Halo 2, the game everybody had been waiting for finally arrived in the mail for me. I just stood there in awe staring at the thing. Would it be what I was waiting for or a big disappointment?
Gameplay – We start of after all of the events of Halo and the covenant have made their way to earth. As Master Chief, you are once again brought out to defeat the onslaught the covenant poses. Along the way you will be treated with some twists and turns that were not expected along with all new enemies and some brand new weapons.
All of the gameplay features from the first are back along with some great new ones. First off you are allowed to dual wield some weapons. None of the large double handed weapons, like the sniper rifle, shotgun, or rocket launcher, but the plasma pistols, plasma rifles, assault rifles, and so on. This new feature doesn't make the game so much easier than the first as you may think. To go along with the dual wielding the enemies are now stronger and some of the weapons are made weaker to balance it out. Another new feature added is the ability to jack vehicles. See a ghost coming towards, all you could do in the first one was either his it with a rocket or jump out of the way and hope they miss, in this you can jump right on the thing and kick the driver off and take the vehicle for yourself. Oh, show much I always wanted to be able to do that n the first one. This is the greatest feature that has been added.
Some of the new enemies that have been added pose all new kinds of threats. The Brutes are a sort of mix between Hunters and Elites. They use the same weapons that the Elites do, but they do the charge that the Hunters do. They are also in a toughness to kill spot right in between the two. They don't have a shield, but are much stronger than the Elites. Along with the Brutes you will encounter flying covenant that resemble wasps to an extent. While they are extremely weak, they are very tough to take down because of their flying maneuvers. They are more of a nuisance than anything else, but don't underestimate them as they can take you down.
The vehicles are back along with some new varieties. I'll let you find out what the new ones are for yourself, but I will give some insight to some new features involved with the vehicles. There are now a couple types of Warthog at your disposal. The best new feature here has to be that some missions you don't have to drive, you can just sit back and man the gun. The marines will on occasion jump into the driver seat. The Ghost and Banshee are back in all of there glory. The only change here is that they have boosters that will make you go faster at the expense of your weapons. You won't be able to fire while you are using the booster. Another new thing about the vehicles is that they all take damage now. Yes, that means the Warthog and the Scorpion Tank as well. If they take to much damage they will explode and after a shot time from the initial explosion another will explosion will occur.
Graphics – The graphics are nearly flawless with the exception of two minor flaws that can be annoying to some. In the game there are times when the textures will load late. You will be walking up to a killed enemy and you will see a blank texture and then you will see the real texture drawn on as you get a certain point away. In the cutscenes, at times, you will see things jus pop out of nowhere. Like I said, slightly annoying, but nothing detrimental to the game. Aside from that, the game is one of the best looking we have ever seen on any console.
Sound – The voice acting in the game is brilliant, much better than in the first. The marines have many more lines of dialogue this go around so it never seems like there is any repetition. The weapon and vehicle sound effects are done much better this time around as well. Plainly, everything sounds better in this game. As for the music, what can I say? It's still the same kind of music that we all loved from the first game. It fits perfectly into the intensity of the game.
Replay Factor – The campaign will be playable for months or years to come just as it was in the first. While it is a little short, the sheer amount of fun it dishes out will keep you coming back for a long time. To go along with that we have the co-op once again and the great multilayer with split screen and system link again. On top of all that it has Xbox live multiplayer. Playing on Xbox Live is one hell of a fun experience if I do say so myself.
Bonus – Having the game out should be a bonus all by itself, but I will say the Xbox Live feature is a huge bonus. It is just so much fun to play on Live.
Create an Account
Member Login
