I couldn't beleive that November 9th was here already. Halo 2, the game that me and millions of people have been waiting for for years had finally arrived. I was a huge fan of the first Halo, and couldn't wait for all of the cool new features in the sequel. First, let's talk about the AI. The AI is absolutely amazing. Enemies will set up ambushes, hide behind rocks, sneak up behind you and kill you, and sometimes go completly beserk in a final attempt to stop you. Let me tell you that this game had some of the most amazing AI I have ever seen. Now, let's talk about vehicles. They're now fully destructable, so they're not invincible juggernauts like in the last game. You can also Hijack any vehicle (except for the undrivable Shadow) which isn't as easy as it looks, but it's a real blast once you pull it off. The new weapons are wicked. If they aren't new, then they were changed to be alot better than in the first game. I love the Dual Wielding mechanic, letting you hold, let's say, an SMG in one hand and a Plasma Rifle in the other. You can shoot each weapon seperately using the right trigger for the right gun and the left trigger for the left gun. Nothing is feels better than tearing into an opponment with dual SMGs. The graphics... I knew they were good, but not this good. I was expecting to see the human models from the first game, crappility modeled with incorrect mouth movement. When I actually saw the people ingame, I was blown away. The mouths moved correctly! You could see water in their eyes! There wasn't a single jagged surface on the Marine's face. And I never thought I would say this, but the covenant look prettier than ever. Almost everything in the game is bumpmapped beautifully. I never thought that the Xbox could pull off graphics this great, but then along came Halo 2. The only thing I don't like about the graphics is that in cinema scenes there are no loading times, so things are getting rendered during the cutscenes. No loading times may sound great, but it's annoying showing a floating marine for a second and then a pelican appears around him. The sound is completly stunning. When bullets hit metal, it sounds like bullets really are hitting metal. The vehicle collisions sound both destructive and amazing, with both crunching and scraping metal. It's amazing with surround sound and hearing the bullets ricochet off of walls around you, rockets zooming past your head, and a vehicle coming at you ready to embed you in it's grill. It's simply amazing. The gameplay is excellent, but the story is sort of lacking and leaves you at this horrible cliffhanger. Not much left but to wait until Halo 3, I suppose. So, to wrap things up: If you're only interested in the single-player aspect of the game, rent it. But I recommend buying it, because the Multiplayer is amazing, especially on Live.
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
