Summary

A hugely hyped game such as Halo 2, following on the footsteps of the monumental original, is not the easies thing to sum up, so I'm going to approach this review from two angles. First, I want to look at this game as a stand-alone. If you are someone who has never played Halo (to begin with, where have you been), and you play this game, you're going to have an absolute ball (though you may be a bit confused by the storyline). On its own two feet, this is a wonderful shooter: fun, actionpacked, pretty good graphics, and neat music. The problem with Halo 2 is that it is not a stand-alone game. Let's get real, there just aren't many people out there who haven't at least played the original and probably not many more who have an xbox and don't own it. After all, as one reviewer said, it was the reason many of us went with the "Big X" to begin with (I know it pushed me into purchasing). That being said, all those great things I said about it being a stand-alone game? Well, it is...because Halo was...and this is exactly like Halo. I expected the same general idea, but the same graphics? The same vehicles? The same enemies? The same gameplay all around??? You can tout duel guns, a new storyline, and jacking vehicles all you want, but it amounts to what a PC Expansion pack would, not an entirely new game (especially at $50!). Now, I know I only played this for 13 hours, but, even with playing multiplayer with friends, it only took me and a friend on co-op 9 hours to beat the thing! So there's no need for 40+ hours to review this thing. I rented it because I had a hunch it wouldn't live up to it's hype (plus I was dirt poor at the time so I couldn't buy it). Will I buy it? Eventually...when the price goes down, only to complete my Halo set. But here's my recomendation to you. If you have Halo, don't rush out and buy this. Just play Halo, or if you really don't believe me rent it for a few days...it'll be enough. If you don't have Halo, then ok go ahead and buy it, because you've gotta have at least one Halo game, so it might as well be the newest one! At the end of the day though, there are a lot of other good games to buy, and I'm satisfied with playing the original for now. I hope the third one will be better, and, given the crappy ending I didn't even want to start on, there definately will be a third. I give this a 3 for it being a great game on it's own, and part of a revolutionary series, but couldn't go higher due to the fact that it just wasn't a sequel game...it was only more of the same.

Summary

as soon as i read the review on this site for it, i had to register just to let people know how disapointed i really am with Halo 2, it does not deserve 5/5!! ok, so the graphics are slightly better, wohoo! but they still arent keeping up with the rest of the gaming industry, the gameplay was not much different from the first one; ok you could hold two weapons at once, oh joy! so now it can be even easier! and wow you can drive over a couple of people with a ghost, amazing! nothing too groundbreaking. The fact that you can get a tank on every level (ish)annoyed me too, why do you need so many vehicles?!! plain and sinmple... you dont!it just made the game easier and easier! the plot was better this time i'll grant them that, but still didnt really make any difference, it just meant every now and then you waited around whislt some alien went on about his beliefs in an American accent. i would have given this game 3/5 because it was worth a go at least, but im actually cutting it in half and rating it 1.5, simply because they cut the game in half. Instead of wrapping the game up properly you end up fighting a crappy boss at the end who takes no longer than 5 mins to kill, then you get another video telling you, well done thats the end of the game, instead of giving you another level to wrap things up, we're just going to charge you another £50 to do it because we are really that tight-assed. So look out for halo 3, im sure it will be just as bad. If you do get the urge to buy halo 2, just go pick up halo 1, play it for a few hours and then imagine an american alien talking every 10 minutes and congratualtions! you've saved yourself £25 and have halo 2!

Summary

I stood in line for two hours for this game with my friend. Once the long wait was over, we got in the cars and went home. When we got there, we got our Special Edition copies opened, put it in our Xboxs', and started playing. Right away I was blown away. The first thing I noticed was the amazing graphics. Every single thing in the game is so detailed. The suits, guns, scenery, and most of all, the vehicles. Then the gameplay. Right away I noticed how efficent duel wielding was. Especially when rushing into a base in CTF or Assault. There are a few flaws with this game, however. Not really flaws, but some let downs. Like the ending. I wont give it away, but it was fairly disappointing. Also, on Xbox Live you cant just pick a game in optimatch and go into it. You've got to be randomly put into a RANKED game. Some vehicles I expected to be in there, werent. Same with weapons. But beyond that, best FPS evar.

Sound

The sound is amazing. You can hear where the bullets are coming from, where are person is walking up on you from, which way a vehicle is coming, even the direction in which a person is if you hear them talking. Its truly amazing. The soundtrack is good as well. I really love the rock music that comes on when youre about to get into a big battle.

Gameplay

Better than ever. Rolling up on people in a ghost, shooting 'em up, then hittin' the boost and running them over. Great. Doing barrel rolls in a banshee to dodge a rocket. Great. The battles are amazingly fun. You can have a needler & a pistol vs a plasma rifle & a smg, and never know the outcome. Maybe earlier the needler & pistol won, but the plasma rifle & smg might win this time. There really is no cheap weapon anymore. Some say its the sword, but it isnt. It's very easy to take down the wielder if you know what youre doing. Very balanced and fun gameplay.

Summary

This game doesn't really live up to all the hype before and after its release. Sure its a high quality game, but it's not as astounding as the first halo when it came out. Since there are not a lot of games worth buying for the box, halo 2 is probably worth the purchase. Just be warned that a lot of the single player stuff is repetitive even though it is always claimed that this gripe was fixed. The weapons, vehicles, and characters (especially the annoying flood!!!) get overused and boring. If you don't have xbox live or any friends or family to play multiplayer with, just rent the game. The way xbox live play is set up is very original and nice to use. But it seems like people on there play the same levels over and over.

Sound

The music was great, but i didn't think there was enough variety; certain tracks were played more than once in different levels. The voices were not as apparent and interesting as the first game. Maybe if i played the game again on a harder difficulty i might discover more of this though, but raising one notch in difficulty makes a huge difference. The arbiter character's voice was too human- like--they could have disguised the voice a little better. I don't think there is anything else noteworthy as far as sound goes.

Gameplay

The gameplay is good like the first game--fun to play and easy to master--but nothing too great is added. There are many new weapons but some of them like the shotgun, rocket launcher, needler, alien plasma pistol, etc are the unfortunately the same. Another gripe is that the tank and jeap are the same--even the graphics don't seem improved. The tank is used a lot in single player and it feels like the first halo or something worse. Lastly, other human AI players are lacking in a lot of levels. There should be armies of them and a squad level like the first game, but that was missing here.

Summary

HALO 2 : The Covenant Strikes Back?? We loved Halo. Yes we did. It was the reason many of us shelled out our hard earned dosh to buy an XBox in the first place (and we're now very glad we did). The Master Chief is the embodiment of all that is good in humanity. We all see ourselves sporting the green/gold helmet and kicking the crap out of those little Covenant pests. This is the reason why we have been salivating all summer, pining like a lost puppy for the advent of Autumn and the release of Halo 2. I had read all the pre-release reviews. A 4/5 here, a 9.5 there. Even the odd o.t.t. 10/10 from hardcore fans (Nothing deserves a 10/10; a 9.9 possibly, but is anything really perfect?). So, I was standing in a pool of my own dribble as the lovely young lady behind the counter charged the game to my credit card and popped it into a bag for me. I got the game home and slotted it into the machine. The gorgeous music was back, echoeing like a ghost choir haunting my speakers. The beautiful graphics were also back, as was the outstandingly playable control system. Yes, it was Halo alright. I started into it and began working through the levels noticing a few new weapons here, a couple of new enemy there and levels that were very, very similar to the original. The gameplay is brilliant as you would expect. You feel more need to obliterate and experience more satisfaction in killing the enemy here than you would in any other FPS available on the Xbox to date. I played all day. I loved story, and I really enjoyed the plot developing sequences between levels. I won’t mention anything about how Bungie have progressed the plot as it is pretty good finding out for yourself. Then I reached one sequence that had me particularly excited about moving onto the next level and then, out of the blue, I’m watching the final credits. What? Are you sure? Ah jaysus I thought to myself – surely I haven’t waited all summer and shelled out sixty euro for a game that I have finished in little over 12 hours!! Well I had, and I felt pretty hollow about the whole experience. I don’t know what happened. Maybe my expectations were raised a little too high. Maybe expecting a whole new level of innovation, depth and gameplay from Bungie was a little too much to ask for. I have experienced this feeling of disappointment before of course – Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Rainbow Six 3, Black Arrow et al, no better than the original. I expected a little bit more from the Master Chief though. I got the impression that Bungie could have put a few more levels into this game if they wanted too, but they needed to give us a reason to fork out again for next – and what will probably be the final - episode in the series. I know I am expressing mixed views here but that’s what Halo 2 will do to you. It is a cracking if very short experience. Imagine going on a rollercoaster blinfolded. You know to expect a wild ride but you’ll be a little disappointed when it finishes and you haven’t experience the loop the loop you were waiting for. Halo 2 is very very short. It does not offer any significantly profound development on the original. It does however play far better than almost any other FPS on the Xbox to date. I know that even though I sound fairly down on the game – this isn’t they most positive review you’ll read - I will still go out and buy the next installment as soon as it is released. That is after all why they made this game the way they did. If I can make one recommendation to you, my friends, it is this. Buy this game, but please, please for your own sake, set the diffuculty level to Suicidal from the very beginning. You will be killed often, and it will frustrate the hell out of you – similar to the utterly amazing and far superior Ninja Gaiden – but you will not feel the emptiness of knowing the whole plot in the space of one day.

Sound

Bloody marvelous. The best aspect of this game. You've gotta love the music.

Gameplay

Excellent. Smooth, addictive, more-ish.