Halo 2 - Review
Added November 8th, 2004 by Joel Kownacki
Introduction:How does a developer like Bungie Studios deliver on the most anticipated game of all time? Must it double its work force? Increase production values past even those of Halo 1? Add in revolutionary multiplayer features? Create a deep single player campaign? Spend three years to get it right? All answers point to yes. With over $20 million spent, Halo 2 simply has to deliver. Halo: Combat Evolved defined the Xbox for countless millions, and was exactly the showcase Microsoft needed to show what the Xbox was capable of. It also almost single handedly made Xbox the success that Microsoft dreamed of. And, now, Microsoft is looking to Halo 2 to define Xbox Live much the same as Halo 1 defined the Xbox, except to a far larger audience. Now, I am not saying that one million subscribers isn’t a large number (Xbox Live has grown faster then any other pay subscription service, including AOL and even HBO), but with five million people projected to buy Halo 2 by year's end, if Microsoft can get just half those people to sign up Xbox Live will be in extremely good shape, and with over 1.5 million pre-orders in the United States alone, Halo 2 is already a huge success regardless of how it actually plays. Now, this begs the question: Was Halo 2 was worth the wait? Is it the true heir to one of the most influential console games of all time? Is it actually all it’s cracked up to be? Does it showcase Xbox Live in such a way that you will be playing it until the inevitable Halo 3 comes out? The answer to all of these questions is yes, so read on to discover why.
Gameplay:
Microsoft and Bungie have gone to great lengths to keep Halo 2’s single player campaign a secret, except for releasing the bare minimum necessary to get the hype ball rolling. The first showcase of Halo 2’s story was in the X02 announcement trailer in 2002, in which we first witnessed Earth under assault by the full force of the Covenant. It exhibited exactly what Bungie aimed to do with Halo 2, displaying the graphical power, deep, exciting storyline, pulse pounding sound, and utter excitement for all to see. Bungie was serious about making Halo 2 the best they could, and it was to be the second coming of the Xbox. The second major showcase of the game came during the E3 2003 demo, which took us to the city of New Mombasa in Africa. It showed us an image of a city under heavy attack from Covenant forces. It showed us new features, such as duel wielding and vehicle jacking. There were other offerings from other studios that E3 that had better graphics, but no game looked as fun as Halo 2. When the intro cinematic cut to first person you wanted to pick up the controller and play. When Master Chief beat down a Brute you wanted to try the Battle Rifle yourself. These videos told us very little about the main plot, but through their leaving much to the imagination it made the hype all the much greater and the wait all the more difficult.
Halo 2 picks up soon after Halo 1 left off, with Master Chief and Cortana escaping Halo and heading for Earth after using the nuclear reactor inside of the Pillar of Autumn to destroy the sprawling ring world. In Halo 2, Master Chief returns to a space station orbiting earth. Now, this space station isn’t just some space outhouse filled with toilets and glass, it contains one of the humans' most powerful weapons: the MAC (Magnetic Acceleration Cannon) gun. Many Halo fans will remember the MAC from the popular Halo books, in which they are used to defend Reach from Covenant attack, albeit unsuccessfully. The game starts with Master Chief loading up in his brand spankin’ new Mark VI battle armor, and then going through the same tests as you did with Halo 1: look up, look down, look right, look left, pick inversion/non-inversion, move onto the shield charge test. Once completed, Sergeant Johnson walks through the door and accompanies Master Chief to a ceremony during which you receive word of a Covenant cruiser heading to earth. I love bees aficionados will recognize this as the party Jan and company were heading to when the sirens went off. I won’t touch on any more the story, but needless to say it only gets better.
The first thing you will notice is the brand new Heads-Up Display (HUD), and the lack of a health bar. Health packs in Halo 2 have been completely removed, leaving players with one big energy shield. The energy bar has also been moved to the lower left hand corner of the screen, right on top of the radar. The shield also now recharges quite a bit faster drastically changing, and in my opinion improving, the gameplay of Halo 2 as you no longer have to search for health packs. Another fantastic decision by bungie was the idea to implement dual wielding. Now you might be thinking dual wielding isn't anything new, and you are right. But the manner in which the developers put the option in is not only beneficial for a skilled player, but adds for tactical advantages and is a crap load of fun. Their is nothing like shooting an elite with a fully charged plasma pistol, taking down his shield, then ripping him apart with the SMG in your other hand. The Battle Rifle is a great weapon
falling somewhere between the Pistol and Assault Rifle from Halo: CE. Bungie balanced the weapons in Halo 2, so that no one weapon was overly powerful as was the pistol in Halo CE. One distinctive difference, among many, that you will find between other FPS and Halo 2 is melee attacks. Halo: CE brought it to the table in a very usable way. I spend countless hours whacking dead Covenant until the ground was painted with their colorful blood. Not only does Halo 2 include melee attacks, it perfects them. Every weapon has a melee attack, some more powerful then others. For instance the plasma sword is a lot more powerful then any other weapon at close range. Put the aiming reticle on the person you want to hit for two seconds until it gets red, press the right trigger, instant death sending them flying across the map. Melee attacks look better with improved animation, but they also feel better. In Halo, when you hit someone the screen moved very little or not at all. In Halo 2, when you use a melee attack, the screen bends in a way that makes it much more immersive.
All vehicles have gone through a major overhaul. Any vehicle in the game is destroyable which lead to some pretty entertaining explosions. Take the Warthog for example; shoot the hub caps, they fall off. Shoot the warthog with a rocket launcher, the wheels fly off and put the vehicle in a state of scrap metal. The Warthog this time around controls much tighter. Whipping the back end is still possible with the addition of the hand break by pulling on the left trigger. The Scorpion tank has changed little with the exception of the control scheme. One of the complaints Bungie received from the Halo: CE was not being able to move one way and aim the canon the other. The tank now performs much like the Master Chief does, left stick moves the tracks, right stick moves the canon. It works much better then it did in the first Halo. The Covenant also has a fleet of vehicles at your disposal. The Ghost is back with a new feature called boosting. In fact, every single Covenant vehicle can boost but not without a few drawbacks. While boosting, the vehicle can’t fire its weapon system and it can barley maneuver. The Banshee is back with a new edition that people who have played Crimson Skies might be familiar with. You are able to execute dodging tricks in the air with simply pressing A and moving the left thumbstick in any direction. Point the stick left or right, your Banshee will do a barrel roll. Vehicle jacking is a brand new feature included in Halo 2. At first it might seem like a gimmick, but the first time you pull it off it is immensely satisfying. To do this, approach any vehicle and press X. Depending on the vehicle you can either push them out, or throw a grenade inside and kill the driver. This feature is very usable in both the campaign and multiplayer.
With the long list of new features and additions, such as vehicle jacking, dual wielding, destructible environments, and destructible vehicles, Bungie has delivered a very fresh game experience. In conclusion, Halo 2 offers consumers with one of, if not the best playing games out on any system... ever!
Graphics:
When Halo first came out, no one had ever seen that amount of detail in a game before. It was truly the first next generation game and showed the world what the Xbox could do visually. It has been three long years and I haven't seen a game that shows as much graphical fidelity as Halo. Sure, you have games like Riddick sporting some exciting new tech with normal maps, pixel shaders and so on. But the game was mostly an indoor shooter where as Halo: CE made the Xbox render huge vistas and gapping canyon. If you thought that Halo 2 was going to match the graphical extravagance found in the X02 announcement trailer, you might be a bit disappointed. I am not even hinting that Halo 2 looks bad or even good, because Halo 2 is the best looking game on Xbox without a doubt. But the lighting and detail found in that announcement trailer will be better suited for the next generation Halo game.
The first thing you will notice is the brand new Heads-Up Display (HUD), and the lack of a health bar. Health packs in Halo 2 have been completely removed, leaving players with one big energy shield. The energy bar has also been moved to the lower left hand corner of the screen, right on top of the radar. The shield also now recharges quite a bit faster drastically changing, and in my opinion improving, the gameplay of Halo 2 as you no longer have to search for health packs. Another fantastic decision by bungie was the idea to implement dual wielding. Now you might be thinking dual wielding isn't anything new, and you are right. But the manner in which the developers put the option in is not only beneficial for a skilled player, but adds for tactical advantages and is a crap load of fun. Their is nothing like shooting an elite with a fully charged plasma pistol, taking down his shield, then ripping him apart with the SMG in your other hand. The Battle Rifle is a great weapon
falling somewhere between the Pistol and Assault Rifle from Halo: CE. Bungie balanced the weapons in Halo 2, so that no one weapon was overly powerful as was the pistol in Halo CE. One distinctive difference, among many, that you will find between other FPS and Halo 2 is melee attacks. Halo: CE brought it to the table in a very usable way. I spend countless hours whacking dead Covenant until the ground was painted with their colorful blood. Not only does Halo 2 include melee attacks, it perfects them. Every weapon has a melee attack, some more powerful then others. For instance the plasma sword is a lot more powerful then any other weapon at close range. Put the aiming reticle on the person you want to hit for two seconds until it gets red, press the right trigger, instant death sending them flying across the map. Melee attacks look better with improved animation, but they also feel better. In Halo, when you hit someone the screen moved very little or not at all. In Halo 2, when you use a melee attack, the screen bends in a way that makes it much more immersive.
All vehicles have gone through a major overhaul. Any vehicle in the game is destroyable which lead to some pretty entertaining explosions. Take the Warthog for example; shoot the hub caps, they fall off. Shoot the warthog with a rocket launcher, the wheels fly off and put the vehicle in a state of scrap metal. The Warthog this time around controls much tighter. Whipping the back end is still possible with the addition of the hand break by pulling on the left trigger. The Scorpion tank has changed little with the exception of the control scheme. One of the complaints Bungie received from the Halo: CE was not being able to move one way and aim the canon the other. The tank now performs much like the Master Chief does, left stick moves the tracks, right stick moves the canon. It works much better then it did in the first Halo. The Covenant also has a fleet of vehicles at your disposal. The Ghost is back with a new feature called boosting. In fact, every single Covenant vehicle can boost but not without a few drawbacks. While boosting, the vehicle can’t fire its weapon system and it can barley maneuver. The Banshee is back with a new edition that people who have played Crimson Skies might be familiar with. You are able to execute dodging tricks in the air with simply pressing A and moving the left thumbstick in any direction. Point the stick left or right, your Banshee will do a barrel roll. Vehicle jacking is a brand new feature included in Halo 2. At first it might seem like a gimmick, but the first time you pull it off it is immensely satisfying. To do this, approach any vehicle and press X. Depending on the vehicle you can either push them out, or throw a grenade inside and kill the driver. This feature is very usable in both the campaign and multiplayer.
With the long list of new features and additions, such as vehicle jacking, dual wielding, destructible environments, and destructible vehicles, Bungie has delivered a very fresh game experience. In conclusion, Halo 2 offers consumers with one of, if not the best playing games out on any system... ever!
Graphics:
When Halo first came out, no one had ever seen that amount of detail in a game before. It was truly the first next generation game and showed the world what the Xbox could do visually. It has been three long years and I haven't seen a game that shows as much graphical fidelity as Halo. Sure, you have games like Riddick sporting some exciting new tech with normal maps, pixel shaders and so on. But the game was mostly an indoor shooter where as Halo: CE made the Xbox render huge vistas and gapping canyon. If you thought that Halo 2 was going to match the graphical extravagance found in the X02 announcement trailer, you might be a bit disappointed. I am not even hinting that Halo 2 looks bad or even good, because Halo 2 is the best looking game on Xbox without a doubt. But the lighting and detail found in that announcement trailer will be better suited for the next generation Halo game.
Halo 2 does graphics remarkably well. Bungie wanted to use bump maps from day one and they did just that. Normal maps can be found everywhere you look whether it is on a fellow soldier’s suite or the rock walls that are closing you in. The texture work in Halo 2 is unmatched in any game, on any platform. Everything has a certain gloss or shine to it brought to you by reflective maps. Blur effect helps portray a depth of field in which something in the distance is blurred making it seem farther away then the thing that’s being focused on. Pixel shaders are widely used as well. Smoke realistically blooms next to fire, explosions coming from frag and plasma grenades blow up with a very satisfying effect. In game cut scenes will drop you down to your knees. Well, maybe not, but the amount of work and detail they put into each one is outstanding. One small squabble I have with the graphics would be the occasional detail pop-ups. You will be sitting in your seat watching the cut scene when all of a sudden the textures look incredibly low rez which is a glitch no doubt. Halo 2 truly pushes the graphical envelope taking Xbox's still powerful four year old hardware to its absolute limits. Anything further may have been a fire hazard.
Audio:
No other word in the English language better describes the sound in Halo 2 than perfection. Halo 2 is God’s gift to people with surround sound systems. Across the board Halo 2 receives perfect scores. The music sets the mood of the level to an almost scary degree of accomplishment. Marty and his crew kept the same main theme with the monks singing in a church, but mixes it a few times differently to spice it up. Scary, twisted music for certain levels. Strong, triumphant music for levels on earth. The music wears the term cinematic on its sleeve.
For the people with a 5.1 DD home theater system, set yourself to stunned. Halo 2 uses all the speakers to such a degree, that no other game can come close to. To truly experience audio perfection, you need to equip yourself with a solid 5.1 system. Their has never been a better reason to do so then Halo 2. But even the people without a home theater system will drop to the floor after listening to Halo 2’s impressive sound effects. Melee a piece of rock, sand, tree, vehicle, each item sounds different. Voice acting is preformed by some amazing actors. The folks at Bungie have done an amazingly good job with Halo 2's sound that no game will be able to match for a very long time, unless is Halo 3.
Controls:
Did you like the control scheme with the original Halo? If you answered yes, then Halo 2 is going to feel like an old friend with a fat wad of 20’s in his pocket. Very few things have changed. Force feedback is of course back and better then ever. You can feel the recoil from weapons and the lumps of sand being ran over by the warthog’s beefy tires. Everything feels extremely solid, no problems here. This is a breakdown of the controls that can be found on the back of your Halo 2 manual:
A- Jump
B- Melee Attack
Y- Switch Weapon/Dual Wield
X- Reload/Action
White- Flashlight
Black- Swap Grenades
Left Trigger- Fire Weapon
Right Trigger- Fire Left Weapon/Toss Grenade
Left Thumbstick- Move
Right Thumbsick- Look
Replay:
For most of you Halo 2 fans the word replay registers as multiplayer, as it does mine. These are the multiplayer options that will be available to you upon receiving this game. You may battle against your friends and enemies with split screen, system link, and Xbox Live. Xbox Live obviously being the best option, but some people might not have broadband access in their area yet. Split screen is still a lot of fun, but four players is rather weak. System Link is in with all of the available game types that can be played online. You can connect a combination of 2 to 16 different Xbox’s, but Xbox Live is what all Halo lovers have been waiting for. So many rumors on the net pointed to Bungie developing a 1.5 disk that would make Halo playable online. Bungie did look at that option, but decided that Halo 2 should be the first Halo game to be playable on Live.
If you do have Xbox Live, the moment you pop in the Halo 2 disc it will ask you to make a user name and then log in online. Halo 2, like all other Live Aware games, lets people know what exactly you are doing in a game. People can invite you to play online with them even if you were battling it out with a Brute in campaign mode. Whether it is a party invitation or a friend’s request, with any form of invite, you can attach either a voice message or even a text message all made possible with the new Xbox Live 3.0 feature set.
Audio:
No other word in the English language better describes the sound in Halo 2 than perfection. Halo 2 is God’s gift to people with surround sound systems. Across the board Halo 2 receives perfect scores. The music sets the mood of the level to an almost scary degree of accomplishment. Marty and his crew kept the same main theme with the monks singing in a church, but mixes it a few times differently to spice it up. Scary, twisted music for certain levels. Strong, triumphant music for levels on earth. The music wears the term cinematic on its sleeve.
For the people with a 5.1 DD home theater system, set yourself to stunned. Halo 2 uses all the speakers to such a degree, that no other game can come close to. To truly experience audio perfection, you need to equip yourself with a solid 5.1 system. Their has never been a better reason to do so then Halo 2. But even the people without a home theater system will drop to the floor after listening to Halo 2’s impressive sound effects. Melee a piece of rock, sand, tree, vehicle, each item sounds different. Voice acting is preformed by some amazing actors. The folks at Bungie have done an amazingly good job with Halo 2's sound that no game will be able to match for a very long time, unless is Halo 3.
Controls:
Did you like the control scheme with the original Halo? If you answered yes, then Halo 2 is going to feel like an old friend with a fat wad of 20’s in his pocket. Very few things have changed. Force feedback is of course back and better then ever. You can feel the recoil from weapons and the lumps of sand being ran over by the warthog’s beefy tires. Everything feels extremely solid, no problems here. This is a breakdown of the controls that can be found on the back of your Halo 2 manual:
A- Jump
B- Melee Attack
Y- Switch Weapon/Dual Wield
X- Reload/Action
White- Flashlight
Black- Swap Grenades
Left Trigger- Fire Weapon
Right Trigger- Fire Left Weapon/Toss Grenade
Left Thumbstick- Move
Right Thumbsick- Look
Replay:
For most of you Halo 2 fans the word replay registers as multiplayer, as it does mine. These are the multiplayer options that will be available to you upon receiving this game. You may battle against your friends and enemies with split screen, system link, and Xbox Live. Xbox Live obviously being the best option, but some people might not have broadband access in their area yet. Split screen is still a lot of fun, but four players is rather weak. System Link is in with all of the available game types that can be played online. You can connect a combination of 2 to 16 different Xbox’s, but Xbox Live is what all Halo lovers have been waiting for. So many rumors on the net pointed to Bungie developing a 1.5 disk that would make Halo playable online. Bungie did look at that option, but decided that Halo 2 should be the first Halo game to be playable on Live.
If you do have Xbox Live, the moment you pop in the Halo 2 disc it will ask you to make a user name and then log in online. Halo 2, like all other Live Aware games, lets people know what exactly you are doing in a game. People can invite you to play online with them even if you were battling it out with a Brute in campaign mode. Whether it is a party invitation or a friend’s request, with any form of invite, you can attach either a voice message or even a text message all made possible with the new Xbox Live 3.0 feature set.
There is a difference between match-made games and party rooms. The biggest distinction between the arranged games and match-made games is simply that in arranged games you play against the same people over and over again, adding people and occasionally having people leave, just like at a LAN party. However, with matchmade games, you play against different people each time, unlike an immensely lame LAN party that people leave after each round.
Did Bungie accomplish making Halo 2 the best online multiplayer game that rivals what you experience in a LAN party? Oh, you bet they did. Not only is their no lag whatsoever, but you get a screen all by yourself. If you want to take three other people online, you can do that too. This is the first online game that supports four different people on a single box while going online. Bungie.net is connected to Halo 2 in an exciting way. Want to check your stats from the last game you played? Done. Do you want to see how many head shot you had in a match held last week? Not a problem. It even tracks what weapon you you used to kill someone with and shows you a diagram of the map with the spot you killed that person in. Amazing, I know. Halo 2 multiplayer delivers what every Halo fan has wanted for the past three years, and then some. You will not find a better playing, looking, sounding, and feature rich Live game then Halo 2.
Summary:
What more do you need? A free Halo 2 themed bike from geniuses at Orange County Choppers would be nice. But in all seriousness, Halo 2 is that game you have been waiting for. The hype, much deserved. Not only will it provide you with endless hours of excitement and fun, but it might even change the way a lot of people view games. Halo 2 has delivered and conquered every front it set out to take. No other game is as cinematic. No other game sounds like Halo 2 does and no other game plays as fantastic as Halo 2 plays. You will not find a better multiplayer game on any platform. The addition of Xbox Live into the Halo universe comes together like paste on a Popsicle stick. Halo 2 is the best use of plastic in human history, even pushing the loved Tupperware aside, because Halo 2 is that damn good.
Did Bungie accomplish making Halo 2 the best online multiplayer game that rivals what you experience in a LAN party? Oh, you bet they did. Not only is their no lag whatsoever, but you get a screen all by yourself. If you want to take three other people online, you can do that too. This is the first online game that supports four different people on a single box while going online. Bungie.net is connected to Halo 2 in an exciting way. Want to check your stats from the last game you played? Done. Do you want to see how many head shot you had in a match held last week? Not a problem. It even tracks what weapon you you used to kill someone with and shows you a diagram of the map with the spot you killed that person in. Amazing, I know. Halo 2 multiplayer delivers what every Halo fan has wanted for the past three years, and then some. You will not find a better playing, looking, sounding, and feature rich Live game then Halo 2.
Summary:
What more do you need? A free Halo 2 themed bike from geniuses at Orange County Choppers would be nice. But in all seriousness, Halo 2 is that game you have been waiting for. The hype, much deserved. Not only will it provide you with endless hours of excitement and fun, but it might even change the way a lot of people view games. Halo 2 has delivered and conquered every front it set out to take. No other game is as cinematic. No other game sounds like Halo 2 does and no other game plays as fantastic as Halo 2 plays. You will not find a better multiplayer game on any platform. The addition of Xbox Live into the Halo universe comes together like paste on a Popsicle stick. Halo 2 is the best use of plastic in human history, even pushing the loved Tupperware aside, because Halo 2 is that damn good.
