xbox era.
Conclusion:
Being designed as a console game for the original Xbox, Halo 2 comes pretty late for PC gamers, nearly 3 years to be precise, nevertheless its high production values and good presentation make this game shine even on the PC. With its strong multiplayer option and actionloaded singleplayer campaign it's a very enjoyable PC port, therefore I would recommend it to every PC gamer who always wanted to know what Halo is all about.
My Endrating 9/10