Summary

HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT after the original HALO. It took me months of play to finish HALO. It only took about 2 weeks of get to the lousy ending of HALO2. BORING !!They actually had the nerve to have this available for pre-release order. HA !!! what a joke. I should have waited for it on the reduced shelf. It sure wasn't worth full price. I'm going back to the original HALO. I have yet to play it in multi-player mode, maybe that will change my mind about the game. I sure hope so, because what I've seen so far has not impressed me. I'll be hesitant to purchase any more games by this maker.

Sound

Sound was fine, lousy game....In case you haven't figured it out yet, I did not like this game at all.

Gameplay

I kept getting confused changing from the Master Chief then to an alien. What the heck was going on, I have no clue and I'm an adult !! The addition of all the extra weapons was nothing to write home about. Even having the ability to carry 2 weapons did not excite me that much.

Summary

Halo 2 is the sequel to the best selling xbox game Halo, which sold over 4million copies with unbeliveable graphics, gameplay, sound and a stoyline that left you in suspence wanting to know what will happen next. Halo 2 offers unbelivble graphics and sound, but lacks alittle on the stroyline and gameplay that made Halo so great. You do swich between the Master Cheif and a Covenant Elite durring the gameplay, but the storyline goes nowhere new. You fight on a ship in space in the first level (sound familer) but then you go and crash land on Earth this time and not on Halo. But when you leave Earth, you go and fight on another Halo world. (sound familer) and then you go and get the index(sound familer) and then go to the control center to stop it from being activated (sound familer). There is nothing new in the storyline for Halo 2, its all the same, Halo2 is mainly an expansion for Halo1.

Sound

The sound is amazing in 5.1 dolby. You can sit there and hear a enemy sneaking up on you and being able to tell what kind of enemy it is by the sound it makes is amazing. The gun sound and vehicle sounds have all been improved, except for the Warthogs tail gun, it sounds pretty weak now.

Gameplay

The gameplay lacks alittle compared to what the first Halo gave. Halo 2 offers a new hijack feature witch allows you to board and throw out a drive, passenger or gunner of a vechile and command it for yourself. It also provides a new duel-wielding feature in witch you can now hold two - one handed weapons, this allows for tactial gameplay, you can take the duel-wielding firepower but you cant throw gernades while you do so. The main dent in Halo2's gameplay is that you dont get that 30 seconds of fun that bungie talks about. Nothing in Halo 2 compares to the fun you had when you invaded the beachs on The Silent Cartographer. A.I. The new AI in Halo 2 is not as smart as promised. They can now drive vehicles, but normaly get you killed doing so cause their still stupid. Other than that, all they do new is lean up on a wall for cover. If you look back at E3 for Halo2, the demo game, you will notice that the Marines yelled out enemy positions and alerted you when they spoted the enemy flanking. Seeing the part when the marine peeks around a cornor and yells "Frag and Clear" and throws a gernade around the conor, and then they rushed in when it exploded. Its that kind of stuff that made Halo2 look good. But for some reason, Bungie acted like fuc*ing idots and took it out. Rembering seeing that huge airstrike in the demo moive, you dont get nothing that good in the FINAL version of Halo2.

Summary

Halo was an incredible game worthy of the million or so copies that it sold so, naturally, expectations for Halo 2 are exceptionally and perhaps unrealistically high. Is this the worthy sequel we have waited 3 years for? Maybe not. After completing the game it becomes apparent that this is not so much a sequel but rather part two in what Bungie have set up as a cash-in trilogy. You will be left confused, bedazzled, frustrated and probably not all together fulfilled. Personally, the original Halo is still the definitive game in the series. It may not have duel-wielding or the graphics of Halo 2 but it has a special character to it, a story that makes sense and Master Chief kicking absolute arse. Halo 2 is not a bad game, quite the opposite. But it is a dissapointing sequel. For those expecting a new adventure that feels just as exciting as the first time you opened your eyes as the master chief will feel cheated. Buy it if you do not mind the idea of dishing out $99 bucks for a prettier Halo 1, otherwise, rent tha game out, see how pretty it is and then get back to the original. Multiplayer - Xbox users will rejoice at the introduction of Banshees in the multiplayer levels although PC users have enjoyed this for some time now. What's different? A few new weapons that are basically gimmicks such as an alien assault rifle and an alien sniper rifle and very little else. There is no longer the option of unlimited grenades which is a frustrating admission as it takes away the fun of hectic sticky grenade battles and jeep force back which brought friends together for hours in the original. The maps are good and there are enough for players to pick their favourites but none of them have the lasting power of the original Blood Gultch map. (note) I am too poor to afford Xbox live so the online component no doubt adds an extra dimension to the multiplayer component.

Sound

It may be slightly crisper but basically the sound fx are more of the same, which is not a bad thing in the least. The music is great at times and ball breakingly irritating at others. For some reason one of the levels has a sound track that busts out into a wank rock fiddly fest that does not add anything to the feel of the game. Otherwise the orchestral pieces are fantastic and the sfx remain exciting enough.

Gameplay

Put simply Halo 2's greatest selling point is the new duel-wielding gun system. It comes across as little more than a gimmick however as nothing else has really changed. Perfect Dark on the N64 had duel-wielding so it really isn't an incredible new feature. There are a few cool moves availiable to the master chief mainly involving the highjacking of vehicles but they are not enough to differentiate this game from the original. The maps are often awkward and constricting and after an epic first battle on earth, a remarkable second level, the game really does go downhill. *** plot spoilerish *** A sure sign that the guys at Bungie were running out of ideas and a decent plot line is the advent of a new character. In any sequel when the game is panned out by new characters you know that the designers are running out of ideas. Some may enjoy the gimmick (note how many times that word has cropped up) of fighting with the covenant, but you're not killing the humans (fancy some red blood for a change?) rather conspiring covenant and rebellious apes. Dammitt we all love the master chief, he has character, he has balls and he packs a hell of a whollop, Halo just isn't the same when only half of the game is dedicated to our macho master. Throw in a few extra enemies, a few extra guns (the zoom pistol is missing!!!) and a few extra vehicles and you have a run of the mill sequel. Halo fans deserve better. Fingers crossed for the inevitable Halo 3 on the Xbox 360.

Summary

The covenant have found earth and are now on there way to completely destroy the entire human race. However not all hope is lost. The master chief who beat the legions of convenant on halo has made his way back to earth and just in time. With new weapons, new vehicles and new upgrades to existing weapons and a great new story line this game has so much more to offer then the original halo did. New features include dual weapons and the ability to check out the war from the covenant prespective as well playing with the condemed leader(for failing to capture and stop the covenants first major defeat at halo) known as the abirator. The story swaps between master chief and the abriator every few levels and is quite interesting. If there are any qorals that I have with halo is the fact that humans are still using projectile weapons by the year 2552. The humans certainly have the technology to make laser weaponry and even rail gun technology even we cannot replicate the plasma technology just yet. I feel the programmers should have given humans a few laser guns and a rail gun for the humans to use and included a flame thrower for good measure. I have nothing against the projectile weapons but just that humans by this time certainly would have included ray guns as well to their asenal. Not even the gauss cannon is a beam based weapon, although at least its the humans closest thing to a beam based weapon. The vehicles are great. Do not be put of by the lack of human vehicles in comparison to covenant. Because the humans have the right combination. The warthog has two variation. One with a gauss cannon and one with a chaingun. The chaingun is useful for mowing down infantry, the guass is good for taken out the ghosts and banshees and even the covnant morter tanks. The scorpian tank is virtually unstoppable and will take out most things with a single shot with its cannons and can mow down infantry with its chaingun. All in all a great game and if you have the original halo get this one as well.

Sound

Great what more can I say. Except that it is funny to listen to the sarge, the commondoes and the those cowardly grunts from the covenant.

Gameplay

Good gameplay and great controls. Aside from the absents of human based laser or energy weapons the gameplay is great.

Summary

I got the limited addition which includes a dvd. the dvd is nice because it shows how it was made and all of the other goods. The game portion is what, obviously, really matters. this game is amazing. all of the hype was a little over the top but it is much better than the first Halo. The campaign is good but the Live is what really gets me going

Sound

the sound is pretty good. all the the weapons sound great, the ai's speach matches their mouth movements pretty well. its not groundbreaking stuff but it gets the job done. IF YOU OWN AN XBOX BUT NOT HALO 2, GO OUT AND BUY IT RIGHT NOW. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Gameplay

The gamepay is amazing. I haven't seen any glitching in the game itself. the ai is much more improved over the first halo. when you shoot at the aliens they react in a way that a normal person would react. they can take cover, hop on top of things, and strategize with the other aliens. other cool improvements are better armor, dual wielding, and boarding vehicles. i cant tell you ho much i hated watching my health and being run over all the time. now your shields recharge faster and if you time it perfectly as a vehicle comes at you you can hop on and rip em out. the best feature on Halo 2 is the ability to play on Xbox Live. if it werent for this the game would get relatively boring. it is much more fun playing games with people from all over the world because it offers a new challenge. if i had to i would spend double the amount i paid for it just because it is Xbox Live enabled.