Halo 2 is fantastic, partly because of the action, as well as modes that will keep you playing after the campaign.
First of all, this game plays fantastic. The graphics are great, the frame rate is steady, and the sound track is great too. The campaign freatures many surprises and challenges through clever level designs and a superb A.I. There are also new enemies in the game aswell, and there is also a capability with duel-wielding certain weapons, which provides with alot of fierce action. There are also new vehicles and turrets to experiment, plus... new weapons!
There are many enhancements from the gameplay in Halo 1 to Halo 2, such as the ability to duel-wield certain guns. This is unique, because you can fire two weapons at the same time, but you can't throw grenades of melee attack without dropping the second weapon, so duel wielding has it's own advantages and disadvantages. Halo 2 also features the ability to hi-jack enemy vehicles, which is also very fun at times if tou are in need of a vehicle, and your opponent isn't being very careful. There are more weapons, such as the new covenent rocket launcher, and you can now use the energy sword! There are also returning enemies from the first, plus some new enemies which makes more variety.
The action never gets old in Halo 2, because of the A.I. in campaign mode as well as multiplayer. In campaign, the A.I. is even better than the first, plus, new weapons, tons of vehicles, and lots of grenade throwing makes the action intense. The grenades you find in Halo 2 are very similar to the ones in Halo 1, but they also have their own advantages, like throwing a frag grenade at clumps of enemies, and throwing plasma grenades to stick onto enemies. The campaign also freature four modes of play, which gives more replay value, and can prove a great challenge in the latter difficulty settings. Plus, there is a freature in Legendary (the hardest difficulty setting) that enables you to collect skulls. Each skull has it's own ability, like when you kill an enemy with a head shot, they explode like a plasma grenade explosian, and one that makes explosions and melee forces greater. It's alot of fun to play around with skulls in campaign, because it offers a different way to play with added twists to the original elements of the game. The game is on a shorter side than Halo 1, but it provides plenty of replay value. It will take you about 6-10 hours depending what mode you are playing on, and how much you goof off.
Multiplayer is a huge part of Halo 2. You can play split screen with a friend, system link to hook up multiple X-Box's, and there is X-Box live, which is alot of fun, and this feature is worth picking up an X-Box and Halo 2, plus an internet connection (if you don't have one), alone. There are many modes to play, friends lists, and tons of action and maps to play through. You can also communicate, via a headset, which is a interesting way to play on the internet. This online feature will keep you playing far after the campaign mode.
The graphics are great, although there are some parts, especially in the cut-scenes in capaign, where the scene transfers from low to high resolution, which is a little wierd nd anoying at times, but the fact that the frame rate, the effects, and the smoothness of the game, plus great graphics during levels and multiplayer give the graphics a 10.
The sound is also a great part of Halo 2. The soundtrack features new and old songs, and great sound effects from firing your gun, to listening to the poor grunts getting scared and intimidated by you, and screaming away. The zombies in the game also have great sound effects, like the Flood, which have a very realistic like cry.
Overall, Halo 2 is a game which I would recommend to anyone who has an X-Box who likes first-person shooters, and who is a fan of the first game.