http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjcwAwZu_XY

I'm sure you've seen it before. The wild claim that Halo 2 is "noobified." Deliberately made easier to appeal to the mainstream and therefore take away what people loved about Halo CE. This will be the first part of a larger debate I will tackle, that being which requires more "skill." Halo or Halo 2? I've already tackles the difference in story, and now I'll attempt to take on this very controversial topic. You see, I feel that many people have made opinions on Halo 2 based on wild and inaccurate assumptions. I'll attempt to clear them up in this 2 part article. This first part will be tackling one of the main weapons of the "Halo > Halo 2" fanatic, The "Halo 2 is noobified" video. The video itself does try to make some points, but in the end it just ends up exaggerating certain truths.

First things first. To demonstrate hit boxes he used the pistol in Halo. Fair enough. But for Halo 2 he used the Battle Rifle. Does anyone else see where this is flawed? Those three round bursts scatter by quite a bit at long ranges. Of course you're going to hit him with a couple of the bullets at a decent range. If you look at Player 2's screen, you even see a couple shots travel past him. Using the battle rifle was a very bad choice because of the scattering effect of the 3 bullets. He should have used the pistol if he used the pistol in Halo CE.

Next point. Yes, the homing capabilities of plasma was increased. You see, the Plasma Rifles and Pistols were hardly used in Hal CE. Well, the Plasma Rifle was used, but that was because of it's freezing side effect (which I'm still not even sure if that was intentional or not.) However that freezing effect was taken out, whether it be because of duel wielding concerns, of if the original side effect was a glitch, the freezing was taken out. Plasma was then given new gameplay elements that actually coincided with the fluff in the books. Plasma homes in, and quite efficiently too. Even the plasma fired from Plasma rifles had a slight homing effect, which was demonstrated in Halo 2. If you look when he's firing the Plasma Rifle, the shots aren't hitting the box off to the side, they are hitting the player himself. This is to show that plasma homes in on targets. That being said, it isn't too noticeable. If he backed up a little more, it wouldn't have homed in as much as it did standing that close. Again, this was Bungie balancing the game and actually making the Plasma Pistols and Rifles useful in certain circumstances.

The rocket launcher. I'll admit, I did not know this until I originally saw this video. But something seemed odd to me. The crosshair on the Halo version wasn't red, so it wasn't actually touching the player, when in Halo 2 it was. A bad test imo. If he wanted to show that, he should have been aiming off to the side until it was blue. Or, have the crosshair turn red in Halo CE. I mean, there's no arguement here. The crosshair in Halo wasn't touching any part of the body, while in Halo 2, the crosshair was still touching the arm Badly done.

That being said, what I see going on here is that the Rocket Launcher has a pre-locked one feature not really mentioned. To where if the cursor is red, you aren't necessarily shooting where you're aiming, but to what is making the cursor red. I have a feeling the same exact thing would happen in Halo as well, but sadly I can't test it right now. If someone else can, I'd be thankful as I am curious about this. Too bad the creator of that video didn't do the experiment right. In the end though, that "feature" is nearly null. Seriously, even if that was in Halo 2 and not in Halo, it would only be useful if who you're shooting is standing still. If they are moving around, which is the case what, 95% of the time? Then that would be stupid who shoots the target directly if they are moving around? No, you lead and aim for the ground.

Melees. This just made me laugh. First of all, melee attacks in general were weakened from Halo. And they added in the lunge instead of the magical reach you had in Halo, which this video just happens to ignore. Sure, aiming off to the side will still get you that lunge, but if he's talking about "how can you do that in real life" ... It's called side stepping... It isn't that difficult to lunge at someone who is off to the side. So I feel his arguement here is null. First, he didn't show the reach you had in Halo, which was just plain ridiculous. Second, although you can lunge off to the side like that, melee attacks were weakened significantly and it takes much more hits to get that kill.

Swipe Sniping. Are you serious? That was most certainly in Halo. I remember seeing a video even before Halo 2 came out of someone swipe sniping. Not to mention his "swipes" in Halo were much larger than the ones he did in Halo 2. This was just his failure to show that you can swipe snipe in Halo. Deliberate or not, I can't say, but you can swipe snipe in Halo.

There is a difference here though that I'd like to address. As I stated earlier, the hit boxes have increased slightly. Again, over all I don't believe it breaks the game, however it does place a part here. Because the hit boxes were increased in Halo 2, the crosshair will remain red for an extended amount of time. Even though it's only for a fraction of a second longer, when we're talking about reflexes, it very well could allow more people to succesfully pull it off. So, I will admit, swipe sniping is a bit easier in Halo 2. However, this video made it seem like swipe sniping in Halo CE didn't exist at all.
The TSK-PP/BR arguement. Ugh. This was just pure propaganda here. First of all, he was not firing off the pistol as fast as it could be fired. Second of all, that "moving" test was horrible. Absolutely horrible. If that was him really trying to TSK the guy strafing, then he sucks. Yes, the plasma pistol and battle rifle is a devastating combo. But again, if your opponent is using this combo and abusing it, there are several things you can do to stop them. Not only that, but the radiating light of the plasma pistol and humming noise it makes was increased in Halo 2 so you could hear/see the person coming before they even get that shot off. While it may be true that once that plasma shot hits you're pretty much dead, there are still many things you can do to avoid that original shot to being with. But, this all goes back to my original arguement that how good you are in Halo does not mean how good you are at shooting someone.

So, final verdict on TSKvsPP/BR: That test was duped. He was not firing as fast the pistol at it's peak rate of fire and was horrible inaccurate. While PP/BR may be a horrible combo for someone to use, in the end, you don't start with a plasma pistol, you need to go get it yourself. On top of that, your weapon slots are fully used, stopping you from using anything else (besides grenades.) With the pistol you'd be able to carry a power weapon with you. PP/BR, that's it. That's your choice. It really is hard to compare th two, but in the end, I'd say the pistol is a more unbalanced weapon. To start, it's a SINGLE weapon. Not a combo. To me, this test should NOT have been TSK vs PP/BR but PP/Pistol vs PP/BR. This part was just propaganda to show Halo required more skill, but to me, just seemed like a set up.

Fall damage. Yes. They took that out. Again, they were looking to re-balance the game. On top of that, it makes sense a Spartan/Elite could survive a fall like that. If anything I thought fall damage was a bit exaggerated in Halo. In the end, I think this is the only arguement the guy truly has. But even then, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

So there you have it. My analysis of that stupid propaganda film.

So I see it a lot. "Halo > Halo 2" I'm sure you have as well. Now, as far as gameplay is concerned, it's a matter of opinion. But, it just mind boggles me when I see someone claim that Halo's story is more in depth than Halo 2's. Now, I don't care about whether or not they like it or not. If they enjoy the simpler story Halo has to offer, that's fine. But I really can't see how someone can say that Halo 2's story is simpler than Halo's.

First of all, I want to try and address why people are turned off by Halo 2's story to begin with. It's because Bungie was really secretive about the story of Halo 2. However, they needed to show something during their marketing campaign. Thus the decision to only show the Earth related levels. They didn't want to reveal that you'd be visiting another Halo. They defintely didn't want to reveal you'd be playing as an Elite. Thus their choice. This made everyone assume that the entire game would be about stopping the Covenant invasion of Earth. When In Amber Clad went after Regret, a lot of people became really upset, and even cheated that the game didn't focus on the Earth invasion. Therefore a lot of people became turned off from the story, and in my opinion, didn't give it much of a chance.

Some people were even turned off by the concept of playing as an Elite. While many found this concept to be very cool, many were turned off by "playing as the alien." One thing people need to realize, is that war is not as black as white as movies and television makes it out to be. As you can tell from some of my icons, I'm a huge Gundam fan. What I loved about Gundam, is how it really showed there really is no "good guys vs bad guys." Before Halo 2, that's what the Halo universe really seemed to be. Just, good guys versus bad guys. The books kind of blurred that line a bit, showing some corruption within many Navy officials, but to people who just played the game, it really was Good vs Bad. So now, all the sudden you're seeing that the bad guys, aren't really that bad at all. That many of them are being manipulated by their leaders into a war that they really have no idea about. While I'm sure many, including myself, found this new point of view fascinating, some were confused and was turned off by the very concept of it.

Which kind of leads me to my next point. The main plot line to Halo 2, was the Civil War of the Covenant. Everything else, really is just build up to Halo 3. And the only way to show the Civil War, was through the eyes of the Arbiter. I'm sure you've heard rumors that "The Arbiter was thrown in last minute" and really, that's just nonsense. There is no other way to show the Civil War. It had to be seen from the Covenant's point of view. The main story really does revolve around the Civil War. So, if you were turned off by the Arbiter, or by anything after the Earth levels, then the game really will seem lack luster.

Master Chief's side of things really wasn't deep at all. If anything, his side of things were just build up to Halo 3. Which, is probably why so many people think Halo 2 "didn't have an ending." Master Chief's ark was not resolved. He was given an objective that he didn't accomplish. People relate Master Chief to the main character, so now that this side of things were left unfinished, it seemed like the game itself was incomplete. But this all goes back to Halo 2's story centering around the Civil War. The Arbiter's objective was resolved. His objective was to stop Delta Halo from activating, which he accomplished. In the meantime he rallied his brethren against the pawns of the Hierarchs. While he still has plot lines left unresolved, the immediate threat was dealt with.

Halo's story was pretty simple. Master Chief, as bad ass as he is, is one-dimensional. It's how he was programmed. Sure, if you've read the books you'd know there's more that meets the eye, but in terms of the story of Halo, it was pretty simple. I'll admit, the original Halo was a great experience, but I'm just trying to point out that the story of Halo was simple in comparison to Halo 2. Does that mean Halo had a simple story? Compared to other FPSs, no, which is one of the many reasons Halo was such a hit to begin with. But in the end, it was centered around a very one dimensional character. Halo's story is good, but was straight forward and didn't need much to interpretation.

I also think Halo 2 had more character. I mean, I actually felt attachment to the Marines in Halo 2, when in Halo I felt they were nothing more than ammo supplies, besides Sarge of course. It even gave a character to Master Chief himself, showing that he has a connection with Sarge (case in point, the orbital drop to Delta Halo scene.) It was also great to see the interaction of all the different species within the Covenant. Seeing the prejudice between the different species along with seeing their hierarchy structure. Plus, not to mention Half-Jaw, whose bad assery reaches Spartan level. In Halo, the only characters that actually got any development were Cortana, Sarga, Guilty Spark, and Keyes, and it can be argued just how much development they received.

In the end, Halo's story really was simpler than Halo 2's, but I think people still just don't give Halo 2 a chance and can't really see the true point. People need to realize that Master Chief is not the main character anymore. It can even be argued that the Arbiter was more of a main character as Master Chief, but I personally feel it was split both ways. Halo 2 was about the Civil War, and a build up to events that will be concluded in Halo 3. Keeping this in mind, if you were originally turned off by Halo 2's story, I ask to give it another chance. There's a lot there to understand, and it runs very deep. Don't just rush through the Arbiter levels, but actually live in the moment. Don't just turn yourself off from the character because he's an alien. Try to see it from his point of view, and try to understand the plot. There's even key points about the Civil War that's shown within Master Chief's final levels.

So again, if you were one of the ones that was turned off from Halo 2, do me a favor. Play it again. Keep in mind the points I make, and pay attention. You may be surprised. Now, I understand there are a lot of people who completely and 100% understand the Halo 2 story and still don't like it, and that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I believe there are a lot of people who made their opinion on somewhat false pretenses, and want them to reconsider.

My first official Blog. For right now, this will be primarily Halo based. But who knows, I may decide to speak my mind about various different things. So, I guess keep a look out. My next blog will be a theory I have concerning Halo 3.