A saying comes to mind, "You can fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." The same can be said of video games on a quality standpoint. A lot of games do 1 or 2 things great, but fall short of greatness because they didn't concentrate as much as they should have on important elements of the game (be it, the story, gameplay, graphics etc.) Once in a generation comes along one of those games that, remarkably, does everything great. Stunning graphics, gripping story, amazing gameplay, and outstanding sound are all adjectives for Halo 2. Oh, there may be some out there that can't follow the story (nerd out and read the books like I did), or wish you could carry more then two guns (these people are usually weak FPS players anyway) or hate the little graphical glitches during the cutscenes (Try running Doom 3 on an old 733 Mhz PC and see how good the graphics look). Truth is, when a game is this good all critics are left with are these little nitpicky criticisms that don't really mean anything. Is Halo 2 perfect? Definitely not, no game is, but this is about as close as it gets. Maybe Bungie and Microsoft were setting themselves up when they hyped this game up as much as they did. Saying a game is "a flaming ninja eating bacon" level above its predecessor is a little much, especially when said game is Halo 1, one of the best games of all time. However, Halo 2 is better then Halo 1. All the complaints about the first one have been fixed. The levels are better and no longer boringly repetitive like the infamous Library level. The story is deeper and hints at worlds and civilizations that Halo 1 never touched upon. The graphics got a major boost, which greatly improves the feeling of immersion, and the already great weapons selection was improved and balanced. There is no super weapon like the pistol in Halo 1 that you always use above all the others, which I think makes a game better in the strategic sense. 99% of shooters out there don't make you think about what you have to do, they just stick you in a level and tell you to kill everything in sight, guns blazing away. Halo 2 will kill you if you use that strategy (on Heroic and Legendary difficulty settings which are the only settings it should be played on). You have to use cover and work with the Marines. Sometimes the best strategy is to not shoot. As Cortana says during the game, sometimes it's better to sit out of some battles. This is, in my opinion, the best game that I've ever played and I recommend it to anybody and everybody. p.s. To all the people that think this game is to dark. Go play Doom 3 and get back to me. IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE DARK PEOPLE! Makes it harder to see the enemy and adds a feeling of suspense to the game. The ambush sequence when you meet up with the Marines holed up in the building early in the game is a perfect example. I caught myself holding my breath as the elites passed by my hiding spot, unaware of my presence. Needless to say, they died along with the grunts that came scrambling along behind them.
By Madskillz999 | Review Date: Dec 23, 2005 | XBOX
I'm finally ready with the review of this awesome game! First off, this is obviously the sequel to the hugely popular initial Halo game. You are Master Chief, a space marine who is sent out to battle the enemies. You... Read Full Review
Halo 2 is a worthy sequel to Halo. While the story does lack in some parts, overall, the game is still excellent, one of the best games ever. To get the bad points out of the way, i didn't like the single player campaig... Read Full Review
