Does Halo 2 live up to the hype? In short the answer is no. Yet to understand how this answer comes about you need to explore the areas of the game. You need to look at what is new to Halo 2, the game play, the graphics, sound and the story. The things that are new to Halo 2 are few and far between. In the world of the single person, people will point out the use of new weapons. Others will talk about the new vehicles. Even others will talk about the ability to shoot two guns at the same time. And while these are certainly new they are really pointless. The newest idea that comes to the world of Halo 2 is playing as a covenent character. Playing as an Elite turns out to be more satisfying than playing as the Master Chief. As this covenent character known as the Arbiter you will continue to build on the story of Halo. What sets the Arbiter and Master Chief apart is the ability to become invisible. This becomes extremely useful as you get farther in the game. He has all the power of Master Chief and his role in the story is just as important. This new dual role for the player is the most important aspect of the single player game. The other new part of the game is the use of Xbox live. And while I believe that it is good, I could not help but get turned off by the simple fact that there are people in the online world that don't know what they are doing. In a single night I was killed by my own team numerous times and listened to them argue amongst themselves. I had the idea that there would be a lot more thought between the team. In the end everyone just seemed to think that they were playing the single player version and would shoot anything that got close. For some people this might work, for me though it was simply a turn off. The gameplay for Halo 2 is just the same as the first except for the use of two guns at the same time. In the beginning, it just feels like the greatest thing that they could have put in the game. However it quickly becomes boring and loses it appeal. Driving and flying the vehicles is the same. You get the idea that Bungie took the 'if it ain't broke, then don't fix it' mentality, and with this I must congratulate Bungie. One thing I have never liked in the gaming world is when a company starts to mess with the controls when they were perfect to begin with. The graphics and sound remain the same as the first perhaps a little better but not by much. Of course when the graphics and the sound was good to begin with, what are you supposed to change, right. The story is a let down. It once again follows the main character of Master Chief and his on going fight with the Covenent. But as talked about earlier, you now play as the Arbiter and his story over shadows the Master Chief as the game goes on. And then just as things begin to get exciting, it ends. What you essentially find out is that there will be another game coming soon. The only question is when. So what does this mean for Halo 2? Is it great? Not really. As you play the game you might start to think as I did that Halo 2 is nothing but an expansion pack. You have new weapons and vehicles along with a new character and some more levels. It also has online support now. It is my feeling that this really should have been listed as Halo 1.5. It also doesn't help that the game can be beaten in 10 or less. My personal feeling is that Halo 2 is nothing more than an attempt to cash in one last time on this generation Xbox as they prepare for the real game Halo 3. So what happened? Why was there so much hype for Halo 2? When you follow up the best game for the Xbox with a sequel you certainly expect it to be better than the first. However, much like the world of Hollywood, sequels are hardly ever better than the original. Another reason for the hype I feel is that 2004 has been a very poor year for gaming. For each system there has been a huge void. And now that the year is almost up, you finally get a reason to plug in your favorite system and play it again. In the end though what you really have done is spent $50 or $55 for nothing more than excuse to plug in your system for 10 hours or so for an expansion pack and the ability to listen to people cry about what they want to do online while they are shooting their teammates.
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
