I really think NG2 is a really great game, and am shocked by the low scores that many critics have given it. Ok so an 8 is supposed to be a "great" game, but if Assassin's Creed rates in the 9s, well than NG2 should be around a 27. I understand the complaints that some people are making about its framerate drops, but they aren't very frequent, and really don't drag the experience down in any significant way - at least in my opinion. For me, NG2 has been an enjoyably fast paced, challenging, and exciting game, with battles always ending with the body parts and blood stains of my enemies strewn throughout the environment. If you liked the first, then NG2 will blow you away. If you didn't, then why would you expect a different experience? It is, after all, the sequel.
Isn't that like saying Halo 2 is just Halo 1 with extra features, or Ninja Gaiden 2 is just a bigger version of the first? You are, after all, buying the sequel, so if it's a completely different game you run the risk of alienating your core audience - the gamers who made it popular in the first place. Sure more weapons, vehicles, and multiplayer modes are always great - the more the merrier - but that is always going to be the case. Stripped of the hype and expectations, Halo 3 is an utterly awesome game. Could it be better? Sure every game can be better, but it certainly was worth the $60 I payed for it. Now, for those that bought those overpriced collectors editions, I don't know about that being worth it... but hey, to each his own, right?
All in all, I think Halo 3 is the best installment in the series . Maybe it wasn't as groundbreaking as Halo 1, or as fresh and innovative in its multiplayer as Halo 2, but it still made strides above and beyond what had been offered in previous iterations. Even if it was the greatest game ever released, Halo 3 could not have possibly lived up to the astronomically high expectations and hype that were put on it. As it is, I see Halo 3 as being the way that Halo was always meant to be played. The battles are large scale and really make you feel like you're in the middle of a war, and the vehicles and weapons are, for the most part, the best they ever have been. If you enjoyed previous Halo games, I don't think there is any way that you won't like this one. It is superior in just about every way to its predecessors, and while there may be some truth that the storyline could have revealed more, tied up loose ends, and produced a more fulfilling ending, I don't think it is anywhere near as bad as some make it out to be - it certainly didn't diminish the experience in any significant way for me, and actually made me think/hope that, in one way or another, the door may still open for additional Halo games to be released (despite Bungie's claim that this was the end of the series). Aside from the storyline/ending, which I guess a lot of people had a problem with, I don't really know how much more Bungie could have done to Halo 3 without making it an experience that would be seen as unHalo-like, and thus alienate its core audience. All of my friends who liked Halo 1 & 2 thought Halo 3 was absolutely awesome, and I agree. The ones who didn't, well their minds weren't changed... but truthfully, what the hell were they doing playing it in the first place?
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