After three years in development, Bungie has finally released the very much anticipated sequel of Halo, and they surely haven’t wasted those three years of work.
I am very adverse to FPS games and to using both analogs to control a character, but Halo 2 had a certain “je ne sais quoi” that attracted me from the beginning. After a couple of rentals, I happily purchased it and it now stands proudly among our collection of games.
Halo 2 has amazing crisp and clean graphics, realistic shadow and light effects and stunning textures regardless of the type of level you find yourself in. In campaign mode, gorgeous cut-scenes make the story advance and introduce you to a new chapter. The music is outstanding and the sound effects are remarkable (so much in fact, that with surround sound hearing a Ghost about to explode makes me want to duck behind the couch….).
This time, you will alternate controlling Master Chief and the Covenant in an amazing adventure of epic proportions leading to an even more amazing ending – and no, I’m not spoiling it for you.
And it’s a good challenge too, since the A.I. is quite smart, enemies will actually sneak at you from behind (especially the Covenant, that loves to use camouflage) and slice you with their swords, attack from above or snipe you from secluded hiding places.
Many vehicles are at your disposition during the game, ready to be driven and wreak havoc. You can drive a Warthog, ride it as a passenger or control its turret in the back; you can hover around in a Ghost splattering enemies; you can do some aerial acrobatics on a Banshee; you can blow the crap out of everything in your way with a Scorpion or a Wraith. There’s even a little bit of GTA in it for the vehicles: kick your enemies off and drive them yourself!
And as cliche as it sounds, “I need a weapon!” is something you will hear yourself saying or thinking many, many times. There are tons of weapons to be picked up, some are better for close-range combat and others are designed to take out anyone from a distance.
Your close range weapons include the Energy Sword and the Shotgun, although you can hit someone in the back of the head with whatever weapon you are carrying (including the bomb and the flag) and assassinate them.
Medium range weapons include the Plasma Pistol, which you can charge for a more powerful shot by holding the trigger, and the Battle Rifle/Covenant Carbine that let you keep a safe distance and zoom in for some headshots. Plasma Rifle, Magnum and SMG work for either close or medium range. As for long range weapons, there’s the Beam Rifle, the Sniper Rifle and my favorite, the Rocket Launcher.
Always make sure you have enough ammo, and remember that SMG’s and Magnums take a little while to reload. Be sure to make little pauses while chain-shooting Plasma Rifles, since they heat up. You will actually see your avatar shaking his hand from the heat, very cool detail.
For added fun, there are frag grenades and plasma grenades (which you stick someone with to blow them to pieces) but you can only make use of them if you’re not dual-wielding. I wouldn’t rely much on frag grenades, since they can bounce of whomever you’re trying to hit. I actually had one bounce of my husband’s character’s helmet and explode on me. Made me laugh though!
Halo 2 takes multiplayer fun to a whole new level. Aside from the co-op campaign mode, the replay value is in the online play. You can play capture the flag, bomb the base, king of the hill, engage in a big team battle or a clan match and many other games.
You can join your friends in a game, create one and customize it yourself, or choose a game type and wait for the matchmaking tool to do its job.
Bungie incorporated a complex system for matchmaking and ranking that lets friends stay together from game to game and pairs up players according to their levels, so the game doesn’t become unbalanced.
You can check your stats online at http://www.bungie.net/ (need a .NET Passport login), edit your profile, look up any gamertag or clan and find an extensive list of all the games you have played and their outcome, the medals you have won and see how close you are to the next level in each type of game.
You can also play Team Training (unranked games) online with your friends, all using the same machine, although the matchmaking tool tends to fail when there are guests playing on the same Xbox, and many times ends up separating them.
Bungie has also paid homage to two favorite maps of the previous title and created two familiar yet new battle grounds that Halo veterans will certainly enjoy: Coagulation and Beaver Creek.
Aside from the “regular” game version, you also have the collector’s edition, which comes in a cool silvery case with bonus features like the making of Halo 2, interviews and behind the scenes footage.
Xbox marketing Vice-president Peter Moore said the following in an interview: “Halo 2 will be the biggest 24 hours in entertainment retail history.” And he was probably right. The bottom line is, compared side by side, Halo 2 makes its predecessor look second-rate. And that is a great thing.