Halo 2 Review (Xbox) By Miranda Stites Published: 01/03/07 PrintEmail
Halo 2 is here; a testament to the popularity of the original Halo, but is it on par with its predecessor? Many people would say that it is, but few would claim that it really ventured into new territory. In fact it’s really just a rendition of the original; failing to add new life to the gameplay during the campaign mode. Sure there are a few innovations, but nothing that dramatic. The real glory lies with the new multiplayer options; they bring it, in a manner of speaking.
There are so many more options to choose from in the multiplayer mode of Halo 2 than in the original Halo. There are more areas to choose from, more weapons, and more vehicles available to help you trudge along in those massive scenarios. You can also play online against other people anytime that you want; this is especially great for those of you players that get so good to the point that no one wants to play with you anymore because you always kick their butt. You guys know who you are.
One change that I was particularly disappointed with when playing the multiplayer mode was the new split screens. They are no longer horizontal, now they are vertical. One of my favorite things about playing the original Halo was how comfortable the split screens were, but Halo 2 was not near as comfortable for me to play with its vertical cut..
The story line for Halo 2 is quite short, but worth delving into. The original game ended with the destruction of the Halo which we had hoped would stop the covenant, but it only succeeded in slowing them down for a short time. In fact they are back now with a vengeance. The destruction of the Halo only served to thrust them further into their idealistic crusade. In the minds of the covenant humans have now blatantly disrespected their gods and they must be exterminated.
The covenant has finally reached Earth; humanity’s greatest fear. There are some great fighting scenes that take place in our cities in which the covenant has infiltrated. This is not the primary focus of the game though; many other unique areas become a stomping ground for both our military and the covenant. It has been discovered that there is another Halo and the covenant is trying to get their hands on the sacred key to activate it which is a major focus of the game. Master Chief must track down this sacred key before the covenant uses it to destroy us. On his journey Master Chief will make new allies and learn incredible secrets that are potentially explosive.
As I mentioned before there are a few innovations made to this game that the previous one was lacking. Throughout the campaign you will take turns playing as a human and hearing their side of the story and playing as the covenant; receiving a completely different perceptive on events at hand. This serves the purpose to break up the sometimes monotonous storyline. This way the game isn’t quite so one-sided.
New weapons and vehicles have also been added along with some new melee maneuvers. Also the way the warthog drives has been fixed so those of you, like me, that were so frustrated with its controls need not worry any longer. It’s still a little quirky, but the improvements made to it were great. New bad guys make an appearance as well, along with some quasi good guys. The character designs for some of these guys are pretty awesome.
Overall the graphics were improved, but I feel as if the style wasn’t quite as grand as the first game and some levels were so dark that it made it hard to find your way around. Another thing that got confusing when negotiating certain levels was that so many places looked identical you couldn’t tell whether you had been there before or not. I wasn’t that impressed with the area designs this time around either, but the sound effects seem to be just as good as the original. Truthfully, it was the story line that kept my attention. Other than that I got a little bored because it just felt like the same old game in a more bland package.
I’m not saying that this is a bad game, on the contrary, the story mode is almost as good as the original and the multiplayer mode is far superior. Rent this game to continue the story if that’s all your interested in, but buy it for the multiplayer options and you won’t be disappointed. This game is worth all the hype that you may have heard about it, it is almost exactly like the original Halo which most people know was a spectacular game, except for it’s addition into xbox live which has truly made Halo 2 more popular than its predecessor. Since the two games are so similar you can get a more thorough review of this game by reading my article on the original Halo.
Halo 2 is here; a testament to the popularity of the original Halo, but is it on par with its predecessor? Many people would say that it is, but few would claim that it really ventured into new territory. In fact it’s really just a rendition of the original; failing to add new life to the gameplay during the campaign mode. Sure there are a few innovations, but nothing that dramatic. The real glory lies with the new multiplayer options; they bring it, in a manner of speaking.
